Vehicular control system and control method

• US 8,160,781 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Naono, Ken, Shimizu, Masaaki, Arakawa, Fumio, Kanekawa, Nobuyasu, Sakurai, Kohei, Hoshino, Masatoshi, Yoshimura, Kentaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US11/072,494
• Publication Number:
  US 20050267663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,598 Days
• Field of Search: 701/48, 701/36, 701/32, 307/10.3, 340/5.61
• US Class Current: 701/48
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/024 in which a parameter or coefficient is automatically adjusted to optimise the performance

Abstract

A vehicular control system which includes a user parameter input module, an external parameter input module, a plurality of objective functions, a policy setting module, and a policy node. The user parameter input module Inputs a user parameter. The external parameter input module inputs an external parameter resulting from an outside environment. The objective functions are set for each control characteristic, respectively, so as to calculate an internal parameter of each control target from the user parameter and the external parameter. The policy setting module sets policies indicating a control index of the user for the objective functions respectively. The policy node weights the objective functions on the basis of the policies, adjusts the internal parameter in accordance with the policy so that the internal parameter is optimized among the objective functions, and issues a command to a control node corresponding to the internal parameter.

Claims

1. A vehicular control system, comprising a plurality of control nodes connected to a network and control targets respectively controlled by the control nodes, for controlling each of the control targets in association with the plurality of control nodes based on a driving state of a vehicle,

the vehicular control system comprising:

a user parameter input module for inputting a user parameter corresponding to an operation of a driver;

an external parameter input module for inputting an external parameter resulting from an outside environment of a vehicle;

means for setting a plurality of objective functions for each control characteristic and calculating an internal parameter of each of the control targets from the user parameter and the external parameter;

a policy setting module for setting policies indicating a driving index of the driver for the objective functions, respectively,

wherein the policy setting module is configured to include policy data of the driver based on an election by the driver of plural ones of objective functions on a display;

a parameter adjusting module for respectively weighting the plural objective functions based on the policies and including an internal parameter adjusting module for adjusting the internal parameter in accordance with the policies to optimize the internal parameter among the plural weighted objective functions,

wherein the internal parameter indicates the shift of the individual values on each objective function, the internal parameter adjusting module compares the shifts of the values between the plurality of objective functions for each internal parameter, and the internal parameter is adjusted based on the comparison result; and

an output module for issuing, as a command;

the internal parameter obtained in the parameter adjusting module to that one of the control nodes which corresponds to the internal parameter,

wherein the parameter adjusting module further calculates, in every control cycle from a start of driving to an end of driving, the internal parameter using the user parameter and the external parameter as inputs so that each of the plurality of objective functions takes an optimum value.

2. The vehicular control system according to claim 1, wherein the means for setting the objective functions is configured to calculate a plurality of internal parameters from a plurality of user parameters and a plurality of external parameters, and wherein the internal parameter adjusting module selects a plurality of superordinate ones of the weighted objective functions and adjusts the internal parameters.

3. The vehicular control system according to claim 2, wherein the policy setting module is configured to record the selected objective functions and inputs and outputs of the objective functions white the vehicle is running.

4. The vehicular control system according to claim 1, wherein the policy setting module is configured to input the policies from an input device provided in the vehicle.

5. The vehicular control system according to claim 1, wherein the policy setting module is configured to input the policies from a storage device provided in a key of the vehicle.

6. The vehicular control system according to claim 5, wherein the policy setting module is configured to store the policies into the storage device provided in the key of the vehicle when driving is terminated.

8. The vehicular control system according to claim 1, wherein the election by the driver of plural ones of the objective functions further includes setting the relative weighted strengths of the objective functions.

9. The vehicular control system according to claim 8, wherein the objective functions on display include controllability (F1), after-safety (F2), mileage (F3), exhaust emission performance (F4), tranquility (F5), and driving comfort (F6).

10. The vehicular control system according to claim 9, wherein the weighted strengths are set on a basis of a numerical scale, in which a mid-value of a numerical scale corresponding to each objective function represents a standard performance value of that objective function.

11. The vehicular control system according to claim 10, wherein the policy data of the driver are adjustable by altering the elected group of plural objective functions and/or changing the relative weighted strengths.

12. The vehicular control system according to claim 11, wherein the policy data of different drivers of the vehicle are associated with separate input devices of the vehicle.

13. The vehicular control system according to claim 9, wherein the policy data of the driver are adjustable by altering the elected group of plural objective functions and/or changing the relative weighted strengths.

14. The vehicular control system according to claim 9, wherein the policy data of a different driver of the vehicle are associated with separate input devices of the vehicle.

15. The vehicular control system according to claim 8, wherein the policy data of the driver are adjustable by altering the elected group of plural objective functions and/or changing the relative weighted strengths.

16. The vehicular control system according to claim 8, wherein the policy data of a different driver of the vehicle are associated with separate input devices of the vehicle.

17. The vehicular control system according to claim 1, wherein policy data of a different driver of the vehicle are associated with separate input devices of the vehicle.

18. The vehicular control system according to claim 9, wherein the policy setting module is configured to input the policies from a storage device provided in a key of the vehicle.

19. The vehicular control system according to claim 18, wherein the policy setting module is configured to store the policies into the storage device provided in the key of the vehicle when driving is terminated.

7. A control system, comprising a plurality of control nodes connected to a network and control targets respectively controlled by the control nodes, for controlling each of the control targets in association with the plurality of control nodes,

the control system comprising:

a user parameter input module for inputting a user parameter corresponding to an operation of a user;

an external parameter input module for inputting an external parameter resulting from an outside environment;

means for setting a plurality of objective functions for each control characteristic and calculating an internal parameter of each of the control targets from the user parameter and the external parameter;

a policy setting module for setting policies indicating a control index for the objective functions, respectively,

wherein the policy setting module is configured to include user policy data based on an election by the user of plural ones of objective functions on a display;

a parameter adjusting module for respectively weighting the plural objective functions based on the policies and including an internal parameter adjusting module for adjusting the internal parameter in accordance with the policies to optimize the internal parameter among the plural weighted objective functions,

wherein the internal parameter indicates the shift of the individual values on each objective function, the internal parameter adjusting module compares the shifts of the values between the plurality of objective functions for each internal parameter, and the internal parameter is adjusted based on the comparison result; and

an output module for issuing, as a command, the internal parameter obtained in the parameter adjusting module to that one of the control nodes which corresponds to the internal parameter,

wherein the parameter adjusting module further calculates, in every control cycle from a start of driving to an end of driving, the internal parameter using the user parameter and the external parameter as inputs so that each of the plurality of objective functions takes an optimum value.