Vehicle steering system and method of controlling the same
First Claim
1. A vehicle steering system comprising:
- a steering wheel, operated by a driver, for steering a vehicle;
a reaction force actuator for adjusting reaction force provided against an operation of the steering wheel;
an actual steering actuator for steering a steered wheel; and
a controller that adjusts magnitude of the reaction force by driving the reaction force actuator in accordance with an operation of the steering wheel, and that controls steering of the steered wheel by driving the actual steering actuator,wherein the controller includes;
a familiarity degree-determining section for determining a degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with steering characteristics that reflect relations between a certain operation of the steering wheel and both of a reaction force characteristic and an actual steering characteristic of the steered wheel in response to the certain operation of the steering wheel;
a steering characteristic-changing section for changing the steering characteristics in accordance with the determined degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity; and
an actuator operation-controlling section for controlling operation of the reaction force actuator and the actual steering actuator based on the steering characteristics changed by the steering characteristic-changing section,wherein the familiarity degree-determining section includes an operation amount-detecting section for detecting an amount of operation of the steering wheel by a driver, and a kinetic state quantity-detecting section for detecting a kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that varies due to an operation of the steering wheel,wherein the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with the steering characteristics is determined based on at least one of the operation amount detected by the operation amount-detecting section, the kinetic state quantity of the vehicle detected by the kinetic state quantity-detecting section, and a desired kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that is calculated based on the detected operation amount, andwherein the familiarity degree-determining section determines the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity based on the steering wheel operation amount detected by the operation amount-detecting section, and a value of a time derivative of the detected operation amount.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic control unit receives a detection value from each sensor, and determines a familiarity degree coefficient indicating the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with steering characteristics, using the received detection values. When the coefficient has a value near “0”, a desired actual steering angle is calculated to be a small value, and when the coefficient has a value near “1”, a desired actual steering angle is calculated to be a large value. When the coefficient has a value near “0”, a time constant of an actual steering actuator is set to a large value, and when the coefficient has a value near “1”, the time constant is set to a small value. A reaction torque is determined based on the coefficient.
36 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A vehicle steering system comprising:
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a steering wheel, operated by a driver, for steering a vehicle; a reaction force actuator for adjusting reaction force provided against an operation of the steering wheel; an actual steering actuator for steering a steered wheel; and a controller that adjusts magnitude of the reaction force by driving the reaction force actuator in accordance with an operation of the steering wheel, and that controls steering of the steered wheel by driving the actual steering actuator, wherein the controller includes; a familiarity degree-determining section for determining a degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with steering characteristics that reflect relations between a certain operation of the steering wheel and both of a reaction force characteristic and an actual steering characteristic of the steered wheel in response to the certain operation of the steering wheel; a steering characteristic-changing section for changing the steering characteristics in accordance with the determined degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity; and an actuator operation-controlling section for controlling operation of the reaction force actuator and the actual steering actuator based on the steering characteristics changed by the steering characteristic-changing section, wherein the familiarity degree-determining section includes an operation amount-detecting section for detecting an amount of operation of the steering wheel by a driver, and a kinetic state quantity-detecting section for detecting a kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that varies due to an operation of the steering wheel, wherein the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with the steering characteristics is determined based on at least one of the operation amount detected by the operation amount-detecting section, the kinetic state quantity of the vehicle detected by the kinetic state quantity-detecting section, and a desired kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that is calculated based on the detected operation amount, and wherein the familiarity degree-determining section determines the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity based on the steering wheel operation amount detected by the operation amount-detecting section, and a value of a time derivative of the detected operation amount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of controlling a vehicle steering system that includes:
- a steering wheel, operated by a driver, for steering a vehicle;
a reaction force actuator for adjusting reaction force provided against an operation of the steering wheel;
an actual steering actuator for steering a steered wheel; and
a controller that adjusts magnitude of the reaction force by driving the reaction force actuator in accordance with an operation of the steering wheel, and that controls steering of the steered wheel by driving the actual steering actuator, the method comprising;determining a degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with steering characteristics that reflect relations between a certain operation of the steering wheel and both of a reaction force characteristic and an actual steering characteristic of the steered wheel in response to the certain operation of the steering wheel; changing the steering characteristics in accordance with the determined degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity; and controlling operation of the reaction force actuator and the actual steering actuator based on the changed steering characteristics, wherein the determining the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity includes detecting an amount of operation of the steering wheel by a driver, and detecting a kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that varies due to an operation of the steering wheel, wherein the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity with the steering characteristics is determined based on at least one of the detected operation amount, the detected kinetic state quantity of the vehicle, and a desired kinetic state quantity of the vehicle that is calculated based on the detected operation amount, and wherein the degree of driver'"'"'s familiarity is determined based on the detected steering wheel operation amount, and a value of a time derivative of the detected operation amount.
- a steering wheel, operated by a driver, for steering a vehicle;
Specification