Vehicle inspection apparatus

• US 8,392,052 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2009
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Takeda, Toshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kiswanto, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US12/634,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20100168955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33.1, 701/29.1, 701/29.6, 701/31.7, 701/31.8, 701/32.7, 701/32.9, 701/33.4, 701/33.7, 701/33.8, 701/34.3
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0006 Digital architecture hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0245 based on a qualitative model, e.g. rule based; if-then decisions

Abstract

The vehicle inspection apparatus is for inspecting behavior of at least one control object mounted on a vehicle whose behavior is controlled through behavior control performed by a control section included in a control system mounted on the vehicle in accordance with a behavior request inputted from an external device. The vehicle inspection apparatus includes a behavior judging section to judge whether or not the control object is abnormal on the basis of a detected behavior value of the control object and an estimated behavior value of the control object, whose dimensions have been matched with each other.

Claims

1. A vehicle inspection apparatus, including a processor and a memory storing a program for execution by the processor, for inspecting behavior of at least one control object mounted on a vehicle whose behavior is controlled through behavior control performed by a control section included in a control system mounted on said vehicle in accordance with a behavior request inputted from an external device, the program comprising:

an associated inspection processing section set to perform an associated inspecting process associated with said control object; and

an independent inspection processing section configured to perform an independent inspecting process not associated with and independent from said control object;

wherein said associated inspection processing section includes;

a behavior detecting section to detect, as a behavior detection value, behavior of said control object reflecting a control command value outputted from said control section;

a behavior estimating section to estimate, as a behavior estimation value, behavior of said control object on the basis of said behavior request;

a dimension matching section to match dimensions of physical values of said behavior detection value and said behavior estimation value with each other; and

wherein said independent inspection processing section includes a behavior judging section to judge whether or not said control object is abnormal on the basis of a deviation between said behavior detection value and said behavior estimation value as a behavior deviation, whose dimensions have been matched with each other by said dimension matching section;

a behavior vector splitting section configured to perform vector splitting on a magnitude and direction of the behavior estimation value of a functional domain for each of the at least one control object; and

a correction amount calculating section configured to receive as inputs a behavior correction value of the at least one control object and a corresponding control command value from the control section, and to calculate a correction amount of the control command value outputted from the control section to an abnormal control object in order to improve behavior of the abnormal control object or an abnormal functional domain.

2. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior estimating section estimates behavior of said control object on the basis of a physical model inputted with said behavior request and set in accordance with a characteristic of said control object, and a parameter which is specific to said vehicle and characterizes said physical model.

3. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior judging section judges whether there is a behavior abnormality in said control object on the basis of a ratio between said behavior estimation value and said behavior detection value.

4. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dimension matching section matches said dimensions of said behavior estimation value and said behavior detection value with a dimension of said control command value, and said behavior judging section judges after judging that said control object is abnormal, whether or not a cause of abnormality of said control object is due to said control system on the basis of a deviation between said behavior detection value and said control command value as a control deviation, whose dimensions have been matched with each other by said dimension matching section.

5. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said associated inspection processing section includes an abnormality location identifying section to identify an abnormality location in said control system when said behavior judging section judges that said control system is abnormal.

6. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said associated inspection processing section includes an abnormality location isolating section to isolate an abnormality location identified by said abnormality location identifying section.

7. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said abnormality location isolating section isolates, together with said identified abnormality location, a location in said control system which operates in conjunction with said identified abnormality location.

8. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the correction amount calculating section forms part of a correction commanding section which is configured to calculate the correction amount of said control command value on the basis of said behavior deviation, said behavior estimation value and said control command value when said behavior judging section judges that behavior of said control object is abnormal on the basis of said behavior deviation and after said abnormality location isolating function isolates said abnormality location from said control system, and to command said control section to control behavior of said control object with regard to said calculated correction amount.

9. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction amount calculating section forms part of a correction commanding section which is configured to calculate the correction amount of said control command value on the basis of said behavior deviation, said behavior estimation value and said control command value when said behavior judging section judges that behavior of said control object is abnormal on the basis of said behavior deviation, and to command said control section to control behavior of said control object with regard to said calculated correction amount.

10. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said associated inspection processing section is configured to perform said associated inspecting process for a plurality of control objects, and said independent inspection processing section is configured to perform said independent inspecting process for said plurality of said control objects.

11. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said associated inspection processing section is configured to perform said associated inspecting process for the whole vehicle, and said independent inspection processing section is configured to perform said independent inspecting process for the whole vehicle.

12. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section are constituted of the same processing device.

13. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section are constituted of different processing devices for each other.

14. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control section, said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section are constituted of the same processing device, said processing device including a protecting function to enable said control section, said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section to operate without interfering with one another.

15. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section respectively perform said associated inspecting process and said independent inspecting process for one of a plurality of control objects which is different from another one of said plurality of said control objects whose behavior is being controlled by said control section.

16. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said processing device includes a first computation unit to execute programs for implementing said independent inspecting process and said associated inspecting process, and a second computation unit to execute a program for implementing said behavior control,

said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section being supplied with electric power from a power supply different from a power supply which supplies electric power to said control section.

17. The vehicle inspection apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said processing device includes a first computation unit to execute programs for implementing said independent inspecting process and said associated inspecting process, and a second computation unit to execute a program for implementing said behavior control,

said associated inspection processing section and said independent inspection processing section being supplied with electric power from a power supply different from a power supply which supplies electric power to said control section.