Travel distance estimating apparatus, travel distance estimating method, travel distance estimating program, and recording medium

• US 8,798,901 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2010
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Yasushi, Mitsuo, Ohsawa, Susumu, Fukuda, Tatsuya, Fujii, Kyoichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US13/822,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20130179062A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 701/123, 701/1, 701/36, 702/45
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

A travel distance estimating apparatus (100) estimates a travel distance of a moving body in a given section through which the moving body travels (hereinafter referred to as a “travel interval”). A current position acquiring unit (101) acquires the current position of the moving body. A variable acquiring unit (102) acquires information related to the speed of the moving body in the travel interval. An estimating unit (103) estimates based on a consumed energy estimating equation, energy consumption and a travelable distance for travel through the travel interval. A correcting unit (104) corrects information related to the moving body and used as variables of the consumed energy estimating equation. A storage unit (105) stores information related to roads associated with a travel history of the moving body. A display unit (110) displays map data including information related to travelable distance calculated by the estimating unit (103).

Claims

1. A travel distance estimating apparatus comprising an estimating unit that estimates energy consumption for a moving body to travel through a travel interval, based on a consumed energy estimating equation made up of first information related to energy consumed during stop of the moving body while a drive source in an operating state, second information related to energy consumed and recovered during acceleration/deceleration of the moving body, and third information related to energy consumed by resistance generated during travel of the moving body.

2. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a variable acquiring unit that acquires and uses information related to speed of the moving body in the travel interval as variables related to the first information, the second information, and the third information, wherein

the estimating unit estimates energy consumption of the moving body by using the consumed energy estimating equation based on the information related to the speed of the moving body acquired by the variable acquiring unit.

3. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the variable acquiring unit acquires a traveling time required for travel through the travel interval, and

the estimating unit estimates based on the consumed energy estimating equation, energy consumption per unit time for travel through the travel interval and multiplies the energy consumption per unit time by the traveling time to estimate energy consumption for travel through the travel interval.

4. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the estimating unit uses an estimating equation averaging an energy amount per unit time consumed during acceleration of the moving body and an energy amount per unit time recovered during deceleration of the moving body as the second information.

5. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the variable acquiring unit acquires information related to a remaining energy amount of the moving body, and

the estimating unit uses the remaining energy amount as a solution of the consumed energy estimating equation to estimate a point at which the remaining energy amount is exhausted and calculate a travelable distance of the moving body.

6. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the estimating unit estimates a point at which the remaining energy amount is exhausted, the estimating unit estimating the point by repeating a process of estimating energy consumption for travel through a given travel interval among successive travel intervals and estimating energy consumption for travel through a subsequent travel interval adjacent to the given travel interval until the remaining energy amount is exhausted from a current position of the moving body.

7. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the estimating unit further incorporates into the consumed energy estimating equation, fourth information related to the energy consumed and recovered due to changes in height of a position of the moving body.

8. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a current position acquiring unit that acquires a current position of the moving body, and

a storage unit that stores map information sectioned into given ranges, and type information for each travel interval, wherein

if a given travel interval or a subsequent travel interval includes the current position of the moving body or is a travel interval of a particular type, the variable acquiring unit acquires information related to speed of the moving body traveling through the travel interval at this point, as variables related to the first information, the second information, and the third information.

9. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores travel history of the moving body, wherein

if a given travel interval or a subsequent travel interval does not include the current position of the moving body or is not a travel interval of a particular type, the variable acquiring unit acquires from the travel history of the moving body and as variables related to the second information and the third information, information related to speed of the moving body during past travel through the travel interval.

10. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the storage unit stores the travel history of the moving body for each given range, and

the variable acquiring unit acquires from the travel history of the moving body and as variables related to the first information, the second information, and the third information, the information related to the speed of travel in a given range.

11. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the estimating unit estimates energy consumption for the travel interval based on Equation (1) or Equation (2) below as the consumed energy estimating equation.

12. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a correcting unit that corrects information related to the moving body and used as variables of the consumed energy estimating equation, wherein

the variable acquiring unit acquires actual energy consumption of the moving body for the travel interval, and

the correcting unit corrects based on the actual energy consumption, the information related to the moving body and used as variables of the consumed energy estimating equation.

13. The travel distance estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information estimated by the estimating unit is displayed on a display unit along with map data.

14. A travel distance estimating method of a travel distance estimating apparatus that estimates energy consumption of a moving body, the travel distance estimating method comprising

estimating energy consumption of the moving body traveling through a travel interval, based on a consumed energy estimating equation made up of first information related to energy consumed during stop of the moving body with a drive source in an operating state, second information related to energy consumed and recovered during acceleration/deceleration of the moving body, and third information related to energy consumed by resistance to which the moving body is subject during travel.

15. A computer-readable recording medium storing a travel distance estimating program that causes a computer to execute

estimating energy consumption of the moving body traveling through a travel interval, based on a consumed energy estimating equation made up of first information related to energy consumed during stop of the moving body with a drive source in an operating state, second information related to energy consumed and recovered during acceleration/deceleration of the moving body, and third information related to energy consumed by resistance to which the moving body is subject during travel.