Driving diagnosis apparatus and program for same

• US 8,903,594 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2011
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Sakuma, Yasushi, Itoh, Yasuyuki, Yamada, Kazunao, Mizuno, Yusuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, John Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fei, Jordan S
• Application Number:
  US13/176,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20120010773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/29.1, 701/29.2
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

When an accelerator is put in an OFF state to decelerate a vehicle and perform inertia travel with supply of fuel being cut off, measurement of an accelerator OFF lapse time is started. When a travel speed falls down to be lower than a pre-stop speed, a measured lapse time is stored in a memory, with the measurement of the lapse time being further continued. After finishing a travel of a downward slope, the travel speed is reduced to fall down to the pre-stop speed again, a lapse time continuously measured up to that time is updated in the memory. When the travel speed falls to a stop speed, the measurement of the lapse time is finished and the continuously-measured lapse time is determined as a required stop time of the vehicle. As the required stop time increases, driving is diagnosed as being fuel-efficient.

Claims

1. A driving diagnosis apparatus for use in a vehicle, in which a fuel cutoff operation is performed in an accelerator OFF state of the vehicle, the OFF state indicates that the accelerator is not being depressed, such that (i) fuel supply to an internal combustion engine is stopped when a rotation speed of the engine is higher than a predetermined fuel cutoff speed, and (ii) the fuel supply to the engine is started again when the rotation speed of the engine is equal to or lower than a predetermined set speed lower than the predetermined fuel cutoff speed, the apparatus comprising:

an accelerator operation detection section that detects an operation of an accelerator of a vehicle;

a speed acquisition section that acquires a travel speed of the vehicle;

a lapse time measurement section that measures lapse time of the accelerator OFF state based on a detection result of the accelerator operation detection section;

a lapse time storage section that stores, in a memory unit, the lapse time measured by the lapse time measurement section up to a time point, at which the travel speed of the vehicle acquired by the speed acquisition section becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined pre-stop speed that indicates a travel speed of the vehicle driven by the engine rotating at the predetermined set speed; and

a lapse time determination section that determines the lapse time stored in the memory unit as a required stopping time when the travel speed acquired from the speed acquisition section is equal to or lower than a predetermined stop speed that is smaller than the predetermined pre-stop speed, the required stopping time indicating a time length of inertia travel of the vehicle under the fuel cutoff operation reflecting fuel efficient driving,

wherein

the lapse time measurement section continues to measure the lapse time until the travel speed falls to the predetermined stop speed, if the accelerator remains in the accelerator OFF state,

the lapse time storage section updates the lapse time stored in the memory unit each time the travel speed acquired from the travel speed acquisition section becomes equal to or lower than the predetermined pre-stop speed as long as the lapse time measurement section continues to measure the lapse time of the accelerator OFF state, and

the lapse time determination section determines the required stopping time based on the lapse time updated immediately before the lapse time measurement section stops measurement of the lapse time at an end of the accelerator OFF state.

2. The driving diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a measurement cancellation section that cancels the lapse time measurement by the lapse time measurement section and initializes the measured lapse time, when the accelerator is determined to be in an accelerator ON state based on a detection result of the accelerator operation detection section.

3. The driving diagnosis apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a driving diagnosis section that determines a driving evaluation of the vehicle based on the required stopping time determined by the lapse time determination section.

4. The driving diagnosis apparatus of claim 3, wherein:

the driving diagnosis section determines higher evaluation in the driving evaluation of the vehicle as the required stopping time is longer.

5. The driving diagnosis apparatus of claim 3, wherein:

the driving diagnosis section determines higher evaluation in the driving evaluation of the vehicle as the travel speed is lower at a start time of the accelerator OFF state, from which time the measurement of the required stopping time starts.

6. The non-transitory program storage product of claim 5, wherein the predetermined pre-stop speed is higher than the stop speed.

7. The driving diagnosis apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined pre-stop speed is higher than the stop speed.

8. A non-transitory program storage product storing a computer readable program for controlling a computer to perform a driving diagnosis operation in a vehicle, in which a fuel cutoff operation is performed in an accelerator OFF state of the vehicle, the OFF state indicates that the accelerator is not being depressed, such that (i) fuel supply to an internal combustion engine is stopped when a rotation speed of the engine is higher than a predetermined fuel cutoff speed, and (ii) the fuel supply to the engine is maintained when the rotation speed of the engine is equal to or lower than a predetermined set speed lower than the predetermined fuel cutoff speed, the program storage product storing steps of:

detecting an operation of an accelerator of a vehicle;

acquiring a travel speed of the vehicle;

measuring lapse time of the accelerator OFF state based on a detection result of the step of accelerator operation detection;

storing the lapse time measured by the step of lapse time measurement up to a time point, at which the travel speed of the vehicle acquired by the step of speed acquisition becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined pre-stop speed that indicates a travel speed of the vehicle driven by the engine rotating at the predetermined set speed; and

determining the lapse time stored by the step of storing as a required stopping time when the travel speed acquired by the step of the speed acquisition is equal to or lower than a predetermined stop speed that is smaller than the pre-determined pre-stop speed, the required stopping time indicating a time length of inertia travel of the vehicle under the fuel cutoff operation reflecting fuel efficient driving,

wherein

the step of lapse time measurement continues to measure the lapse time until the travel speed falls to the predetermined stop speed, if the accelerator remains in the accelerator OFF state,

the step of storing updates the lapse time each time the travel speed acquired from the step of acquiring the travel speed becomes equal to or lower than the predetermined pre-stop speed as long as the step of measuring the lapse time continues to measure the lapse time of the accelerator OFF state, and

the step of determining the lapse time determines the required stopping time based on the lapse time updated immediately before the step of measuring the lapse time stops measurement of the lapse time at an end of the accelerator OFF state.

9. The non-transitory program storage product of claim 8, further comprising steps of:

canceling the lapse time measurement by the step of lapse time measurement and initializing the measured lapse time, when the accelerator is determined to be in an accelerator ON state based on a detection result of the step of detecting the operation of the accelerator.

10. The non-transitory program storage product of claim 8, further comprising steps of:

determining a driving evaluation of the vehicle based on the required stopping time determined by the step of determining the lapse time.

11. The non-transitory program storage product of claim 10, wherein:

the step of determining the driving evaluation of the vehicle determines a higher evaluation in the driving evaluation of the vehicle as the required stopping time is longer.

12. The non-transitory program storage product of claim 10, wherein:

the step of determining the driving evaluation of the vehicle determines a higher evaluation in the driving evaluation of the vehicle as the travel speed is lower at a start time of the accelerator OFF state, from which time the measurement of the required stopping time starts.