System and method for providing adaptive vehicle settings based on a known route

• US 9,008,858 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2014
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Dufford, Mohammad E., Payne, Joshua D., Gaither, Geoffrey D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US14/231,457
• Time in Patent Office: 379 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0195 characterised by the regulation being combined with other vehicle control systems conjoint control of vehicle sub-units including control of suspension systems B60W10/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/02 Spring characteristics , e.g. mechanical springs and mechanical adjusting meansB60G17/005, B60G17/015 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/08 Characteristics of fluid dampers adjusting fluid dampers in general F16F9/44 - F16F9/53
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/204 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2401/16 GPS track data
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/10 Damping action or damper
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/20 Spring action or springs
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00771 the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

Systems and methods for adaptively adjusting settings of a vehicle during a known route are described. A method may include storing a driving route, parsing the driving route into a plurality of segments based on at least one of a turn detection, an intersection detection, a change in road conditions, a change in speed of the vehicle, or a predetermined distance traveled. The method may also include assigning to each segment a unique identification code, storing a plurality of values correlating to settings, the settings having values determined during a segment of the driving route, and associating each of the plurality of values to the unique identification code of the segment in which the setting was determined. The method may also include automatically changing each of the plurality of values at the beginning of each segment in which the value was altered.

Claims

1. A method for adaptively adjusting settings of a vehicle during a known route, the method comprising:

storing, in a memory, a start location and an end location of a driving route;

parsing, using a processor, the driving route into a plurality of segments based on at least one of a turn detection, an intersection detection, a change in a road condition, a change in a speed of the vehicle, or a predetermined distance traveled;

assigning a unique identification code to each segment;

storing, in the memory, a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of settings, the settings having values determined during a segment of the driving route, wherein each of the plurality of settings corresponds to one of the plurality of values and each of the plurality of values corresponds to one of the plurality of settings;

associating, in the memory, each of the plurality of values to the unique identification code of the segment in which the setting was set; and

automatically activating, at the beginning of the segment using the processor, at least one of the plurality of settings when the corresponding stored value differs from the value the setting is currently set to.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a first segment of the driving route occurs before the vehicle begins to travel, wherein each of the plurality of values is applied to the vehicle before the vehicle begins to travel.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of segments contains segment information which is associated with a segment comprising the same location information and plurality of values correlated with a new route, wherein each of the plurality of values is applied to the segments in the both of the routes.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of time between driving routes is known to exist, further comprising automatically changing, by the processor, values for settings during the portion.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the settings are associated with a setting for at least one of an ECO/Sports mode, a temperature control, a suspension firmness, a radio setting or a PHV charge timer.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein an end segment of the driving route occurs at the end of the driving route, wherein each of the plurality of values is applied to the vehicle at the moment the vehicle reaches the end segment.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a driving route may comprise a number of different routes linked with one another in the memory.

8. A method for adaptively adjusting settings of a vehicle during a route, the method comprising:

parsing, using a processor, the driving route into a plurality of segments based on at least one of a turn detection, an intersection detection, a change in a road condition, a change in a speed of the vehicle or a predetermined distance traveled;

assigning a unique identification code to each segment;

storing, in the memory, a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of settings, the settings having values determined during a segment of the driving route, wherein each of the plurality of settings corresponds to one of the plurality of values and each of the plurality of values corresponds to one of the plurality of settings;

associating, in the memory, each of the plurality of values to the unique identification code of the segment in which the setting was set; and

selecting at least one candidate route using the processor;

assigning a route weight for each of the candidate routes using the processor;

predicting, by selecting the candidate route with the highest route weight, a predicted route using the processor; and

automatically activating, at the beginning of the segment using the processor, at least one of the plurality of settings when the corresponding stored value corresponding to the predicted route differs from the value the setting is currently set to.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the settings are associated with a setting for at least one of an ECO/Sports mode, a temperature control, a suspension firmness, a radio setting or a PHV charge timer.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein a driving route may comprise a number of different routes linked with one another in the memory.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

displaying, on a display screen, the predicted route; and

receiving, by an input device, confirmation from a user that the predicted route is correct.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of values may be automatically controlled by the processor before the driving route is known.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising determining, by the processor, whether the predicted route is still valid, based on at least one of a user input, next segment information, current location information or information within the memory associated with the predicted route.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein selecting candidate routes is performed by the processor by identifying the candidate routes as routes which have at least one location within a threshold distance of the second location.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein selecting the predicted route is performed by the processor based on at least one of the first location, the second location, a current time of day, a current date or a ratio of number of times the candidate route was traveled to the total number of times all candidate routes were traveled.

16. The method of claim 8 further comprising determining, by the processor, at the end of the driving route, whether the driving route is a new route, based in information stored in the memory.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising updating, in the memory, values associated with settings, if the settings values have altered from the stored values for the driving route, if the driving route is not a new route.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising storing, in the memory, location information for each segment of the driving route and values associated with settings for each segment of the driving route, and associating this information with a new route identifier, if the driving route is a new route.

19. An apparatus for adaptively adjusting settings of a vehicle during a driving route, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

parse a driving route into a plurality of segments based on at least one of a turn detection, an intersection detection, a change in road conditions, a change in speed of the vehicle, or a predetermined distance traveled;

assign to each of the plurality of segments a unique identification code;

select at least one candidate route and assign a weight to each of the at least one candidate route; and

automatically change a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of settings at the beginning of each of the plurality of segments in which the value was set as associated with the predicted route in the memory, wherein each of the plurality of settings corresponds to one of the plurality of values and each of the plurality of values corresponds to one of the plurality of settings; and

a memory configured to;

store the plurality of values correlating to settings, the settings having values determined during a segment of the driving route; and

associate each of the plurality of values to the unique identification code of the segment in which the setting was determined.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the driving route has values which are correlated with the driving route before the driving route begins.