Vehicle auxiliary system with global positioning system control

• US 9,116,782 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• 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: Pierfelice, Jeffrey E., Jotanovic, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jabr, Fadey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Troost, Aaron L
• Application Number:
  US13/653,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20140107889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,042 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/38, 701/533
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/002 by monitoring conditions other than tyre pressure or deformation
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0165 to an external condition, e.g. rough road surface, side wind
• 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 2400/52 in tyre
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/84 Atmospheric conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/90 Other conditions or factors
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2401/16 GPS track data
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/10 Damping action or damper
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/30 Height or ground clearance
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2600/04 Means for informing, instructing or displaying
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2600/0422 involving data transmission, e.g. via satellite or GPS; for data monitoring, telemetry or platooning purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/10 including control of change-speed gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/22 including control of suspension systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2530/20 Tyre data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• 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 30/02 : Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 : Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 : Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/005 : with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching G01C21/30 takes precedence
• 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 system for a vehicle includes a vehicle support subsystem in communication with the GPS subsystem, the vehicle support subsystem operable in response to the GPS subsystem. The system can control a vehicle characteristic (e.g., tire inflation pressure, suspension system, suspension damping system, ride height adjustment system) based at least in part on terrain obtained from a global positioning system (GPS), current weather information, and/or historical weather information.

Claims

1. A system for a vehicle comprising:

a GPS system;

a tire inflation subsystem;

a control system in combination with said GPS subsystem and said tire inflation subsystem;

the control subsystem including a user interface;

the control system, in response to a terrain change detected by the GPS subsystem, alerting the driver of a change in a condition of the tire inflation subsystem based on a terrain change;

the control system changing or not changing the condition of the tire inflation subsystem in response to a driver input confirming or not confirming a change in the condition of the tire inflation system based on a terrain change; and

the control system, by the user interface, advising the driver to stop the vehicle and enter another confirming input through the user interface that the vehicle has been stopped before beginning changing the condition of the tire inflation system.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the control system includes a display.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the control system includes a terrain database.

4. A method of operating a system for a vehicle comprising:

identifying a vehicle location with respect to a terrain condition using a GPS subsystem;

coupling a control system in communication with said GPS system and a vehicle tire inflation subsystem;

providing said control subsystem with a user interface;

alerting the driver, by the control system, in response to a terrain change detected by the GPS subsystem, of a change in the tire inflation subsystem based on a terrain change;

changing or not changing by the control system of a condition of the tire inflation subsystem in response to a driver input through a user interface confirming or not confirming a change in the condition of the tire inflation subsystem based on a terrain change; and

beginning changing the condition of the tire inflation system after the control system, through the user interface, advises the driver of the vehicle to stop the vehicle and to enter another confirming input through the user interface that the vehicle has been stopped before beginning changing the condition of the tire inflation system.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein operating the vehicle support subsystem further includes adjusting a tire pressure.