Section acquisition system, section acquisition method, and section acquisition program

• US 9,834,197 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirano, Satoshi, Miyajima, Takayuki, Kodan, Tomoki, Tanaka, Kuniaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): TESTARDI, DAVID A
• Application Number:
  US15/021,538
• Publication Number:
  US 20160229389A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/68 Traffic data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/12 using control strategies taking into account route information estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters B60W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/13 in order to stay within battery power input or output limits; in order to prevent overcharging or battery depletion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/40 Coefficient of friction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/406 Traffic density
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/06 Combustion engines, Gas turbines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/08 Electric propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/182 Selecting between different operative modes, e.g. comfort and performance modes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/1005 Driving resistance
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/92 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 : Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 : employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 : Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

Section acquisition systems, methods, and programs acquire a scheduled travel route of a vehicle driven by at least one of an internal combustion engine or a motor. The systems, methods, and programs divide the scheduled travel route that is in a range of a predetermined distance from a current location into a plurality of sections such that a difference in traffic congestion degree is distinguished, and divide the scheduled travel route that is not in the range of the predetermined distance from the current location into a plurality of sections such that a difference in travel load is distinguished.

Claims

1. A section acquisition system, comprising:

a memory storing a computer-executable section acquisition program; and

a processor that is configured by the stored program to;

acquire a scheduled travel route of a vehicle at least partially driven by a motor, the scheduled travel route including a plurality of links, each link being a section of the scheduled travel route between adjacent intersections along the scheduled travel route;

set a predetermined distance as a distance over which a current state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle can be increased to a target SOC of the battery of the vehicle;

divide the scheduled travel route that is in a range of the set predetermined distance from a current location into a plurality of close-range sections, each close-range section having an assigned traffic congestion degree, the close-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link;

divide the scheduled travel route that is not in the range of the set predetermined distance from the current location into a plurality of far-range sections each far-range section having an assigned travel load, the far-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link; and

transmit the close-range sections and the far-range sections to a vehicle ECU to selectively control the motor of the vehicle traveling along the scheduled travel route.

2. The section acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured by the stored program to:

acquire initial sections obtained by dividing the scheduled travel route that is in the range of the set predetermined distance from the current location in accordance with a predefined rule; and

if the difference in traffic congestion degree between adjacent ones of the initial sections is less than or equal to a reference value, integrate the adjacent initial sections together to be used as a section after the division.

3. The section acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured by the stored program to:

acquire initial sections obtained by dividing the scheduled travel route that is not in the range of the set predetermined distance from the current location in accordance with a predefined rule; and

if the difference in travel load between adjacent ones of the initial sections is less than or equal to a threshold value, integrate the adjacent initial sections together to be used as a section after the division.

4. The section acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein:

the set predetermined distance is a predetermined fixed distance.

5. A section acquisition method, comprising:

acquiring a scheduled travel route of a vehicle at least partially driven by a motor, the scheduled travel route including a plurality of links, each link being a section of the scheduled travel route between adjacent intersections along the scheduled travel route;

setting a predetermined distance as a distance over which a current state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle can be increased to a target SOC of the battery of the vehicle;

dividing the scheduled travel route that is in a range of the set predetermined distance from a current location into a plurality of close-range sections, each close-range section having an assigned traffic congestion degree, the close-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link;

dividing the scheduled travel route that is not in the range of the set predetermined distance from the current location into a plurality of far-range sections each far-range section having an assigned travel load, the far-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link; and

transmitting the close-range sections and the far-range sections to a vehicle ECU to selectively control the motor of the vehicle traveling along the scheduled travel route.

6. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executable section acquisition program, the program comprising:

instructions for acquiring a scheduled travel route of a vehicle at least partially driven by a motor, the scheduled travel route including a plurality of links, each link being a section of the scheduled travel route between adjacent intersections along the scheduled travel route;

instructions for setting a predetermined distance as a distance over which a current state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle can be increased to a target SOC of the battery of the vehicle;

instructions for dividing the scheduled travel route that is in a range of the set predetermined distance from a current location into a plurality of close-range sections, each close-range section having an assigned traffic congestion degree, the close-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link;

instructions for dividing the scheduled travel route that is not in the range of the set predetermined distance from the current location into a plurality of far-range sections each far-range section having an assigned travel load, the far-range sections including sections that are longer than a single link; and

instructions for transmitting the close-range sections and the far-range sections to a vehicle ECU to selectively control the motor of the vehicle traveling along the scheduled travel route.