Method and system for controlling an automatic transmission using a GPS assist having a learn mode

• US 7,146,264 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Issued: 12/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Day, Paul Reuben, Bates, Cary Lee, Santosuosso, John Matthew, Crenshaw, Robert James
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CUONG H
• Application Number:
  US09/822,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20020143454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,076 Days
• Field of Search: 701/51, 701/53, 701/55, 701 57- 60, 701/200, 701/65, 701/207, 701/213, 731/78.R, 340/988, 340/5.1
• US Class Current: 701/59
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2059/666 Determining road conditions by using vehicle location or position, e.g. from global navigation systems [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/66 Road conditions, e.g. slope, slippery
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/0213 characterised by the method for generating shift signals

Abstract

A method and system for controlling an automatic transmission is disclosed. The method and system include obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS) and monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data. The method and system also include learning whether performance of the automatic transmission can be improved utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data. Moreover, the method and system include adjusting a shift threshold for the positioning data for the automatic transmission if it is determined that the performance of the automatic transmission can be improved.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an automatic transmission comprising the steps of:

obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS);

monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data;

automatically learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data;

wherein the learning step determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable when a predetermined load on the automatic transmission system increases by a particular amount within a particular time;

automatically adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the learning step determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable and if the positioning data can be obtained using the GPS, and setting the shift threshold to a preset shift threshold if the positioning data cannot be obtained using the GPS.

3. The method of claim 1 the threshold-adjusting step further includes the steps of:

determining whether a driving condition exists; and

determining a desired threshold for the automatic transmission based on the driving condition.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting step further includes the steps of:

determining a particular shift thresholds; and

adjusting the shift threshold by a portion of a difference between a current shift threshold and the particular shift threshold each time the learning step determines that the performance of the automatic transmission can be improved.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

storing a record of the positioning data and transmission data each time the obtaining and monitoring steps and are performed.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of:

removing the record if the positioning data in the obtaining step is not repeated for a particular time.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring step further includes the step of:

monitoring a load on the transmission.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the learning step further includes the step of:

determining whether the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift up or shift down and wherein the shift threshold adjusting step includes the step of

adjusting the shift level up if the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift up and adjusting the shift threshold down if the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift down.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the position obtaining step further obtains an altitude from the BPS and wherein the shift threshold adjusting step further includes the step of:

adjusting the shift threshold for the automatic transmission based on the altitude.

2. A method for controlling an automatic transmission comprising the steps of:

obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS);

monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data;

automatically learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data;

automatically adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the learning step determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable;

determining whether a one-time event has occurred; and

ensuring that the automatic transmission is at a factory setting if the one-time event has occurred.

4. A method for controlling an automatic transmission comprising the steps of:

obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS);

monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data;

automatically learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data, the learning step further including the step of

determining that the performance is improvable if the automatic transmission performs an unnecessary shift a particular number of times, the unnecessary shift being a shift that occurs for less than or equal to a particular amount of time; and

automatically adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the learning step determines that the performance at the automatic transmission is improvable.

11. A method for controlling an automatic transmission comprising the steps of:

obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS);

monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data;

automatically learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data, the performance of the automatic transmission being improved by a shift threshold adjustment if the automatic transmission performs an unnecessary shift, the unnecessary shift being a shift that occurs for less than or equal to a particular amount of time; and

automatically adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the learning step determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable.