Fuel consumption saving drive supporting device

• US 8,576,057 B2
• Filed: 12/25/2007
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sekiyama, Hiroaki, Oe, Yoshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US12/521,084
• Publication Number:
  US 20100090818A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,142 Days
• Field of Search: 340/439, 340/459
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/0625 Fuel consumption, e.g. measured in fuel liters per 100 kms or miles per gallon
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/02 wherein the other variable is the speed of a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

A fuel consumption saving drive supporting device which calculates a mileage of each driver and informs each driver of advice based on an increase or a decrease of the calculated mileage is disclosed. The fuel consumption saving drive supporting device extracts a drive operation of the driver or a drive condition of a vehicle of the driver for increasing the mileage, and informs the driver of the advice in the drive operation or the drive condition corresponding to the extracted drive operation or the extracted drive condition.

Claims

1. A fuel consumption saving drive supporting device which informs a driver of advice based on an increase or a decrease of a calculated mileage, comprising:

a detector configured to detect vehicle information related to a drive operation or a drive condition of a vehicle;

a mileage calculating section configured to calculate a mileage based on the vehicle information and store a history of mileage information on a driver basis and on a drive condition basis;

a drive evaluating section configured to compare past mileage information recorded at every predetermined time with the current mileage information of the driver, extract the drive operation or the drive condition of the vehicle which leads to a mileage variation, and inform a driver of advice according to the extracted drive operation or drive condition;

wherein if a first advice is informed to the driver due to a deterioration of the mileage, the drive operation and the mileage information related to the deterioration of the mileage are stored; and

if the driver operation which induced informing the driver of the first advice is not detected within a predetermined time after the mileage information related to the deterioration of the mileage is detected, the drive evaluating section informs the driver of a second advice which expressly indicates that the driver operation that induced the informing of the first advice, is no longer detected,

wherein the second advice is configured to expressly identify the driver operation that induced the informing of the first advice.

2. The fuel consumption saving drive supporting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the mileage is individually calculated in each on a general road and on a motor highway, and the advice is individually informed to the driver in each on the general road and on the motor highway.

3. The fuel consumption saving drive supporting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the drive operation is detected from at least one of a braking operation, a position shifting operation of transmission gears, a vehicle velocity, engine revolutions, and an accelerating and decelerating operation.

4. The fuel consumption saving drive supporting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

an informing unit informs the driver of the first advice corresponding to the drive operation which has caused the mileage to decrease based on the drive operation; and

when the drive operation which has caused the first advice to be informed to the driver is not detected within the predetermined time, the informing unit informs the driver of the second advice.

5. The fuel consumption saving drive supporting device as claimed in claim 4, wherein:

the drive condition is detected from one or more of an air conditioner operation, oil deterioration information, tire air pressure information, a wearing degree of the tire, an exhaust gas condition, a vehicle height, cooling water temperature, lubrication oil temperature, road inclination, the number of persons in the vehicle, and laden weight on the vehicle; and

the informing unit informs the driver of the advice including the drive condition detected when the mileage has been increased or decreased.