Vehicle driver-model controller with energy economy rating adjustments

• US 9,174,647 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Rose, Lawrence M., Pence, Benjamin L., Tsou, Poyu, Che, Judy H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Bao Long T
• Application Number:
  US13/925,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20140379246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 701 93- 94, 701/110, 701/115, 701/123
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0063 Manual parameter input, manual setting means, manual initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A controller with energy economy rating (EER) calibration logic is configured to adjust a look-ahead time and feed-forward mapping window for vehicle controls according to EER.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of operating a vehicle, comprising:

storing data for a plurality of vehicle dynamic information (VDI);

defining a first relationship between first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a first look-ahead time window;

defining a second relationship between the first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a second look-ahead time window; and

automatically controlling the vehicle based on a target energy economy rating (EER).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first VDI is vehicle velocity and wherein the second VDI is vehicle acceleration.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the target EER from a vehicle user.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

calculating EER based on vehicle performance.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

correlating EER with a driving style;

wherein an EER greater than or equal to zero is correlated with an aggressive driving style; and

wherein an EER less than zero is correlated with a smooth driving style.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating EER based on vehicle performance.

7. A computer-implemented method of operating a vehicle, comprising:

storing data for multiple vehicle dynamic information (VDI) over time;

defining a first relationship between first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a first look-ahead time window;

defining a second relationship between the first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a second look-ahead time window, shorter than the first window;

controlling the vehicle based on a target energy economy rating (EER).

8. The method of claim 7 wherein controlling the vehicle is automatically controlling the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

correlating EER with a driving style;

wherein an EER greater than or equal to zero is correlated with an aggressive driving style; and

wherein an EER less than zero is correlated with a smooth driving style.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating EER based on vehicle performance that is a measure of drive quality that includes an energy rating and a distance rating on fuel economy.

11. A computer-implemented method of operating a vehicle, comprising:

storing data for multiple vehicle dynamic information (VDI) over time;

defining a first relationship between first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a first look-ahead time window;

defining a second relationship between the first and second VDI'"'"'s based on stored data for a second look-ahead time window, shorter than the first window;

automatically controlling the vehicle based on a target energy economy rating (EER);

correlating EER with a driving style, wherein an EER greater than or equal to zero is correlated with an aggressive driving style, and wherein an EER less than zero is correlated with a smooth driving style.