Patents by Inventor Ayumu Sagawa

Ayumu Sagawa has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11305753
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle includes an engine, a switching valve, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit configured to perform switching from the engine travel mode to the EV travel mode through a first stage to start the filling control when it is determined that the possibility is high that the engine stop condition will be established afterwards while the engine travel mode is selected, a second stage to start the clutch release control by switching the switching valve to the second state in response to establishment of the engine stop condition, and a third stage to stop operation of the engine after completion of the clutch release control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keigo Matsubara, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 11260847
    Abstract: A vehicle control unit performs filling control in which the vehicle control unit boosts an oil pressure in a second oil passage by supplying electric power to a pressure regulating valve with a switch valve being in a first state in which the switch valve connects a first oil passage to a clutch and disconnects the second oil passage from the clutch, torque replacement control in which the vehicle control unit increases motor torque while reducing shaft torque of an engine, and clutch disengagement control in which the vehicle control unit disengages the clutch while performing hydraulic control by the pressure regulating valve with the switch valve being in the second state in which the switch valve connects the second oil passage to the clutch and disconnects the first oil passage from the clutch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keigo Matsubara, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 11027722
    Abstract: A yielding action assistance system for assisting a vehicle driver to take an appropriate action in yielding to a passing emergency vehicle. The yielding action assistance system comprises: a detector that detects a proximity of the emergency vehicle; an information collector that collects a road information and information about the emergency vehicle and other vehicle; a target zone determiner that sets and updates a target zone to pull over the vehicle based on the information about the other vehicle and the road; and a notifier that informs a driver about the target zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Junya Mizuno, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 10933862
    Abstract: A vehicle control system configured to promptly shift a gear stage of a transmission during startup of an engine while reducing shocks. An engine is started by a first motor when shifting from an electric vehicle mode to a parallel hybrid vehicle mode. A controller is configured to establish a target stage via an interim stage if a shifting operation of a transmission to directly establish the target stage is expected to take longer time than a shifting operation of the transmission to establish the target stage via other stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Junya Mizuno, Akira Takeichi, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 10865878
    Abstract: A vehicle control system to improve acceleration response and shift feel by executing a power-on downshifting in a suitable manner. An evaluation of a skip shifting and an evaluation of a stepwise shifting are compared to each other when executing the downshifting, based on an evaluation index calculated in advance in accordance with an operating condition of an accelerator. The downshifting operation to be executed is selected from the stepwise shifting and the skip shifting whose evaluation is higher than the other one.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Takeichi, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 10766481
    Abstract: A yielding action assistance system for assisting a vehicle driver to take an appropriate action in yielding to a passing emergency vehicle. The yielding action assistance system comprises: a detector that detects a proximity of the emergency vehicle; an information collector that collects a road information and information about the emergency vehicle and other vehicle; a target zone determiner that sets and updates a target zone to pull over the vehicle based on the information about the other vehicle and the road; and a notifier that informs a driver about the target zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Junya Mizuno, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Publication number: 20200238975
    Abstract: A yielding action assistance system for assisting a vehicle driver to take an appropriate action in yielding to a passing emergency vehicle. The yielding action assistance system comprises: a detector that detects a proximity of the emergency vehicle; an information collector that collects a road information and information about the emergency vehicle and other vehicle; a target zone determiner that sets and updates a target zone to pull over the vehicle based on the information about the other vehicle and the road; and a notifier that informs a driver about the target zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Junya MIZUNO, Ayumu SAGAWA
  • Patent number: 10717441
    Abstract: A vehicle control system to accurately control a vehicle by estimating a position of an accelerator pedal. In a first phase of an operation of the accelerator pedal in which a depression of the accelerator pedal increases, a first predicted value of a position of the accelerator pedal is calculated by a first calculation procedure based on the position of the accelerator in the first phase. In a second phase in which the change amount of the position of the accelerator plateaus, a second predicted value of the position of the accelerator pedal is calculated by a second calculation procedure based on the position of the accelerator in the second phase. In a third phase in which the change amount of the position of the accelerator decreases, the second predicted value is employed as the predicted value of the position of the accelerator pedal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Takeichi, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Publication number: 20200189560
    Abstract: A vehicle control unit performs filling control in which the vehicle control unit boosts an oil pressure in a second oil passage by supplying electric power to a pressure regulating valve with a switch valve being in a first state in which the switch valve connects a first oil passage to a clutch and disconnects the second oil passage from the clutch, torque replacement control in which the vehicle control unit increases motor torque while reducing shaft torque of an engine, and clutch disengagement control in which the vehicle control unit disengages the clutch while performing hydraulic control by the pressure regulating valve with the switch valve being in the second state in which the switch valve connects the second oil passage to the clutch and disconnects the first oil passage from the clutch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keigo Matsubara, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Publication number: 20200189565
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle includes an engine, a switching valve, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit configured to perform switching from the engine travel mode to the EV travel mode through a first stage to start the filling control when it is determined that the possibility is high that the engine stop condition will be established afterwards while the engine travel mode is selected, a second stage to start the clutch release control by switching the switching valve to the second state in response to establishment of the engine stop condition, and a third stage to stop operation of the engine after completion of the clutch release control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keigo MATSUBARA, Ayumu SAGAWA
  • Patent number: 10634244
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle includes an electronic control unit configured to increase a disengagement-side instructed pressure such that an input rotation speed decreases when overspeeding of the input shaft occurs during a coast downshift of an automatic transmission. Overspeeding of the input shaft in a disengagement-side element that forms a gear stage before a downshift having a lower gear ratio than that after the downshift is suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Seiji Masunaga, Ayumu Sagawa, Keisuke Ota
  • Patent number: 10584791
    Abstract: A speed change control system configured to allow a driver to promptly sense a response to an accelerating operation. A reference index value that the driver senses an acceleration response is calculated based on acceleration of a vehicle. If the reference index value is smaller than a first reference index value at which the driver is allowed to sense the acceleration response, a downshift point is lowered to a first drive force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Takeichi, Ayumu Sagawa, Hiroyasu Kitagawa, Hideaki Otsubo
  • Patent number: 10514093
    Abstract: A shift control system for vehicle includes a transmission that performs an upshift based on an accelerator opening, comprising: a detector that detects a longitudinal acceleration the vehicle, a calculator that calculates a change amount per unit time of the accelerator opening, and a controller that controls the transmission. The controller repeatedly executes upshift to reduce a speed ratio of the transmission based on a second condition that determines a shift timing of the upshift, upon satisfaction of a first condition. The first condition is satisfied if the acceleration increasing the vehicle speed is greater than or equal to a predetermined first threshold value, the change amount is in a stable state falling within a certain range, and a time period that the change amount keeps falling within the certain range has exceeded a second threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shogo Tsuge, Ayumu Sagawa, Akira Takeichi, Takashi Okubo
  • Publication number: 20190184999
    Abstract: A vehicle control system to accurately control a vehicle by estimating a position of an accelerator pedal. In a first phase of an operation of the accelerator pedal in which a depression of the accelerator pedal increases, a first predicted value of a position of the accelerator pedal is calculated by a first calculation procedure based on the position of the accelerator in the first phase. In a second phase in which the change amount of the position of the accelerator plateaus, a second predicted value of the position of the accelerator pedal is calculated by a second calculation procedure based on the position of the accelerator in the second phase. In a third phase in which the change amount of the position of the accelerator decreases, the second predicted value is employed as the predicted value of the position of the accelerator pedal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Publication date: June 20, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira TAKEICHI, Ayumu SAGAWA
  • Publication number: 20190162298
    Abstract: A vehicle control system to improve acceleration response and shift feel by executing a power-on downshifting in a suitable manner. An evaluation of a skip shifting and an evaluation of a stepwise shifting are compared to each other when executing the downshifting, based on an evaluation index calculated in advance in accordance with an operating condition of an accelerator. The downshifting operation to be executed is selected from the stepwise shifting and the skip shifting whose evaluation is higher than the other one.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira TAKEICHI, Ayumu SAGAWA
  • Patent number: 10295050
    Abstract: When a jump downshift via an intermediate shift stage is requested and a rotation speed of an input shaft approaches a synchronous rotation speed of the intermediate shift stage, a target torque phase time when the gear shift via the intermediate shift stage is performed with input switching is set to be shorter than that when the gear shift via the intermediate shift stage is performed without using input switching and torque phase control is performed. Accordingly, it is possible to promptly perform engagement of an engagement-side frictional engagement element at the time of passing through the intermediate shift stage and to rapidly perform the gear shift after passing through the intermediate shift stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keisuke Ota, Ayumu Sagawa, Tomoya Iwami
  • Patent number: 10286914
    Abstract: An electronic control unit starts shift initial oil pressure control after the completion of lockup initial oil pressure control when shift control is performed during the performance of lockup control, the electronic control unit starts shift initial oil pressure control after the completion of lockup initial oil pressure control. Besides, the electronic control unit places priority on the shift control and starts the lockup initial oil pressure control after the completion of the shift initial oil pressure control, when the lockup control is performed during the performance of the shift control. Therefore, the shift initial oil pressure control and the lockup initial oil pressure control are prevented from occurring at the same time when the shift control and the lockup control are performed at the same time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keigo Matsubara, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Publication number: 20190118796
    Abstract: A vehicle control system configured to promptly shift a gear stage of a transmission during startup of an engine while reducing shocks. An engine is started by a first motor when shifting from an electric vehicle mode to a parallel hybrid vehicle mode. A controller is configured to establish a target stage via an interim stage if a shifting operation of a transmission to directly establish the target stage is expected to take longer time than a shifting operation of the transmission to establish the target stage via other stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Junya MIZUNO, Akira TAKEICHI, Ayumu SAGAWA
  • Patent number: 10267414
    Abstract: In a controller for an automatic transmission, when a jump gear shift via a plurality of intermediate shift stages is executed, a first and a second target intermediate shift stages are extracted, and a target input shaft rotation speed change rate is calculated from a difference in synchronous rotation speed between a shift stage before a current gear shift and the second target intermediate shift stage as a target shift stage of a gear shift which is executed after the current gear shift. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid a situation in which a shifting time in the gear shift control of the step before the second target intermediate shift stage becomes very short and thus packing of a clutch pack is not executed in a timely manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keisuke Ota, Norihiro Tsukamoto, Ayumu Sagawa
  • Patent number: 10260621
    Abstract: When an input torque becomes greater by a predetermined value or more due to an operation of increasing an amount of accelerator depression amount or the like during a gear shift, a controller for an automatic transmission updates a target gear shift characteristic value to a target gear shift characteristic value which is set when the gear shift is started with the input torque based on the input torque at the updating time, and performs gear shift control from a degree of progress in gear shift at the updating time based on the updated target gear shift characteristic value. Since the target gear shift characteristic value can be changed with respect to an increase in the input torque during the gear shift by this control, it is possible to prevent a decrease in durability of frictional engagement elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keisuke Ota, Ayumu Sagawa, Tomoya Iwami