Patents by Inventor Eiki KITAGAWA
Eiki KITAGAWA 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).
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Patent number: 11932252Abstract: A vehicle control device has a processor configured to decide on standby time for waiting until a vehicle that is capable of automatic control for at least one vehicle operation from among driving, braking and steering is to begin the operation for the lane change, based on either first information indicating the degree to which the driver contributes to control of the vehicle or second information representing the extent to which manual control of the vehicle by the driver is possible, the greater the degree to which the driver contributes to control of the vehicle, represented by the first information, or the extent to which manual control of the vehicle by the driver is possible, represented by the second information, the shorter the standby time.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 2021Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Eiki Kitagawa, Yuma Ito
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Publication number: 20240059288Abstract: A vehicle control device has a processor configured to detect an other vehicle in a detection mode 1 in a visual field boundary zone, detect the other vehicle in a detection mode 2 with higher precision in a zone other than the visual field boundary zone, and, when a merging terrain exists and the other vehicle has been detected in the visual field boundary zone, generate a plan to control the speed of the own vehicle in a first deceleration mode 1 until the other vehicle is detected in a zone other than the visual field boundary zone, or when the merging terrain exists and the other vehicle has been detected in a zone other than the visual field boundary zone, generate a plan to carry out space creation processing, whereby a space allowing the other vehicle to move from the adjacent lane is created.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 20, 2023Publication date: February 22, 2024Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yoshiki Nakatsuru, Yoshihiro Aotani, Eiki Kitagawa, Satoru Akahane
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Publication number: 20240051540Abstract: A vehicle controller includes a processor configured to detect, ahead of a host vehicle, a merging section in which an adjacent lane adjacent to a host vehicle lane being traveled by the host vehicle merges into the host vehicle lane, detect one or more other vehicles traveling on the adjacent lane, determine whether to allow at least one of the detected vehicles to precede the host vehicle at a lane change of the one of the detected vehicles to the host vehicle lane in the merging section, and control acceleration or deceleration of the host vehicle so that a rear end of the host vehicle is ahead of a front end of a second vehicle following a first vehicle allowed to precede the host vehicle. The first and second vehicles are among the detected vehicles.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2023Publication date: February 15, 2024Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yoshihiro Aotani, Eiki Kitagawa, Satoru Akahane
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Publication number: 20240051536Abstract: A vehicle control device has a processor configured to set location 1 on an adjacent lane to be used for determining that an own vehicle is to travel ahead of another vehicle and set location 2 on the adjacent lane for determining to create a space allowing the other vehicle to move ahead of the own vehicle, determine whether a relationship 1 is satisfied in which a location of the own vehicle is ahead of the other vehicle while the other vehicle moves to location 1, determine whether a relationship 2 is satisfied in which a location of the own vehicle is behind the other vehicle while the other vehicle moves to location 2, and decide to cause the own vehicle to travel ahead of the other vehicle when relationship 1 is satisfied or decide to create a space ahead of the own vehicle when relationship 2 is satisfied.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2023Publication date: February 15, 2024Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yoshihiro Aotani, Eiki Kitagawa, Satoru Akahane
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Publication number: 20240034322Abstract: A travel controller determines whether a traveling lane in which a vehicle is traveling is a merged lane into which a merging lane merges using peripheral data that represents a surrounding situation of the vehicle, and while the traveling lane is the merged lane, repeatedly performs yielding determination to detect a merging vehicle traveling in the merging lane from the peripheral data, and to determine whether or not yielding control for securing a larger space for the merging vehicle to change the lane to the merged lane is necessary, the yielding determination at the first time being performed based on a relative positional relationship between the merging vehicle and the vehicle, the yielding determinations at the second and subsequent times being performed based at least on a result of a previous yielding determination, and controls travel of the vehicle according to the result of the yielding determination.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 17, 2023Publication date: February 1, 2024Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Eiki Kitagawa, Satoru Akahane, Yoshihiro Aotani
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Publication number: 20230177843Abstract: An object assessment device determines whether or not an object is present within a predetermined range, and has a processor configured to determine whether or not first object detection information detected at a first detection time point and second object detection information detected at a second detection time point after the first detection time point, are detecting a same object, determine whether or not a predetermined region including a location of the vehicle at the second detection time point satisfies predetermined terrain condition, when it has been determined that the same object has not been detected, determine that the object is present within the predetermined range from the vehicle, when it has been determined that the same object has been detected, or when it has been determined that the predetermined region including the location of the vehicle satisfies the predetermined terrain condition, and give notification of the assessment result.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 2, 2022Publication date: June 8, 2023Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Suzuka KONDO, Eiki KITAGAWA, Shota FUJII, Yu OKADA, Soichi YOSHINO, Takuo KANEKO
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Publication number: 20230092364Abstract: A vehicle controller includes a processor configured to: determine a driving plan when a lane change from a host vehicle lane to another lane is requested. The driving plan represents travel behavior of a vehicle until completion of the lane change and satisfies a safety condition that the vehicle will collide with none of objects around the vehicle detected from a sensor signal obtained by a sensor mounted on the vehicle. The processor is further configured to: set a completion condition indicating a position or time at which the completion of the lane change is required, determine whether the completion condition is satisfied when the vehicle is driven according to the driving plan, control the vehicle to make the lane change according to the driving plan when the completion condition is satisfied, and restrict execution of the lane change when the completion condition is not satisfied.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 19, 2022Publication date: March 23, 2023Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Suzuka KONDO, Eiki KITAGAWA, Shota FUJII, Yu OKADA, Takuo KANEKO, Soichi YOSHINO
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Publication number: 20230044985Abstract: A travel controller requests a driver of a vehicle to perform a pre-lane-change action required of the driver to make a lane change from a first lane to a second lane adjoining the first lane, and changes the speed of the vehicle with a first acceleration until the driver performs the pre-lane-change action after the request and with a second acceleration having a greater absolute value than the first acceleration after the driver performs the pre-lane-change action, thereby controlling the speed of the vehicle to reduce the distance to a lane change position defined to make the lane change. The lane change position depends on the positional relationship between the vehicle and a moving object on the second lane.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2022Publication date: February 9, 2023Inventor: Eiki KITAGAWA
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Patent number: 11541890Abstract: A vehicle control device comprises a processor configured to determine a target merge location where the vehicle is to make a lane change from a merging lane to a main lane, in a merge zone on a scheduled route where the merging lane merges with the main lane, as a location that is before the location at the minimum distance to the end point of the merging lane allowing the driver to whom control of the vehicle has been handed over to operate the vehicle for the lane change, and when the vehicle has not completed the lane change upon reaching the target merge location, give the driver a first notification notifying that control of the vehicle will be switched from automatic control to manual control, by using a notifying unit that notifies the driver of information, or by using a vehicle controlling device that controls operation of the vehicle to perform a predetermined operation of the vehicle.Type: GrantFiled: November 5, 2020Date of Patent: January 3, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Takeshi Matsumura, Eiki Kitagawa, Yu Okada, Shota Fujii, Naoki Nishimura, Yuki Mori, Takamitsu Toyoura
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Patent number: 11531350Abstract: A model aggregation device includes a communication device able to communicate with a plurality of vehicles in which neural network models are learned, a storage device storing a part of the neural network models sent from the plurality of vehicles, and a control device. The neural network model outputs at least one output parameter from a plurality of input parameters. The control device is configured to, if receiving a new neural network model from one vehicle among the plurality of vehicles through the communication device, compare ranges of the plurality of input parameters which were used for learning the new neural network model and ranges of the plurality of input parameters which were used for learning a current neural network model stored in the storage device to thereby determine whether to replace the current neural network model with the new neural network model.Type: GrantFiled: February 26, 2020Date of Patent: December 20, 2022Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Hiroki Morita, Daiki Yokoyama, Eiki Kitagawa, Sui Kurihashi
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Publication number: 20220315002Abstract: A traveling lane planning device comprises a processor configured to select multiple spaces on an adjacent lane which allow the vehicle to move from the traveling lane, to calculate an evaluation value for each space based on a distance from a current location of the vehicle to a movement completion location where movement to the adjacent lane is to be complete, as determined based on terrain restrictions, a length of the space, a positional relationship between the current location of the vehicle and the space, a size of acceleration or deceleration estimated to take place with the vehicle while it travels from the current location to the location along the space, and a first speed difference between a space speed and a target speed of the vehicle, and to set one space to be a destination from among multiple spaces based on the evaluation value.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 10, 2022Publication date: October 6, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Eiki KITAGAWA, Ryo HASHIMOTO
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Publication number: 20220306126Abstract: An apparatus for displaying lane information detects a lane change section in an adjoining lane adjoining a travel lane of a vehicle from an image representing surroundings of the vehicle. The lane change section has a length in a travel direction greater than a lane change threshold indicating a length required for a lane change and includes no other vehicles. The apparatus presents an entry position on a display as a position indicating the lane change section when the entry position is inside the lane change section, and presents an endpoint of the lane change section closest to a current position of the vehicle on the display as a position indicating the lane change section when the entry position is outside the lane change section. The entry position is a position in a front-back direction at which the vehicle making a lane enters the adjoining lane.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2022Publication date: September 29, 2022Inventor: Eiki KITAGAWA
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Publication number: 20220306105Abstract: A travel controller detects a vehicle traveling behind a host vehicle from situation data depending on the situation around the host vehicle; controls travel of the host vehicle to maintain a predetermined distance or more between the host vehicle and the detected vehicle behind; causes the host vehicle to perform a first action when the distance between the host vehicle and the vehicle behind is greater than a distance threshold; causes the host vehicle to perform a second action when the distance is less than the distance threshold, the second action contributing to safe travel of the host vehicle more than the first action; sets the distance threshold at a first value when a travel situation around the host vehicle does not satisfy a predetermined short-distance condition; and sets the distance threshold at a second value smaller than the first value when the travel situation satisfies the short-distance condition.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2022Publication date: September 29, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Suzuka KONDO, Eiki KITAGAWA, Shota FUJII, Yu OKADA, Takuo KANEKO, Soichi YOSHINO
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Publication number: 20220306144Abstract: A travel controller sets a check level depending on the situation of a lane change from a travel lane of a vehicle to a different lane before the lane change. The travel controller requests a first pre-lane-change action for the check at the lane change of the driver with a notification device when the check level is higher than a level threshold, and requests a second pre-lane-change action for the check at the lane change of the driver with the notification device when the check level is lower than the level threshold. The travel controller controls travel of the vehicle to make the lane change in the case that the driver has performed the first or second pre-lane-change action having been requested and that the situation around the vehicle satisfies a surrounding condition to be satisfied at the lane change.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 15, 2022Publication date: September 29, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Soichi YOSHINO, Shota FUJII, Yu OKADA, Takuo KANEKO, Suzuka KONDO, Eiki KITAGAWA
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Publication number: 20220306097Abstract: A travel controller generates routes respectively leading from a current lane being traveled by a vehicle to lanes except the current lane. The lanes are demarcated by lane lines and located forward in a travel direction beyond a lack-of-lane zone having no lane line. The travel controller further identifies one of the routes corresponding to a path along which the vehicle is traveling the lack-of-lane zone as a route being traveled. The path is calculated with data outputted from a sensor mounted on the vehicle. Then the travel controller controls travel of the vehicle to keep one of the lanes to which the route being traveled leads.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 21, 2022Publication date: September 29, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yu OKADA, Shota FUJII, Eiki KITAGAWA, Suzuka KONDO, Soichi YOSHINO, Takuo KANEKO
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Patent number: 11442458Abstract: A machine learning system comprises a learning planning part 81 configured to create a learning plan of a neural network model, a data set creating part 82 configured to create training data sets, a learning part 83 configured to perform learning of the neural network model using the training data sets when the vehicle is stopped, and a stopping period predicting part 84 configured to predict stopping periods of the vehicle. The data set creating part is configured to allocate the training data sets to a plurality of learning regions determined based on respective ranges of the plurality of input parameters. The learning part is configured to perform learning of the neural network model for each learning region. The learning planning part is configured to allocate the plurality of learning regions to the stopping periods so that learning of the neural network model is not suspended during the stopping periods.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2019Date of Patent: September 13, 2022Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Keisuke Fukuoka, Shunsuke Kobuna, Eiki Kitagawa, Daiki Yokoyama
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Patent number: 11436488Abstract: A control device mounted in a vehicle in which at least one controlled part is controlled based on an output parameter obtained by inputting input parameters to a learned model using a neural network, provided with a parked period predicting part predicting future parked periods of the vehicle and a learning plan preparing part preparing a learning plan for performing relearning of the learned model during the future parked periods based on results of prediction of the future parked periods.Type: GrantFiled: October 23, 2019Date of Patent: September 6, 2022Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shunsuke Kobuna, Eiki Kitagawa, Daiki Yokoyama
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Publication number: 20210237776Abstract: A vehicle control device has a processor configured to decide on standby time for waiting until a vehicle that is capable of automatic control for at least one vehicle operation from among driving, braking and steering is to begin the operation for the lane change, based on either first information indicating the degree to which the driver contributes to control of the vehicle or second information representing the extent to which manual control of the vehicle by the driver is possible, the greater the degree to which the driver contributes to control of the vehicle, represented by the first information, or the extent to which manual control of the vehicle by the driver is possible, represented by the second information, the shorter the standby time.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 28, 2021Publication date: August 5, 2021Inventors: Ryuta HASHIMOTO, Eiki KITAGAWA, Yuma ITO
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Publication number: 20210188275Abstract: A vehicle control device comprises a processor configured to determine a target merge location where the vehicle is to make a lane change from a merging lane to a main lane, in a merge zone on a scheduled route where the merging lane merges with the main lane, as a location that is before the location at the minimum distance to the end point of the merging lane allowing the driver to whom control of the vehicle has been handed over to operate the vehicle for the lane change, and when the vehicle has not completed the lane change upon reaching the target merge location, give the driver a first notification notifying that control of the vehicle will be switched from automatic control to manual control, by using a notifying unit that notifies the driver of information, or by using a vehicle controlling device that controls operation of the vehicle to perform a predetermined operation of the vehicle.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 5, 2020Publication date: June 24, 2021Inventors: Takeshi MATSUMURA, Eiki KITAGAWA, Yu OKADA, Shota FUJII, Naoki NISHIMURA, Yuki MORI, Takamitsu TOYOURA
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Patent number: 10968855Abstract: A control support device for supporting control of a vehicle using a learned model obtained by machine learning, includes: a data acquisition unit acquiring sensor information, which is related to a state of an inside or an outside of a supplying vehicle that supplies parameters to be used for the machine learning; a learning unit generating a learned model by performing the machine learning using an input/output data set, which is the sensor information acquired by the data acquisition unit and is data including input parameters and an output parameter of the learned model; and a transmission unit Transmitting at least one of the generated learned model and an output parameter calculated by inputting sensor information of the vehicle, control of which is supported, to the generated learned model as an input parameter.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2019Date of Patent: April 6, 2021Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Eiki Kitagawa, Daiki Yokoyama, Keisuke Nagasaka