Patents by Inventor Kazuaki Aso

Kazuaki Aso 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).

  • Publication number: 20240083420
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle traveling controller that performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency for proper traveling control. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether the vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not on the basis of environmental information around a vehicle (S18), when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S20), and when vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling which is not in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S22).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2023
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki KINDO, Kazuaki ASO, Masahiro HARADA
  • Patent number: 11858500
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle traveling controller that performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency for proper traveling control. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether the vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not on the basis of environmental information around a vehicle (S18), when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S20), and when vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling which is not in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Publication number: 20230125510
    Abstract: A vehicle driving support device: sets a left limit line extending along a current lane and passing through a position distanced in a right direction from a left-side target by a predetermined distance as a left end line, and sets a right limit line extending along the current lane and passing through a position distanced in a left direction from a right-side target by a predetermined distance as a right end line; and sets a lane center line as a target traveling line when the lane center line is located between the right and left end lines, and sets a line closer to the lane center line as the target traveling line when the lane center line is not located between the right and left end lines, in a case where the left end line and the right end line are set in a left-to-right order.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2022
    Publication date: April 27, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kazuaki ASO
  • Patent number: 11352000
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus comprising a navigation system and a control unit, wherein the navigation system includes a map database, a position acquisition unit, a route determination unit, and an output unit configured to output road information on a plurality of locations from a position of the vehicle to a location at a predetermined distance ahead on the target route, wherein the control unit includes a buffer unit configured to store the road information as the road information on a first distance interval, and a controller unit configured to control the speed of the vehicle, wherein the output unit is configured to, in response to changing the target route, thin out the road information such that the number of data becomes less than that of the road information on the first distance interval, and wherein the buffer unit is configured to store the thinned-out road information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JTDOSHA KABUSHIKI KATSHA
    Inventor: Kazuaki Aso
  • Publication number: 20220073060
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle traveling controller that performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency for proper traveling control. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether the vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not on the basis of environmental information around a vehicle (S18), when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S20), and when vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling which is not in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S22).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2021
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki KINDO, Kazuaki ASO, Masahiro HARADA
  • Patent number: 11208099
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle traveling controller that performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency for proper traveling control. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether the vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not on the basis of environmental information around a vehicle (S18), when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S20), and when vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling which is not in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Patent number: 10960891
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a program of predicting an obstacle course, capable of appropriately predicting a course of an obstacle even under a complicated traffic environment, are provided. The course, which the obstacle may take, is predicted based on the position and the internal state of the obstacle, and at the time of the prediction, a plurality of courses are probabilistically predicted for at least one obstacle. When there are a plurality of obstacles, the course in which different obstacles interfere with each other is obtained from the predicted courses, which a plurality of obstacles may take, and the predictive probability of the course for which the probabilistic prediction is performed from the courses in which they interfere with each other is lowered. Probability of realizing each of a plurality of courses including the course of which predicted probability is lowered is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Patent number: 10759419
    Abstract: A vehicle traveling controller performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether a vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not based on environmental information around the vehicle, when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule, and when the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling not in accordance with the normal traveling rule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Publication number: 20200238984
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle traveling controller that performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency for proper traveling control. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether the vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not on the basis of environmental information around a vehicle (S18), when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S20), and when vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling which is not in accordance with the normal traveling rule (S22).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki KINDO, Kazuaki ASO, Masahiro HARADA
  • Patent number: 10347131
    Abstract: A collision determination device determines the possibility of collision between a host vehicle and the other object on the basis of a shortest arrival time calculated by a shortest arrival time calculation unit and a passage time at each point of the host vehicle acquired by a vehicle route candidate acquisition unit. In this way, even if a locus to be taken by the other object is not generated, the shortest arrival time at which the other object can arrive at each point of the route candidate of the host vehicle with a predetermined first displacement is calculated, thereby determining the possibility of collision between the host vehicle and the other object. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a computational load for determining collision and to accurately determine collision between the host vehicle and the other object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuaki Aso, Toshiki Kindo, Katsuhiro Sakai, Masahiro Harada
  • Patent number: 10336336
    Abstract: A vehicular control apparatus includes at least one electronic control unit. The at least one electronic control unit is configured to recognize a first preceding vehicle in a driving lane and to calculate a first target acceleration of the vehicle. The at least one electronic control unit is also configured to recognize a second preceding vehicle in an adjacent lane, and to calculate a second target acceleration of the vehicle. The at least one electronic control unit is configured to acquire lane change information of the vehicle, and to select the smaller of the first target acceleration and the second target acceleration as a target acceleration of the vehicle. The at least one electronic control unit is configured to control a speed of the vehicle in a lane change period by using the selected target acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kentaro Matsumoto, Kazuaki Aso, Junichi Morimura
  • Patent number: 10239523
    Abstract: Disclosed is a route evaluation device that enables traveling along a route in consideration of an operation of the driver of another vehicle, and can realize a safer traffic environment. A route evaluation device includes a route candidate generation section that generates route candidates of a host-vehicle, a route prediction section that predicts routes of another vehicle, a classification section that classifies the interference states of the route candidates of the host-vehicle and the predicted routes of another vehicle into a plurality of interference forms, and a route evaluation section that evaluates the routes of the host-vehicle on the basis of the interference forms classified by the classification section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhiro Sakai, Hiromitsu Urano, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada, Toshiki Kindo
  • Patent number: 10173680
    Abstract: A vehicle speed control device performs vehicle speed control for controlling the vehicle speed of a host vehicle so that the vehicle speed of the host vehicle becomes a preset vehicle speed that is set in advance when a preceding vehicle traveling ahead of the host vehicle is not detected and for controlling the vehicle speed of the host vehicle so that the host vehicle follows the preceding vehicle when the preceding vehicle is detected. The vehicle speed control device determines whether the host vehicle is positioned in an acceleration-control-inhibited area based on the position detected by a position detection unit and, when the preceding vehicle is not detected and a position determination unit determines that the host vehicle is positioned in the acceleration-control-inhibited area, the vehicle speed control device performs acceleration-control-inhibition vehicle speed control of the host vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sayaka Ono, Kazuaki Aso
  • Publication number: 20180345966
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus comprising a navigation system and a control unit, wherein the navigation system includes a map database, a position acquisition unit, a route determination unit, and an output unit configured to output road information on a plurality of locations from a position of the vehicle to a location at a predetermined distance ahead on the target route, wherein the control unit includes a buffer unit configured to store the road information as the road information on a first distance interval, and a controller unit configured to control the speed of the vehicle, wherein the output unit is configured to, in response to changing the target route, thin out the road information such that the number of data becomes less than that of the road information on the first distance interval, and wherein the buffer unit is configured to store the thinned-out road information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kazuaki ASO
  • Publication number: 20180334172
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a program of predicting an obstacle course, capable of appropriately predicting a course of an obstacle even under a complicated traffic environment, are provided. The course, which the obstacle may take, is predicted based on the position and the internal state of the obstacle, and at the time of the prediction, a plurality of courses are probabilistically predicted for at least one obstacle. When there are a plurality of obstacles, the course in which different obstacles interfere with each other is obtained from the predicted courses, which a plurality of obstacles may take, and the predictive probability of the course for which the probabilistic prediction is performed from the courses in which they interfere with each other is lowered. Probability of realizing each of a plurality of courses including the course of which predicted probability is lowered is calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki KINDO, Kazuaki ASO, Masahiro HARADA
  • Patent number: 10102750
    Abstract: An object path prediction method, apparatus, and program and an automatic operation system that can secure safety even in situations that can actually occur are provided. For this purpose, a computer having a storage unit that stores the position of an object and the internal state including the speed of the object reads the position and internal state of the object from the storage unit, generates trajectories in a space-time consisting of time and space from changes of the positions that can be taken by the object with the passage of time based on the read position and internal state of the object, and predicts probabilistically paths of the object by using the generated trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuaki Aso, Toshiki Kindo
  • Patent number: 10065650
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a program of predicting an obstacle course, capable of appropriately predicting a course of an obstacle even under a complicated traffic environment, are provided. For this purpose, the course, which the obstacle may take, is predicted based on the position and the internal state of the obstacle, and at the time of the prediction, a plurality of courses are probabilistically predicted for at least one obstacle. When there are a plurality of obstacles, the course in which different obstacles interfere with each other is obtained from the predicted courses, which a plurality of obstacles may take, and the predictive probability of the course for which the probabilistic prediction is performed from the courses in which they interfere with each other is lowered. Probability of realizing each of a plurality of courses including the course of which predicted probability is lowered is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Publication number: 20180194348
    Abstract: A vehicle traveling controller performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether a vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not based on environmental information around the vehicle, when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule, and when the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling not in accordance with the normal traveling rule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Publication date: July 12, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Patent number: 9944283
    Abstract: A vehicle traveling controller performs emergency evacuation traveling in the case of an emergency. The vehicle traveling controller determines whether a vehicle traveling in accordance with a normal traveling rule is not dangerous and becomes proper traveling or not based on environmental information around the vehicle, when it is determined that the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule becomes proper traveling, executes normal traveling control for instructing the vehicle to travel in accordance with the normal traveling rule, and when the vehicle traveling in accordance with the normal traveling rule does not become proper traveling, executes emergency evacuation traveling control for instructing the vehicle to perform emergency evacuation traveling not in accordance with the normal traveling rule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki Kindo, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada
  • Publication number: 20170334442
    Abstract: Disclosed is a route evaluation device that enables traveling along a route in consideration of an operation of the driver of another vehicle, and can realize a safer traffic environment. A route evaluation device includes a route candidate generation section that generates route candidates of a host-vehicle, a route prediction section that predicts routes of another vehicle, a classification section that classifies the interference states of the route candidates of the host-vehicle and the predicted routes of another vehicle into a plurality of interference forms, and a route evaluation section that evaluates the routes of the host-vehicle on the basis of the interference forms classified by the classification section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Inventors: Katsuhiro Sakai, Hiromitsu Urano, Kazuaki Aso, Masahiro Harada, Toshiki Kindo