Patents by Inventor Kouhei Tochigi
Kouhei Tochigi 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: 9827925Abstract: There is a need to predict a driving environment with high responsiveness by a simple configuration. There is provided a driving environment prediction device that predicts a driving environment of a vehicle that causes a vehicle stop. The driving environment prediction device comprises: a first vehicle stop time rate calculator which is configured to calculate a rate of vehicle stop time in a first period, as a first vehicle stop time rate (shorter-period vehicle stop time rate); a second vehicle stop time rate calculator which is configured to calculate a rate of vehicle stop time in a second period which is longer than the first period, as a second vehicle stop time rate (longer-period vehicle stop time rate); and a driving environment predictor which is configured to predict the driving environment, based on the shorter-period vehicle stop time rate and the longer-period vehicle stop time rate.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 2011Date of Patent: November 28, 2017Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
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Patent number: 9211890Abstract: There is a need to further improve the fuel consumption of a vehicle. There is provided a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle having: an engine; a battery that is chargeable with an amount of electric power generated by a generator which is driven with power of the engine; and auxiliary machinery that are operated with electric power of the battery. The vehicle control device comprises an idle reduction controller, an SOC detector, a current value obtaining section, a current correcting section, an idle reduction capacity setting section and a remaining capacity controller.Type: GrantFiled: January 11, 2012Date of Patent: December 15, 2015Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
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Patent number: 9199590Abstract: A vehicle control device is mounted on a vehicle and the vehicle includes an engine and a battery. The battery can be charged by an amount of electric power generated by an alternator that is driven by power from the engine. The vehicle control device includes an electrical control unit. The electrical control unit is configured to; (i) perform idling stop, (ii) detect a state of charge of the battery, (iii) set a capacity for idling stop that is predicted to be used in a stop and start period between stop and restart of the engine, during stop control, within an usable SOC range of the battery while the vehicle is running, and (iv) control the amount of electric power to prevent a remaining capacity in the usable SOC range corresponded to the state of charge from falling below the capacity for idling stop while the vehicle is running.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 2011Date of Patent: December 1, 2015Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Nobukazu Ueki, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi
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Publication number: 20150210284Abstract: A driving environment estimation apparatus for identifying either an urban or suburban area including a vehicle stop degree data acquirer to obtain data representing a degree of tendency of a vehicle stop state; and an urban area/suburban area identifier to compare the obtained vehicle stop degree data with a threshold value to identify whether a vehicle driving area is an urban or suburban area. The urban area/suburban area identifier provides a predetermined high threshold value and a low threshold value lower than the high threshold value. The urban area/suburban area identifier identifies as the urban area when the vehicle stop degree data increases from a lower value than the high threshold value to be higher than the high threshold value, and identifies as the suburban area when the vehicle stop degree data decreases from a higher value than the low threshold value to be lower than the low threshold value.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 12, 2013Publication date: July 30, 2015Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi
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Publication number: 20140371983Abstract: To improve the accuracy of prediction of the power consumption of the air conditioner units, a power consumption prediction device that predicts an amount of electric power consumed by a vehicle having one or more air conditioner units operable with electric power of a battery comprises: a passenger count detector that detects a count of passengers in the vehicle; an active air conditioner unit count detector that detects a count of active air conditioner units in the vehicle; a vehicle interior temperature detector that detects a vehicle interior temperature of the vehicle; an air conditioner unit set temperature acquirer that obtains a set temperature of each of the air conditioner units; and a power consumption predictor that predicts power consumption of the air conditioner units using the count of passengers, the count of active air conditioner units, the vehicle interior temperature and the set temperature of each air conditioner unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 12, 2011Publication date: December 18, 2014Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
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Publication number: 20140330473Abstract: There is a need to further improve the fuel consumption of a vehicle. There is provided a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle having: an engine; a battery that is chargeable with an amount of electric power generated by a generator which is driven with power of the engine; and auxiliary machinery that are operated with electric power of the battery. The vehicle control device comprises an idle reduction controller, an SOC detector, a current value obtaining section, a current correcting section, an idle reduction capacity setting section and a remaining capacity controller.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2012Publication date: November 6, 2014Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
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Publication number: 20140316628Abstract: There is a need to predict a driving environment with high responsiveness by a simple configuration. There is provided a driving environment prediction device that predicts a driving environment of a vehicle that causes a vehicle stop. The driving environment prediction device comprises: a first vehicle stop time rate calculator which is configured to calculate a rate of vehicle stop time in a first period, as a first vehicle stop time rate (shorter-period vehicle stop time rate); a second vehicle stop time rate calculator which is configured to calculate a rate of vehicle stop time in a second period which is longer than the first period, as a second vehicle stop time rate (longer-period vehicle stop time rate); and a driving environment predictor which is configured to predict the driving environment, based on the shorter-period vehicle stop time rate and the longer-period vehicle stop time rate.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 18, 2011Publication date: October 23, 2014Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
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Publication number: 20140257636Abstract: To further improve fuel efficiency of vehicles. A vehicle control device that is mounted on a vehicle that has an engine, and a battery that can be charged by the amount of electric power that is generated by an alternator that is driven by power from the engine. The vehicle control device includes an idling stop control part 90, a battery SOC calculation part 120 that obtains the SOC of the battery, a target SOC estimation part 110 that sets a capacity for idling stop that is predicted to be used in a stop and start period between stop and restart of the engine by the idling stop control within the usable SOC range of the battery while the vehicle is running; and a remaining capacity control part 130 that controls the amount of electric power that is generated by the alternator to prevent the remaining capacity in the usable SOC range from falling below the capacity for idling stop while the vehicle is running that corresponds to the SOC.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 18, 2011Publication date: September 11, 2014Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Nobukazu Ueki, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi