Patents by Inventor Michihiro Miyashita

Michihiro Miyashita 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: 9211890
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20150349581
    Abstract: A charging control unit is used in a system having an engine, an electric power generator, and a battery charged by electric power generated by the electric power generator and being capable of executing stop control for prohibiting the engine from restarting in a state where the engine is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2012
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei TOCHIGI, Koji ITO, Michihiro MIYASHITA
  • Patent number: 9199590
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Nobukazu Ueki, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20150337789
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus performs control of enabling idle operation of an internal combustion engine that generates a motive power applied to a driving wheel of a vehicle if a vehicle speed of the vehicle is lower than a predetermined vehicle speed that is set in advance, and disabling idle operation of the internal combustion engine if the vehicle speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined vehicle speed, when the vehicle is in a state other than an acceleration running state. Accordingly, the vehicle control apparatus achieves an effect of making it possible to suppress the consumption of fuel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2015
    Publication date: November 26, 2015
    Inventors: Masaki MATSUNAGA, Koji ITO, Michihiro MIYASHITA, Nobukazu UEKI, Yasuyuki MIKAMI
  • Publication number: 20150333564
    Abstract: An auxiliary current amount that is used in an auxiliary that is mounted in a vehicle is calculated. A stop time ratio of the vehicle is calculated based on a running history of the vehicle, and an estimated stop time of the vehicle that is estimated based on the stop time ratio is calculated. An SOC threshold is set based on an estimated consumption current amount that is obtained from the estimated stop time and the auxiliary current amount. A generator that is mounted in the vehicle is operated such that a value of a storage state of the battery recovers to become larger than the SOC threshold when the value of the storage state of the battery is smaller than the SOC threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Publication date: November 19, 2015
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro MIYASHITA, Tomoharu MAEDA, Kohei TOCHIGI, Tomomi KATSUMATA
  • Publication number: 20150210284
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2013
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Patent number: 9028010
    Abstract: Provided is a braking control system including: an internal combustion engine serving as a power source of a vehicle; a brake servo unit operated by a negative pressure supplied thereto; a passage configured to supply an intake negative pressure of the internal combustion engine to the brake servo unit; and a negative pressure pump configured to generate a negative pressure by being driven by power transmitted from a wheel of the vehicle and transmit the generated negative pressure to the brake servo unit, wherein the negative pressure pump is driven so as to supply the negative pressure to the brake servo unit during execution of inertia running in which the internal combustion engine stops and the vehicle runs by inertia.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Michihiro Miyashita
  • Publication number: 20140371983
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Publication date: December 18, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20140365099
    Abstract: A request to fully charge a battery and a request to execute idling stop are made compatible with each other. A vehicle control apparatus is mounted in a vehicle having an engine, and a battery that can be charged by an electric power generator that is driven by a motive power of the engine. The vehicle control apparatus is equipped with an idling stop control unit that stops the engine, an SOC change amount detection unit that detects an amount of change in a state of charge (an SOC) of the battery, and an execution restriction unit that permits and prohibits stop of the engine by the idling stop control unit in accordance with the amount of change in the SOC. The execution restriction unit determines timings for the permission and the prohibition such that an amount of increase in the SOC at a time when the engine is not stopped by the idling stop control unit becomes larger than an amount of decrease in the SOC at a time when the engine is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2012
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei Tochigi, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Nobukazu Ueki
  • Publication number: 20140330473
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Publication date: November 6, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20140316628
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: October 23, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Koji Ito, Nobukazu Ueki, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20140257636
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Nobukazu Ueki, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Kouhei Tochigi
  • Publication number: 20130304358
    Abstract: A vehicular control apparatus performs control of enabling idle operation of an internal combustion engine that generates a motive power applied to a driving wheel of a vehicle if a vehicle speed of the vehicle is lower than a predetermined vehicle speed that is set in advance, and disabling idle operation of the internal combustion engine if the vehicle speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined vehicle speed, when the vehicle is in a state other than an acceleration running state. Accordingly, the vehicular control apparatus achieves an effect of making it possible to suppress the consumption of fuel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2011
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Matsunaga, Koji Ito, Michihiro Miyashita, Nobukazu Ueki, Yasuyuki Mikami
  • Publication number: 20130057055
    Abstract: Provided is a braking control system including: an internal combustion engine serving as a power source of a vehicle; a brake servo unit operated by a negative pressure supplied thereto; a passage configured to supply an intake negative pressure of the internal combustion engine to the brake servo unit; and a negative pressure pump configured to generate a negative pressure by being driven by power transmitted from a wheel of the vehicle and transmit the generated negative pressure to the brake servo unit, wherein the negative pressure pump is driven so as to supply the negative pressure to the brake servo unit during execution of inertia running in which the internal combustion engine stops and the vehicle runs by inertia.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Publication date: March 7, 2013
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Michihiro Miyashita
  • Patent number: 7403219
    Abstract: A driving lane recognizer 1 is arranged to detect a white line 30 on a driving road 20 on the basis of an image taken of the driving road 20. The driving lane recognizer 1 sets a near region 41 and a far region 42 adjacent to each other along a vehicle traveling direction in the image, detects a length of white line 30 in each of the near region 41 and the far region 42, and determines a type of white line 30 on the basis of the length of white line 30 in the near region 41 and the length of white line 30 in the far region 42. This permits the recognizer to determine the type of white line 30 on the basis of one image and to determine the type of white line 30 without use of past detection data or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Makoto Nishida
  • Publication number: 20050256636
    Abstract: A driving lane recognizer 1 is arranged to detect a white line 30 on a driving road 20 on the basis of an image taken of the driving road 20. The driving lane recognizer 1 sets a near region 41 and a far region 42 adjacent to each other along a vehicle traveling direction in the image, detects a length of white line 30 in each of the near region 41 and the far region 42, and determines a type of white line 30 on the basis of the length of white line 30 in the near region 41 and the length of white line 30 in the far region 42. This permits the recognizer to determine the type of white line 30 on the basis of one image and to determine the type of white line 30 without use of past detection data or the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2005
    Publication date: November 17, 2005
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Michihiro Miyashita, Makoto Nishida