Patents by Inventor Osamu SUNAHARA

Osamu SUNAHARA 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: 10625731
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle behavior control device capable of improving responsivity of a vehicle behavior and a linear feeling with respect to a steering wheel operation without causing a driver to experience a strong feeling of intervention of the control, and capable of controlling behavior in such a manner as to improve stability of the vehicle attitude and riding comfort. The device includes a PCM which acquires a steering speed relating to a jerk in a width direction of the vehicle, sets a torque reduction flag, indicative of whether or not a condition for allowing reduction of an output torque of an engine is satisfied, based on the steering speed, and starts to reduce a torque when the torque reduction flag is set to True indicative of a state in which the condition for allowing reduction of the torque is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru Yoshioka, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Masaki Chiba
  • Patent number: 10597036
    Abstract: The vehicle driving force control device comprises: a behavior control mechanism for reducing a driving force of an engine according to a steering speed; a driving force distribution mechanism for distributing the driving force of the engine to rear road wheels; and an ECU for controlling the mechanisms. The behavior control mechanism reduces the driving force by a target torque reduction amount set based on the steering speed, to thereby generate a deceleration, and the driving force distribution mechanism distributes the driving force to the front road wheels and the rear road wheels based on a distribution rate set for the rear road wheels depending on a traveling state, and the ECU corrects the distribution rate based on the target torque reduction amount during cornering of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Yasumasa Imamura, Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu, Naoki Nobutani
  • Publication number: 20200070812
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle behavior control device capable of improving responsivity of a vehicle behavior and a linear feeling with respect to a steering wheel operation without causing a driver to experience a strong feeling of intervention of the control and, at the same time, capable of controlling behavior of a vehicle in such a manner as to also improve stability of the vehicle attitude and riding comfort. In a vehicle behavior control device applied to a vehicle 1 having steerable front road wheels 2, the vehicle behavior control device includes a PCM 14 which acquires a steering speed of the vehicle, and increases a vertical load on the front road wheels when the steering speed becomes equal to or greater than a given threshold TS1 which is greater than zero.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru YOSHIOKA, Daisuke UMETSU, Osamu SUNAHARA, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Masaki CHIBA
  • Publication number: 20200070813
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes an engine (10), an engine control mechanism that controls an engine torque, and a PCM (50) that performs vehicle posture control for generating vehicle deceleration by controlling the engine control mechanism to reduce the engine torque upon satisfaction of a condition that a vehicle is travelling and a steering angle-related value related to a steering angle of a steering device increases. When a driver performs an accelerator operation for reducing an accelerator opening during execution of vehicle posture control, the PCM (50) suppresses reduction of a generated torque of the engine due to the accelerator operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku OGAWA, Osamu SUNAHARA, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Chikako OHISA, Yuichiro AKIYA, Atsushi YAMASAKI, Keiichi HIWATASHI, Daisuke UMETSU
  • Publication number: 20200070811
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle behavior control device capable of improving responsivity of a vehicle behavior and a linear feeling with respect to a steering wheel operation without causing a driver to experience a strong feeling of intervention of the control and, at the same time, capable of controlling behavior of a vehicle in such a manner as to also improve stability of the vehicle attitude and riding comfort. In a vehicle behavior control device applied to a vehicle 1 having steerable front road wheels 2, the vehicle behavior control device includes a PCM 14 which acquires a steering speed of the vehicle, and increases a pitch angle in such a direction that a front portion of the vehicle dips when the steering speed becomes equal to or greater than a given threshold TS1 which is greater than zero.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru YOSHIOKA, Daisuke UMETSU, Osamu SUNAHARA, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Masaki CHIBA
  • Patent number: 10569765
    Abstract: A PCM (14) for controlling a behavior of a vehicle (1) having steerable front road wheels is configured to perform a control to reduce a driving force for the vehicle (1) according to a yaw rate-related quantity (e.g., steering speed) of the vehicle (1). Specifically, the PCM (14) is configured, after reducing the driving force in response to a change in the yaw rate-related quantity and according to the yaw rate-related quantity being changing, to increase the driving force so as to restore a value of the driving force before the reduction, and the PCM (14) is operable, when increasing the driving force so as to restore a value of the driving force before the reduction, to change a change rate during the increasing of the driving force, according to a magnitude of the yaw rate-related quantity thereduring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu
  • Patent number: 10562537
    Abstract: The vehicle control device is designed to control a vehicle equipped with an engine, and an automatic transmission comprising a torque converter with a lockup clutch. The vehicle control device comprises a controller configured to perform control of changing an engagement degree of the lockup clutch and to, when such a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value as a parameter related to a steering angle of a steering apparatus of the vehicle increases is satisfied, reduce an output torque of the engine to generate a deceleration of the vehicle to thereby execute a torque reduction control for controlling an attitude of the vehicle. The controller is configured to reduce the output torque of the engine, in accordance with the engagement degree of the lockup clutch controlled by a lockup control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Takahiro Kawamura, Chikako Ohisa
  • Patent number: 10525962
    Abstract: A vehicle control device comprises: a downshift control part (51) configured, upon issuance of a downshift request for downshifting an automatic transmission (200), to execute a downshift control of downshifting the automatic transmission (200) and driving an engine torque regulating mechanism to increase an output torque of an engine (10); a vehicle attitude control part (53) configured, upon satisfaction of a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value pertaining to a steering angle of a steering device increases, to execute a vehicle attitude control of reducing the output torque of the engine (10) to generate deceleration of the vehicle so as to control vehicle attitude; and a downshift suppression part (55) configured, when the vehicle attitude control is executed, to suppress the execution of the downshift control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Chikako Ohisa, Daisaku Ogawa
  • Patent number: 10526981
    Abstract: An engine control device is provided, that includes an air amount controller, an ignition timing controller, a basic target torque determinator which determines a basic target torque, a change rate acquirer for acquiring a change rate of a steering operation, a target additional deceleration setter for increasing a target additional deceleration while an increase rate thereof becomes less as the change rate increases, a torque reduction amount determinator for determining an engine torque reduction amount, a final target torque determinator for determining a final target torque, and an actual air amount estimator for estimating an actual air amount introduced into a combustion chamber. The air amount controller determines a target air amount and controls the intake air amount to achieve the target air amount. The ignition timing controller retards the ignition timing more as the actual air amount becomes more excessive with respect to the target amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Chikako Ohisa, Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu, Takahiro Kawamura, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Takeatsu Ito
  • Publication number: 20190390612
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes an engine 10 capable of switching between reduced-cylinder operation and all-cylinder operation, an engine control mechanism that controls an engine torque, and a PCM 50 that executes vehicle posture control for generating vehicle deceleration by controlling the engine control mechanism to reduce the engine torque upon satisfaction of a condition that a vehicle is travelling and a steering angle-related value related to a steering angle of a steering device increases. In addition, this PCM 50 permits the execution of the vehicle posture control when an engine rotation speed is more than or equal to a first rotation speed Ne1 and permits the execution of the reduced-cylinder operation of the engine 10 when the engine rotation speed is more than or equal to a second rotation speed Ne2 that is more than the first rotation speed Ne1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Applicant: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku OGAWA, Osamu SUNAHARA, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Chikako OHISA, Yuichiro AKIYA, Atsushi YAMASAKI, Keiichi HIWATASHI, Daisuke UMETSU
  • Patent number: 10465614
    Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle control device which is applied to a vehicle equipped with an engine (10) and an engine torque adjustment mechanism for adjusting an output torque (engine torque) of the engine (10). The vehicle control device comprises a PCM (50) configured, upon satisfaction of a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value relevant to a steering angle of a steering device is increasing, to control the engine torque adjustment mechanism to reduce the engine torque so as to generate vehicle deceleration to control vehicle attitude. The PCM (50) is further configured to gradually ease the condition, as the number of times of combustion per unit time in the engine (10) becomes smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Chikako Ohisa, Koichi Kimoto
  • Patent number: 10414400
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle includes: an engine (10); an engine torque adjustment mechanism; and a PCM (50) configured to execute vehicle attitude control for, upon satisfaction of a vehicle attitude control executing condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value is increasing, reducing the engine torque to thereby generate deceleration of the vehicle. The PCM (50) is configured, upon satisfaction of a given terminating condition for terminating the vehicle attitude control, to control the engine torque adjustment mechanism to restore the reduced engine torque to an original state before the execution of the vehicle attitude control. The PCM (50) sets a rate of change in the engine output torque being restored, such that it becomes larger as the number of times of combustion per unit time becomes smaller, and restores the engine torque according to the rate of change set in the above manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Chikako Ohisa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Koichi Kimoto, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa
  • Patent number: 10407070
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle includes: an engine (10); an engine torque adjustment mechanism for adjusting an output torque of the engine; and a PCM (50) configured, upon satisfaction of a vehicle attitude control executing condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value is increasing, to control the engine torque adjustment mechanism to reduce the engine torque to thereby generate deceleration of the vehicle so as to control vehicle attitude. The PCM (50) is further configured to set a rate of change in the engine output torque being reduced, such that the rate of change becomes larger as the number of times of combustion per unit time in the engine (10) becomes smaller, and to control the engine torque adjustment mechanism to reduce the engine output torque according to the rate of change set by the torque reduction change rate-setting part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Koichi Kimoto, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Chikako Ohisa
  • Patent number: 10408146
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is provided, which includes an engine, an engine control mechanism configured to control torque generated by the engine, a steering device, and a processor. The processor determines whether a vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value that is related to a steering angle of the steering device increases, executes a control of the engine control mechanism to reduce the torque when the vehicle is determined to be traveling and the steering angle related value is determined to increase, determines whether a combustion frequency of the engine per unit time is lower than a given value, executes the control for reducing the torque when the combustion frequency is determined to be higher than the given value, and prevents the execution of the control for reducing the torque when the combustion frequency is determined to be lower than the given value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Yuichiro Akiya, Chikako Ohisa, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10407071
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle includes: an engine (10); an engine torque adjustment mechanism; and a PCM (50) configured, upon satisfaction of a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle-related value is increasing, to control the engine torque adjustment mechanism to reduce the engine torque to thereby execute a vehicle attitude control for generating deceleration of the vehicle, and, upon satisfaction of a given terminating condition for terminating the vehicle attitude control, to restore the reduced engine output torque to an original state before the execution of the vehicle attitude control. The PCM (50) sets a time period from the satisfaction of the terminating condition through until start of restoration of the engine torque, such that it becomes longer as the number of times of combustion per unit time becomes larger, and starts to restore the engine torque when the set time period has elapsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Koichi Kimoto, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Chikako Ohisa
  • Patent number: 10351164
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is provided, which includes a drive source configured to generate torque as driving force of a vehicle, a transmission torque control mechanism configured to control transmission torque to drive wheels according to the generated torque, and a processor configured to execute a vehicle attitude controlling module to perform a vehicle attitude control by controlling the transmission torque control mechanism to reduce the transmission torque so as to decelerate the vehicle when a starting condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value increases is satisfied, and then, when a given terminating condition is satisfied, controlling the mechanism to resume the transmission torque back to the torque before being reduced. The transmission torque is controlled so as to cause a yaw rate that occurs in the vehicle while the vehicle attitude control is performed, to be lower than an upper limit yaw rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Yuichiro Akiya, Chikako Ohisa, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10336364
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is provided, which includes an engine, an engine control mechanism configured to control torque generated by the engine, a processor configured to execute a vehicle attitude controlling module to control attitude of a vehicle by controlling the engine control mechanism to reduce the torque so as to decelerate the vehicle, when a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value that is related to a steering angle of a steering device increases is satisfied, and a torque reduction amount setting module to set the reduction amount of the torque to be larger as a combustion frequency of the engine per unit time decreases. The vehicle attitude controlling module controls the engine control mechanism to reduce the torque based on the set reduction amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Yuichiro Akiya, Chikako Ohisa, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20190193723
    Abstract: The vehicle behavior control device comprised a drive control system 4 and a brake control system 18, wherein a PCM 14 is configured, when steering angle is increasing, to set an additional deceleration to be added to the vehicle, and control the drive control system 4 to attain the additional deceleration, and, when the steering angle is decreasing, to set a yaw moment oriented in a direction opposite to that of a yaw rate being generated in the vehicle, as a target yaw moment to be applied to the vehicle, and control the brake control system 18 to apply the target yaw moment to the vehicle. Particularly, when the steering angle is 0, PCM 14 is configured to set the target yaw moment to 0 so as to terminate the control via the brake control system 18.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2018
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu SUNAHARA, Daisuke UMETSU, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Hirofumi FUJISHITA, Kazunori TSUMURA
  • Publication number: 20190193694
    Abstract: The vehicle behavior control device comprises a brake control system (18) capable of applying different braking forces, respectively, to right and left road wheels of a vehicle (1). The vehicle behavior control device further comprises: a steering angle sensor (8); a vehicle speed sensor (10); a yaw rate sensor (12); and a yaw moment setting part (22) in PCM (14) configured to decide a target yaw rate of the vehicle based on a steering angle and a vehicle speed, and set, based on a change rate of a difference between an actual yaw rate and the target yaw rate, a yaw moment oriented in a direction opposite to that of the actual yaw rate of the vehicle, as a target yaw moment, whereby the brake control system can regulate the braking forces of the road wheels so as to apply the target yaw moment to the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2018
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu SUNAHARA, Daisuke UMETSU, Yasunori TAKAHARA
  • Patent number: 10266173
    Abstract: The vehicle behavior control device is designed to control a behavior of a vehicle having steerable front road wheels. The vehicle behavior control device comprises a PCM configured to perform control to reduce a driving force for the vehicle according to a steering speed of the vehicle, wherein the PCM is operable to reduce a change rate during increasing of a reduction amount of the driving force according to the steering speed of the vehicle, to a smaller value, as a steering wheel angle of the vehicle becomes larger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu