Patents by Inventor Tetsunobu MORITA

Tetsunobu MORITA 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: 11325600
    Abstract: The present invention provides a vehicle control method capable of suppressing an increase in the frequency of stopping and restarting of the engine when the braking device is activated at the self-driving mode. When the operation mode is set as self-driving, the braking device is activated in accordance with a system deceleration request to keep an actual vehicle-speed at a target vehicle-speed or change the actual vehicle-speed at the target vehicle-speed or lower depending on environment surrounding the vehicle. Further, a braking amount is estimated, the braking amount is a magnitude of a braking force generated from the activated braking device. When the braking amount is an engine-stopping enabling threshold or more, enabling stopping is allowed. When the braking amount is less than the engine-stopping enabling threshold, enabling stopping is not allowed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsunobu Morita, Hiroshi Arita
  • Publication number: 20220041162
    Abstract: A vehicle control method including: setting a target acceleration based on a distance to a preceding vehicle or an obstacle and accelerating an own vehicle based on the target acceleration without relying on a driver's operation. Then, the vehicle control method including: calculating an acceleration limit which is an acceleration at which a relative distance to the preceding vehicle or the obstacle at a time when a preset acceleration limiting time has passed from a start of the acceleration is equal to or longer than a reference relative distance and a relative vehicle speed to the preceding vehicle or the obstacle at the time when the preset acceleration limiting time has passed from the start of the acceleration is equal to or lower than a reference relative vehicle speed, and accelerating the own vehicle at the acceleration limit when the target acceleration exceeds the acceleration limit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Publication date: February 10, 2022
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi ARITA, Tetsunobu MORITA, Yuuya KOGURE, Yusuke NAKAMURA, Takeshi OHNO, Tomohiro UMINO
  • Patent number: 10857992
    Abstract: Provided is a control method for hybrid vehicles that change an operation mode of the vehicle between HEV mode and EV mode in accordance with the size of a target drive force. When the manual-driving mode is set, the target driving force is calculated based on a vehicle-speed and a driver's driving operation, and when self-driving is set, the target driving force is calculated based on a target vehicle-speed and an actual vehicle-speed. When self-driving is set, an amount to enlarge a dead-zone width W? to control the motor generator to perform powering relative to the dead-zone width when the manual-driving mode is set is set larger than an amount to enlarge a dead-zone width to control the motor generator to perform regeneration relative to the dead-zone width when the manual-driving mode is set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsunobu Morita, Hiroshi Arita
  • Publication number: 20200180632
    Abstract: The present invention provides a vehicle control method capable of suppressing an increase in the frequency of stopping and restarting of the engine when the braking device is activated at the self-driving mode. When the operation mode is set as self-driving, the braking device is activated in accordance with a system deceleration request to keep an actual vehicle-speed at a target vehicle-speed or change the actual vehicle-speed at the target vehicle-speed or lower depending on environment surrounding the vehicle. Further, a braking amount is estimated, the braking amount is a magnitude of a braking force generated from the activated braking device. When the braking amount is an engine-stopping enabling threshold or more, enabling stopping is allowed. When the braking amount is less than the engine-stopping enabling threshold, enabling stopping is not allowed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsunobu MORITA, Hiroshi ARITA
  • Publication number: 20200164860
    Abstract: Provided is control method for hybrid vehicles capable of suppressing an increase in the frequency of mode switching while suppressing a decrease in the regenerative amount when the hybrid vehicle is set at the self-driving mode. The control method for hybrid vehicles that change an operation mode of the vehicle between HEV mode and EV mode in accordance with the size of a target drive force. When the manual-driving mode is set, the target driving force is calculated based on a vehicle-speed (VSP) and a driver's driving operation (APO), and when self-driving is set, the target driving force is calculated based on a target vehicle-speed and an actual vehicle-speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsunobu MORITA, Hiroshi ARITA
  • Patent number: 9896083
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes an engine stop/start determination unit and an engine controller and a re-acceleration scene predicting unit. The engine stop/start determination unit determines stopping and starting of the engine based on a magnitude of the accelerator position opening amount unit. The engine controller carries out the stopping/starting of the engine in accordance with the determination of the engine stop/start determination unit. The re-acceleration scene predicting unit predicts a re-acceleration scene in which an accelerator is depressed after the accelerator has been released based on the accelerator position opening amount. When the re-acceleration scene predicting unit predicts a re-acceleration scene of the engine, the engine stop/start determination unit prohibits the stopping of the engine while the engine is running, and the starting of the engine is carried out by the accelerator being depressed while the engine is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsunobu Morita, Ryoji Kadono, Shuusaku Katakura, Kenichiro Murakami
  • Publication number: 20160185337
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes an engine stop/start determination unit and an engine controller and a re-acceleration scene predicting unit. The engine stop/start determination unit determines stopping and starting of the engine based on a magnitude of the accelerator position opening amount unit. The engine controller carries out the stopping/starting of the engine in accordance with the determination of the engine stop/start determination unit. The re-acceleration scene predicting unit predicts a re-acceleration scene in which an accelerator is depressed after the accelerator has been released based on the accelerator position opening amount. When the re-acceleration scene predicting unit predicts a re-acceleration scene of the engine, the engine stop/start determination unit prohibits the stopping of the engine while the engine is running, and the starting of the engine is carried out by the accelerator being depressed while the engine is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2014
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Inventors: Tetsunobu MORITA, Ryoji KADONO, Shuusaku KATAKURA, Kenichiro MURAKAMI