Patents by Inventor Yasunori Takahara

Yasunori Takahara 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: 11752999
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus has a steering wheel 6, an engine 4 for outputting a driving force of a vehicle 1, a brake apparatus 16 capable of applying different braking forces to left and right wheels, and a PCM 14 including a processor and the like. When executing vehicle yaw control, which controls the brake apparatus 16 to apply to the vehicle 1 a yaw moment in the direction opposite to the yaw rate generated in the vehicle 1, after executing vehicle attitude control for reducing an output torque of the engine 4 based on a turning operation of the steering wheel 6, when the control amount of the vehicle attitude control is large, the PCM 14 increases the control amount of the vehicle yaw control compared to when the control amount of the vehicle attitude control is not large.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Takahara, Kazunori Tsumura, Daisuke Umetsu, Hirofumi Fujishita
  • Patent number: 11465684
    Abstract: A front suspension apparatus in which a front side of a suspension arm can be cut off from a subframe at the time of a small overlap collision without a complication of structure and formability. A front suspension apparatus in which a lower arm from which a front wheel is suspended is provided, and a front arm portion and a rear arm portion of the lower arm are axially supported by axially supporting portions of a subframe is characterized in that an axially supporting portion of the front arm portion is joined to the subframe at a joined portion extending in a vehicle width direction, a joined portion extending in an up-down direction, and a joined portion extending in a front-rear direction, and a joining strength of a joined portion in the front-rear direction is lower than a joining strength of the joined portion in the up-down direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okamoto, Fumihiro Kurohara, Ippei Kuroda, Yasunori Takahara
  • Patent number: 11433879
    Abstract: A vehicle control system comprises: an engine (4); an accelerator position sensor (10) configured to detect the position of an accelerator pedal; a steering device; a PCM (14) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle to control the attitude of the vehicle, when a steering angle-related value as a parameter related to a steering angle of the steering device increases; and a brake unit (16) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle, independently of reduction of an output torque of the engine, wherein the PCM is configured to generates the deceleration by means of the reduction of the output torque of the engine when a depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator position sensor, and to generate the deceleration by the brake unit (16) when the depression of the accelerator pedal is not detected by the accelerator position sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Chikako Ohisa, Yuichiro Akiya, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu
  • Patent number: 11192589
    Abstract: A subframe structure of a front suspension that leads a subframe and a vehicle driving apparatus to the lower side after separation of a rear portion of the subframe due to a frontal collision without increasing weight and parts. A subframe structure of the front suspension provides a subframe that supports a vehicle driving apparatus in a mounting manner, and a rear portion of the subframe is mounted on a lower portion of a vehicle body via a fastening member. Fastening between the subframe and the fastening member is configured such that the rear portion of the subframe is separated when a collision load to a vehicle rear side is applied to the subframe. A leading guide portion that abuts against the fastening member and leads the subframe to a lower side after separation from the fastening member is integrally formed on the rear portion of the subframe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okamoto, Fumihiro Kurohara, Norio Asano, Hiroto Kido, Yasunori Takahara
  • Patent number: 11173884
    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: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu, Yasunori Takahara
  • Patent number: 11091150
    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: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Chikako Ohisa, Yuichiro Akiya, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu
  • Patent number: 11041450
    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: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Chikako Ohisa, Yuichiro Akiya, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi, Daisuke Umetsu
  • Publication number: 20210146914
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus has a steering wheel 6, an engine 4 for outputting a driving force of a vehicle 1, a brake apparatus 16 capable of applying different braking forces to left and right wheels, and a PCM 14 including a processor and the like. When executing vehicle yaw control, which controls the brake apparatus 16 to apply to the vehicle 1 a yaw moment in the direction opposite to the yaw rate generated in the vehicle 1, after executing vehicle attitude control for reducing an output torque of the engine 4 based on a turning operation of the steering wheel 6, when the control amount of the vehicle attitude control is large, the PCM 14 increases the control amount of the vehicle yaw control compared to when the control amount of the vehicle attitude control is not large.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori TAKAHARA, Kazunori TSUMURA, Daisuke UMETSU, Hirofumi FUJISHITA
  • Publication number: 20210024135
    Abstract: A front suspension apparatus in which a front side of a suspension arm can be cut off from a subframe at the time of a small overlap collision without a complication of structure and formability. A front suspension apparatus in which a lower arm from which a front wheel is suspended is provided, and a front arm portion and a rear arm portion of the lower arm are axially supported by axially supporting portions of a subframe is characterized in that an axially supporting portion of the front arm portion is joined to the subframe at a joined portion extending in a vehicle width direction, a joined portion extending in an up-down direction, and a joined portion extending in a front-rear direction, and a joining strength of a joined portion in the front-rear direction is lower than a joining strength of the joined portion in the up-down direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki OKAMOTO, Fumihiro KUROHARA, Ippei KURODA, Yasunori TAKAHARA
  • Publication number: 20210024137
    Abstract: A subframe structure of a front suspension that leads a subframe and a vehicle driving apparatus to the lower side after separation of a rear portion of the subframe due to a frontal collision without increasing weight and parts. A subframe structure of the front suspension provides a subframe that supports a vehicle driving apparatus in a mounting manner, and a rear portion of the subframe is mounted on a lower portion of a vehicle body via a fastening member. Fastening between the subframe and the fastening member is configured such that the rear portion of the subframe is separated when a collision load to a vehicle rear side is applied to the subframe. A leading guide portion that abuts against the fastening member and leads the subframe to a lower side after separation from the fastening member is integrally formed on the rear portion of the subframe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki OKAMOTO, Fumihiro KUROHARA, Norio ASANO, Hiroto KIDO, Yasunori TAKAHARA
  • Patent number: 10850726
    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: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru Yoshioka, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Masaki Chiba
  • Patent number: 10836378
    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: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tom Yoshioka, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Masaki Chiba
  • Publication number: 20200339107
    Abstract: A vehicle control system comprises: an engine (4); an accelerator position sensor (10) configured to detect the position of an accelerator pedal; a steering device; a PCM (14) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle to control the attitude of the vehicle, when a steering angle-related value as a parameter related to a steering angle of the steering device increases; and a brake unit (16) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle, independently of reduction of an output torque of the engine, wherein the PCM is configured to generates the deceleration by means of the reduction of the output torque of the engine when a depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator position sensor, and to generate the deceleration by the brake unit (16) when the depression of the accelerator pedal is not detected by the accelerator position sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisaku OGAWA, Osamu SUNAHARA, Yasunori TAKAHARA, Chikako OHISA, Yuichiro AKIYA, Atsushi YAMASAKI, Keiichi HIWATASHI, Daisuke UMETSU
  • Patent number: 10793136
    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 having steerable front road wheels, the vehicle behavior control device includes a PCM which acquires a steering speed of the vehicle, and generates a deceleration jerk which is a rearward jerk in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle when the steering speed becomes equal to or greater than a given threshold TS1 which is greater than zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru Yoshioka, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Masaki Chiba
  • Patent number: 10767582
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is provided, which includes an engine, an engine control mechanism configured to control torque generated by the engine, and a processor configured to execute a vehicle attitude controlling module to perform a vehicle attitude control in which the engine control mechanism is controlled 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 preventing module to prevent a combustion frequency of the engine per unit time from falling below a given value while the vehicle attitude controlling module executes the vehicle attitude control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Yasunori Takahara, Yuichiro Akiya, Chikako Ohisa, Atsushi Yamasaki, Keiichi Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10688999
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a drive source for generating torque as driving force that causes a vehicle to travel, a drive source control mechanism for controlling the torque generation by the drive source, a driving force transmission mechanism for transmitting the torque to vehicle wheels, an engageable element provided in the transmission mechanism, and a processor configured to execute an engagement state change control in which an engagement state of the engageable element is changed, a vehicle attitude controlling module for controlling attitude of the vehicle by driving the drive source control mechanism to reduce the torque so as to decelerate the vehicle, when a condition is satisfied, the condition being that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value increases, and an engagement state change restricting module for restricting the execution of the engagement state change control while the vehicle attitude control is executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Keiichi Hiwatashi, Yasunori Takahara, Daisaku Ogawa, Daisuke Umetsu, Osamu Sunahara, Chikako Ohisa
  • 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
  • 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: 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
  • 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