Patents by Inventor Yuichi Takemura

Yuichi Takemura 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).

  • Publication number: 20080234918
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: calculating a correlation coefficient K based on the result of comparing a vibration waveform of an engine and a knock waveform model stored previously; calculating a magnitude value LOG(V) from the magnitude V detected based on a signal transmitted from a knock sensor; creating frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) by using magnitude values LOG(V) in an ignition cycle in which the correlation coefficient K larger than a threshold K(1) is calculated; and counting knock proportion KC by using the created frequency distribution. If the vibration waveform includes a waveform of vibration of noise components, the correlation coefficient K is calculated to be smaller comparing with a case of not including it.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rihito KANEKO, Kenji KASASHIMA, Masatomo YOSHIHARA, Koji ASO, Kenji SENDA, Shigeru KAMIO, Yuichi TAKEMURA
  • Patent number: 7424820
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of calculating intensity values LOG(V) based on signals transmitted from a knock sensor; a step of deciding a maximum value V(MAX) in frequency distribution of intensity values LOG(V) for N cycles (N is a natural number); a step of calculating a knock determination level V(KD) based on the frequency distribution; a step of, when the knock determination level V(KD) is smaller than the maximum value V(MAX), removing V(MAX) from the frequency distribution; and a step of counting the total frequency of removed maximum values V(MAX) as knock occupancy KC. Maximum values V(MAX) are removed until the knock determination level V(KD) and the maximum value V(MAX) coincide, and the knock determination level V(KD) is recalculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Iwade, Nobuyuki Murate, Shuhei Oe, Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 7412874
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: detecting a vibration corresponding to a first radial resonance mode by using a band-pass filter, from vibrations sensed by an in-cylinder pressure sensor provided at an upper central portion of the cylinder; calculating knock intensity N based on a result of comparison between the detected waveform and a knock waveform model prepared in advance as a vibration waveform when knocking occurs; determining that knocking occurred when the knock intensity N is larger than a predetermined reference value; and determining that knocking has not occurred when the knock intensity N is not larger than the predetermined reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Shuhei Oe, Kiyoshi Iwade, Nobuyuki Murate, Rihito Kaneko, Yuichi Takemura, Shigeru Kamio
  • Patent number: 7392788
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of, when an absolute value of a difference between median value V(50) of magnitude values LOG(V), which is obtained by logarithmically converting a magnitude V detected based on a signal sent from a knock sensor, and a determination value V(KX) used for determining presence or absence of knocking is greater than the product of a standard deviation ? and a coefficient U(3) in a frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) for N cycle(s), setting a value obtained by adding the product of the standard deviation ? and the coefficient U(3) to the median value V(50) of magnitude values LOG(V) as the determination value V(KX).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Patent number: 7387107
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: calculating a correlation coefficient K based on the result of comparing a vibration waveform of an engine and a knock waveform model stored previously; calculating a magnitude value LOG(V) from the magnitude V detected based on a signal transmitted from a knock sensor; creating frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) by using magnitude values LOG(V) in an ignition cycle in which the correlation coefficient K larger than a threshold K(1) is calculated; and counting knock proportion KC by using the created frequency distribution. If the vibration waveform includes a waveform of vibration of noise components, the correlation coefficient K is calculated to be smaller comparing with a case of not including it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Aso, Kenji Senda, Shigeru Kamio, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 7363142
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: calculating a magnitude value LOG(V) from a magnitude V detected using a knock sensor; calculating a median value V(50) and a standard deviation a of calculated magnitude values LOG(V); calculating a knock determination level V(KD) that is a value obtained by adding the product of standard deviation a and a coefficient U(3) to median value V(50); and when knock determination level V(KD) is greater than the product of determination value V(KX) and a coefficient K, decreasing determination value V(KX). When a knock magnitude N calculated using magnitude V is greater than determination value V(KX), ignition timing is retarded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Patent number: 7356404
    Abstract: In determining a knock of an engine, a vibration intensity is calculated by logarithm-transforming a peak value or an integral value of an output signal of a knock sensor. Further, a central value VMED of a vibration intensity distribution is calculated, and also a standard deviation ? in a region where the vibration intensity is smaller than this central value VMED is calculated. A vibration intensity reference value VIB is calculated as VMED?u×?, thereby setting the vibration intensity reference value VIB to be close to a minimum of the vibration intensity distribution. Further, a knock reference value KCK is set by adding a predetermined value K to the vibration intensity reference value VIB. The vibration intensity detected by the knock sensor is compared with the knock reference value KCK to determine presence/absence of a knocking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignees: Denso Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuichi Takemura, Kenji Kasashima, Rihito Kaneko
  • Patent number: 7347081
    Abstract: The signal levels of vibration waveform signals outputted by knock sensors are extracted at a filter processing section for each of a plurality of frequency bands. The mean value of the signal levels in the frequency bands at a point in time when variation of the signal levels in the frequency bands is minimum computed, and the mean value is detected as a background level. A knock characteristic parameter, which represents the characteristics of knock, is computed based on the extracted signal levels in the frequency bands. The knock characteristic parameter is compared with the background level to obtain a knock intensity. If the knock intensity is equal to or greater than a knock determination value, it is determined that knock that exceeds a permissible level is occurring. If the knock intensity is less than the knock determination value, it is determined that knock that exceeds the permissible level is not occurring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Masaomi Inoue, Yuichi Takemura, Satoshi Masuda, Kenji Kasashima, Rihito Kaneko
  • Patent number: 7281516
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: comparing a vibration waveform of an engine and a knock waveform model stored in advance to calculate a correlation coefficient K; prohibiting correction when a correction prohibiting condition of a determination value V(KX) is satisfied, the determination value V(KX) compared with a knock magnitude N calculated from the correlation coefficient K so as to control the ignition timing; and correcting the determination value V(KX) based on a magnitude value LOG(V) calculated from a magnitude V of vibration in an ignition cycle in which the correlation coefficient K greater than a threshold value K(1) is calculated when the correction prohibiting condition of determination value V(KX) is not satisfied. The correlation coefficient K is calculated as a smaller value when the vibration waveform includes a waveform of vibration of a noise component as compared with that when the vibration waveform does not include it.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Aso, Kenji Senda, Shigeru Kamio, Yuichi Takemura
  • Publication number: 20070215108
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: calculating a magnitude value LOG(V) from a magnitude V detected using a knock sensor; calculating a median value V(50) and a standard deviation a of calculated magnitude values LOG(V); calculating a knock determination level V(KD) that is a value obtained by adding the product of standard deviation a and a coefficient U(3) to median value V(50); and when knock determination level V(KD) is greater than the product of determination value V(KX) and a coefficient K, decreasing determination value V(KX). When a knock magnitude N calculated using magnitude V is greater than determination value V(KX), ignition timing is retarded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2007
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Publication number: 20070214869
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of, when it has temporarily been determined that knocking had occurred because of the presence of an integrated value greater than a product of the reference magnitude and coefficient Y among the integrated values of vibration in fourth frequency band D that includes first to third frequency bands A to C, calculating knock magnitude N using the integrated values in the synthesized waveform of first to third frequency bands A to C and correlation coefficient K calculated from a vibration waveform of fourth frequency band D. Based on a comparison between knock magnitude N and determination value V(KX), whether or not knocking has occurred is determined. If there is no integrated value greater than a product of the reference magnitude and coefficient Y, it is determined that knocking has not occurred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION, NIPPON SOKEN, INC.
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Publication number: 20070215109
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of, when an absolute value of a difference between median value V(50) of magnitude values LOG(V), which is obtained by logarithmically converting a magnitude V detected based on a signal sent from a knock sensor, and a determination value V(KX) used for determining presence or absence of knocking is greater than the product of a standard deviation ? and a coefficient U(3) in a frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) for N cycle(s), setting a value obtained by adding the product of the standard deviation ? and the coefficient U(3) to the median value V(50) of magnitude values LOG(V) as the determination value V(KX).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2007
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rihito KANEKO, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Publication number: 20070175444
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of, when an absolute value of a difference between a determination value V(KX) used for determining presence or absence of knocking and a maximum value V(MAX) of magnitude value LOG(V), which is obtained by logarithmically converting a magnitude V detected based on a signal sent from a knock sensor, is greater than the product of a standard deviation ? and a coefficient U(3) in a frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) for N cycle(s), setting a value obtained by adding the product of the standard deviation ? and the coefficient U(3) to the maximum value V(MAX) of the magnitude value LOG(V) as the determination value V(KX).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2007
    Publication date: August 2, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION, NIPPON SOKEN, INC.
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Aso, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe, Kiyoshi Iwade
  • Patent number: 7251556
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of calculating coefficient of correlation K that is a value related to a deviation between a vibration waveform and a knock waveform model by comparing the engine's vibration waveform with the knock waveform model stored in advance at a plurality of timings, a step of calculating a knock intensity N as based on a largest coefficient of correlation K among the calculated coefficient of correlation Ks, a step of determining that the engine knocks if knock intensity N is larger than a predetermined reference value (YES at S108), and a step of determining that the engine does not knock if knock intensity N is not larger than a predetermined reference value (NO at S108).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Kenji Senda, Shigeru Kamio, Masaomi Inoue, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 7243529
    Abstract: A waveform knock signal detected by a knock sensor is filtered through a band-pass filter. The detected wave form signal is compared with an ideal reference knock waveform to determine an engine knock. The ideal reference knock waveform is derived on the basis of a factor depending on a crank angle, a factor depending on a real time and a factor depending on an engine construction. The factor depending on the real time is calculated based on an energy loss in a combustion chamber and a time constant of the band-pass filter. The factor depending on the engine construction is calculated based on a knock vibration which is generated in a cylinder, transferred to a cylinder block and detected by the knock sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignees: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuichi Takemura, Masaomi Inoue, Kenji Kasashima
  • Patent number: 7219006
    Abstract: A knock determining apparatus includes a sensor which outputs a waveform signal corresponding to a knock state, and at least one of a first to a third knock determiner which determines a knock state based on a vibration intensity distribution of the waveform signal. A knock detector compares the vibration intensity of the waveform signal with a threshold, and detects a knock when the vibration intensity exceeds the threshold. This threshold is corrected based on a knock determining result by the first to the third knock determiner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignees: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuichi Takemura, Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima
  • Publication number: 20070084267
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of calculating intensity values LOG(V) based on signals transmitted from a knock sensor; a step of deciding a maximum value V(MAX) in frequency distribution of intensity values LOG(V) for N cycles (N is a natural number); a step of calculating a knock determination level V(KD) based on the frequency distribution; a step of, when the knock determination level V(KD) is smaller than the maximum value V(MAX), removing V(MAX) from the frequency distribution; and a step of counting the total frequency of removed maximum values V(MAX) as knock occupancy KC. Maximum values V(MAX) are removed until the knock determination level V(KD) and the maximum value V(MAX) coincide, and the knock determination level V(KD) is recalculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION, NIPPON SOKEN, INC.
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Iwade, Nobuyuki Murate, Shuhei Oe, Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Yuichi Takemura
  • Publication number: 20070084266
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: calculating a correlation coefficient K based on the result of comparing a vibration waveform of an engine and a knock waveform model stored previously; calculating a magnitude value LOG(V) from the magnitude V detected based on a signal transmitted from a knock sensor; creating frequency distribution of magnitude values LOG(V) by using magnitude values LOG(V) in an ignition cycle in which the correlation coefficient K larger than a threshold K(1) is calculated; and counting knock proportion KC by using the created frequency distribution. If the vibration waveform includes a waveform of vibration of noise components, the correlation coefficient K is calculated to be smaller comparing with a case of not including it.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Aso, Kenji Senda, Shigeru Kamio, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 7206691
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including a step of calculating a knock intensity N as based on comparing a waveform detected as a waveform of a vibration attributed to knocking with a knock waveform model stored in a memory as a waveform of a vibration attributed to knocking for crank angles except for crank angles where a magnitude of a vibration not attributed to knocking is greater than a predetermined magnitude, a step of determining that the engine knocks if knock intensity N is larger than a predetermined reference value, and a step of determining that the engine does not knock if knock intensity N is not larger than a predetermined reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Kouzi Ohara, Kiyoshi Iwade, Shuhei Oe, Yuichi Takemura, Shigeru Kamio
  • Publication number: 20070067091
    Abstract: In determining a knock of an engine, a vibration intensity is calculated by logarithm-transforming a peak value or an integral value of an output signal of a knock sensor. Further, a central value VMED of a vibration intensity distribution is calculated, and also a standard deviation ? in a region where the vibration intensity is smaller than this central value VMED is calculated. A vibration intensity reference value VIB is calculated as VMED?u×?, thereby setting the vibration intensity reference value VIB to be close to a minimum of the vibration intensity distribution. Further, a knock reference value KCK is set by adding a predetermined value K to the vibration intensity reference value VIB. The vibration intensity detected by the knock sensor is compared with the knock reference value KCK to determine presence/absence of a knocking.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2006
    Publication date: March 22, 2007
    Applicants: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Takemura, Kenji Kasashima, Rihito Kaneko