Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Aisin Aw Co., Ltd.

Hideaki Suganuma

Mamoru Kuraishi

Kazunao Yamada

Toshiaki Niwa

Masatoshi Takahara

Fumiharu Ogawa

Takashi Naitou

Masahiko Hibino

Takeshi Matsumura

Shinji Ikeda

Toshiro Hikita

Ryotaro Fujiwara

Takashi Naito

Takeshi Gotoh

A program delivery center is a program update device which updates a program of an ECU mounted in a vehicle, wherein a right holder specification unit specifies a right holder who has a right to execute the update of the program on the basis of information regarding the vehicle, and a reprogramming guide execution unit sets and outputs program update guide notification to the right holder. Accordingly, the update of the program by a person other than the right holder can be avoided, thereby improving security. Furthermore, since the update of the program is notified to the right holder which can execute the update of the program, a program update execution frequency increases compared to a case where a user who cannot execute the update of the program is notified, thereby prompting the execution of the program update.

Control device

A vehicle data analysis apparatus analyzes vehicle data that indicates chronological change of a vehicle state. The vehicle data analysis apparatus is provided with a computing unit and a recognition unit. The computing unit is configured to make obvious data fluctuation accompanying the development, in the vehicle data, of mechanical or control-related fault in a vehicle control system. The recognition unit is configured to recognize the vehicle data to be considered during vehicle fault diagnosis on the basis of a result of computation by the computing unit.

Vehicle data analysis apparatus, vehicle data analysis method, and defect diagnosis apparatus

A power supply control device including: traffic information acquisition means for acquiring traffic information for roads in the vicinity of the charging station; and control means for controlling an amount of power which is to be supplied to the charging station based on the traffic information (particularly, a traffic flow of vehicles having possibility of using the charging station) acquired by the traffic information acquisition means. An information provision device including: charging station information acquisition means for acquiring information on charging stations; traffic-flow acquisition means for acquiring a traffic flow of vehicles using external electrical energy in the vicinity of each charging station on which the information is acquired by the charging station information acquisition means; and charging station determination means for determining a charging station on which the information is to be provided among the charging station based on the traffic flow acquired by the traffic-flow acquisition means.

Power supply control device and information provision device

Disclosed is a control device that changes control content of control means mounted in a vehicle, including: schedule acquisition means for acquiring a schedule relating to the vehicle; and change date and time generation means for estimating a time when the vehicle is not in use on the basis of the schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition means, and for generating and outputting change date and time when the control content is changed, according to the time.

A hybrid vehicle includes a regenerative charging area detection section, a recovery loss estimation section, and a motor use ratio increase section. The regenerative charging area detection section detects arrival of a regenerative charging possible area in which a regenerative charging from a motor to a battery is possible. The recovery loss estimation section estimates a recovery loss of the regenerative charging based on a regenerative charge amount in the regenerative charging possible area and a current remaining battery amount in response to detection by the regenerative charging area detection section. In response to estimation by the recovery loss estimation section, before the arrival at the regenerative charging possible area, the motor use ratio increase section increases a use ratio of the motor so as to decrease a remaining battery amount while limiting the temperature of the battery to a predetermined temperature range.

Hybrid vehicle

A hybrid vehicle includes a road condition acquisition portion () that acquires information on an actual road condition; a storage portion () where road data is stored; a route setting portion () that sets a route to a destination, based on the road data stored in the storage portion (); a travel pattern setting portion () that sets a travel pattern on the route set by the route setting portion (), based on the road data stored in the storage portion (); an operation schedule setting portion () that sets an operation schedule that is a schedule of operations of the engine and the motor, based on the travel pattern set by the travel pattern setting portion (); and a control portion () that controls the operations of the engine and the motor based on the information on the actual road condition acquired by the road condition acquisition portion () and the operation schedule set by the operation schedule setting portion ().

Hybrid vehicle and method of controlling hybrid vehicle

A site registering device that registers a site allowing charging where a vehicle battery can be charged, the device including: a position acquisition unit that acquires position information on a charging site where charging of the battery has been conducted; and a registering unit that specifies, on the basis of an actual charging result in the charging site, a category to which the charging site belongs among a plurality of categories, associates the charging site with the specified category and the position information, and registers the thus associated charging site as the site allowing charging.

Vehicle battery charging site registration device and method

A gradient information calculating system includes a first calculating unit () that detects three-dimensional location information through autonomous navigation, and calculates a first gradient value (&#x3b8;b, B), based on a distance (m) traveled, and an on-plane distance (L) obtained by projecting the distance (m) traveled on a horizontal plane, a road map information storing unit () that stores road map information that represents each road by nodes of which the location information is known, and a link that connects the nodes, a second calculating unit () that estimates elevations of the nodes from previously measured elevation data, and calculates a second gradient value (A), based on a difference in elevation between the nodes and the length of the link, and a gradient data selecting unit () that selects one of the first and second gradient values to be adopted as a gradient value of the link, according to a difference between the first and the second gradient values.

Gradient information calculating system, vehicle running control system, navigation system, and gradient information calculating method

A road information acquisition device includes: a surface elevation acquisition unit that obtains a surface elevation; a road information acquisition unit that calculates first road information relating to a travel route to be traveled by a host vehicle on the basis of the surface elevation; and a structure determination unit that determines whether or not a structure exists on the travel route, wherein, when the structure determination unit determines that the structure exists on the travel route, the road information acquisition unit obtains second road information, which is different from the first road information, relating to a point at which the structure exists on the travel route.

Road information acquisition device and road information acquisition method

An electrically heated catalytic converter (EHC) and a battery are connected to an alternator via a changeover switch. The changeover switch connects either of the EHC and the battery to the alternator. The slip-detecting device detects the rotational speed of the alternator from the frequency of the ripple in the output voltage of the alternator when the EHC is connected to the alternator, i.e., when the battery is isolated from the alternator. When the battery is isolated from the alternator, the output voltage of the alternator is raised, and the amplitude of the ripple becomes large accordingly. Further, since the battery is isolated, the ripples in the output voltage are not smoothed by the battery. Therefore, the rotational speed of the alternator is accurately detected. The slip-detecting device detects the slip of the driving belt of the generator based on the rotational speeds of the driver and the alternator.

Slip-detecting device for a driving belt of a generator

A battery and an electrically heated catalytic converter (EHC) are connected to an alternator in a parallel arrangement via a changeover switch. The changeover switch operates between a first position where it connects the battery to the alternator and a second position where it connects the EHC to the alternator. An electronic control unit (ECU) is provided for controlling the changeover switch and the alternator. When the changeover switch is to be switched between the first and the second position, the ECU first terminates the power generation of the alternator before it actually switches the changeover switch in order to reduce the electric current flowing through the switch. In the switching operation of the changeover switch from the first position to the second position, the ECU determines that sticking of the changeover switch at the first position occurs if the output voltage of the alternator does not become lower than a predetermined value when a predetermined time has lapsed after the switching operation started.

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Yokohama, Japan

Hideaki Suganuma