The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 26, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 23, 1996
Hideo Nakamura, Tokyo, JP;
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, JP;
Abstract
This invention relates to a vehicle cruise controller which controls engine output and gear shift position such that a detected vehicle speed is identical to a target vehicle speed. A shift to lower gear is performed when a difference between the target vehicle speed and detected vehicle speed reaches a first predetermined value .alpha..sub.1. A mechanism is provided for estimating a travel resistance of the vehicle, the travel resistance when this difference has reached a second predetermined value .alpha..sub.2 which is less than the first predetermined value .alpha..sub.1, being learnt as a maximum drive torque FB of the engine. A shift to higher gear is made when the estimated travel resistance has become less than this learnt maximum drive torque FB after the shift to lower gear. In this way, gear shift hunting during cruise control when the vehicle is climbing or descending slopes, is suppressed.