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:
Apr. 20, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 28, 1997
Takashi Ohta, Toyota, JP;
Yoshio Ito, Toyota, JP;
Yasunari Nakamura, Nagoya, JP;
Hideo Tomomatsu, Nagoya, JP;
Syoichi Sayo, Toyota, JP;
Kagenori Fukumura, Toyota, JP;
Hiroji Taniguchi, Okazaki, JP;
Masuji Oshima, Kariya, JP;
Hiroyuki Yoshida, Inazawa, JP;
Kisaburo Hayakawa, Aichi-ken, JP;
Masataka Osawa, Nagoya, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
Apparatus for estimating a drive mode of a motor vehicle desired by an operator of the motor vehicle, including a variable calculating device and a drive mode estimating device, wherein the variable calculating device calculates at least one of drive mode indicating variables such as a drive force of the vehicle desired by the operator upon starting of the vehicle, a maximum rate of increase of the drive force, a maximum deceleration of the vehicle upon operation of a manually operated member for brake application to the vehicle, a coasting run time of the vehicle and a steady run time of the vehicle, and wherein the drive mode estimating device includes a neural network which receives the drive mode indicating variable or variables calculated by the variable calculating device, so that the drive mode estimating device estimates the drive mode of the motor vehicle desired by the operator on the basis of an output of the neural network. The output of the neural network may be used to control a desired controllable system of the vehicle such as an automatic transmission and a vehicle drive force control device.