Vehicle including electric motor and method of controlling brake lamp for the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11833960-B2
Application number	US-202016921121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2020
Priority date	Oct 7, 2019
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

A brake lamp control method of a vehicle is provided. The method includes determining whether a deceleration of the vehicle based on regenerative brake through the electric motor is present in a hysteresis period between an off threshold as a reference for turning off a brake lamp and an on threshold as a reference for turning on the brake lamp. When the deceleration of the vehicle is present in the hysteresis period, the method includes determining a state of the brake lamp before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period. In response to determining that the brake lamp is turned on or off for a reason except for the regenerative brake before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period, a request for turning on the brake lamp is set or reset based on the regenerative brake in response to the determined state of the brake lamp.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a brake lamp of a vehicle including an electric motor as a power source, comprising:
determining, by a controller, whether a deceleration of the vehicle based on regenerative braking through the electric motor is present during a hysteresis period between an off threshold as a reference for turning off a brake lamp and an on threshold as a reference for turning on the brake lamp;
in response to determining that the deceleration of the vehicle is present during the hysteresis period, determining, by the controller, a state of the brake lamp before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period; and
in response to determining that the brake lamp is turned on or off for a reason except for the regenerative braking before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period, setting or resetting, by the controller, a request for turning on the brake lamp based on the regenerative braking in response to the determined state of the brake lamp.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reason except for the regenerative braking includes at least one of intervention of a posture control device or program, manipulation of an accelerator, or manipulation of a brake pedal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the determined state of the brake lamp is a state in which the brake lamp is turned on, the setting or resetting is performed to set the request for turning on the brake lamp.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the determined state of the brake lamp is a state in which the brake lamp is turned off, the setting or resetting is performed to reset the request for turning on the brake lamp.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1 .

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking approaches the on threshold or the off threshold in a coasting state, predicting, by the controller, whether a pedal is manipulated within a preset time based on sensor information; and
correcting, by the controller, the on threshold or the off threshold depending on a prediction result.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predicting includes predicting whether a brake pedal is manipulated within the preset time before the deceleration of the vehicle reaches the off threshold when the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking is increased in a state in which the brake lamp is turned on.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the correcting includes correcting the off threshold to a high value in response to predicting that the brake pedal is manipulated as the prediction result.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the predicting includes predicting whether an accelerator pedal is manipulated within the preset time before the deceleration of the vehicle reaches the on threshold when the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking is reduced in a state in which the brake lamp is turned off.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the correcting includes correcting the on threshold to a low value in response to predicting that the accelerator pedal is manipulated as the prediction result.

11. A vehicle, comprising:
an electric motor configured to provide a regenerative braking force; and
a controller configured to, in response to determining that a deceleration of the vehicle based on regenerative braking through the electric motor is present during a hysteresis period between an off threshold as a reference for turning off a brake lamp and an on threshold as a reference for turning on the brake lamp, determine a state of the brake lamp before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period,
wherein the controller is configured to, in response to determining that the brake lamp is turned on or off for a reason except for the regenerative braking before the deceleration of the vehicle enters the hysteresis period, set or reset a request for turning on the brake lamp based on the regenerative braking in response to the determined state of the brake lamp.

12. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the reason except for the regenerative braking includes at least one of intervention of a posture control device or program, manipulation of an accelerator, or manipulation of a brake pedal.

13. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein, in response to determining that the determined state of the brake lamp is a state in which the brake lamp is turned on, the controller is configured to set the request for turning on the brake lamp.

14. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein, in response to determining that the determined state of the brake lamp is a state in which the brake lamp is turned off, the controller is configured to reset the request for turning on the brake lamp.

15. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the controller incudes:
a brake lamp chattering predictor configured to, in response to determining that the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking approaches the on threshold or the off threshold in a coasting state, predict whether a pedal is manipulated within a preset time based on sensor information; and
a brake lamp reference corrector configured to correct the on threshold or the off threshold depending on a prediction result.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the brake lamp chattering predictor is configured to predict whether a brake pedal is manipulated within the preset time before the deceleration of the vehicle reaches the off threshold when the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking is increased in a state in which the brake lamp is turned on.

17. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the brake lamp reference corrector is configured to correct the off threshold to a high value in response to predicting that the brake pedal is manipulated as the prediction result of the brake lamp chattering predictor.

18. The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the brake lamp chattering predictor is configured to predict whether an accelerator pedal is manipulated within the preset time before the deceleration of the vehicle reaches the on threshold in a state in which the deceleration of the vehicle through the regenerative braking is reduced in a state in which the brake lamp is turned off.

19. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the brake lamp reference corrector is configured to correct the on threshold to a low value in response to predicting that the accelerator pedal is manipulated as the prediction result of the brake lamp chattering predictor.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Son Hui Un
• Kim Sang Joon
• Jo Kyu Hwan
• Jeon Sung Bae
• Yu Sung Hoon
• Kim Joo Young
• Cho Jin Kyeom

Classifications

• B60Q1/441 Primary

  Electric switches operable by the driver's pedals · CPC title

• B60L7/18 Primary

  Controlling the braking effect (B60L7/12, B60L7/14, B60L7/16 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60Q11/005

  for lighting devices, e.g. indicating if lamps are burning or not · CPC title

• B60T7/042

  by electrical means, e.g. using travel or force sensors · CPC title

• B60Q1/44 Primary

  for indicating braking action {or preparation for braking, e.g. by detection of the foot approaching the brake pedal} · CPC title