Control apparatus for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9701310-B2
Application number	US-201415032209-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2014
Priority date	Nov 13, 2013
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A control apparatus for a vehicle includes: an inter-vehicle distance control unit that performs inter-vehicle distance control with respect to a preceding vehicle; a stop-restart unit that stops an engine if the host vehicle is stopped and an engine stop condition is satisfied and that restarts the engine if a restart condition is satisfied; a braking force maintenance unit that maintains a braking force which stops the vehicle in idle state; and a braking force increase unit that increases the braking force maintained by the braking force maintenance unit if the vehicle is stopped by the inter-vehicle distance control unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:
an inter-vehicle distance control unit that performs inter-vehicle distance control with respect to a preceding vehicle;
a stop-restart unit that stops an engine if a host vehicle is stopped and an engine stop condition is satisfied and that restarts the engine if a restart condition is satisfied;
a braking force maintenance unit that maintains a braking force which stops the vehicle in idle state; and
a braking force increase unit that increases the braking force maintained by the braking force maintenance unit if the vehicle is stopped by the inter-vehicle distance control unit,
wherein the braking force increase unit increases the braking force before the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, maintains the increased braking force if the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, and reduces the increased braking force if the engine is not stopped by the stop-restart unit.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the braking force increase unit increases the braking force before the engine is restarted by the stop-restart unit.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the braking force increase unit reduces the increased braking force if it is determined that other restart conditions among the restart conditions than such a condition that an operation to start the vehicle is detected are not satisfied.

4. A control apparatus for a vehicle, which communicates with an inter-vehicle distance control unit that performs inter-vehicle distance control with respect to a preceding vehicle, a stop-restart unit that stops an engine if a host vehicle is stopped and an engine stop condition is satisfied and that restarts the engine if a restart condition is satisfied, and a braking force maintenance unit that maintains a braking force which stops the vehicle in idle state,
the control apparatus comprising:
a braking force increase unit that increases the braking force maintained by the braking force maintenance unit if the vehicle is stopped by the inter-vehicle distance control unit,

wherein the braking force increase unit increases the braking force before the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, maintains the increased braking force if the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, and reduces the increased braking force if the engine is not stopped by the stop-restart unit.

5. A control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:
an inter-vehicle distance control unit that performs inter-vehicle distance control with respect to a preceding vehicle;
a stop-restart unit that stops an engine if a host vehicle is stopped and an engine stop condition is satisfied and that restarts the engine if a restart condition is satisfied;
a braking force maintenance unit that maintains a braking force which stops the vehicle in idle state; and
a braking force increase unit that increases the braking force maintained by the braking force maintenance unit if the vehicle is stopped by the inter-vehicle distance control unit,
wherein the braking force increase unit increases the braking force only if the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, and if the engine is not stopped by the stop-restart unit, the braking force is not increased by the braking force increase unit and is maintained by the braking force maintenance unit.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
if the engine is stopped by the stop-restart unit, the braking force increase unit increases the braking force only if it is determined that another restart condition among the restart conditions than such a condition that an operation to start the vehicle is detected is satisfied.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kato Hirokazu

Classifications

• B60T7/122

  for locking of reverse movement · CPC title

• B60W30/16 Primary

  Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle · CPC title

• B60W10/18

  including control of braking systems · CPC title

• B60T7/22

  initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle {, or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle} · CPC title

• B60W30/18018

  Start-stop drive, e.g. in a traffic jam · CPC title