JP-7855454-B2 - Vehicle control system

Inventors

• 杉下 雅一

Assignees

• 愛三工業株式会社

Dates

Publication Date

20260508

Application Date

20220805

Claims (3)

1. A system for determining the status of passengers in a vehicle, which acquires images of each passenger inside the vehicle using a camera and determines the status of the passengers inside the vehicle based on the number of passengers, gender, and age of the passengers inside the vehicle, based on the acquired images. A correction means that corrects the vehicle's control values based on the judgment result of the state determination means, It is equipped with, The state determination means estimates the mass of each passenger in the vehicle, The correction means is a vehicle control device that corrects the output of the vehicle propulsion system based on the estimated total mass and the age of the occupants .
2. A system for determining the status of passengers in a vehicle, which acquires images of each passenger inside the vehicle using a camera and determines the status of the passengers inside the vehicle based on the number of passengers, gender, and age of the passengers inside the vehicle, based on the acquired images. A correction means that corrects the vehicle's control values based on the judgment result of the state determination means, It is equipped with, The correction means is a vehicle control device that corrects the output of the air conditioner so that the temperature changes according to the age of the passenger, based on the judgment result of the state judgment means .
3. A vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2 , Furthermore, the vehicle control device includes a range estimation means that estimates the vehicle's range based on the determination result of the state determination means.

Description

This specification discloses technology relating to vehicle control systems. Technologies for adjusting vehicle control according to the passenger status are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that estimates the vehicle's load mass based on the number of seatbelt users and the amount of suspension compression, and then corrects the engine's drive torque accordingly. Patent Document 2 also discloses a technology that measures the number of passengers by installing human detection sensors in the seats and adjusts the air conditioning system accordingly. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-186945Japanese Patent Publication No. 2013-95214 The configuration of the vehicle control system is shown. Referring to Figure 1, the vehicle control device 50 will be described. The vehicle control device 50 consists of a state determination means 4 and an ECU 20. As will be described in detail later, the ECU 20 includes a correction means 22 for correcting control values to each device and a range estimation means 24 for estimating the vehicle's range. The state determination means 4 receives images of the occupants acquired by the camera 2. The timing of image acquisition by the camera 2 can be arbitrarily adjusted, such as after the vehicle door opens or after the vehicle's propulsion system (powertrain) starts. Based on the images input from the camera 2, the state determination means 4 determines the number of occupants, gender, age, weight, etc. The method for determining the gender, age, weight, etc. of a person from an image is publicly known and will be omitted. The occupant information determined by the state determination means 4 is input to the ECU 20. The ECU 20 receives various information from devices installed within the vehicle. For example, the ECU 20 receives signals such as accelerator pedal depression from the accelerator pedal 6, air conditioning temperature and fan speed from the air conditioning control unit 8, and fuel level from the fuel sensor 10. Although not shown in the diagram, the ECU 20 also receives signals corresponding to throttle valve opening and air-fuel ratio information. The ECU 20 outputs signals to drive various devices installed within the vehicle. For example, the ECU 20 outputs signals to control the engine speed of the engine 30, signals to drive the air conditioning compressor 32, and signals to display vehicle information (e.g., driving range based on current fuel level) on the display meter 34. Although not shown in the diagram, the ECU 20 also outputs signals to open and close the throttle valve and signals to drive the fuel pump. Note that the engine 30 is an example of a vehicle propulsion system. The ECU 20 is equipped with a correction means 22 and a driving range estimation means 24. The correction means 22 corrects the control values output from the ECU 20 to each device (engine 30, air conditioner 32, etc.) based on the passenger information input from the state determination means 4. For example, if the total mass of the passenger input to the ECU 20 from the state determination means 4 is heavier than a standard value, the correction means 22 corrects the control value output to the engine 30 when the accelerator 6 is pressed so that the engine 30 is driven at a higher rotational speed than when the total mass of the passenger is at a standard value. This makes it possible to suppress the sluggishness of vehicle acceleration when the accelerator 6 is pressed, even when the total mass of the passenger is heavier than a standard value. In other words, the driver can obtain the desired acceleration with the same amount of accelerator pedal depression, regardless of the total mass of the passenger. The "reference value for the total mass of the occupants" is a numerical value (mass) pre-stored in the ECU 20. If the total mass determined by the state determination means 4 is less than or equal to the reference value, the correction means 22 does not correct the control value output from the ECU 20 to the engine 30. As a result, the ECU 20 outputs a control value to the engine 30 corresponding to the amount the accelerator pedal 6 is pressed. The range estimation means 24 estimates the range based on the passenger information (total mass of the passengers) input from the state determination means 4 and the remaining fuel signal input from the fuel sensor 10. The estimated range is displayed on the display meter 34. Alternatively, the range estimation means 24 may calculate the current range based on the relationship between past fuel levels and range, correct the calculation result based on the passenger information (total mass of the passengers) input from the state determination means 4, and display the corrected range on the display meter 34. (Features of the vehicle control device 50) As described above, the vehicle control device 50 determines the number of occupants, gender, age, weight, etc., in the state determination means 4, and uses