US-12618684-B2 - Processing device

US12618684B2US 12618684 B2US12618684 B2US 12618684B2US-12618684-B2

Abstract

A processing device includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to perform a process including: acquiring pattern information, which is information indicating an operation pattern of at least one traffic light that is present on a traveling route of a vehicle; predicting, based on the pattern information, a number of stops, which is a number of times the vehicle is to stop at the at least one traffic light; and predicting, based on the number of stops, a total consumption amount of an energy source of the vehicle in a case where the vehicle travels on the traveling route.

Inventors

Takehiko KATSURANO
Yusuke Okubo
Shinji Sawada
Yoshiaki MAEZAWA
Takahiro Ueki
Takahito FUJINO
Ryuya SUZUKI
Norio Suzuki

Assignees

Subaru Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240708

Claims (4)

1 . A processing device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform a process comprising: acquiring pattern information, which is information indicating an operation pattern of one or more traffic lights that is present on a traveling route of a vehicle, the pattern information including at least one of time-series information of signal color at respective times or a cycle of color change; executing, based on the pattern information, positions of traffic lights on the traveling route, and a legal speed for the route, a time-series simulation that assumes predetermined acceleration and deceleration, and predicting, based on results of the simulation, (i) a number of stops at the one or more traffic lights and a stop time at each traffic light, and (ii) a travel continuation distance by which the vehicle continuously travels after stopping at one traffic light until a next stop at another traffic light; predicting, based on at least the predicted number of stops, the predicted stop times, and the predicted travel continuation distance, a total consumption amount of an energy source of the vehicle for travel on the traveling route, the predicting comprising at least (i) determining, for each stop, an energy consumption amount for re-acceleration after the stop, (ii) subtracting a regenerative energy amount obtained during deceleration to the stop from the energy consumption amount for re-acceleration, (iii) accounting for auxiliary-load energy consumption during the predicted stop times, and (iv) accounting for additional energy-consumption effects in sections where the travel continuation distance is short such that a target vehicle speed corresponding to the legal speed cannot be reached; and based on the predicted total consumption amount and a remaining capacity of the energy source, determining a recommended traveling route that suppresses consumption of the energy source, or predicting a cruisable distance of the vehicle.
2 . The processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to predict, based on the pattern information, a stop time that is a time during which the vehicle is stopped at the one or more traffic lights, and wherein predicting the predicted total consumption amount comprises accounting for the predicted stop times in addition to the predicted number of stops and the predicted travel continuation distance.
3 . The processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more traffic lights comprises traffic lights, and the pattern information indicates respective operation patterns of the traffic lights, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to predict, based on the pattern information, a travel continuation distance by which the vehicle continuously travels after stopping at one of the traffic lights until a next stop at another of the traffic lights; and wherein predicting the predicted total consumption amount comprises accounting for the predicted travel continuation distance in addition to the predicted number of stops and the predicted stop times.
4 . The processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises, as the energy source, a battery configured to store electric power to be supplied to a traveling motor, and wherein predicting the predicted total consumption amount comprises using the predicted number of stops and, for each stop at the one or more traffic lights, a per-stop electric-power consumption amount obtained by subtracting a regenerative electric-power amount recovered during deceleration to the stop from an electric-power consumption amount for re-acceleration after the stop.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is continuation of International Application No. PCT/JP2023/010406, filed on Mar. 16, 2023, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a processing device. Related Art While traveling, vehicles consume an energy source mounted thereon. For example, in an electric vehicle, electric power stored in a battery is used as the energy source. In order to assist driving of a driver who drives the vehicle, consumption of the energy source of the vehicle may be predicted. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-220415 discloses a technique for predicting a cruisable distance of the vehicle by predicting the consumption amount of the energy source of the vehicle. SUMMARY An aspect of the disclosure provides a processing device including one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to perform a process including: acquiring pattern information, which is information indicating an operation pattern of at least one traffic light that is present on a traveling route of a vehicle; predicting, based on the pattern information, a number of stops, which is a number of times the vehicle is to stop at the at least one traffic light; and predicting, based on the number of stops, a total consumption amount of an energy source of the vehicle in a case where the vehicle travels on the traveling route. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a first example of a flow of processing performed by the processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a flow of processing in which the processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure predicts a total consumption amount of electric power; FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a traveling route of the vehicle according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; and FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a second example of the flow of processing performed by the processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In order to assist driving of a driver who drives the vehicle, various techniques for predicting the consumption amount of the energy source of the vehicle have been proposed. However, it is desired to propose more techniques for more accurately predicting the consumption amount of the energy source of the vehicle. Thus, it is desired to provide a processing device capable of accurately predicting the consumption amount of the energy source of the vehicle. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Specific dimensions, materials, numerical values, and the like illustrated in the embodiment are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the disclosure, and do not limit the present disclosure unless otherwise specified. In this specification and the drawings, elements having substantially the same functions and configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals to omit redundant description, and elements not directly related to the present disclosure are not illustrated. Configuration of Vehicle A configuration of a vehicle 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the vehicle 1. Hereinafter, an example will be described in which the vehicle 1 is an electric vehicle including a battery 21 and travels using electric power stored in the battery 21 as an energy source. That is, in the following example, a travel distance per unit capacity of the energy source is an electric power consumption rate. However, the energy source of the vehicle 1 is not limited to the electric power stored in the battery 21. For example, the vehicle 1 may be an engine vehicle including an engine, and may travel using fuel supplied to the engine as an energy source. In this case, the travel distance per unit capacity of the energy source is fuel economy. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 includes a communication device 11, the battery 21, a traveling motor 22, a navigation device 23, and a processing device 30. The communication device 11 communicates with an external device of the vehicle 1. The battery 21 can charge and discharge electric power. As the battery 21, for example, a lithium ion battery, a lithium ion polymer battery, a nickel-metal hydride battery,