Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Transmission control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-30
2001-10-30
Zanelli, Michael J. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Transmission control
C701S051000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311114
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a controller for an automatic motor vehicle transmission.
Conventional controllers for a motor vehicle transmission use stored gear shift characteristic diagrams and shift the gears as a function of at least a position of the accelerator pedal and the vehicle speed. Moreover, the load state of the motor vehicle and the driving style of the driver are taken into account. A fuzzy-logic controller is used to evaluate various signals which report the operating states of the motor vehicle. Then a plurality of control signals are generated with the aid of which, inter alia, one of a plurality of gear shift characteristic diagrams is selected. Such a controller is for example described in Published European Patent Application EP 0 576 703 A1.
The article “Gleitende Schaltpunktermittlung beim Volkswagen-Automatikgetriebe AG4 mittels Fuzzy-Logik” [“Sliding shift point determination in the AG4 Volkswagen automatic transmission by fuzzy logic”], Fuzzy-Neuro-Systeme 1995, by R. Petersen, proposes a continuous shift point determination based on a fuzzy-logic. The shift point determination selects the shift point via an interpolation between in each case two base characteristics. In this case, only a one-dimensional evaluation is carried out between two characteristics (Eco, Sport) by determining a so-called sportiness factor.
Published European Patent Application EP 0 645 559 A1 describes a transmission control, in which the driver acts in a manual gear shifting mode as a teacher for a neuronal network (supervised learning). Here, not only an evaluation of the shift instant carried out by the driver, but an explicit training mode are provided. In this case, it is necessary during a training phase for a driver skilled in manual shifting to train the system, that is to say to prescribe a gear selection, in order to achieve a targeted adaptation.
International Publication No. WO 97/25555 describes a control system for shifting an automatic transmission. The control system has a classification system, configured as a fuzzy system, for classifying the driving style, the respective driving maneuver or the road type. Depending on this classification, the transmission ratio is set with the aid of transmission ratio selection patterns which are stored in a memory. Manual gear shift instructions of the driver are evaluated in an evaluation circuit, and as a function thereof the gear shifting of the transmission is adapted to the gear shifting desired by the driver with the aid of a parameterization circuit and/or a selection circuit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a controller for an automatic motor vehicle transmission which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known controllers of this general type and which uses shifting decisions of the driver during the driving operation to adapt simply and effectively to the gear shifting the driver desires. The driver should not be required to select a particular learning mode of the transmission controller.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a controller for an automatic motor vehicle transmission, including:
characteristic diagram memories for storing a transmission shifting behavior as a function of vehicle operating parameters, the transmission shifting behavior being stored as characteristics including at least one of limit shift points and limit shift characteristic curves;
a fuzzy system connected to the characteristic diagram memories, the fuzzy system detecting the vehicle operating parameters and a vehicle load state and setting a transmission ratio as a function of the vehicle operating parameters and the vehicle load state by using the characteristic diagram memories;
an input device for inputting driver instructions including plus shift instructions and minus shift instructions; and
an adaptation circuit connected to the input device and to the fuzzy system, the adaptation circuit evaluating the driver instructions during a driving operation for adapting the transmission shifting behavior to a driver-desired transmission shifting behavior, and the adaptation circuit superimposing two of the characteristics stored in the characteristic diagram memories in a weighted fashion for setting a transmission shift point.
The advantages of the invention are, in particular, that in a normal driving operation the driver intervenes by simple gear shift instructions, that is to say the driver communicates his or her wishes with respect to the driving behavior to the transmission controller. Since the invention is based on an interpolation between characteristic diagrams, the gear shifting of the transmission is not represented exclusively by a neuronal network, in which an undesired shifting characteristic could be learned due to faulty inputs.
The shift points or the transmission ratios of the transmission are stored as a function of operating parameters of the motor vehicle in characteristic diagrams of the transmission control. The operating parameters include, for example, a position of the accelerator pedal and the motor vehicle speed, or else the set engine speed, the set transmission ratio, the set engine torque or the set wheel torque.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the adaptation circuit superimposes two of the limit shift points or limit shift characteristic curves stored in the characteristic diagram memories in a weighted fashion for setting the transmission shift point.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the adaptation circuit determines a set transmission shift point from at least one of the driver instructions, and weights the limit shift points by a respective distance from the set transmission shift point.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the adaptation circuit determines a set transmission shift point from at least one of the driver instructions, and weights the limit shift points by a respective proximity to the set transmission shift point, the respective proximity is calculated using the following equation
D
i
=
1
-
&LeftBracketingBar;
l
i
&RightBracketingBar;
∑
i
&LeftBracketingBar;
l
i
&RightBracketingBar;
∈
[
0
,
1
]
wherein
D
i
is a proximity of a shift characteristic curve i to a given shift point, and
l
i
is a distance between a shift point and a shift characteristic curve i.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, a characteristic diagram circuit is connected to the fuzzy system for superimposing three of the limit shift characteristic curves, such as limit shift characteristic curves for extremely economical driving, extremely sporty driving and high load driving.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the fuzzy system supplies output signals including a load output signal and a driver behavior output signal, the output signals of the fuzzy system are prioritized such that only an adaptation of the load output signal of a fuzzy classifier is performed when a load situation is detected, and such that only an adaptation of the driver behavior output signal is performed when no load situation is detected.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, an identification memory can be connected to the fuzzy system. The identification memory stores respective driving behaviors for drivers in the form of driver-specific data records obtained during an adaptation process.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, an external data memory is provided for storing respective driving behaviors for drivers in the form of driver-specific data records obtained during an adaptation process.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a controller for an automatic motor vehicle transmission, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details sh
Graf Friedrich
Hauptmann Werner
Heesche Kai
Gibson Eric M.
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Stemer Werner H.
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