A system of determining starting tendency of a driver may include: a vehicle speed sensor detecting a vehicle speed an accelerator pedal position sensor detecting an accelerator pedal position, and a controller receiving information on input variables including the accelerator pedal position, the vehicle speed from the accelerator pedal position sensor or the vehicle speed sensor, determining a short term driving tendency, a long term driving tendency, and a starting tendency of the driver based on the information, and controlling an engine or a transmission according to the short term driving tendency, the long term driving tendency, and the starting tendency, in which the controller continuously determines the short term driving tendency of the driver for a predetermined time and determines the starting tendency of the driver from a predetermined number (n) of the short term driving tendencies of the driver.

A control apparatus for a vehicle automatic transmission includes a downshift determining unit that determines whether downshift of a gear shift stage is to be performed based on at least one of a history of lateral accelerations and a history of variations of a vehicle speed. A lateral acceleration history acquiring unit or a vehicle speed variation history acquiring unit returns at least one of the history of the lateral accelerations and the history of the variations of the vehicle speed to an initial value when a shift control mode determined by a shift control mode determining unit is switched. At least one of the initial value of the history of the lateral accelerations and the initial value of the history of the variations of the vehicle speed is a value that is set for each shift control mode determined by the shift control mode determining unit.

A control apparatus for a vehicle automatic transmission includes a downshift determining unit that determines whether downshift of a gear shift stage is to be performed based on at least one of a history of lateral accelerations and a history of variations of a vehicle speed. A lateral acceleration history acquiring unit or a vehicle speed variation history acquiring unit returns at least one of the history of the lateral accelerations and the history of the variations of the vehicle speed to an initial value when a shift control mode determined by a shift control mode determining unit is switched. At least one of the initial value of the history of the lateral accelerations and the initial value of the history of the variations of the vehicle speed is a value that is set for each shift control mode determined by the shift control mode determining unit.

A system and method for controlling performance of a vehicle engine by sensing and/or accessing data regarding the driving environment and adjusting at least one of an engine output torque limit and a shifting schedule for the vehicle based on the sensed data.

A shifting system for a human-powered vehicle comprises a controller. The controller is configured to receive a driving torque and a cadence of the human-powered vehicle from at least one sensor. The controller is configured to determine a permitted shift timing based on the driving torque and the cadence. The controller is further configured to control a shift mechanism to perform a gear shift during the permitted shift timing in accordance with a permitted cadence range and a first threshold of the driving torque.

A method for analyzing a driving pattern of a vehicle includes setting a driving pattern measurement condition, measuring a driving pattern, deducing an engine operating region for the measured driving pattern from an engine control map, calculating each weighting determined according to a distance from the measured driving pattern to each vertex of the engine operating region, accumulating each calculated weighting for each coordinate of the engine operating region, determining whether a current measurement condition departs from the set measurement condition, and calculating a weighting factor for each coordinate under the set measurement condition when the current measurement condition departs from the set measurement condition, wherein, in the step of deducing an engine operating region, the engine operating region refers to a virtual block defined by four vertex coordinates of a pixel, in which the measured driving pattern is present, in the engine control map.

The invention presented herein solves the problem of sending a signal or alert ahead of time with sufficient advance notice in order for an operation or action to be carried as close as possible to a pre-determined point, either by one or more operators or by automated systems. The invention learns and factors in the total reaction time of the system and evaluates dynamic conditions to improve its predictions over time. The invention also presents an apparatus that conveys the signal or alert to one or more operators in a simple and effective way.

A method for analyzing a driving pattern of a vehicle includes setting a driving pattern measurement condition, measuring a driving pattern, deducing an engine operating region for the measured driving pattern from an engine control map, calculating each weighting determined according to a distance from the measured driving pattern to each vertex of the engine operating region, accumulating each calculated weighting for each coordinate of the engine operating region, determining whether a current measurement condition departs from the set measurement condition, and calculating a weighting factor for each coordinate under the set measurement condition when the current measurement condition departs from the set measurement condition, wherein, in the step of deducing an engine operating region, the engine operating region refers to a virtual block defined by four vertex coordinates of a pixel, in which the measured driving pattern is present, in the engine control map.

In a vehicle having a manual transmission, various sensors such as pedal and gearshift position sensors and accelerometers provide data to a control module such as an engine control module. The control module includes a microprocessor which calculates derivatives, i.e., the rate of change (first derivative) or the rate of change of the rate of change (second derivative) of the data from the sensors. Based on these derivatives, the microprocessor classifies the current driving activity into one of two, three or more modes, for example, track, sport and touring. During a shift, from the data from the gearshift sensor, the microprocessor determines whether an upshift or downshift is imminent or in progress and decreases or increases the engine speed to achieve zero or negligible cross clutch speed differential upon clutch engagement, rapidly if in the first (track) mode, less rapidly in the second (sport) mode and less rapidly still in the third (touring) mode.

A system and method for controlling performance of a vehicle engine by sensing and/or accessing data regarding the driving environment and adjusting at least one of an engine output torque limit and a shifting schedule for the vehicle based on the sensed data.