Device and method for controlling a vehicle transmission

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a vehicle transmission. The apparatus may include: a determination device, a calculation device, a gear determination device, and a controller. The determination device is configured to determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on a leading vehicle when the vehicle starts to coast, based on information about the vehicle and information about the leading vehicle; the calculation device is configured to, when it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle, determine a target speed and a target distance of the vehicle based on the position, speed, and moving distance of the leading vehicle; the gear determination device is configured to determine a final gear of the transmission based on the determined target speed and target distance by configuring a deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission; and the controller controls the transmission based on the final gear.

Description

[0001] Cross - reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10 - 2020 - 0063810, filed on May 27, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. Technical field

[0003] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a vehicle transmission. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for controlling a gear based on a moving distance of a preceding vehicle when controlling the transmission while the preceding vehicle decelerates. Background art

[0004] An automatic transmission is a device that automatically controls gears according to driving conditions and the driver's acceleration intention to improve the driver's convenience.

[0005] Since the automatic transmission cannot recognize the speed of the preceding vehicle, the automatic transmission only performs gear shifting according to a gear determination map for vehicle speed preset in a transmission control unit (TCU).

[0006] Therefore, when the speed of the preceding vehicle is higher than the speed of the host vehicle, the driver accelerates the host vehicle to follow the preceding vehicle. However, when the speed of the host vehicle is higher than the speed of the preceding vehicle, the driver inevitably decelerates the host vehicle.

[0007] As described above, if the driver decelerates the vehicle to reduce the vehicle speed, when the reduction amount of the speed of the host vehicle is small after the accelerator is suddenly released (Tip - out) (the accelerator is turned off), the driver has to operate the brake pedal again, or when the speed of the host vehicle decreases more rapidly, the driver has to operate the accelerator pedal.

[0008] As described above, since the degree of acceleration and / or braking for following the preceding vehicle increases, the driver's convenience is reduced. In addition, due to the re - acceleration operation after deceleration, fuel consumption may increase.

[0009] The information included in the background art section of the present invention is only intended to enhance the understanding of the general background of the present invention and should not be regarded as an admission or any form of suggestion that this information constitutes the prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the invention

[0010] Aspects of the present invention are directed to providing an apparatus and method for controlling a vehicle transmission, which is configured to determine an optimal gear based on the position of a preceding vehicle, the speed of the preceding vehicle, and the moving distance of the preceding vehicle when the vehicle decelerates based on the speed difference between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, so as to reduce the number of decelerations or re - decelerations, thereby improving driving convenience, and decelerating the vehicle with excellent fuel efficiency.

[0011] The technical problems solved by the present inventive concept are not limited to the problems mentioned above, and those skilled in the art of each exemplary embodiment of the present invention will clearly understand any other technical problems not mentioned herein through the following description.

[0012] According to aspects of the present invention, an apparatus for controlling a vehicle transmission may include: a determination device, a calculation device, a gear determination device, and a controller. The determination device is configured to determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on a preceding vehicle when the vehicle starts to coast, according to information about the vehicle and information about the preceding vehicle. The calculation device is configured to determine a target speed and a target distance of the vehicle based on the position of the preceding vehicle, the speed of the preceding vehicle, and the moving distance of the preceding vehicle when it is determined that deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle is to be performed. The gear determination device is configured to determine a final gear of the transmission based on the determined target speed and target distance by configuring a deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission. The controller controls the transmission based on the final gear.

[0013] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the speed of the vehicle satisfy a predetermined condition, the determination device may perform deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle.

[0014] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the determination device may determine whether the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle is greater than a minimum reference distance and less than a maximum reference distance.

[0015] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the determination device may determine whether the speed of the vehicle is greater than a value obtained by adding a set value to the speed of the preceding vehicle.

[0016] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle is greater than the minimum reference distance and less than the maximum reference distance, and the speed of the vehicle is greater than a value obtained by adding a set value to the speed of the preceding vehicle, the determination device may perform deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle.

[0017] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the calculation device may determine the target speed by adding a threshold value to the speed of the preceding vehicle.

[0018] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the critical value may be a value between a preset minimum critical speed and a maximum critical speed, and may change according to the speed change of the vehicle ahead.

[0019] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the computing device may determine a target distance, which is obtained by adding the value obtained by subtracting an offset distance from the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead to the moving distance of the vehicle ahead within a specific time.

[0020] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the offset distance may be set as the inter-vehicle distance maintained based on the speed of the vehicle ahead.

[0021] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the determination device may determine whether the relative speed between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead is less than a predetermined speed.

[0022] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when the relative speed between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead is less than a predetermined speed, the determination device may cancel the deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead.

[0023] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the gear determination device may identify a target position according to the target distance, and determine the final gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position according to the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission.

[0024] According to various aspects of the present invention, a method for controlling a vehicle transmission may include: when the vehicle starts to coast, determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead according to information about the vehicle and information about the vehicle ahead; when it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead, determining a target speed and a target distance of the vehicle based on the position of the vehicle ahead, the speed of the vehicle ahead, and the moving distance of the vehicle ahead; by configuring a deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, determining the final gear of the transmission based on the determined target speed and the determined target distance; controlling the transmission based on the final gear.

[0025] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead may include: when the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead and the speed of the vehicle meet a predetermined condition, determining to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead.

[0026] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead may further include: determining whether the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead is greater than a minimum reference distance and less than a maximum reference distance.

[0027] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on a preceding vehicle may further include: determining whether the speed of the vehicle is greater than a value obtained by adding a set value to the speed of the preceding vehicle.

[0028] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, determining a target speed and a target distance may include: determining the target speed by adding a critical value to the speed of the preceding vehicle; determining the target distance obtained by adding a value obtained by subtracting an offset distance from the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle to the moving distance of the preceding vehicle within a specific time.

[0029] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the critical value may be a value between a preset minimum critical speed and a maximum critical speed, and may change according to the speed change of the preceding vehicle.

[0030] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the offset distance may be set as the inter-vehicle distance maintained based on the speed of the preceding vehicle.

[0031] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, determining the final gear may include: identifying a target position according to the target distance; determining the gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position as the final gear according to the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission.

[0032] The method and apparatus of the present invention have other features and advantages, which will be apparent from the accompanying drawings incorporated herein and the subsequent detailed description, or will be described in detail in the accompanying drawings incorporated herein and the subsequent detailed description, and these drawings and detailed description are used together to explain the specific principles of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing a system of an apparatus for controlling a vehicle transmission adopting various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing components of an apparatus for controlling a vehicle transmission according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 3A is a graph showing the change of the critical value according to the speed of the preceding vehicle according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 3B is a graph showing the change of the offset distance according to the speed of the preceding vehicle according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 4And Figure 5 is a schematic diagram for reference to describe a method for a device that controls a vehicle transmission to determine a target distance based on a moving distance of a preceding vehicle according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing a deceleration curve according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 7 And Figure 8 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing an embodiment of a shift operation of a device that controls a vehicle transmission for reference to describe various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 9 is a flowchart showing operations of a method for controlling a vehicle transmission according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing a computing system that executes a method according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0042] It should be understood that the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale and are merely appropriate simplified drawings for illustrating the basic principles and various features of the present invention. Specific design features of the present invention disclosed herein, such as specific dimensions, directions, positions, and shapes, will be determined in part by the specific application and use environment.

[0043] In these figures, throughout the multiple figures of the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or equivalent parts of the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention

[0044] Now, reference will be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention. Examples of each embodiment are illustrated in the drawings and described as follows. Although the present invention will be described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that this specification is not intended to limit the present invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the other hand, the present invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, but also various alternative embodiments, modified embodiments, equivalent embodiments, or other embodiments included within the spirit and scope of the present invention defined by the appended claims.

[0045] Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. When adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, it should be noted that even if the same or equivalent components are shown in other drawings, they are denoted by the same reference numerals. In addition, in the following description of various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, specific descriptions of known features or functions will be excluded so as not to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention.

[0046] When describing components in the form according to the present invention, terms such as first, second, "A", "B", (a), (b), etc. may be used. These terms are only intended to distinguish one component from another, and these terms do not limit the nature, order or sequence of the components. Further, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical terms or scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the various exemplary embodiments of the present invention pertain. Terms defined in a general dictionary are interpreted to have the same meaning as the context meaning in the relevant technical field and are not interpreted to have an ideal or overly formal meaning unless clearly defined as having such a meaning in the present invention.

[0047] Hereinafter, reference will be made to Figures 1 to 10 describe the embodiments of the present invention.

[0048] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing a system of a device for controlling a vehicle transmission adopting various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0049] Referring to Figure 1 , the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission can be implemented inside the vehicle. In addition, the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission can be integrally formed with the internal control unit of the vehicle or can be implemented separately from the internal control unit of the vehicle to be connected to the internal control unit of the vehicle through a separate connector.

[0050] Referring to Figure 1 , during driving, when coasting starts due to the occurrence of an accelerator-off state or a brake-off state, the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission can detect whether there is a preceding vehicle 20 within a front reference range by using a sensor such as a radar. For example, the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission can detect whether there is a preceding vehicle 20 within a preset front distance (e.g., 150 m).

[0051] When there is a vehicle 20 ahead within the reference range, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can detect the distance and / or relative speed between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead. Alternatively, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can obtain information about the current position of the vehicle 10 and information about the condition of the road ahead of the vehicle 10 from the navigation system 15.

[0052] In this case, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on the distance between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead and the speed of the vehicle 10 or the vehicle 20 ahead.

[0053] When performing deceleration following control, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can determine the target speed and target position of the vehicle based on the speed of the vehicle 20 ahead, the position of the vehicle 20 ahead, and the moving distance of the vehicle 20 ahead within time "t", and can control the transmission of the vehicle 10 based on a deceleration curve.

[0054] Accordingly, Figure 2 exemplary embodiments will be referred to for a description of the detailed configuration of the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission.

[0055] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram exemplarily showing the components of the device for controlling the vehicle transmission according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0056] Referring to Figure 2 , the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission may include: a controller 110, an interface 120, a sensor 130, a communication device 140, a storage device 150, a determination device 160, a calculation device 170, and a gear position determination device 180. In this case, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the controller 110, the determination device 160, the calculation device 170, or the gear position determination device 180 in the device 100 may be implemented by at least one processor. In this case, the controller 110 may be implemented in a form including the determination device 160, the calculation device 170, and the gear position determination device 180.

[0057] The controller 110 can process signals transmitted between the components of the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission.

[0058] The interface 120 may include: an input device and an output device. The input device is used to receive control instructions from the user; the output device is used to output the operating state and operating result of the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission.

[0059] In this case, the input device may include keys, and may include a mouse, a joystick, a jog shuttle, a stylus, etc. In addition, the input device may include a soft keyboard implemented on the display.

[0060] The output device may include a display. In the case where a touch sensor such as a touch film, a touch sheet, or a touch pad is included in the display, the display may operate as a touch screen, and the input device and the output device may be implemented in an integrated form.

[0061] In this case, the display may include at least one of a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flexible display, a field emission display (FED), or a three-dimensional display (3D display).

[0062] Sensor 130 may include one or more sensors that detect obstacles such as a vehicle ahead located around the vehicle and measure the distance to and / or the relative speed with respect to the vehicle ahead 20. For example, sensor 130 may include a radar, an ultrasonic sensor, a scanner, and / or a camera. In addition, various sensors may be employed as long as the sensors can detect obstacles and measure distances. Meanwhile, sensor 130 may further include a sensor for measuring the speed and / or acceleration of the vehicle 10.

[0063] Communication device 140 may include a communication module for communicating with an electronic unit or a control unit provided in the vehicle. For example, the communication module may communicate with a navigation system 15 provided in the vehicle 10 to receive information about the position of the vehicle 10 and / or information about the condition of the road ahead of the vehicle 10 from the navigation system 15.

[0064] In this case, vehicle network communication technologies may include Controller Area Network (CAN) communication technology, Local Interconnect Network (LIN) communication technology, FlexRay communication technology. In this case, communication device 140 may further include a module for wireless Internet access or a module for short-range communication.

[0065] Wireless Internet technologies may include Wireless LAN (WLAN), Wireless Broadband (Wibro), Wi-Fi, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). Short-range communication technologies may include Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

[0066] Storage device 150 may store data and / or algorithms required for operating the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission.

[0067] For example, the storage device 150 may store information about the position of the vehicle 10 received from the navigation system 15 and / or information about the condition of the road ahead of the vehicle 10, such as information about curvature and gradient. In addition, the storage device 150 may store information about the vehicle 20 ahead detected by the sensor 130. In addition, the storage device 150 may store instructions and / or algorithms for determining the target speed and target position of the vehicle based on the information about the position of the vehicle 10 and the information about the vehicle 20 ahead (such as information about position, speed, or moving distance), so as to perform deceleration following control and determine the final gear for controlling gear shifting.

[0068] In this case, the storage device 150 may include a storage medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory, etc.

[0069] When the current state switches to the coasting state due to the accelerator off state or the brake off state, the determination device 160 may determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle 20 ahead (deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead) according to the position and speed of the vehicle 10, the position and speed of the vehicle 20 ahead, and the distance between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead.

[0070] For example, the determination device 160 determines whether the distance between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead is greater than the minimum reference distance and less than the maximum reference distance. The determination device 160 determines whether the speed of the vehicle 10 is greater than the value obtained by adding the set value to the speed of the vehicle 20 ahead.

[0071] The determination device 160 may determine whether the relative speed between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead is less than a predetermined speed. For example, the relative speed between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead may be 1 kph, but the present invention is not limited thereto. When the relative speed between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead is determined to be less than the predetermined speed, the controller 110 may cancel the deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead.

[0072] When it is determined that the distance between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead is greater than the minimum reference distance and less than the maximum reference distance, and when it is determined that the speed of the vehicle 10 is greater than the value obtained by adding the set value to the speed of the vehicle 20 ahead, the determination device 160 may determine to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead.

[0073] Therefore, the determination device 160 can send the determination result to the computing device 170, the gear determination device 180, and / or the controller 110. Thus, when the determination device 160 determines to perform deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle 20, the controller 110 can perform deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle 20.

[0074] When it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the preceding vehicle 20 according to the determination result of the determination device 160, the computing device 170 determines the target speed and the target distance.

[0075] In this case, the computing device 170 can determine the value obtained by adding the critical value (V CAL ) to the speed of the preceding vehicle 20 as the target speed (V ct ) of the vehicle 10. In this case, the critical value can be set to a value between a preset minimum critical speed and a maximum critical speed, and can be changed according to the speed change of the preceding vehicle.

[0076] An exemplary implementation in which the critical value changes according to the speed change of the preceding vehicle 20 will be described below with reference to Figure 3A .

[0077] In addition, the computing device 170 can determine the target distance of the vehicle 10 as the value obtained by adding the value obtained by subtracting the offset distance from the distance between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 to the moving distance of the preceding vehicle 20 within the time "t". In this case, the offset distance can be set to the inter-vehicle distance maintained based on the speed of the preceding vehicle 20.

[0078] In other words, the computing device 170 can determine the target distance of the vehicle 10 as shown in Equation 1 and Equation 2 below. Figure 4 and Figure 5 are schematic diagrams showing a method for the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission to determine a target distance based on the moving distance of a preceding vehicle according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0079] First, with reference to Figure 4 , the computing device 170 can determine the time point (t = t1) when the speed of the vehicle 10 matches the speed of the preceding vehicle 20 (V C (t) = V F (t)). The determination device 170 can determine the moving distance (S1) of the preceding vehicle 20 and the reduced relative distance (S2) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20. With reference to Figure 5 , it can be understood that the moving distance of the preceding vehicle 20 and the relative distance between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 are determined based on the changes in the speed of the vehicle 10 and the speed of the preceding vehicle 20 over time.

[0080] Equation 1:

[0081]

[0082] S2 = D Rel -D Offset

[0083] In other words, by integrating the speed (V F ) of the preceding vehicle 20 over the time period from t0 to t1, the calculation device 170 can determine the moving distance (S1) of the preceding vehicle 20 over the time period from t0 to t1. In addition, the calculation device 170 can determine the relative distance (S2) by subtracting the offset distance (D Rel ) from the distance (D offset ) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20.

[0084] In this case, the offset distance is the target inter-vehicle distance that will ultimately be maintained. An exemplary embodiment in which the offset value changes according to the speed change of the preceding vehicle 20 will be described with reference to Figure 3B

[0085] The calculation device 170 can determine the final target distance (D T ) by adding the moving distance (S2) of the preceding vehicle 20 and the reduced relative distance (S2) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20, as shown in Equation 2 below.

[0086] Equation 2:

[0087]

[0088]

[0089] In this case, the gear determination device 180 can configure a deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission based on the target speed and target distance determined by the calculation device 170, and can determine the gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position as the final gear. In this case, the target position may refer to a forward position that is the target distance away from the current position of the vehicle 10.

[0090] The deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission can be configured by Equation 3 below.

[0091] Equation 3:

[0092] V i (t) = A i t 2 +(B i -gsinθ)t + v0

[0093] Among them, "A" is the second curve fitting coefficient, "B" is the first curve fitting coefficient, "i" is the gear position, "g" is the acceleration due to gravity, "θ" is the slope, and "v0" is the initial (current) vehicle speed.

[0094] An exemplary implementation of the deceleration curve for each gear position of the transmission configured by Equation 3 will be described later with reference to Figure 6 An exemplary implementation of the deceleration curve for each gear position of the transmission configured by Equation 3 will be described later with reference to

[0095] According to Figure 6 the exemplary implementation of, the gear position determination device 180 determines the final gear position corresponding to the target speed (V ct ) at the target position based on the deceleration curve for each gear position of the transmission.

[0096] The specific situation of the operation of determining the final gear position will be described later with reference to Figure 7 The specific situation of the operation of determining the final gear position will be described later with reference to

[0097] With reference to Figure 7 , it is assumed that at the position where the accelerator of the vehicle 10 suddenly becomes in the released state, the current speed of the vehicle 10 is V c , the leading vehicle 20 is located at a distance (D f ) in front of the vehicle 10, and the current speed of the leading vehicle 20 is V F , and the target speed (V ct ) can be set to the value obtained by adding the threshold value (V CAL ) to the current speed (V F ) of the leading vehicle 20.

[0098] In addition, the target distance (D T ) can be set to the value obtained by adding the moving distance of the leading vehicle 20 to the value obtained by subtracting the offset distance (D Rel ) from the distance (D offset ) between the vehicle 10 and the leading vehicle 20.

[0099] In this case, when applying the deceleration curve for each gear position of the transmission based on the current speed of the vehicle 10, the gear position determination device 180 can determine the gear position corresponding to the target speed at the target position as the final gear position.

[0100] Based on the current speed of the vehicle, since the deceleration curve 511 to the target position shows between the eighth gear and the N gear, the gear position determination device 180 can determine the final gear position as the eighth gear.

[0101] Therefore, the controller 110 can control the transmission based on the final gear position determined by the gear position determination device 180 so as to follow the deceleration curve.

[0102] An example will be given with reference toFigure 8 A description is given of the operation of controlling a vehicle transmission according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0103] Reference Figure 8 , the controller 110 performs neutral control from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the expected shift position. When the vehicle 10 reaches the expected shift position, based on the information of the final gear determined by the gear determination device 180, the controller 110 performs a shift from the N gear to the eighth gear. In this case, when starting to decelerate based on the deceleration curve corresponding to the eighth gear, the expected shift position can be determined as the deceleration start position, where the expected speed at the target position is the target speed.

[0104] Therefore, the controller 110 performs deceleration control such that while maintaining the eighth gear from the expected shift position to the target position, the speed of the vehicle 10 reaches the target speed at the target position.

[0105] Therefore, the vehicle 10 can decelerate at the target speed without over-decelerating or re-accelerating until the vehicle 10 reaches the target position.

[0106] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission having the above operations can be implemented in the form of an independent hardware device including a memory and a processor for processing each operation, and can be run in the form included in another hardware device (such as a microprocessor or a general computer system).

[0107] A flowchart of the operation of the device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to each exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

[0108] Figure 9 is a flowchart showing the operations of the method for controlling a vehicle transmission according to each exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0109] Reference Figure 9 , when the accelerator pedal sensor (APS) is in the off state and the brake is in the off state, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission starts coasting (S110).

[0110] Thereafter, when there is a vehicle 20 ahead, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission detects the distance (D Rel ) between the vehicle 10 and the vehicle 20 ahead, and determines whether the distance (D Rel ) is greater than the minimum reference distance (D min ) and less than the maximum reference distance (D max ) (S120).

[0111] When the device 100 for controlling a vehicle transmission determines the distance (D Rel ) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 satisfies the condition of "D min <D Rel <D max ", the speed (V C ) of the vehicle 10 is compared with the value obtained by adding the speed (V F ) of the preceding vehicle 20 and a threshold value (V A ) (S130).

[0112] In this case, when it is determined that the condition of "V C >V F +V A " is satisfied, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission may determine to perform deceleration following control based on the speed of the preceding vehicle 20. In other words, when it is determined that the states of the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 satisfy all the determination conditions in step S120 and step S130, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission may determine to perform deceleration following control based on the speed of the preceding vehicle 20.

[0113] Therefore, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission determines a target speed (V ct ) and a target distance (D T ) to perform deceleration following control based on the speed of the preceding vehicle 20 (S140).

[0114] In step S140, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission may determine the value obtained by adding the threshold value (V CAL ) to the speed of the preceding vehicle 20 as the target speed (V ct ) of the vehicle 10. In addition, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission may set the value obtained by adding the value obtained by subtracting the offset distance (D Rel ) from the distance (D offset ) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 to the moving distance of the preceding vehicle 20 during the time period from t0 to t1 as the target distance (D T ).

[0115] When the target speed and the target distance are determined in step S140, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can determine the final gear (S150) based on the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission by configuring the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission. In this case, based on the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission can determine the gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position as the final gear. Thereafter, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission controls the transmission based on the deceleration curve of the determined final gear.

[0116] Thereafter, the device 100 for controlling the vehicle transmission determines the relative speed (V Rel ) between the vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle 20 to be less than a predetermined speed, such as 1 kph (S160), so as to terminate the deceleration control associated with the preceding vehicle when the relative speed (V Rel ) is less than the predetermined speed.

[0117] As described above, according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when performing deceleration control associated with a preceding vehicle and performing coasting deceleration, the vehicle can identify the distance to the preceding vehicle through a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor and can select a gear for deceleration such that at a position based on an appropriate inter-vehicle distance, the speed of the vehicle is equal to the speed of the preceding vehicle.

[0118] However, when performing deceleration control by determining the position obtained by subtracting the appropriate inter-vehicle distance from the relative distance to the preceding vehicle detected by the LiDAR sensor as the target position without considering the moving distance of the preceding vehicle, the vehicle must significantly decelerate using only engine braking by downshifting within the 150 m distance that the LiDAR sensor can detect.

[0119] Therefore, due to the large target deceleration amount, the degree of downshifting becomes excessive, and when the vehicle reaches the actual target position, the preceding vehicle is still moving forward. As a result, the relative distance cannot reach the appropriate target inter-vehicle distance, but the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle may increase.

[0120] Therefore, according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, by determining the target position for determining the gear while considering the moving distance of the preceding vehicle during deceleration control, over-downshifting can be prevented when following the preceding vehicle.

[0121] In addition, according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, even if the vehicle ahead accelerates or decelerates, a new target position can be selected by reflecting the speed of the vehicle ahead in real time. Therefore, the vehicle can cancel the deceleration following control when accelerating, or can additionally execute a downshift when decelerating, and shift gears in advance to a gear that is advantageous for following the vehicle ahead.

[0122] Figure 10 A computing system according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention is shown.

[0123] Reference Figure 10 , the computing system 1000 may include at least one processor 1100, a memory 1300, a user interface input device 1400, a user interface output device 1500, a storage device 1600, and a network interface 1700 that are connected to each other via a bus 1200.

[0124] The processor 1100 may be a central processing unit (CPU) or a semiconductor device configured to process instructions stored in the memory 1300 and / or the storage device 1600. Each of the memory 1300 and the storage device 1600 may include various types of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, the memory 1300 may include a read-only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM).

[0125] Therefore, the operations of the methods or algorithms described in connection with the exemplary embodiments included in the various exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware module, a software module, or a combination thereof executed by the processor 1100. The software module may be located on a storage medium (i.e., the memory 1300 and / or the storage device 1600), such as a RAM, a flash memory, a ROM, an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically EPROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, or a CD-ROM.

[0126] The exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor 1100. The processor 1100 may read information from the storage medium and write information into the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium may be integrated with the processor 1100. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ASIC may be located in a user terminal. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium may exist as independent components of the user terminal.

[0127] According to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when the vehicle decelerates based on the speed difference between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead, the optimal gear can be determined according to the position, speed, and moving distance of the vehicle ahead to reduce the number of decelerations or re-decelerations, thereby improving driving convenience, and the vehicle can decelerate with excellent fuel efficiency.

[0128] In addition, various effects directly or indirectly understood through the present invention can be provided.

[0129] In the foregoing, although the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto, but rather various modifications and changes can be made by those skilled in the art to which each exemplary embodiment of the present invention pertains without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as claimed in the appended claims.

[0130] For the sake of convenient explanation and precise definition of the appended claims, the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "above", "below", "upward", "downward", "front", "rear", "back", "inner side", "outer side", "inward", "outward", "internal", "external", "forward", and "backward" are used to describe the features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of these features shown in the accompanying drawings. It will be further understood that the term "connected" or its derivatives refer to direct and indirect connections.

[0131] The foregoing description of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention is for purposes of illustration and description. The exemplary embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise embodiments disclosed, and obviously, various modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments are chosen and described in order to explain the particular principles of the present invention and its practical application so that others skilled in the art can implement and utilize the present invention in its various exemplary embodiments and their different alternative forms and modifications. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A device for controlling a vehicle transmission, the device comprising: a determination device configured to: when the vehicle starts to coast, determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle according to information about the vehicle and information about the leading vehicle; a calculation device configured to: when it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle, determine the target speed and target distance of the vehicle according to the position of the leading vehicle, the speed of the leading vehicle, and the moving distance of the leading vehicle; a gear determination device configured to: by configuring a deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, determine the final gear of the transmission according to the determined target speed and the determined target distance; a controller connected to the determination device, the calculation device, and the gear determination device, and configured to control the transmission according to the final gear.

2. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 1, wherein, The determination device is configured to: when the distance between the vehicle and the leading vehicle and the speed of the vehicle meet a predetermined condition, perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle.

3. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 2, wherein, The determination device is configured to: determine whether the distance between the vehicle and the leading vehicle is greater than a minimum reference distance and less than a maximum reference distance.

4. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 2, wherein, The determination device is configured to: determine whether the speed of the vehicle is greater than a value obtained by adding a set value to the speed of the leading vehicle.

5. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 4, wherein, The determination device is configured to: when the determination device determines that the distance between the vehicle and the leading vehicle is greater than the minimum reference distance and less than the maximum reference distance, and when the determination device determines that the speed of the vehicle is greater than a value obtained by adding a set value to the speed of the leading vehicle, perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle.

6. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 1, wherein, The determination device is configured to: determine the target speed by adding a threshold value to the speed of the leading vehicle.

7. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 6, wherein, The threshold value is a value between a preset minimum threshold speed and a maximum threshold speed, and changes according to the speed change of the leading vehicle.

8. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 1, wherein, The calculation device is configured to: determine the target distance, which is obtained by adding the value obtained by subtracting the offset distance from the distance between the vehicle and the leading vehicle to the moving distance of the leading vehicle within a predetermined time.

9. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 8, wherein, The offset distance is set as the inter-vehicle distance maintained according to the speed of the leading vehicle.

10. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 1, wherein, The determination device is configured to: determine whether the relative speed between the vehicle and the leading vehicle is less than a predetermined speed.

11. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 10, wherein, The determination device is configured to: when the relative speed between the vehicle and the leading vehicle is less than a predetermined speed, cancel the deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle.

12. The device for controlling a vehicle transmission according to claim 1, wherein, The gear determination device is configured to: identify a target position according to the target distance; according to the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, determine the gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position as the final gear.

13. A method for controlling a vehicle transmission, the method comprising: when the vehicle starts to coast, determine whether to perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle according to information about the vehicle and information about the leading vehicle; when it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the leading vehicle, determine the target speed and target distance of the vehicle according to the position of the leading vehicle, the speed of the leading vehicle, and the moving distance of the leading vehicle; By configuring the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, the final gear of the transmission is determined based on the determined target speed and the determined target distance; The transmission is controlled according to the final gear.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, Determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead includes: When the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead and the speed of the vehicle meet a predetermined condition, it is determined to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein Determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead further includes: Determining whether the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead is greater than the minimum reference distance and less than the maximum reference distance.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein, Determining whether to perform deceleration following control based on the vehicle ahead further includes: Determining whether the speed of the vehicle is greater than the value obtained by adding the set value to the speed of the vehicle ahead.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein, Determining the target speed and target distance of the vehicle includes: Determining the target speed by adding the critical value to the speed of the vehicle ahead; Determining the target distance obtained by adding the value obtained by subtracting the offset distance from the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead to the moving distance of the vehicle ahead within a predetermined time.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, The critical value is a value between the preset minimum critical speed and the maximum critical speed, and changes according to the speed change of the vehicle ahead.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein, The offset distance is set as the inter-vehicle distance maintained according to the speed of the vehicle ahead.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein, Determining the final gear includes: Identifying the target position according to the target distance; According to the deceleration curve for each gear of the transmission, the gear corresponding to the target speed at the target position is determined as the final gear.

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