Patent ID: 11945429
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F  G  Y | IPC B  F  G

Claim 5:
6. A vehicle control device comprising:
an electronic control unit, the electronic control unit being configured to control a first vehicle of a plurality of vehicles in a vehicle control system based on a predicted value of a traveling load amount of the first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles that is calculated by using a data structure, the data structure being used by an information processing device in the vehicle control system, the data structure including:
pieces of positional information each associated with a unique traveling point of traveling points that one or more of the plurality of vehicles have traveled through;
pieces of first cumulative relative frequency distribution information associated with individual vehicle traveling directions, the pieces of first cumulative relative frequency distribution information being related to first data on traveling load amounts of the plurality of vehicles at the traveling points or the traveling load amounts of the plurality of vehicles a traveling time or a traveling distance away from the traveling points; and
pieces of second cumulative relative frequency distribution information associated with the individual vehicle traveling directions, the pieces of second cumulative relative frequency distribution information being related to second data on the traveling load amounts of the plurality of vehicles at additional points different from the traveling points the traveling time or the traveling distance away from the traveling points, the additional traveling points identifying where the plurality of vehicles travel to after an elapse of a predetermined maximum communication delay time from the traveling points,

wherein the information processing device is configured to:
calculate, by using the data structure, the predicted value of the traveling load amount of the traveling load amounts for each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles depending on the traveling time or the traveling distance from an arbitrary traveling point of the traveling points or of the additional traveling points based on the pieces of first cumulative relative frequency distribution information and the pieces of second cumulative relative frequency distribution information associated with each individual vehicle traveling direction of the individual vehicle traveling directions at the arbitrary traveling point, and
when a request signal containing a current position and a current traveling direction of the first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is received from the first vehicle,
set the current position as the arbitrary traveling point and set the current traveling direction as a first vehicle traveling direction of the individual vehicle traveling directions;
calculate the predicted value of a first traveling load amount as the traveling load amount depending on the traveling time or the traveling distance away from the arbitrary traveling point based on the pieces of first cumulative relative frequency distribution information associated with the first vehicle traveling direction at the arbitrary traveling point;
calculate the predicted value of a second traveling load amount as the traveling load amount depending on the traveling time or the traveling distance away from the arbitrary traveling point based on the pieces of second cumulative relative frequency distribution information associated with the first vehicle traveling direction at the arbitrary traveling point; and
transmit the predicted value of the first traveling load amount and the predicted value of the second traveling load amount to the first vehicle, and

wherein, at a time of receipt of the predicted value of the first traveling load amount and the predicted value of the second traveling load amount at the first vehicle, the electronic control unit is configured to update the predicted value of the traveling load amount using linear interpolation to account for an additional predicted traveling load used for heating a catalyst device associated with an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine onboard the first vehicle during a preheating time based on the current position of the first vehicle at the time of receipt, the predicted value of the first traveling load amount, the predicted value of the second traveling load amount and the time of receipt.