Patent ID: 7537544

Claim:
A control device for a vehicle mounted with an internal combustion engine and an automatic transmission including a plurality of gears, said automatic transmission provided with a transmission control device determining a gear of said automatic transmission to control said automatic transmission so as to attain the determined gear based on an output state of said internal combustion engine and a running state of said vehicle, said transmission control device providing shift information representing said determined gear to said control device, said control device comprising: a sensing unit sensing a speed of said vehicle, a determination unit determining an output of said internal combustion engine such that said sensed speed attains a preset speed, a control unit controlling an output of said internal combustion engine by controlling an opening of a throttle valve provided at said internal combustion engine based on said determined output, a shift information sensing unit sensing a change in said shift information when said transmission control device controls said automatic transmission such that the gear of said automatic transmission is down shifted, a transmission control unit opening said throttle valve to down shift said automatic transmission in a state in which the speed of the vehicle is at the preset speed, a restriction unit restricting an upshift of said gear based on said changed shift information after a first period of time elapses from sensing said change under said state of the speed of said vehicle being preset, a reduction unit reducing the opening of said throttle valve of said internal combustion engine after a second period of time elapses from sensing said change, wherein said second period of time is longer than said first period of time, and wherein said second period of time is a period of time starting from sensing said change until the output of said internal combustion engine is transmitted to a driving wheel of said vehicle.