Vehicle suspension control system and method

1. A vehicle suspension control system for a host vehicle, comprising:

current position detection means for detecting the current position of the host vehicle;

judgment means for judging whether or not the host vehicle is in a lane furthest to the left or right side of a road;

level change recognition means for recognizing a change in level in the road;

travel path prediction means for predicting a travel path of the host vehicle;

ride-up judgment means for, if the host vehicle is judged to be in a lane furthest to the left or right side of a road, predicting whether or not a wheel of the host vehicle will ride up over the change in level, based on the detected current position and the predicted travel path; and

vehicle suspension control means for controlling operation of at least one vehicle suspension element to reduce jolting caused by a wheel riding over the change in level.

2. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

an image capture unit that photographs a specified image capture field along the road; and

wherein the level change recognition means recognizes the change in level in the road by image processing of image data of the image capture field photographed by the image capture unit.

3. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

information acquisition means for obtaining map data; and

wherein the level change recognition means recognizes the change in level in the road based on road conformation data in the obtained map data.

4. The vehicle ride-up control system according to claim 2 , further comprising:

distance computation means for computing the distance between the vehicle and the change in level, based on the processed image data; and

wherein the ride-up judgment means predicts whether or not a wheel will ride up over the change in level, based on the predicted travel path and the computed distance.

5. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 4 , further comprising:

estimated ride-up time computation means for computing the time that a wheel will ride up over the change in level, based on the predicted travel path and the vehicle information; and

wherein the vehicle suspension control means controls the operation of the at least one vehicle suspension element at the computed time.

6. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

light distribution control means for controlling light distribution of an illumination device associated with the wheel predicted to ride up over the change in level.

7. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 1 , wherein the travel path prediction means computes a predicted travel path for each wheel.

8. A method for vehicle suspension control in a host vehicle, comprising:

detecting the current position of the host vehicle;

judging whether or not the host vehicle is in a lane furthest to the left or right side of a road;

recognizing a change in level in the road;

computing a predicted travel path of the host vehicle;

if the host vehicle is judged to be in a lane furthest to the left or right side of a road, judging whether or not a wheel of the host vehicle will ride up over the recognized change in level, based on the detected current position and the predicted travel path; and

controlling the operation of at least one vehicle suspension element when a wheel is predicted to ride up over the change in level.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

photographing a specified roadside image capture field to capture image data; and

recognizing the change in level in the road by image processing of the captured image data.

10. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

obtaining map data; and

recognizing the change in level in the road based on road conformation data in the obtained map data.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

computing the distance between the host vehicle and the change in level, based on the captured image data; and

predicting whether or not a wheel will ride up over the change in level, based on the predicted travel path and the computed distance.

12. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

computing the time that a wheel will ride up over the change in level, based on the predicted travel path and the vehicle information; and

controlling operation of the at least one vehicle suspension element at the computed time.

13. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

controlling aim of an illumination device associated with a wheel predicted to ride up over the change in level.

14. The method according to claim 8 , wherein a predicted travel path is computed for each wheel.

15. A vehicle suspension control system for a host vehicle, comprising:

current position detection means for detecting the current position of the host vehicle;

level change recognition means for recognizing a change in level in a road;

travel path prediction means for predicting a travel path for each wheel of the host vehicle;

ride-up judgment means for predicting for each wheel whether or not a wheel of the host vehicle will ride up over the change in level, based on the detected current position and the predicted travel path for each wheel; and

vehicle suspension control means for controlling, based on the prediction by the ride-up means, operation of a vehicle suspension element for each wheel to reduce jolting caused by a wheel riding over the change in level.

16. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 15 , wherein the vehicle suspension control means softens the vehicle suspension of a wheel that has been predicted to ride up by the ride-up judgment means, and hardens the vehicle suspension of the other wheels.

17. A vehicle suspension control method for a host vehicle, comprising:

detecting the current position of the host vehicle;

recognizing a change in level in a road;

predicting a travel path for each wheel of the host vehicle;

ride-up predicting for each wheel whether or not a wheel of the host vehicle will ride up over the change in level, based on the detected current position and the predicted travel path for each wheel; and

controlling, based on the ride-up predictions, operation of a vehicle suspension element for each wheel to reduce jolting caused by a wheel riding over the change in level.

18. The vehicle suspension control method according to claim 17 , wherein the controlling operation softens vehicle suspension of a wheel that has been predicted to ride up, and hardens the vehicle suspension of the other wheels.

19. The vehicle suspension control system according to claim 1 , wherein the travel path prediction means computes a predicted travel path for a wheel.

20. The method for vehicle suspension control in a host vehicle according to claim 8 wherein the predicted travel path of the host vehicle is computed as the travel path of a wheel of the vehicle.