Brake control system and method
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method establishes an acceleration of a vehicle which may be used to control a brake system of a towed vehicle towed by a towing vehicle. The system and method establish a gravity vector representing acceleration due to gravity, measure acceleration of the vehicle in a first direction and responsively establish a first acceleration value, measure acceleration of the vehicle in a second direction and responsively establish a second acceleration value, and establish a magnitude of the acceleration of the vehicle in a plane orthogonal to the gravity vector as a function of the gravity vector and the first and second acceleration values.
12 Citations
61 Claims
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1-40. -40. (canceled)
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41. A method for controlling a brake mechanism of a towed vehicle towed by a towing vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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measuring acceleration of one of the towed vehicle or the towing vehicle in first and second directions using a two-dimensional accelerometer device and establishing first and second acceleration values, the first and second directions being perpendicular, respectively; and
,controlling the brake mechanism of the towed vehicle as a function of the first and second acceleration values.
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61. A system for controlling a brake mechanism of a towed vehicle towed by a towing vehicle, comprising:
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an accelerometer device for measuring acceleration of one of the towed vehicle or the towing vehicle in a first direction and responsively establishing a first acceleration value and for measuring acceleration of the vehicle in a second direction and responsively establishing a second acceleration value, the first and second directions being perpendicular; and
,a controller coupled to the accelerometer device for receiving the first and second acceleration values and for controlling the brake mechanism of the towed vehicle as a function of the first and second acceleration values.
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Specification