Rain sensor with sigma-delta modulation and/or footprinting comparison(s)
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and/or method for sensing the presence of moisture (e.g., rain) and/or other material(s) on a window such as a vehicle window (e.g., vehicle windshield, sunroof or backlite). In certain example embodiments of the invention, at least one sensing capacitor is supported by a window such as a vehicle windshield, the capacitor(s) having a field that is affected by moisture (e.g., rain) on a surface of the window. A sensing circuit outputs an analog signal that is based on and/or related to the capacitance(s) of the sensing capacitor(s). The analog output of the circuit may be converted to a digital signal via sigma-delta modulation, and subjected to processing (e.g., correlation) for determining whether moisture (e.g., rain, dew, fog, etc.) or the like is present on the surface of the window.
32 Citations
18 Claims
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1-14. -14. (canceled)
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15. A method of determining whether moisture is present on an external surface of a vehicle window, the method comprising:
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receiving a signal relating to at least one sensing capacitor, and processing the signal to obtain a signal footprint; and comparing the signal footprint with one or more predetermined signal footprints stored in memory to determine whether a detected material on the external surface of the vehicle is moisture or some other material. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification