CENTRALIZED WARNING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES

• US 3,798,596 A
• Filed: 10/26/1971
• Issued: 03/19/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hiroshi Arai, Hisato Wakamatsu, Masaharu Sumiyoshi, Nobumasa Higo
• Original Assignee: Hiroshi Arai, Hisato Wakamatsu, Masaharu Sumiyoshi, Nobumasa Higo
• Inventors: Sumiyoshi, Masaharu, Arai, Hiroshi, Wakamatsu, Hisato, Higo, Nobumasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Leimer, Kenneth N.
• Application Number:
  US05/192,421
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 340/52R,52F,412,413,414,415
• US Class Current: 340/461
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/00 Alarm systems in which the location of the alarm condition is signalled to a central station, e.g. fire or police telegraphic systems
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/18 Modifications for indicating state of switch

Abstract

A centralized warning system for vehicle is provided wherein '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'1'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' and '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'0'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' signals are received from a plurality of sensors mounted at various parts of a vehicle where checking is required, whereby according to preliminary classified conditions of danger for driving of the vehicle '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'Normal'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"', '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'Warning'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' or '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'Danger'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' is identified by the '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'1'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' and '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'0'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' signals to thereby indicate the condition of danger of the defective part. Furthermore, when two or more abnormality signals are simultaneously generated by said plurality of sensors, the location of most dangerous defective part is indicated according to the predetermined orders of priority.

Claims

1. A centralized warning system for vehicles comprising:

a plurality of sensors for generating signals representative of the absence and presence of an abnormality at a plurality of selected locations of the vehicle to be checked, a signal stratification circuit for receiving the signals produced by said plurality of sensors representing the presence or absence of an abnormality at the selected checking locations to stratify said abnormality sigNals into at least two classes predetermined according to a selected categorization of the degree of danger of driving the vehicle under such an abnormal condition and to selectively generate the signal of higher degree danger when more than one abnormality exists, a warning device for receiving the output signals from said signal stratification circuit to provide warnings corresponding to said degrees of danger, a priority discriminating circuit responsive to said abnormality signals for determining priority according to said degrees of danger between any plurality of said abnormality signals simultaneously generated from said plurality of sensors, an indicating device for receiving the signals produced from said priority discriminating circuit according to said priorities to display the locations of abnormality including visually sensed means, and a coincidence circuit for detecting the content of display of said indicating device and the output from said priority discriminating circuit for maintaining the operation of said indicating device until a coincidence is detected between said content and said output.

2. A centralized warning system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein said signal stratification circuit comprises:

a first logic circuit for receiving the signals from said plurality of sensors for providing an indication of total absence of abnormalities and a second logic circuit for dividing the signals representative of abnormal conditions into higher significance signals and lower significance signals, said warning device includes;

a first warning lamp adapted to be lit upon receipt of the output signal from said first logic circuit and at least two warning lamps each adapted to be lit respectively upon receipt of said higher significance signal and said lower significance signal from said second logic circuit.

3. A centralized warning system for vehicles according to claim 1, whrein said priority discriminating circuit comprises:

an oscillator circuit for continually producing signals having a predetermined period, a counter circuit connected to said oscillator for counting the output of said oscillator circuit by a scaling factor of 2n, a multiplexer circuit for associating the output of said counter circuit with the output signals from said plurality of sensors according to the orders of priority, said multiplexer circuit being connected to said counter circuit and said plurality of sensors, a flip-flop adapted to be set by the output from said multiplexer circuit, and a latch circuit connected to said counter circuit and said flip-flop for receiving the output of said flip-flop as a clock pulse input to store the output of said counter circuit.

4. A centralized warning system for vehicles according to claim 3, wherein said coincidence circuit comprises:

a circuit for receiving as its inputs the output of said latch circuit and the signal corresponding to the content of display by said indicating device for providing indications of agreement or disagreement between said two inputs, and said indicating device includes;

indicating means for displaying through said visually sensed means in the form of letters, figures or the like and driving means for actuating said indicating means, said driving means being actuated only while said coincidence circuit maintains an indication of disagreement between said two inputs.

5. A centralized warning system for vehicles according to claim 1, where said indicating device comprises:

a member rotatably mounted therein having inscribed thereon letters, figures or the like representing each of the selected checking spots of the vehicle and arranged in the order corresponding to the orders of priority according to said priority discriminating circuit, means for electrically detecting the position of said rotating member to provide one of the inputs to said comparison circuit, and driving means for receiving the output of said coincIdence circuit to drive said rotatable member.

6. A centralized warning system for vehicles comprising:

first means including a plurality of sensors for generating signals representative of the absence or presence of an abnormality each at a selected location in the vehicle to be monitored;

second means having an input responsive to each of said sensor signals for generating in accordance with a system of priority a selected output signal indicating the selected abnormal condition having the highest priority, or if none, the normal condition;

means for providing a visual display indication of the normal condition and various types of abnormal conditions and providing a feedback signal uniquely corresponding to the instant condition displayed; and

coincidence means response to said feedback signal of the indication means and the selected output signal of said second means for establishing the visual display of said indication means in one of said indications in response to coincidental occurrence of the output of the second means and the indication means being in agreement;

whereby there is provided by said indication means an indication of the highest priority abnormal condition or if none the normal condition in accordance with said system of priority.

7. The centralized warning system of claim 6 including further means having inputs respectively responsive to said sensor signals for activating selected outputs indicative of a totally normal condition of all sensors and at least two other outputs respectively indicative of different degrees of abnormality, wherein said further means comprises a plurality of logic elements each responsive to a different selective signal combination derived from said sensor signals for activating the selected outputs in accordance with said priority system and including:

at least three light emitting indicating devices coupled to said logic elements for receiving said selected outputs, the first light device indicating a totally normal condition, the second indicating a relatively minor abnormality and a third indicating a major abnormality, said first device being lighted when all of the signals generated by said sensors are in a condition indicating normality, the second light emitting device being activated when at least one of said sensors is generating a signal indicative of a minor abnormality, and the third of said light emitting devices being activated when at least one of said sensors is producing a signal indicative of a major abnormality.

8. The centralized warning system as described in claim 6 wherein said second means comprises pulse generating means, a plurality of logic elements each responsive to said pulse generating means and said sensor signals for producing any one of a plurality of selected pulse outputs at different cyclic sampling times in accordance with said selected priority system and respectively indicative of the normal conditions and varying types of abnormal conditions, and output means connected to said logic elements for producing, in accordance with the selected one of said logic means pulse outputs, the said output signals in binary coded form for said coincidence means and indicative thereto of the normal condition and the varying types of abnormal conditions.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 6, wherein said second means includes an oscillator circuit for continually producing signals having a predetermined period, a counter circuit connected to said oscillator for counting the output of said oscillator circuit by a scaling factor of 2n, a multi-plexer circuit for associating the output of said counter circuit with the output signals from said plurality of sensors in accordance with said system of priority, said multiplexer circuit being connected to said counter circuit and said plurality of sensors, a flip-flop adapted to be set by the output from said multiplexer circuit, and a latch circuit connected to said counter circuit and said flip-flop fOr receiving the output of said flip-flop as a clock pulse input to store the output of said counter circuit, said latch circuit having at least two outputs for producing the series of pulses in accordance with the system of priority and the time sequence produced by said oscillator.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 6 wherein said indication means includes means for displaying through visually sensed means in the form of letters, figures, or the like and a driving means for actuating said indication means actuated in accordance with the output of said coincidence means only when the feedback signal thereof and the selected series of outputs of said second means are in disagreement.

11. The apparatus as described in claim 10 wherein said indication means comprises a member rotatably mounted in the vehicle having inscribed thereon said letters, figures, or the like representing each of the selected locations of the vehicle to be monitored and arranged in an order corresponding to the system of priority, and means for electrically detecting the position of said rotating member to produce the feedback signal as an input to said coincidence means such that when the series of selected outputs of said second means and the feedback output of the rotating member are the same, the rotation of said rotatably mounted device is terminated for indicating in accordance with said priority system the normal condition or the most dangerous condition presently occurring.