Electronic tachograph
First Claim
1. In an electronic tachograph including recording means for recording at least indications of the distance travelled by a vehicle and the speed of the vehicle, the combination comprising input means for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by a vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulse, first means for deriving from said timing pulses a first output indicative of time, adjustable means resposive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration to provide a predetermined number of distance pulses at an output thereof during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of travel by said vehicle, second means responsive to said predetermined pulses for deriving a second output indicative of the speed of said vehicle, and third means responsive to said predetermined pulses to provide a third output indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, said recording means being responsive to said first, second and third outputs for recording said indications of distance and speed for said vehicle in relation to time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic tachograph for providing a chart recording of the speed of a vehicle and the distance travelled by the vehicle in relation to time includes an input transducer coupled to the vehicle drive to provide distance pulses representing the distance travelled by the vehicle, a sampling circuit which samples the distance pulses at a predetermined rate and provides pulses to a speed counter and a distance counter which responsively provide control outputs representative of the speed of the vehicle and the distance travelled by the vehicle for controlling stepping motors which effect the positioning of a speedometer shaft and the incrementing of an odometer, and for moving a speed stylus and an odometer stylus on a recording chart which is driven by a further stepping motor controlled by outputs of a time base generator which supplies timing pulses to the sampling circuit and the speed control circuits.
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Citations
30 Claims
- 1. In an electronic tachograph including recording means for recording at least indications of the distance travelled by a vehicle and the speed of the vehicle, the combination comprising input means for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by a vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulse, first means for deriving from said timing pulses a first output indicative of time, adjustable means resposive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration to provide a predetermined number of distance pulses at an output thereof during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of travel by said vehicle, second means responsive to said predetermined pulses for deriving a second output indicative of the speed of said vehicle, and third means responsive to said predetermined pulses to provide a third output indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, said recording means being responsive to said first, second and third outputs for recording said indications of distance and speed for said vehicle in relation to time.
- 9. In an electronic tachograph including recording means for recording at least indications of the speed of a vehicle the combination comprising input means for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, first means for deriving from said timing pulses a first output indicative of time, adjustable means responsive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration to provide a predetermined number of distance pulses at an output thereof during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of travel by said vehicle, second means responsive to said predetermined pulses for deriving a second output indicative of the speed of said vehicle, said recording means being responsive to said first and second outputs for recording indications of the speed of the vehicle in relation to time.
- 13. In an electronic tachograph including recording means for recording at least indications of the distanc travelled by a vehicle the combination comprising input means for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by a vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, adjustable means responsive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration to provide a predetermined number of distance pulses at an output thereof for a predetermined distance of travel by said vehicle, pulse counter means coupled to said output of said adjustable means and responsive to the predetermined number of distance pulses extended thereto during a plurality of successive sampling periods to provide a first output indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, distance indicator means responsive to said first output for indicating the distance travelled by the vehicle, and said adjustable means having means for adjusting the number of distance pulses counted by said pulse counter means for a predetermined distance of travel to permit use of the tachograph with vehicles having different numbers of pulses input per unit of distance travelled, said recording means being responsive to said first output for recording said indication of the distance travelled by said vehicle.
- 16. In an electronic tachograph for use with a vehicle and including recording means for recording at least indications of the speed of the vehicle relative to time the combination comprising input means coupled to a drive of the vehicle for providing distance pulses related to the distance travelled by the vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, pulse counter means responsive to said timing pulses for counting distance pulses supplied thereto, and adjustable means responsive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses at a rate determined by said timing means and for sampling periods of a preselected duration to provide a predetermined number of distance pulses to said counter means during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of travel whereby the predetermined number of distance pulses counted by said counter means during a given sampling period corresponds to the speed of the vehicle in units of distance per hour, said recording means being responsive to said counter means and said timing means for recording indications of the speed of said vehicle in relation to time.
- 21. In an electronic tachograph for use with a vehicle and including recording means for recording at least indications of the speed of the vehicle, the combination comprising input means coupled to a drive of the vehicle for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by the vehicle, speed indicator means including a rotatable speed shaft for controlling an indicating apparatus which indicates the speed of the vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, speed drive means responsive to said distance pulses and said timing pulses for deriving a control output representing the measured vehicle speed, digital encoder means coupled to said speed shaft for providing a sense output indicative of the position of said speed shaft and thus the indicated vehicle speed, and comparator means responsive to said control output which represents the measured speed and said sense output which represents the indicated speed for controlling the positioning of said speed shaft to enable said indicating apparatus to indicate the measured speed of the vehicle, said recording means being responsive to said timing means and said control output for recording an indication of the speed of said vehicle in relation to time.
- 25. In an electronic tachograph for use with a vehicle and including recording means for recording at least indications of the speed of the vehicle, the combination comprising input means coupled to the drive of the vehicle for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by the vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, pulse counter means, pulse sampling means responsive to said timing pulses for sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration to enable a predetermined number of said distance pulses to be extended to said pulse counter means during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of vehicle travel, whereby the number of pulses counted by said counter means during each sampling period corresponds to the speed of the vehicle, speed indicator means including a rotatable speed shaft for controlling an indicating apparatus which indicates the speed of the vehicle, drive means operable to effect rotation of said speed shaft for indicating the speed of the vehicle, and control means responsive to said counter means for providing a control output to said drive means whenever the vehicle speed changes for indicating a desired correction in the position of said speed shaft, and said recording means being controlled by said drive means and said timing means for recording an indication of the speed of the vehicle in relation to time.
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28. In an electronic tachograph for use with a vehicle and including recording means for recording at least indications of the speed of the vehicle, the combination comprising input means coupled to the drive of the vehicle for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by the vehicle, timing means operable to provide timing pulses, pulse counter means, pulse sampling means responsive to said timing pulses to enable a predetermined number of pulses to be extended to said pulse counter means for a predetermined distance of vehicle travel, whereby the number of pulses counted by said counter means during a predetermined time period corresponds to the speed of the vehicle, speed indicator means including a rotatable speed shaft for controlling an indicating apparatus which indicates the speed of the vehicle, drive means energizable to effect rotation of said speed shaft for indicating the speed of the vehicle, control means responsive to said counter means for providing a control output to said drive means whenever the vehicle speed changes for indicating a desired correction in the position of said speed shaft, homing switch means responsive to a predetermined condition for providing a control input to said pulse counter means causing said speed shaft to be rotated to a predetermined position and said recording means being controlled by said drive means and said timing means for recording an indication of the speed of said vehicle in relation to time.
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29. In an electronic tachograph including a speedometer apparatus including a speed shaft rotatable to position a speed pointer relative to a speedometer dial to indicate instantaneous speed for a vehicle, an odometer apparatus including an odometer shaft movable to drive a mileage indicator to register the distance travelled by the vehicle, and chart recording means having a movable recording chart, a speed stylus means coupled to said speed shaft for movement on said recording chart for recording the speed of the vehicle in relation to time, an odometer stylus coupled to said odometer shaft for movement on said chart for recording the distance travelled by the vehicle in relation to time, and electronic control apparatus for driving said chart recording means and for positioning said speed shaft and said odometer shaft, said electronic control apparatus comprising input means coupled to a speed drive of said vehicle for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, first pulse counter means, timing means for providing timing pulses, adjustable means responsive to said timing pulses for periodically sampling said distance pulses during sampling periods of a preselected duration for enabling a predetermined number of said distance pulses to be extended to said first pulse counter means during a given sampling period for a predetermined distance of travel to enable said first pulse counter means to provide an output representative of the speed of said vehicle, speed drive means coupled to said shaft and responsive to said output of said first pulse counter means to position said speed shaft at a position indicative of the speed of the vehicle, second pulse counter means responsive to said predetermined pulses provided by said adjustable means to provide an output indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, distance drive means coupled to said odometer shaft and responsive to said output of said second pulse counter means to move said odometer shaft in accordance with the distance travelled by said vehicle, and clock drive means responsive to said timing pulses for driving said recording chart means to move said recording chart relative to said speed stylus and said odometer stylus.
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30. In an electronic tachograph including a speedometer apparatus including a speed shaft rotatable to position a speed pointer relative to a speedometer dial to indicate instantaneous speed for a vehicle, an odometer apparatus including an odometer shaft movable to drive a mileage indicator to register the distance travelled by the vehicle, and chart recording means having a movable recording chart, a speed stylus means coupled to said speed shaft for movement on said recording chart for recording the speed of the vehicle in relation to time, an odometer stylus coupled to said odometer shaft for movement on said chart for recording the distance travelled by the vehicle in relation to time, and electronic control apparatus for driving said chart recording means and for positioning said speed shaft and said odometer shaft, said electronic control apparatus comprising input means coupled to a speed drive of said vehicle for providing distance pulses indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, first pulse counter means, timing means for providing timing pulses, adjustable means responsive to said timing means for enabling a predetermined number of distance pulses to be extended to said first pulse counter means to enable said first pulse counter means to provide an output representative of the speed of said vehicle, speed drive means coupled to said speed shaft and responsive to said output of said first pulse counter means to position said speed shaft at a position indicative of the speed of the vehicle, second pulse counter means controlled by said adjustable means to provide an output indicative of the distance travelled by said vehicle, distance drive means coupled to said odometer shaft and responsive to said output of said second pulse counter means to move said odometer shaft in accordance with the distance travelled by said vehicle, clock drive means responsive to said timing pulses for driving said recording chart means to move said recording chart relative to said speed stylus and said odometer stylus, and idler means responsive to said timing means for sampling the output of said first pulse counter means and for providing a control output for said speed drive means whenever said vehicle is idling to effect periodic movement of said speed stylus for recording on said chart of an indication of the idling time of said vehicle.
Specification