Electronic odometer

• US 4,665,497 A
• Filed: 12/18/1984
• Issued: 05/12/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamura, Hirohisa, Katogi, Kozo, Naito, Shotaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Gary
• Application Number:
  US06/691,524
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 364/424, 364/561, 235/95 R, 377/24
• US Class Current: 702/165
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/02 by conversion into electric waveforms and subsequent integration, e.g. using tachometer generator G01C22/002, G01C22/004, G01C22/006 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 21/403 Arrangements for storing the counting state in case of power supply interruption

Abstract

An electronic odometer employing a non-volatile memory is used to indicate the total distance traveled by a vehicle such as an automobile. The total distance traveled by the vehicle, calculated by an arithmetic unit 3 from signals from a pulse generator 1, is written piece-by-piece sequentially into a non-volatile memory 7 which has N locations for storing the data on total distance. To read the data, the maximum value of the total distance data is found from the N locations storing total distance data of the non-volatile memory 7. When the difference between the maximum value and the data item written immediately before the maximum value is equal to a preset distance, the maximum value is indicated as the total distance traveled on digital display unit 8.

Claims

1. An electronic odometer comprising:

arithmetic means connected to receive data of a distance traveled for calculating the distance traveled;

determination means connected to said arithmetic means for determining whether a preset distance has been traveled;

a non-volatile memory having N addressable storage locations into which data of distance traveled is written one-by-one every time said preset distance is traveled;

address-changing means for sequentially selecting the N addressable storage locations of said non-volatile memory;

writing means responsive to an output of said preset distance determination means for writing the distance calculated by said arithmetic means in one of the sequentially selected addressable storage locations in said non-volatile memory every time said preset distance is traveled;

reading means responsive to said arithmetic means for reading out data written into said non-volatile memory and for inputting said data to said arithmetic means; and

display means for displaying the results calculated by said arithmetic means, wherein said address-changing means is provided with a first address-changing means and a second address-changing means, said non-volatile memory is divided into indirect address storage locations for storing addresses and data storage locations for storing data corresponding to each indirect address, said reading means is provided with a first reading means and a second reading means, said first reading means and said first address-changing means are responsive to an output from said preset distance determination means, the indirect address data is read out by said first reading means and input to said second address-changing means so that said second address-changing means selects the next address of said indirect address storage locations and the distance traveled is written into a data storage location by said writing means, the data thus written is read out by said second reading means, said distance is compared by a comparator circuit with previous data to determine whether they are equal to each other, and, when they are not equal, the data of said indirect address storage location is changed to a new address by said first address-changing means so as to not use a failed address and a new distance traveled is written by said writing means into a new data storage location.

2. The electronic odometer according to claim 1, wherein said reading means is provided with means for selecting a maximum value from data indicating the total distance traveled, which data is stored in said non-volatile memory;

and further including means for determining whether the difference between said maximum value and the previous data stored immediately before said maximum value is equal to said preset distance;

wherein when said difference is equal to said preset distance traveled, said maximum value is input to said arithmetic means;

but when said difference is not equal to said preset distance, said determining means determines whether the difference between said previous data stored immediately before said maximum value and the data stored immediately before said previous data is equal to said preset distance, so that when that difference is equal to said preset distance, said data stored immediately before said maximum value is input to said arithmetic means;

but when that difference is not equal to said preset distance, the same determination is repeated for subsequent previous data until the difference becomes equal to said preset distance traveled, and the data is input to said arithmetic means.

3. The electronic odometer according to claim 2, including power-off determination means;

said first address-changing means being operated by the output of said preset distance determination means through said writing means, and said distance traveled is written into said non-volatile memory according to the address determined by said first address changing means, wherein said second address changing means is operated by the output of said writing means through said power-off determination means for writing the distance at the time of power-off into said non-volatile memory according to the address which is determined by said second address changing means, and wherein said second address changing means selects even numbered addresses which are different from the odd-numbered addresses selected by said first address changing means.

4. The electronic odometer according to claim 3, wherein said reading means is provided with means which reads data when an output is generated by a power-on determination means, said reading means selects a maximum value A from said even numbered addresses written according to said second address-changing means and also selects a maximum value B from preset distance data from storage locations indicated by said odd numbered addresses written according to said first address-changing means, and when a value obtained by subtracting said maximum value B from said maximum value A is less than said preset predetermined distance and has a positive value, said reading means reads out said maximum value A from said even numbered address storage locations, otherwise said reading means reads out said maximum value B from said odd numbered address storage locations and inputs said read value to said arithmetic means.

5. An electronic odometer comprising:

arithmetic means connected to receive data of a distance traveled for calculating the distance traveled;

determination means connected to said arithmetic means for determining whether a preset distance has been traveled;

a non-volatile memory having N addressable storage locations into which data of distance traveled is written one-by-one every time said preset distance is traveled;

address-changing means for sequentially selecting the N addressable storage locations of said non-volatile memory;

writing means responsive to an output of said preset distance determination means for writing the total distance calculated by said arithmetic means in one of the sequentially selected addressable storage locations in said non-volatile memory every time said preset distance is traveled;

reading means responsive to said arithmetic means for reading out data written into said non-volatile memory and for inputting said data to said arithmetic means; and

display means for displaying the results calculated by said arithmetic means,

wherein said reading means is provided with means for selecting a maximum value from data of distance traveled which is stored in said non-volatile memory and for determining whether the difference between said maximum value and the previous data stored immediately before said maximum value is equal to said preset distance, and wherein, when said difference is equal to said preset distance traveled, said maximum value is input to said arithmetic means, but when said difference is not equal to said preset distance, said reading means determines whether the difference between said provious data stored immediately before said maximum value and the data stored immediately before said previous data is equal to said preset distance, so that when that difference is equal to said preset distance, said data stored immediately before said maximum value is input to said arithmetic means, but when that difference is not equal to said preset distance, the same determination is repeated for the subsequent previous data until the difference becomes equal to said preset distance traveled, and the data is input to said arithmetic means.

6. The electronic odometer according to claim 5, wherein said address-changing means is provided with a first address-changing means, a second address-changing means, and a power-off determination means;

said first address changing means being responsive to the output of said preset distance determination means through said writing means for writing said distance traveled into said non-volatile memory according to the address determined by said first address changing means, and wherein said second address changing means is responsive to the output of said writing means through said power-off determination means for writing the distance at the time of power-off into said non-volatile memory according to the address which is determined by said second address changing means, wherein said second address changing means selects even numbered addresses which are different from odd-numbered addresses selected by said first changing means.