Method of operating a windshield wiper
First Claim
1. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to clean a windshield using an apparatus including at least one sensor (12), a signal processing device (13) connected to said sensor so as to receive signals therefrom and a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13), comprising the steps of:
- a. generating in said sensor a plurality of signals (S) with time intervals (D) between successive signals for controlling the windshield wiper (10) according to an amount of rain on the windshield,b. inputting to said signal processing device (13) predetermined weighting factors for the time intervals (I-1,I-2, . . . In) between successive past wiping processes; and
c. operating the windshield wiper (10) with said signal processing device at least partially according to said signals (S) to provide a plurality of wiping processes (W) so that the time interval (I) between successive current wiping processes depends, at least partly, on at least one of the time intervals (I-1, I-2, . . . I-n) between past wiping processes (W-1, W-2, . . . W-n) and at least one of the predetermined weighting factors.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently requires an apparatus including a rain sensor (12), which generates a signal (S) depending on an amount of rain on the windshield, and a signal processing device (13), e.g.a microprocessor with internal A/D and D/A converters, connected to the sensor (12) to receive the signal (S) and, a control unit connected to the signal processing device (13), and, advantageously, a device for measuring a wiping process duration (T) and inputting the duration to the microprocessor and a drive for the windshield wiper connected to the signal processing device (13). According to the method, the windshield wiper is operated by the signal processing device at least partially according to the signals (S) from the sensor so that the time interval (I) between successive current wiping processes, depends, in part, on a duration (T-1, T-2, . . . T-n) of at least one past wiping process (W-1, W-2, . . . W-n); in part, on a number of signals (S) received from the sensor (12) in a certain time interval F set in the signal processing device; in part, on at least one of two intervals (I-1, I-2, . . . I-n) between past wiping processes (W); and also depends, in part, on at least one time interval (D0,D-1, . . . D-n) between successive ones of the signals (S0,S-1 ;S-1,S-2, . . . S-n,S-n-1).
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to clean a windshield using an apparatus including at least one sensor (12), a signal processing device (13) connected to said sensor so as to receive signals therefrom and a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13), comprising the steps of:
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a. generating in said sensor a plurality of signals (S) with time intervals (D) between successive signals for controlling the windshield wiper (10) according to an amount of rain on the windshield, b. inputting to said signal processing device (13) predetermined weighting factors for the time intervals (I-1,I-2, . . . In) between successive past wiping processes; and c. operating the windshield wiper (10) with said signal processing device at least partially according to said signals (S) to provide a plurality of wiping processes (W) so that the time interval (I) between successive current wiping processes depends, at least partly, on at least one of the time intervals (I-1, I-2, . . . I-n) between past wiping processes (W-1, W-2, . . . W-n) and at least one of the predetermined weighting factors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to clean a windshield using an apparatus including at least one sensor (12), a signal processing device (13) connected to said sensor so as to receive signals therefrom and a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13), comprising the steps of:
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a. generating in said sensor a plurality of signals (S) for controlling the windshield wiper (10) according to an amount of rain on the windshield; b. inputting to said signal processing device (13) predetermined weighting factors for the time intervals (D0,D1, . . . D-n) between successive signals (S); and c. operating the windshield wiper (10) with said signal processing device at least partially according to said signals (S) to provide a plurality of wiping processes (W) so that a time interval (I) between successive current wiping processes depends, at least in part, on at least one time interval (D0,D-1, . . . D-n) between successive ones of said signals (S0,S-1 ;
S-1,S-2 ;
. . . S-n+1,S-n) and at least one predetermined weighting factor. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to clean a windshield using an apparatus including at least one sensor (12), a signal processing device (13) connected to said sensor so as to receive signals therefrom and a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13), comprising the steps of:
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a. generating in said sensor a plurality of signals (S) for controlling the windshield wiper (10) depending on an amount of rain on the windshield, and b. operating the windshield wiper (10) with said signal processing device at least partially according to said signals (S) to provide a plurality of wiping processes (W) so that a time interval (I) between successive current ones of the wiping processes, in part, depends on a duration (T-1, T-2, . . . , T-n) of at least one past wiping process (W-1, W-2, . . . W-n), and, in part, depends on a number of signals (S) received from the sensor (12) in a certain time interval, and in part, depends on at least one of two intervals (I-1, I-2, . . . ,I-n) between past wiping processes (W-1, W-2, . . . ,W-n) and, in part, depends on at least one time interval (D0,D-1, . . . D-n) between successive ones of said signals (S0,S-1 ;
S-1,S-2 ;
. . . S-n+1,S-n) - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to provide an intermittent operation of said windshield wiper consisting of a plurality of successive wiping processes (W-3, W-2, W-1, W-0, having durations (T-3, T-2, T-1, T0, . . . ) with time intervals (I-3, I-2, I-1, I0, . . . ) between said successive wiping processes using an apparatus including at least one rain sensor (12) for detecting a predetermined amount of rain on the windshield, a signal processing device (13) connected to said rain sensor (12) so as to receive signals (S) therefrom, a drive (11) connected to said signal processing device (13) to operate said windshield wiper, a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13) and means for determining the durations of the wiping processes located in said drive and means for transmitting said durations of said wiper processes to said signal processing device, comprising the steps of:
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a) generating in said sensor a plurality of successive signals (S-3, S-2, S-1, S0, . . . ) for controlling said windshield wiper (10) according to the amount of rain on the windshield; b) transmitting said signals to said signal processing device after said generating of each of said signals; c) for each of said wiping processes, counting past ones of said signals over a predetermined time interval (F) for each of said wiping processes in said signal processing device (13) to form a sum; d) controlling said drive of said windshield wiper with said control unit via said signal processing device so that said time interval between successive current ones of said wiping processes at least partially depends on said sum of said signals counted in said time interval (F); and e) determining the time intervals (D-3, D-2, D-1, D0 . . . ) between successive ones of said signals in said signal processing device (13), and controlling said drive of said windshield wiper with said control unit via said signal processing device (13) at least partially according to said signal (S) so that the time interval between successive current ones of the wiping processes, in part, depends on a duration (T-1, T-2) of at least one past wiping process (W-1, W-2), and, in part, depends on the sum of the signals (S) determined by the signal processing unit (13), and in part, depends on at least one of two of the time intervals (I-1, I-2) between successive past wiping processes (W) and, in part, depends on at least one of the time intervals (D0,D-1) between successive past ones of said signals (S0,S-1 ;
S-1,S-2) - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. Method of operating a windshield wiper intermittently to clean a windshield using an apparatus including at least one sensor (12), a signal processing device (13) connected to said sensor so as to receive signals therefrom and a control unit for said windshield wiper connected to said signal processing device (13), comprising the steps of:
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a. generating in said sensor a plurality of signals (S) with time intervals (D) between successive signals for controlling the windshield wiper (10) according to an amount of a member selected from the group consisting of dirt, a moisture coating, rain and combinations thereof on the windshield, b. operating the windshield wiper (10) with said signal processing device at least partially according to said signal (S) to provide a plurality of wiping processes (W) having a time interval (I) between successive wiping processes (W), such that the time interval (I) between successive current wiping processes depends on a number of past signals (S) generated by the sensor (12) in a predetermined time interval, c. determining an additional time interval (F) in said signal processing device (13), the additional time interval (F) being changeable depending on the number of signals (S0, S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4) occurring during the additional time interval (F), said additional time interval (F) being said other predetermined time interval.
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Specification