Automotive vehicle controlling apparatus with failure judging facility
First Claim
1. An automotive vehicle controlling apparatus with failure judging faculty comprising:
- sensing means, including a plurality of sensors, for detecting operational conditions of the automotive vehicle to generate a plurality of condition signals;
signal processing means, including at least one control unit, for receiving and processing at least one of said plurality of condition signals and for generating at least one control signal;
actuating means, including at least one actuator, for controlling the automotive vehicle in response to said at least one control signal generated by said signal processing means; and
managing means for receiving information related to said plurality of condition signals generated by said sensing means and for processing the information to judge a failure of at least one sensor in the sensing means and/or at least one actuator in the actuating means,said managing means further providing at least one correct condition signal related to at least one sensor which is judged to be abnormal, said correct condition signal being derived from condition signals generated by sensors which are judged to be normal.
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Abstract
An apparatus for controlling an automotive vehicle includes a plurality of sensors for detecting operational conditions of the vehicle and for producing condition signals which are received by a plurality of control units. The control units produce control signals in response to which a plurality of actuators control the operations of the vehicle. In order to judge failures of the sensors, a managing unit is provided separately from the control units and the condition signals generated by the sensors are supplied to the managing unit. In the managing unit, a failure judging process is performed by using the condition signals in combination to derive a judgment result.
29 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An automotive vehicle controlling apparatus with failure judging faculty comprising:
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sensing means, including a plurality of sensors, for detecting operational conditions of the automotive vehicle to generate a plurality of condition signals; signal processing means, including at least one control unit, for receiving and processing at least one of said plurality of condition signals and for generating at least one control signal; actuating means, including at least one actuator, for controlling the automotive vehicle in response to said at least one control signal generated by said signal processing means; and managing means for receiving information related to said plurality of condition signals generated by said sensing means and for processing the information to judge a failure of at least one sensor in the sensing means and/or at least one actuator in the actuating means, said managing means further providing at least one correct condition signal related to at least one sensor which is judged to be abnormal, said correct condition signal being derived from condition signals generated by sensors which are judged to be normal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An automotive vehicle controlling apparatus with failure judging faculty comprising:
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sensing means, including a plurality of sensors, for detecting operational conditions of the automotive vehicle and for generating a plurality of condition signals; signal processing means, including at least one control unit, for receiving and processing at least one of said plurality of condition signals and for generating at least one control signal; actuating means, including at least one actuator, for controlling the automotive vehicle in response to said at least one control signal generated by said signal processing means; and managing means for receiving information related to said plurality of condition signals generated by said sensing means and for processing the information to judge a failure of at least one sensor in the sensing means and/or at least one actuator in the actuating means, wherein said managing means is constructed such that a failure judgement result is derived by processing said information in accordance with a majority decision.
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6. An automotive vehicle controlling apparatus with failure judging faculty comprising:
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sensing means, including a plurality of sensors, for detecting operational conditions of the automotive vehicle to generate a plurality of condition signals; signal processing means, including at least one control unit, for receiving and processing at least one of said plurality of condition signals and for generating at least one control signal; actuating means, including at least one actuator, for controlling the automotive vehicle in response to said at least one control signal generated by said signal processing means; and managing means for receiving information related to said plurality of condition signals generated by said sensing means and for processing the information to judge a failure of at least one sensor in the sensing means and/or at least one actuator in the actuating means, wherein said sensing means includes an idle switch for detecting a fully closed condition of a throttle valve to generate an idle signal, a full throttle switch for detecting a fully opened condition of the throttle valve to produce a full throttle signal, a throttle sensor for detecting a throttle valve open angle to generate a throttle valve open angle signal, an intake air flow meter for detecting a flow rate of an intake air to produce an intake air flow rate signal, a pressure sensor for detecting a negative pressure within an intake manifold collector to produce a negative pressure signal, and an engine running speed sensor for detecting a running speed of an engine of the automotive vehicle to produce an engine running speed signal; said signal processing means includes an engine control unit for generating engine control signals for controlling the engine, and an automatic transmission control unit for generating automatic transmission control signals for controlling an automatic transmission; said actuating means includes an engine controlling actuator group for controlling the engine in response to the engine control signals generated by said engine control unit, and an automatic transmission controlling actuator group for controlling the automatic transmission in response to said automatic transmission control signals; and said managing means is constructed to detect at least one sensor which is out of order by processing said idle signal, full throttle signal, throttle valve open angle signal, intake air flow rate signal and negative pressure signal in combination. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification