Power window or panel controller
DCFirst Claim
1. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
- a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion;
b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion;
c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of;
1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element;
2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and
3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor-driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element;
d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; and
e) said motor driven element comprising a window and the memory comprising memory means to store a multiplicity of predetermined desired measurement values for a fixed size threshold parameter range.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A controller for energizing a power-operable element, such as a sunroof, window, door, vehicle seat, a component of a major appliance or of a machine or of a conveyor system. The disclosed controller senses both hard and soft obstructions and de-activates or otherwise alters operation of a motor that drives the element when an obstruction is detected. The controller can also be used to actuate a brake. The controller senses obstructions during start-up of the motor and regulates the speed of the power-operable element by pulse width modulating motor energization signals.
178 Citations
32 Claims
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1. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor-driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; and e) said motor driven element comprising a window and the memory comprising memory means to store a multiplicity of predetermined desired measurement values for a fixed size threshold parameter range. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from Past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; and f) where said measured values are high pass filtered by the controller before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values.
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16. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; and f) where said measured values are bandpass filtered by the controller before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values.
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17. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; and f) where said measured values are matches filtered by the processor before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values where said matches filter has an emphasized response to an undesired motor load profile variation.
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18. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the power driven element, the sensor taking a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether a subsequently measured parameter value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired measurement values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, values of the threshold parameter range varying with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of movement of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of movement of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; and f) where said first number "g" of consecutive measurements and said second number "r" of consecutive measurements are processed by first and second filters to produce a first and second set of filtered measurements where; a) said first and second sets of filtered measurements are processed with past filtered measurements to produce a first and second set of desired filtered measurements; b) first and second sets of threshold parameter ranges for said first and second sets of filtered measurements are stored or generated; and c) said first and second sets of filtered measurements are compared to said first and second sets of desired filtered measurements, respectively, to determine if part of said first or second sets of filtered measurements fall outside of said first or second sets of threshold parameter ranges, respectively.
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19. A method for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion of the motor driven element and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) measuring a parameter that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) storing a number of desired measurement values based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) determining whether a subsequently measured value falls outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion, wherein values of the threshold parameter range vary with a position of the motor driven element over said range of motion or an elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element or a speed of the motor driven element over said range of motion, the threshold parameter range values being determined for a selected one of; 1) a multiplicity of positions of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given position of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given position of the motor driven element; 2) a multiplicity of elapsed times of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion of the motor driven element, a threshold parameter range value for a given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element from commencement of motion being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given elapsed time of movement of the motor driven element; and 3) a multiplicity of speeds of the power driven element over at least a portion of said range of motion, a threshold parameter range value for a given speed of the motor driven element being based on desired measurement values stored in memory corresponding to the given speed of the motor driven element; and d) altering the motion of said power driven element in response to a determination from said determining step; where the motor driven element comprises a window or panel and where said memory stores and/or generates desired measurement values for a multiplicity of threshold ranges where; 1) said multiplicity of threshold ranges have been determined from a combination of said measured values from past and/or present motions of said window or panel; and 2) said multiplicity of threshold ranges generally correspond to said multiplicity of measured values in terms of relationship to said motion. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether subsequently measured values fall outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) where said sensor takes a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; and f) where said motor driven element comprises a window and wherein the memory comprises memory means to store a multiplicity of predetermined desired measurement values for a fixed size threshold parameter range. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether subsequently measured values fall outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) where said sensor takes a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; f) where said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where; said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; g) where said controller produces said desired values by low pass filtering across previous cycles of said measurements; and h) where said measured values are high pass filtered by the controller before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values.
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29. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether subsequently measured values fall outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) where said sensor takes a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; f) where said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where; said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; g) where said controller produces said desired values by low pass filtering across previous cycles of said measurements; and h) where said measured values are bandpass filtered by the controller before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values.
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30. Apparatus for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said apparatus comprising:
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a) a sensor for measuring a parameter of a motor coupled to the motor driven element that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) a memory for storing a number of desired measurement values from the sensor based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) comparator means for determining whether subsequently measured values fall outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion; d) a controller coupled to the comparator means for altering motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said comparator means; e) where said sensor takes a multiplicity of discrete measurements as the motor moves the motor driven element over its range of motion; f) where said memory for storing desired measurement values comprises memory means to store and/or generate said multiplicity of desired measurement values where; said multiplicity of desired measurement values have been determined from a combination of said measurement values from past and recently sensed motions of said motor driven element; g) where said controller produces said desired values by low pass filtering across previous cycles of said measurements; and h) where said measured values are matches filtered by the processor before being processed to produce said desired values before being compared to said desired values where said matches filter has an emphasized response to an undesired motor load profile variation.
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31. A method for controlling motion of a motor driven element in a vehicle over a range of motion of the motor driven element and for altering said motion when undesirable resistance to said motion is encountered, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) measuring a parameter that varies in response to a resistance to motion during all or part of a range of motion of the motor driven element; b) storing a number of desired measurement values based on measurements of said parameter over at least a portion of said range of motion; c) determining whether subsequently measured values fall outside a threshold parameter range bounding the desired values for the parameter as the motor driven element moves over its range of motion; d) altering the motion of said motor driven element in response to a determination from said determining step; where the motor driven element comprises a window or panel and where said memory stores and/or generates desired measurement values for a multiplicity of threshold parameter ranges where; 1) said multiplicity of threshold ranges have been determined from a combination of said measured values from past and/or present motions of said window or panel; and 2) said multiplicity of threshold ranges generally correspond to said multiplicity of measured values in terms of relationship to said motion. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification