Vehicle control system

• US 9,239,815 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2011
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atsr Limited
• Original Assignee: Atsr Limited
• Inventors: O'Dwyer, Denis, Gallagher, Eric, Gallagher, Bernie
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): WEEKS, MARTIN A
• Application Number:
  US13/575,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20130116858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,820 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2, 701/36, 701/113
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/042 for stopping the engine
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0814 comprising means for controlling automatic idle-start-stop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle control system, for example for use with an emergency services vehicle such as an ambulance, fire engine, police car or the like, and which provides enhanced security, functionality and improved fuel consumption for such vehicles when at the scene of a situation such as a fire, accident, or the like, the system being operable to permit an engine of the vehicle to remaining running while simultaneously immobilizing the vehicle. Furthermore when configurable parameters such as but not limited to battery levels and or internal vehicle temperatures are reached, such a control system, without any human interface, automatically shuts down the engine to reduce fuel burn, reduce emissions, reduce engine wear and maintenance and thereby promote a greener environment.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system configured to permit an engine of a vehicle to remain operational while immobilizing the vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more sensors operable to provide feedback regarding, and enable closed loop control of, one or more parameters of the vehicle;

the system being configured;

to maintain running operation of the engine after an ignition of the engine has been disabled,

to turn off the engine in response to one or more events detected by the one or more sensors only while the vehicle is immobilized,

without any human interface to automatically restart the engine, and

to control, closed loop, other vehicle systems based on the feedback from the one or more sensors regarding the one or more parameters of the vehicle state—

while the running operation of the engine is maintained after the ignition of the engine has been disabled.

2. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is configured to turn off the engine in response to an unauthorized attempt to operate and/or move the vehicle.

3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is configured to automatically turn off the engine when one or more vehicle batteries have reached a predefined upper charge level.

4. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is configured to automatically turn on the engine when one or more vehicle batteries drop below a predefined lower charge level.

5. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is configured to automatically activate a climate control system of the vehicle when a temperature within an area of the vehicle has reached a predefined upper or lower temperature level, and to automatically control the climate control system in order to achieve predefined environmental conditions within said area.

6. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is configured to automatically deactivate a climate control system of the vehicle when predefined environmental conditions within an area of the vehicle have been achieved.

7. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system is operable to automatically lock or unlock one or more doors of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 in which the system comprises a communication module operable to enable the remote operation of the control system.

9. A vehicle comprising a vehicle control system that is configured to permit an engine of the vehicle to remain operational while immobilizing the vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more sensors operable to provide feedback regarding, and enable closed loop control of, one or more parameters of the vehicle;

the system being configured;

to maintain running operation of the engine after an ignition of the engine has been disabled,

to turn off the engine in response to one or more events detected by the one or more sensors only while the vehicle is immobilized,

without any human interface to automatically restart the engine, and

to control, closed loop, other vehicle systems based on the feedback from the one or more sensors regarding the one or more parameters of the vehicle while the running operation of the engine is maintained after the ignition of the engine has been disabled.

10. A vehicle control system configured to permit an engine of a vehicle to remain running while simultaneously immobilizing the vehicle in order to provide power to other vehicle systems while preventing unauthorized moving of the vehicle, the vehicle control system comprising:

one or more sensors operable to provide feedback regarding one or more parameters of the other vehicle systems, and

the vehicle control system being configured;

to maintain the engine in a running state after an ignition of the engine has been disabled in order to provide power from the engine to the other vehicle systems and to charge at least one vehicle battery which powers at least one of the other vehicle systems when the engine is not running, and

while the ignition is disabled, the vehicle control system is configured;

to immobilize the vehicle to prevent movement of the vehicle with the engine left in the running state,

to control, closed loop, the other vehicle systems based on the feedback from the one or more sensors regarding the one or more parameters of the other vehicle systems with the engine left in the running state,

to automatically turn the engine off from the running state in response to an event detected by the one or more sensors only while the vehicle is immobilized and without any human interface, and

to automatically restart the engine in response to one other event detected by the one or more sensors only while the vehicle is immobilized and without any human interface via the ignition.

11. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the vehicle is immobilized by the system via vehicle brakes being applied, a vehicle clutch being disengaged, or a vehicle steering lock being applied.

12. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the event to automatically turn the engine off from the running state is an unauthorized attempt to operate the vehicle or when the at least one vehicle battery has reached a predefined upper charge level.

13. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the ignition of the engine is disabled via entering a pin code into a control panel of the vehicle control system or by a remote control.

14. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the other event to automatically restart the engine is when the at least one vehicle battery drops below a predefined lower charge level.

15. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which one of the other vehicle systems is a climate control system of the vehicle, and in which one of the parameters is a temperature within an area of the vehicle, and said vehicle control system is configured to automatically activate the climate control system of the vehicle when the temperature within the area of the vehicle has reached a predefined upper or lower temperature level, and to automatically control the climate control system in order to achieve predefined environmental conditions within said area.

16. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which one of the other vehicle systems is a climate control system of the vehicle, and in which the parameters are predefined environmental conditions within an area of the vehicle, and said vehicle control system is configured to automatically deactivate the climate control system of the vehicle when the predefined environmental conditions within the area of the vehicle have been achieved.

17. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the vehicle control system is operable to automatically lock or unlock one or more doors of the vehicle.

18. The vehicle control system according to claim 10 in which the vehicle control system comprises a communication module operable to enable the remote operation of the control system.

19. The vehicle control system according to claim 16 in which the predefined environmental conditions are temperature and humidity.

20. The vehicle control system according to claim 18 in which the vehicle control system is configured to send data which comprises at least one of a charge state of the battery, fuel level of the vehicle, and location of the vehicle via the communications module.