Vehicle signal control system
First Claim
1. A method for controlling functional warning units on a vehicle containing multiple functional warning units that are controlled by a central controller and multiple remote controllers remote from the central controller that are connected to the controller and to the functional warning units, the method comprising:
- generating an input relating to a desired state of the functional warning units in the central controller;
encoding the desired state of the functional warning units into a packet in the central controller;
transmitting the encoded packet from the central controller to each of the remote controllers across a network wherein each remote controller is functionally connected to at least one of the functional warning units;
parsing the desired state of each of the functional warning units in the encoded packet at each of the remote controllers; and
setting the desired state of each of the functional warning units at the remote controllers based on the parsed encoded packet;
wherein the central controller is configured as a single master node and the one or more remote controllers are configured as slave nodes on the network and wherein the step of encoding the desired state into a packet includes embedding into the packet a data payload that contains a bitmap of the desired state of the functional warning units.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle control system includes, among other things, one or more functional warning units positioned in various positions in a vehicle. A central controller is configured to generate a desired state of the functional warning units and encode the desired state into a packet. Each of multiple remote controllers is functionally connected to at least one of the functional warning units. A functional connection between the central controller and the multiple remote controllers is configured to transmit the encoded packet from the central controller to each of the remote controllers. The remote controllers are configured to parse the desired state of each of the functional warning units in the encoded packet and set the state of each of the functional warning units based on the parsed encoded packet.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for controlling functional warning units on a vehicle containing multiple functional warning units that are controlled by a central controller and multiple remote controllers remote from the central controller that are connected to the controller and to the functional warning units, the method comprising:
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generating an input relating to a desired state of the functional warning units in the central controller; encoding the desired state of the functional warning units into a packet in the central controller; transmitting the encoded packet from the central controller to each of the remote controllers across a network wherein each remote controller is functionally connected to at least one of the functional warning units; parsing the desired state of each of the functional warning units in the encoded packet at each of the remote controllers; and setting the desired state of each of the functional warning units at the remote controllers based on the parsed encoded packet; wherein the central controller is configured as a single master node and the one or more remote controllers are configured as slave nodes on the network and wherein the step of encoding the desired state into a packet includes embedding into the packet a data payload that contains a bitmap of the desired state of the functional warning units.
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2. A method for controlling functional warning units on a vehicle containing multiple functional warning units that are controlled by a central controller and multiple remote controllers remote from the central controller that are connected to the controller and to the functional warning units, the method comprising:
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generating an input relating to a desired state of the functional warning units in the central controller; encoding the desired state of the functional warning units into a packet in the central controller; transmitting the encoded packet from the central controller to each of the remote controllers across a network wherein each remote controller is functionally connected to at least one of the functional warning units; parsing the desired state of each of the functional warning units in the encoded packet at each of the remote controllers; and setting the desired state of each of the functional warning units at the remote controllers based on the parsed encoded packet; wherein the central controller is configured as a single master node and the one or more remote controllers are configured as slave nodes on the network and wherein encoding the desired state of the functional warning units into a packet includes encoding a flash pattern for one or more functional warning units as a predetermined sequence of ON and OFF states in consecutive packets. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An vehicle control system comprising:
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one or more functional warning units positioned in various positions in an vehicle; a central controller configured to generate a desired state of the functional warning units and encode the desired state into a packet and encode a flash pattern for the one or more functional warning units as a predetermined sequence of ON and OFF states in consecutive packets; multiple remote controllers, each of which is functionally connected to at least one of the functional warning units; and a functional connection between the central controller and the multiple remote controllers and configured to transmit the encoded packet from the central controller to each of the remote controllers wherein the functional connection is a network and the central controller is configured as a single master node and the multiple remote controllers are configured as slave nodes on the network; wherein the remote controllers are configured to parse the desired state of each of the functional warning units in the encoded packet and set the state of each of the functional warning units based on the parsed encoded packet. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification