System for controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine
First Claim
1. A system for controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- an accelerator pedal producing an accelerator pedal signal in response to manual actuation thereof;
a fuel system associated with an internal combustion engine, said fuel system supplying fuel to said engine in accordance with a fuel signal provided thereto;
means responsive to said accelerator pedal signal for producing said fueling signal;
means for producing a first control signal;
means for sensing vehicle speed and producing a vehicle speed signal corresponding thereto; and
a road speed governor having a maximum road speed value associated therewith, said road speed governor responsive to said vehicle speed signal to limit said fuel signal to thereby limit vehicle speed to said maximum road speed value, said road speed governor responsive to said first control signal to decrease said maximum road speed value to a lesser road speed value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A road speed control system for a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine includes a control computer operable to control engine fueling based on inputs from at least an accelerator pedal position sensor, a vehicle speed signal, and at least one control signal. According to one aspect of the invention, the control computer is responsive to a first control signal to decrease the maximum road speed limit value and to a second control signal to increase the maximum road speed value, to thereby provide a road speed limiting system operable under manual engine fueling conditions. According to another aspect of the invention, the control computer is responsive to at least one control signal to activate a maximum road speed limit override feature for temporarily increasing the maximum road speed limit value to, for example, facilitate passing attempts.
56 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A system for controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, comprising:
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an accelerator pedal producing an accelerator pedal signal in response to manual actuation thereof; a fuel system associated with an internal combustion engine, said fuel system supplying fuel to said engine in accordance with a fuel signal provided thereto; means responsive to said accelerator pedal signal for producing said fueling signal; means for producing a first control signal; means for sensing vehicle speed and producing a vehicle speed signal corresponding thereto; and a road speed governor having a maximum road speed value associated therewith, said road speed governor responsive to said vehicle speed signal to limit said fuel signal to thereby limit vehicle speed to said maximum road speed value, said road speed governor responsive to said first control signal to decrease said maximum road speed value to a lesser road speed value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of:
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producing a fueling signal in response to manual actuation of an accelerator pedal; fueling an internal combustion engine in accordance with said fueling signal; sensing vehicle speed and producing a vehicle speed signal corresponding thereto; comparing said vehicle speed signal to a maximum road speed value; producing a fuel limiting value in response to said vehicle speed signal exceeding said maximum road speed value; limiting said fueling signal to said fuel limiting value to thereby limit vehicle road speed to said maximum road speed value; and decreasing said maximum road speed value to a lesser road speed value in response to a first control signal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, comprising:
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an accelerator pedal producing an accelerator pedal signal in response to manual actuation thereof; a fuel system associated with an internal combustion engine, said fuel system supplying fuel to said engine in accordance with a fuel signal provided thereto; means responsive to said accelerator pedal signal for producing said fueling signal; means for producing a control signal; means for sensing vehicle speed and producing a vehicle speed signal corresponding thereto; and a road speed governor having a maximum road speed value associated therewith, said road speed governor responsive to said vehicle speed signal to limit said fuel signal to thereby limit vehicle speed to said maximum road speed value, said road speed governor responsive to said control signal to increase said maximum road speed value to a greater road speed value if said accelerator pedal signal is greater than a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method of controlling road speed of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of:
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producing a fueling signal in response to manual actuation of an accelerator pedal; fueling an internal combustion engine in accordance with said fueling signal; sensing vehicle speed and producing a vehicle speed signal corresponding thereto; comparing said vehicle speed signal to a maximum road speed value; producing a fuel limiting value in response to said vehicle speed signal exceeding said maximum road speed value; limiting said fueling signal to said fuel limiting value to thereby limit vehicle road speed to said maximum road speed value; and increasing said maximum road speed value to a greater road speed value in response to a control signal if actuation of said accelerator pedal exceeds an accelerator pedal threshold. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification