Control device for automobiles

• US 6,212,447 B1
• Filed: 02/26/1999
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Kishimoto, Yuji, Kohge, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MANCHO, RONNIE M
• Application Number:
  US09/242,963
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/32, 701/35, 701/36, 701/41, 701/102
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0457 characterised by control features of the drive means as such
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0481 monitoring the steering system, e.g. failures

Abstract

A non-volatile memory device 80 or 800 is provided, wherein intrinsic information indicating variances of characteristics of individual units is stored in advance in the inexpensive memory device 80 or 800 through a simple processing procedure with a view to adjusting a control quantity with high accuracy upon ordinary control by executing software with a microcomputer 55A or 300A. Thus, a control system for a motor vehicle exhibiting excellent performances can be implemented at low costs, which allows accurate and precise adjustment to be realized through a simplified adjusting step while reducing an extraneous space for adjustment of variance without need for use of any specific part of high precision.

Claims

1. A control system for a motor vehicle comprising a control unit, said control unit comprising:

a non-volatile memory device, control means for arithmetically determining a desired control quantity for the motor vehicle by using information stored in said memory device, and

an input control unit and an output control unit provided in association with said control means, wherein intrinsic information corresponding to characteristics of said control unit which is measured during adjustment of the control unit is stored in said memory device, and said control means corrects said desired control quantity on the basis of said intrinsic information.

2. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, wherein said control means includes correcting means for correcting said desired control quantity on the basis of said intrinsic information.

3. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, wherein the intrinsic information stored in said memory device comprises information concerning characteristic of at least one of said input control unit and said output control unit.

4. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 3, wherein said intrinsic information further comprises an absolute value of said control quantity measured under predetermined conditions.

5. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 3, wherein the intrinsic information stored in said memory device further comprises a deviation of the intrinsic characteristic of said control unit from standard characteristic.

6. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, wherein at least a part of control software for said control means is stored in said memory device.

7. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, further comprising a memory supplementing unit connected to said control unit for storing said intrinsic information in said memory device incorporated in said control unit.

8. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, wherein said memory device comprises a flash memory.

9. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 1, characterized in that said memory device is constituted by an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.

10. A control system for a motor vehicle comprising:

a control unit including a non-volatile memory device, control means for arithmetically determining a desired control quantity for the motor vehicle by using information stored in said memory device, and an input control unit and an output control unit provided in association with said control means,

an input unit connected to said control means by way of said input control unit, and

an output unit connected to said control means by way of said output control unit, wherein

intrinsic information corresponding to characteristics of at least one of said control means, said input control unit, said output control unit, said input unit and said output unit is stored in said memory device, and

said control means includes correcting means for correcting said desired control quantity on the basis of said intrinsic information.

11. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein said control means includes correcting means for correcting said desired control quantity on the basis of said intrinsic information.

12. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein said intrinsic information comprises an absolute value of said control quantity measured under predetermined conditions.

13. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein the intrinsic information stored in said memory device comprises a deviation between the intrinsic characteristic of at least one of said control means, said input control unit, said output control unit, said input unit and said output unit, and a standard characteristic.

14. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein at least a part of control software for said control means is stored in said memory device.

15. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, further comprising a memory supplementing unit connected to said control unit for storing said intrinsic information in said memory device incorporated in said control unit.

16. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein said memory device comprises a flash memory.

17. A control system for a motor vehicle set forth in claim 10, wherein said memory device comprises an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.