EP0720928A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Apparatus and method for cruise control
Assignee: ZF International UK Ltd
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Filing: 1995-12-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-12-05
Abstract
Abstract An AICC cruise control system which operates in accordance with a driver's headway request given in terms of a desired time interval between the controlled vehicle and the preceding (target) vehicle, wherein, upon slowing of the target vehicle towards zero velocity, the calculated station of the controlled vehicle behind the target is changed from being a pure time-based interval into a time interval which is calculated to include a proportion of a desired residual range at standstill, the proportion being dependent upon the velocity of the controlled vehicle.
Inventors
- 👤 Simon Peter Gilling
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 07:24
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60W; B60W30/00; B60W30/14; B60W30/16; B60K; B60K31/00; B60K31/0008; G; G01; G01S; G01S13/00; G01S13/88; G01S13/93; G01S13/931; B60W2554/00; B60W2554/80; B60W2554/801; B60W2720/00; B60W2720/10; B60W2720/106; B60W2754/00; B60W2754/10; B60W2754/30; G01S2013/93185; G01S2013/9319; G01S2013/932; G01S2013/9321; G01S2013/9322; G01S2013/9325; G01S2013/9327; G01S2013/93271
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
95 words
A cruise control system of the type which operates in accordance with a driver's headway request given in terms of a desired time interval between the controlled vehicle and the preceding, target vehicle, characterised in that, upon slowing of the target vehicle towards zero velocity, the calculated station of the controlled vehicle behind the target is arranged to be changed from being a pure time-based interval into a time interval which is calculated to include a proportion of a desired residual range at standstill, the proportion being dependent upon the velocity of the controlled vehicle.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
59 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the changeover from the calculation of the desired range being a pure time-based interval into a time interval which includes a proportion of the desired residual range at standstill is arranged to smoothly blend headway desired range into residual range as vehicle velocity, and hence headway desired range, decreases.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
94 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the desired range targeted by the system is arranged to be selected to be equal to the headway desired range, corresponding to the driver-selected desired headway in seconds multiplied by the controlled vehicle velocity, unless the headway desired range falls below approximately two times the residual desired range, in which case the desired range targeted by the system is selected to be calculated from the expression: Desired Range = (2 X RD Range - HD Range 2 ) + HD Range
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
81 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 comprising a DESIRED HEADWAY means (50) to which a desired headway value can be manually input by the driver and which supplies a signal representative of the desired headway to a RESIDUAL RANGE FACTOR means (52) which establishes a residual range factor at its output which increases in proportion to desired headway, the proportion by which the range factor increases with desired headway reducing as the desired headway increases.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
46 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a multiplier (56) which multiplies together the driver selected desired headway from the DESIRED HEADWAY means (50) and the residual range factor from the RESIDUAL RANGE FACTOR means (52) to form a Residual Desired Range.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
90 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 5, when appendent to claim 3, wherein the Residual Desired Range, multiplied by a factor of two, is compared in a comparator means (62) with a Headway Desired Range value established by multiplying together the drive-selected desired headway and the velocity of the vehicle, whereby the result of this comparison provides a first output signal in the event that the Desired Headway Range is less than twice the Residual Desired Range, and a second output signal if this condition is not met.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
42 words
A cruise control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein if said first output signal is present, there is arranged to be established a Desired Range equal to: 2 X Residual Desired Range - Headway Desired Range 2 + Headway Desired Range.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
EP0612641A1
Cited
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