US3710087A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Calculation of approximate magnitude of a physical vector quantity
Assignee: Kistler Instrument Corp
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Filing: 1971-03-24
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Granted: 1973-01-09
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Expires: 1991-03-24
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant physical quantity, such as acceleration, pressure, or force, from its orthogonal component quantities eliminates the necessity for squaring or square root computations. Three electrical component representations, as from transducers oriented along three orthogonal axes, are summed together and added to the largest magnitude one of the electrical representations to produce a resultant which approximately equals the magnitude of the resultant vector in space. In a preferred embodiment, the summed representations are multiplied by a scale factor of 0.58 before being added to the largest magnitude representation.
Inventors
- 👤 V Siegel
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 23:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06G; G06G7/00; G06G7/12; G06G7/22
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
149 words
An omnidirectional transducer system for calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant quantity from a plurality of measured component vector quantities along orthogonal axes, comprising: a plurality of transducers each having a sensitive measurement axis coinciding with a different one of said orthogonal axes to provide a plurality of transducer signals each representing a measured magnitude of the component vector quantity along its sensitive axis; selection means coupled to said transducers for producing a signal proportional to the largest magnitude of at least two of said plurality of transducer signals; means coupled to said transducers for passing at least one signal proportional in magnitude to said plurality of transducer signals; and means coupled to said selection means and said passing means for summing said largest magnitude signal with said at least one signal to produce a sum signal proportional to the approximate magnitude of said vector resultant quantity.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
149 words
An omnidirectional transducer system for calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant quantity from a plurality of measured component vector quantities along orthogonal axes, comprising: a plurality of transducers each having a sensitive measurement axis coinciding with a different one of said orthogonal axes to provide a plurality of transducer signals each representing a measured magnitude of the component vector quantity along its sensitive axis; selection means coupled to said transducers for producing a signal proportional to the largest magnitude of at least two of said plurality of transducer signals; means coupled to said transducers for passing at least one signal proportional in magnitude to said plurality of transducer signals; and means coupled to said selection means and said passing means for summing said largest magnitude signal with said at least one signal to produce a sum signal proportional to the approximate magnitude of said vector resultant quantity.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
The system of claim 1 including scale factor means for providing a scale factor other than unity for one of the selected or passed signals.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
95 words
The system of claim 2 for calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant quantity from three measured component vector quantities along orthogonal axes, wherein said plurality of transducers comprise three transducers each having its sensitive measurement axis coinciding with a different one of said three orthogonal axes to produce three transducer signals, said passing means passing three value signals each proportional in value to corresponding ones of said three transducer signals, said scale factor means providing a scale factor less than unity for each of the three value signals to produce said sum signal.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system of claim 3 wherein said scale factor means provides a scale factor on the order of 0.58.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
101 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said selection means includes first absolute value means for causing said largest magnitude signal to be proportional to the absolute value of the largest magnitude one of said signals, said passing means includes second absolute value means for causing said one signal to be proportional to the absolute value of one of said plurality of transducer signals, and said summing means being coupled to both of said absolute value means for summing the absolute value of said largest magnitude signal with the absolute value of said at least one signal to produce said sum signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
92 words
The system of claim 5 wherein each of said absolute value means includes inverter means coupled to an input means for generating an inverted output having an opposite polarity to the signal at said input means, first diode means coupled to said input means and poled to pass only one polarity of the signal, second diode means coupled to said inverter means and poled to pass the inverted output only when said first diode means is being blocked, said summing means being coupled to all of said first and second diode means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
52 words
The system of claim 6 wherein said summing means includes first resistive means in series with said first diode means and second resistive means in series with said second diode means, each of said resistive means providing a scale factor other than unity for the signal passed by the associated diode means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
90 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said selection means includes at least two semiconductor means corresponding to said at least two transducer signals, each semiconductor means having at least first and second terminals for passing current flow when forward biased and for blocking current flow when reverse biased, means connecting each of said first terminAls to the transducer means for producing said corresponding transducer signals, and means coupling said second terminals in common so that the forward biased semiconductor means passes a current which reverse biases the remaining semiconductor means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
53 words
The system of claim 8 including compensating means coupled between each of said at least two transducers and the corresponding first terminals of said semiconductor means for compensating for the voltage drop across said semiconductor means, said compensating means comprising second semiconductor means of the same type as said first named semiconductor means.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
109 words
A method of calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant quantity from three orthogonal component vector quantities each represented by an electrical representation EX, EY and EZ, comprising the automatic signal processing steps of: scaling the magnitude values of the electrical representations EX, EY and EZ to produce at least one scaled electrical representation; determining which of said electrical representations EX, EY or EZ has the largest magnitude value and producing a largest value electrical representation corresponding thereto; and adding the largest value electrical representation to the at least one scaled electrical representation to produce an output electrical representation proportional to the magnitude of said vector resultant quantity.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
109 words
A method of calculating the approximate magnitude of a vector resultant quantity from three orthogonal component vector quantities each represented by an electrical representation EX, EY and EZ, comprising the automatic signal processing steps of: scaling the magnitude values of the electrical representations EX, EY and EZ to produce at least one scaled electrical representation; determining which of said electrical representations EX, EY or EZ has the largest magnitude value and producing a largest value electrical representation corresponding thereto; and adding the largest value electrical representation to the at least one scaled electrical representation to produce an output electrical representation proportional to the magnitude of said vector resultant quantity.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the step of scaling includes multiplying by a scale factor K of less than unity the summed magnitude values of EX and EY and EZ.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 11 wherein said scale factor K less than unity is a number on the order of 0.58.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the step of determining includes determining an absolute value of the determined largest magnitude value, whereby the absolute value is added to the scaled magnitude values to produce said output electrical representation.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the step of determining comprises determining the absolute value of one of said electrical representations EX or EY or EZ before adding to cause the vector resultant quantity to be constrained in direction to a quarter of a sphere.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the step of determining comprises determining the absolute value of an additional one of said electrical representations EX or EY or EZ before adding to cause the vector resultant quantity to be constrained in direction to a hemisphere.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the step of determining comprises determining the absolute value of the last one of said electrical representations EX or EY or EZ before adding to cause the vector resultant quantity to have directions unconstrained within a whole sphere.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1976-01-09 | 1976-07-10 | 1977-01-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-01-09 | 1980-07-10 | 1981-01-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-01-09 | 1984-07-10 | 1985-01-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |