US3876028A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System for controlling automatic transmission of vehicle
Assignee: Aisin Corp
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Filing: 1972-04-14
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Granted: 1975-04-08
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Expires: 1992-04-14
Abstract
Abstract For completing a selected one of a plurality of gear trains through a transmission of a vehicle, gearshift means is driven by a hydraulic circuit including a plurality of solenoid valves. The solenoids of these valves are selectively energized by gearshift control means in response to an electric signal which represents the rotational speed of a transmission output shaft or each manual shift made by the vehicle driver. Provisions are also made for modifying shifts according to the payload of the vehicle and the inclination of the road.
Inventors
- 👤 Tadao Asano
- 👤 Noboru Murakami
- 👤 Koichiro Hirozawa
- 👤 Akira Tarao
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 12:54
CPC Classifications
F; F16; F16H; F16H61/00; F16H61/02; F16H61/0202; F16H61/0204; F16H61/0206; F16H61/0211; F16H61/26; F16H61/28; F16H61/30; F16H2061/308; F16H59/00; F16H59/36; F16H59/44; F16H59/50; F16H59/52; F16H59/60; F16H59/66; F16H61/0003; F16H63/00; F16H63/02; F16H63/08; F16H63/16; F16H63/18; F16H63/30; F16H63/3023; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S477/00; Y10S477/90; Y10S477/901
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 25
Claim 1
Independent Claim
276 words
In a vehicle transmission comprising an input shaft, an output shaft, and a plurality of selectively employable gear trains positioned between said input shaft and said output shaft to transmit power through said transmission at different speed ratios, a system for controlling said transmission comprising a. gearshift means for completing a selected one of said gear trains, b. power source means for operating said gearshift means, c. vehicle speed detecting means for producing a signal according to the rotational speed of said output shaft, d. payload detecting means for producing a signal according to the payload of the vehicle equipped with said transmission, and e. gearshift control means having a manual shift means which has a number of operating positions including an automatic drive operation, said gearshift control means, when said manual shift means is at said automatic drive position, automatically controlling the operation of said gearshift means in response to the output signal of said vehicle speed detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at an optimum speed ratio selected according to the rotational speed of said output shaft; and when said manual shift means is at said automatic drive position, said gearshift control means also responding to the output signal of said payload detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at a selected one ratio between the lowest and the highest speed ratios provided by said gear trains when the payload of the vehicle is larger than a predetermined value and between a speed ratio higher than said lowest speed ratio and the highest speed ratio when the payload of the vehicle is smaller than said predetermined value.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
276 words
In a vehicle transmission comprising an input shaft, an output shaft, and a plurality of selectively employable gear trains positioned between said input shaft and said output shaft to transmit power through said transmission at different speed ratios, a system for controlling said transmission comprising a. gearshift means for completing a selected one of said gear trains, b. power source means for operating said gearshift means, c. vehicle speed detecting means for producing a signal according to the rotational speed of said output shaft, d. payload detecting means for producing a signal according to the payload of the vehicle equipped with said transmission, and e. gearshift control means having a manual shift means which has a number of operating positions including an automatic drive operation, said gearshift control means, when said manual shift means is at said automatic drive position, automatically controlling the operation of said gearshift means in response to the output signal of said vehicle speed detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at an optimum speed ratio selected according to the rotational speed of said output shaft; and when said manual shift means is at said automatic drive position, said gearshift control means also responding to the output signal of said payload detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at a selected one ratio between the lowest and the highest speed ratios provided by said gear trains when the payload of the vehicle is larger than a predetermined value and between a speed ratio higher than said lowest speed ratio and the highest speed ratio when the payload of the vehicle is smaller than said predetermined value.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
114 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 1 said gearshift control means having a manual shift position sensing means which senses what position of said number of operating positions said manual shift means takes thereby to position said gearshift means to a selected one of said gear trains, said payload detecting means including switching means responding to the payload of the vehicle, said switching means, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position and the rotational speed of said output shaft is a predetermined value or lower, controlling said gearshift control means so as to set the speed ratio of said transmission at one of the lowest and higher speed ratios.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
118 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 2, said system further comprising inclination detecting means for producing a signal according to the inclination of a road, said gearshift control means also responding to the output signal of the inclination detecting means, whereby, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position and the rotational speed of said output shaft is said predetermined value or lower, said speed ratio of said transmission being set at the higher speed ratio when said payload is said predetermined value or smaller and said inclination is lower than a predetermined value and being set at the lowest speed ratio when the payload and/or the inclination is larger than the predetermined values.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
107 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 2, said vehicle speed detecting means being rendered to produce a pulse signal having a frequency corresponding to the rotational speed of said output shaft, said gearshift control means further comprising a counter circuit for counting said pulse signal for a predetermined period of time, an up-and-down sensing circuit for sensing the up and down of said speed ratios from the output of said counting circuit, and a control circuit for controlling said gearshift means in response to an output signal from said up-and-down sensing circuit, said manual shift position sensing means being connected to said up-and-down sensing circuit.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
110 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said manual shift position sensing means comprising first and second NAND elements connected respectively to first and second switches which are linked to said manual shift means at least for said lowest and highest speed ratios, at least two NAND elements linked to said automatic drive position of said manual shift means, said two NAND elements being connected to said first and second NAND elements, and third and fourth NAND elements connected respectively to said first and second NAND elements and to said up-and-down sensing circuit, said third NAND element being linked to said switching means of said payload detecting means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
45 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 5, said system further comprising a fifth NAND element having inputs connected to said first switch linked to said manual shift means and to said first NAND element and an output connected to said fourth NAND element.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 5, said at least two NAND elements being rendered to receive an output signal of said counter circuit.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
37 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said system further comprising a gate circuit for controlling the operating time of said counting circuit and a predetermined frequency pulse generating circuit for operating said gate circuit.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
44 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 8, said system further comprising a gate control circuit for controlling the open time of said gate circuit controlled by said predetermined frequency pulse generating circuit in response to the kick-down operation of an accelerator pedal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
53 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 9, said gate control circuit comprising two switches which respond to different depths in depression of said accelerator pedal and a flip-flop circuit connected to said switches so that when said accelerator pedal is kicked down the open time of said gate circuit is reduced.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
32 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 8, said system further comprising a gate control circuit including a second payload detecting means for controlling the open time of said gate circuit.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
30 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 11, said second payload detecting means comprising switching means for shortening the open time of said gate circuit according to the payload.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 8, said system further comprising inclination detecting means for shortening the open time of said gate circuit in response to the inclination of the road.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
67 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said up-and-down sensing means of said gearshift control means comprising a circuit for generating an up-shift signal or a down-shift signal by sensing whether or not an output signal from said counter circuit is greater than predetermined limits and further comprising third payload detecting means for modifying said predetermined limits in response to the payload of the vehicle.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
103 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 14, said counting circuit comprising counter means for counting said pulse signal and a plurality of decoders connected to said counter means, said up-and-down sensing circuit comprising a first NAND element for receiving one output signal of said counter, a series of NAND elements receiving an output signal of said first NAND element and the other output signal of of said counter, and a group of flip-flops for respectively receiving output signals from said series of Nand elements, said first NAND element being rendered to receive an output signal from said third payload detecting means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
42 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 15, said third payload detecting means comprising a plurality of switches which are operated according to the payload of the vehicle, thereby to modify said predetermined limits for the generation of the down-shift signal.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
61 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 16, said up-and-down sensing circuit further comprising a group of NAND elements respectively receiving said output signals of said group of flip-flops, the other individual inputs of said group of NAND elements being caused to receive an output signal of operating position detecting means of said gear trains completed by said gearshift means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
63 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said up-and-down sensing circuit of said gearshift control means including a circuit for producing a speed ratio variation signal by sensing whether or not an output signal of said counter circuit is greater than predetermined limits and further including inclination detecting means for modifying said predetermined limits according to the inclination of the road.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
50 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said control circuit comprising a circuit for generating an up-shift signal and a down-shift signal by receiving an output signal of said up-and-down sensing control circuit, and a circuit for driving said gearshift means according to said up-shift and down-shift signals.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
49 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 19, said gearshift means comprising switching valve means operated by said drive circuit, servo means operated by said switching valve means, and shift means for effecting the engagement of one of said gear trains by the operation of said servo means.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
67 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 4, said system further comprising engine speed detecting means for producing a signal corresponding to the rotation number of an engine, comparison means for comparing said signal corresponding to the rotational number of the engine with a predetermined value and means for controlling the rotational number of said engine in response to an output signal from said comparison means.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
76 words
In a vehicle transmission as claimed in claim 21, said comparison means comprising a predetermined frequency pulse generating circuit for generating a pulse having a predetermined frequency, a gate circuit controlled by said predetermined frequency pulse generating circuit, a counter circuit for counting said engine rotational number response signal when said gate circuit is open, and a comparison circuit for comparing said engine rotational number response signal counted by said counter circuit with a predetermined signal.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
256 words
In a vehicle transmission comprising an input shaft, an output shaft, and a plurality of selectively employable gear trains positioned between said input shaft and said output shaft to transmit power through said transmission at different speed ratios, a system for controlling said transmission comprising a. gearshift means for completing a selected one of said gear trains, b. power source means for operating said gearshift means, c. vehicle speed detecting means for producing a signal according to the rotational speed of said output shaft, d. inclination detecting means for producing a signal according to the inclination of the road, and e. gearshift control means having a manual shift means which has a number of operating positions including an automatic drive position, said gearshift control means, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position, automatically controlling the operation of said gearshift means via said power source means in response to the output signal of said vehicle speed detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at an optimum speed ratio selected according to the rotational speed of said output shaft; said inclination detecting means including switching means operated according to the inclination of the road, said switching means, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position and the rotational speed of said output shaft is a predetermined value or less, controlling said gearshift control means so that the speed ratio of said transmission is rendered to be the lowest speed ratio of a speed ratio higher than said lowest speed ratio.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
256 words
In a vehicle transmission comprising an input shaft, an output shaft, and a plurality of selectively employable gear trains positioned between said input shaft and said output shaft to transmit power through said transmission at different speed ratios, a system for controlling said transmission comprising a. gearshift means for completing a selected one of said gear trains, b. power source means for operating said gearshift means, c. vehicle speed detecting means for producing a signal according to the rotational speed of said output shaft, d. inclination detecting means for producing a signal according to the inclination of the road, and e. gearshift control means having a manual shift means which has a number of operating positions including an automatic drive position, said gearshift control means, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position, automatically controlling the operation of said gearshift means via said power source means in response to the output signal of said vehicle speed detecting means in order to transmit power through said transmission at an optimum speed ratio selected according to the rotational speed of said output shaft; said inclination detecting means including switching means operated according to the inclination of the road, said switching means, when said manual shift means takes said automatic drive position and the rotational speed of said output shaft is a predetermined value or less, controlling said gearshift control means so that the speed ratio of said transmission is rendered to be the lowest speed ratio of a speed ratio higher than said lowest speed ratio.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-04-07 | 1978-10-07 | 1979-04-08 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-04-07 | 1982-10-07 | 1983-04-08 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-04-07 | 1986-10-07 | 1987-04-08 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |