Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
202 words
A knock detecting method for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders and pistons therein, comprising the steps of: detecting vibrations produced by a combustion event in each of the cylinders of said engine to generate an analog vibration output corresponding to said vibrations; sample-and-holding a peak value of said analog vibration output generated during a predetermined period when each of said pistons is near top dead center of each said cylinder; converting said peak value into a digital quantity; storing said digital quantity a predetermined number of times for each of said cylinders, producing an average from a predetermined number of stored quantities for each of said cylinders, determining a proportion of those of said stored output data of each said cylinder which are greater than said average to obtain individual-cylinder frequency rates, and producing an average value of said individual-cylinder frequency rates for the number of said cylinders to obtain an all-cylinder frequency rate; and determining that there exists a knock when the individual-cylinder frequency rate of at least one of said cylinders is greater than a first predetermined value or when said all-cylinder frequency rate is greater than a second predetermined value and thereby generating an output.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
202 words
A knock detecting method for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders and pistons therein, comprising the steps of: detecting vibrations produced by a combustion event in each of the cylinders of said engine to generate an analog vibration output corresponding to said vibrations; sample-and-holding a peak value of said analog vibration output generated during a predetermined period when each of said pistons is near top dead center of each said cylinder; converting said peak value into a digital quantity; storing said digital quantity a predetermined number of times for each of said cylinders, producing an average from a predetermined number of stored quantities for each of said cylinders, determining a proportion of those of said stored output data of each said cylinder which are greater than said average to obtain individual-cylinder frequency rates, and producing an average value of said individual-cylinder frequency rates for the number of said cylinders to obtain an all-cylinder frequency rate; and determining that there exists a knock when the individual-cylinder frequency rate of at least one of said cylinders is greater than a first predetermined value or when said all-cylinder frequency rate is greater than a second predetermined value and thereby generating an output.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
A knock detecting method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said vibration detecting step comprises detecting a mechanical vibration acceleration of said engine and generating an analog output corresponding to said vibration acceleration.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, said method comprising the steps of: generating a knocking signal related to the level of vibration during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each of said cylinders; generating an individual-cylinder frequency signal for each of said cylinders, each said individual-cylinder frequency signal being related to the number of times said knocking signals for a corresponding one of said cylinders exceed a predetermined threshold; generating an all-cylinder frequency signal related to the number of times all of said knocking signals exceed a second predetermined value; and determining that knocking exists when at least one of said all-cylinder frequency signal and said individual-cylinder frequency signal of at least one of said cylinders is greater than third and fourth predetermined values, respectively, and thereby generating an output.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, said method comprising the steps of: generating a knocking signal related to the level of vibration during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each of said cylinders; generating an individual-cylinder frequency signal for each of said cylinders, each said individual-cylinder frequency signal being related to the number of times said knocking signals for a corresponding one of said cylinders exceed a predetermined threshold; generating an all-cylinder frequency signal related to the number of times all of said knocking signals exceed a second predetermined value; and determining that knocking exists when at least one of said all-cylinder frequency signal and said individual-cylinder frequency signal of at least one of said cylinders is greater than third and fourth predetermined values, respectively, and thereby generating an output.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
29 words
A knock detecting method as in claim 3 wherein said knocking signal generating step includes the step of integrating the output of the vibration detector during said predetermined period.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
208 words
A device for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders comprising: means for detecting vibrations produced by a combustion engine in each of the cylinders of said engine to generate an analog vibration output corresponding to said vibration; means for sampling and holding a peak value of said analog vibration output generated during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each said cylinders; means for converting said peak value into a digital quantity; means for storing said digital quantity output a predetermined number of times for each of said cylinders, producing an average value of said output data stored for each of said cylinders, determining a proportion of those of said stored output data of each said cylinder which are greater than said average value by predetermined times to obtain an individual-cylinder frequency rate, and producing an average value of said individual-cylinder frequency rates by the number of said cylinders to obtain an all-cylinder frequency rate; and means for determining that there exists knocking when said individual-cylinder frequency rate of at least one of said cylinders is greater than a first predetermined value or when said all-cylinder frequency rate is greater than a second predetermined value and thereby generating an output.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
208 words
A device for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders comprising: means for detecting vibrations produced by a combustion engine in each of the cylinders of said engine to generate an analog vibration output corresponding to said vibration; means for sampling and holding a peak value of said analog vibration output generated during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each said cylinders; means for converting said peak value into a digital quantity; means for storing said digital quantity output a predetermined number of times for each of said cylinders, producing an average value of said output data stored for each of said cylinders, determining a proportion of those of said stored output data of each said cylinder which are greater than said average value by predetermined times to obtain an individual-cylinder frequency rate, and producing an average value of said individual-cylinder frequency rates by the number of said cylinders to obtain an all-cylinder frequency rate; and means for determining that there exists knocking when said individual-cylinder frequency rate of at least one of said cylinders is greater than a first predetermined value or when said all-cylinder frequency rate is greater than a second predetermined value and thereby generating an output.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
A device as in claim 5 wherein said vibration detecting means includes means for detecting a mechanical vibration acceleration of said engine and generating an analog output corresponding to said vibration acceleration.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
147 words
A device for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, said device comprising: means for generating a knocking signal related to the level of vibrations during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each said cylinder; means for generating an individual-cylinder frequency signal for each of said cylinders, each said individual-cylinder frequency signal being related to the number of times said knocking signals for a corresponding one of said cylinders exceeds a first predetermined value, and generating an all-cylinder frequency signal related to the number of times all of said knocking signals exceed a second predetermined value; and means for determining that knocking exists when at least one of said all cylinder frequency signal and said individual-cylinder frequency signals of at least one of said cylinders is greater than third and fourth predetermined values, respectively, and thereby generating an output.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
147 words
A device for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, said device comprising: means for generating a knocking signal related to the level of vibrations during a predetermined period around the top dead center of each said cylinder; means for generating an individual-cylinder frequency signal for each of said cylinders, each said individual-cylinder frequency signal being related to the number of times said knocking signals for a corresponding one of said cylinders exceeds a first predetermined value, and generating an all-cylinder frequency signal related to the number of times all of said knocking signals exceed a second predetermined value; and means for determining that knocking exists when at least one of said all cylinder frequency signal and said individual-cylinder frequency signals of at least one of said cylinders is greater than third and fourth predetermined values, respectively, and thereby generating an output.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
39 words
A device as in claim 7 wherein said knocking signal generating means comprises: means for generating an analog signal corresponding to a mechanical vibration acceleration of said engine; and means for integrating said analog signal during said predetermined period.