Electronic ignition control for internal combustion engine

Claim 2

A control system for controlling the ignition of an internal combustion motor comprising: means for generating a pulse signal having a frequency proportional to the speed of rotation of the motor; a plurality of sensing means for detecting time varying operating parameters of the motor; a peripheral unit coupled to said pulse signal generating means and to said sensor means; ignition means coupled to said peripheral unit for causing ignition of a cylinder upon receipt of a signal from said peripheral unit; a calculating unit coupled to said peripheral unit by an address buss and a data buss; and a micro-code memory coupled to said calculating unit and to said peripheral unit for producing a cylinder ignition signal from said peripheral unit upon a new calculation generated by said calculating unit at least as fast as each half motor revolution.

Claim 3

The control system of claim 1 wherein said peripheral unit comprises: a random access memory for temporary storage; a look-up memory containing data relating to the instant of ignition as a function of one or more of the operating parameters; and interface means for detecting input signals and producing output signals.

Claim 4

The circuit of claim 2, wherein said look-up memory is contained on an integrated circuit chip which contains the calculating unit, the peripheral unit, and the micro-code memory.

Claim 5

The control system of claim 2, wherein said look-up table memory is an independent read-only memory which can be removed from the remainder of the control circuit for a possible replacement and adaptation to different operating conditions of the engine.

Claim 6

The system of claim 2, wherein said peripheral unit further comprises: a first register suitable for holding a value proportional to the instantaneous speed of the motor; a second register suitable for holding a value representing an instant of ignition of a current ignition cycle; a base timer; a third register suitable for use as a down counter, wherein said third register decrements as a function of pulses output from said base timer, and further wherein said register is loaded with the value contained in said second register after a complete decrementing; wherein said first register is coupled to the output of said third register for counting the number of times that said third register decrements to zero, and further wherein said first and third registers are reset to zero when a pulse signal is generated by said pulse signal generating means.

Claim 7

The system of claim 5, wherein said peripheral unit further comprises a fourth register which is suitable for containing a value representing a predetermined measurement used in the calculation of motor speed.

Claim 8

The system of claim 1, wherein said calculating unit comprises a plurality of working registers suitable for temporarily holding data to be submitted to calculations and data resulting from calculations, wherein each of said plurality of registers is selectively activated by a field of micro-codes during the execution of these series of codes memorized in said micro-code memory.

Claim 9

The system of claim 1, wherein said ignition means comprises a semiconductor component capable of being switched off, wherein the moment of ignition is defined as switching said semiconductor component off.

Claim 10

A process for control of an internal combustion motor comprising the steps of: generating a pulse signal having a frequency proportional to rotational speed of the motor; providing a micro-code memory programmed to control ignition upon a motor position calculation generated at least as often as each half motor revolution; calculating in accordance with the micro-code an instant of ignition of an ignition cycle, wherein the instant of ignition is expressed in terms of the period of the pulse signal; counting fractions of pulse signal period from a reference moment indicating the start of the ignition cycle in progress; and triggering ignition after a selected number of pulse signal period fractions have been counted.

Claim 11

A process for control of an internal combustion motor comprising the steps of: generating a pulse signal having a frequency proportional to rotational speed of the motor; providing a micro-code memory programmed to control ignition upon a motor position calculation generated at least as often as each half motor revolution; calculating in accordance with the micro-code an instant of ignition of an ignition cycle, wherein the instant of ignition is expressed in terms of the period of the pulse signal; counting fractions of pulse signal period from a reference moment indicating the start of the ignition cycle in progress; and triggering ignition after a selected number of pulse signal period fractions have been counted.

Claim 12

The process of claim 9, wherein said calculation step comprises the steps of: determining an operating parameter of the motor during an ignition cycle; cross-referencing a look-up memory containing values, representing the appropriate ignition moment for the next ignition cycle, with the determined motor operating parameter.

Claim 13

The process of claim 10 wherein the motor operating parameter comprises the speed of the motor.

Claim 14

The process of claim 10, wherein the motor operating parameter comprises the pressure of the combustable mixture input to the motor.