System and method for processing commands from a plurality of control sources

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 further comprising means for determining the relative contribution that each of the plurality of control sources has made to the command indicated by said peak zone.

Claim 4

The system of claim 2 further comprising: means for determining the dominant control source from said relative contribution.

Claim 5

The system of claim 3 further comprising: means for modifying the effective activation of said dominant control source by small increments to produce sample output commands; and means for averaging said sample commands to produce a smooth output signal, whereby oscillations between two disjoint output commands are reduced.

Claim 6

The system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of control sources includes a first control source producing a command of a first type; a second control source producing a command of a second type, said second type being derivative of said first type command; and wherein said system further comprises means for converting said commands of a first type into commands of said second type, whereby said system operates on commands of said second type to produce a single response to said first and second control sources.

Claim 7

The system of claim 1 wherein said preference level profiles are defined by said control sources by the upper and lower limits of zones, and by spikes corresponding to zones having single command values.

Claim 8

The system of claim 6 wherein said command values further comprise clamp regions corresponding to exclusionary commands defining zones which are not permitted, and said system further comprises means for clamping said peak zone wherein said clamp regions are excluded.

Claim 9

The system of claim 6 wherein said means for creating a total profile further comprises: means for generating an array of preference levels at zone edges, said array being equal in size to the total number of zone edges in said preference level profiles of said control sources; and said array containing the preference levels of each of the plurality of control sources at each zone edge as well as the sum of said preference levels at each zone edge, wherein said total profile is created from said sum.

Claim 10

The system of claim 1 wherein said control sources control the movement of a vehicle and said input to said control sources include sensors responsive to said vehicle's location and movement.

Claim 13

The system of claim 10 wherein said plurality of control sources includes a first control source producing a command of a first type; a second control source producing a command of a second type, said second type being derivative of said first type command; and wherein said system further comprises means for converting said commands of a first type into commands of said second type, whereby said system operates on said commands to the second type to produce a single response to said first and second control sources.

Claim 14

The system of claim 10 wherein said preference level profiles are defined by said control sources by the upper and lower limits of zones, and by spikes corresponding to zones having single command values.

Claim 15

The system of claim 12 wherein said command values further comprise clamp regions corresponding to exclusionary commands defining zones which are not permitted, and said system further comprises means for clamping said peak zone wherein said clamp regions are excluded.

Claim 16

The system of claim 12 wherein said means for creating a total profile further comprises: means for generating an array of preference levels at zone edges, said array being equal in size to the total number of zone edges in said preference level profiles of said control sources; and said array containing the preference levels of each of the plurality of control sources at each zone edge as well as the sum of said preference levels at each zone edge, wherein said total profile is created from said sum.

Claim 17

The system of claim 10 further comprising: means for determining the level of participation of each of the plurality of control sources; and means for determining the dominant control source from said level of participation.

Claim 18

The system of claim 15 further comprising: means for modifying the effective activation of said dominant control source by small increments to produce sample output commands; and means for averaging said sample commands to produce a smooth output signal, whereby oscillations between two disjoint output commands are reduced.

Claim 19

The system of claim 10 for arbitrating multiple commands for a controlled system from a plurality of control sources, each responding to inputs to produce a command output, further comprising a sensor interface unit for sampling data from a plurality of sensors, and wherein said means for generating a command output represented as a piece-wise constant preference level profile includes a behavior central processing unit (CPU) for reading data from said sensor interface unit and generating new command data represented as piece-wise constant profiles, and said means for representing the piece-wise constant preference level profiles includes behavior command memory for storing said piece-wise constant profile, and said means for creating the total profile includes an arbitration CPU for analyzing command preference profiles to obtain unique command values including means for generating a table of sorted behavior comands for actuators to be controlled and a command profile memory for storing said command preference profiles, said arbitration CPU further comprising said means for determining a peak zone in said total profile having the largest preference level; and said means for producing a desired response in the controlled system to the command indicated by said peak zone includes an actuator interface unit for receiving unique command values generated by said arbitration CPU representing said peak command zone, and for generating signals controlling said actuators.

Claim 22

The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of: generating a command of a first type from a control source of a first type; generating a command of a second type from a control source of a second type, said command of the second type being derivative of said first type command; and converting said commands of a first type into commands of said second type, whereby said system operates on said commands of the second type to produce a single response to said first and second control sources.

Claim 23

The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of defining said preference level profiles by the upper and lower limits of zones and also by spikes corresponding to zones having single command values.

Claim 24

The method of claim 20 further comprising the steps of: generating command values having clamp regions corresponding to exclusionary commands defining zones which are not permitted; and clamping said peak zone wherein said clamp regions are excluded.

Claim 25

The method of claim 20 wherein said step of creating a total profile further comprises the steps of generating an array of preference levels at zone edges, said array being equal in size to the total number of zone edges in said preference level profiles of said control sources, said array containing the preference level of each of the plurality of control sources at each zone edge as well as the sum of said preference levels at each zone edge, wherein said total profile is created from said sum.

Claim 26

The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of determining the level of participation of each of the plurality of control sources; and determining the dominant control source from said level of participation.

Claim 27

The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of: modifying the effect of activation of the dominant behavior by small increments to produce sample output commands; and averaging said sample commands to produce a smooth output signal, whereby oscillations between two disjoint output commands are reduced.

Claim 32

The system of claim 26 wherein said preference level profiles are defined by said control sources by the upper and lower limits of zones, and by spikes corresponding to zones having single command values.

Claim 33

The system of claim 27 wherein said means for creating a total profile further comprises: means for generating an array of preference levels at zone edges, said array being equal in size to the total number of zone edges in said profiles of said control sources; and said array containing the preference levels of each said control source at each zone edge and the combination of said preference levels at each zone edge, wherein said total profile is created from said combination.