Disclosure of Invention
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, an aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle control method. The vehicle control method includes the steps of: acquiring vehicle data to judge whether the vehicle meets a steep descent condition or not; responding to a judgment result that the vehicle meets a steep descent condition, and determining a target vehicle speed of the steep descent and an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle; determining a target torque according to the target vehicle speed and the actual vehicle speed; and providing the target torque to the vehicle via a motor controller to maintain an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle at the target vehicle speed. By executing the steps, the vehicle control method can reduce the configuration cost of the steep descent function and is beneficial to the smooth running of the vehicle under various working conditions such as uphill slope, downhill slope, flat ground and the like.
In one embodiment, the step of providing the target torque to the vehicle via the motor controller includes: when the actual vehicle speed is greater than the target vehicle speed and the target torque is less than zero, increasing the energy recovery torque of the vehicle through the motor controller to provide the target torque for the vehicle; and when the actual vehicle speed is less than the target vehicle speed and the target torque is greater than zero, increasing the driving torque of the vehicle through the motor controller so as to provide the target torque greater than zero for the vehicle.
In one embodiment, the step of determining the target torque according to the target vehicle speed and the actual vehicle speed includes: judging whether the difference value between the actual vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed is greater than a preset difference threshold value or not; in response to a judgment result that the difference is less than or equal to the difference threshold, determining the target torque according to the difference to quickly adjust the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle to the target vehicle speed; and responding to the judgment result that the difference value is larger than the difference threshold value, determining the target torque according to the difference threshold value, and smoothly adjusting the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle to the target vehicle speed step by step.
In one embodiment, the vehicle data includes gear state information, accelerator pedal information, brake pedal information, and/or switch information of a hill-drop function of the vehicle, and the step of obtaining the vehicle data to determine whether the vehicle satisfies the hill-drop condition includes: acquiring gear state information, accelerator pedal information, brake pedal information and/or switch information of a steep descent function of the vehicle; determining that the vehicle satisfies the hill descent condition in response to the vehicle being in a forward gear, an accelerator pedal not being depressed, a brake pedal not being depressed, and/or the hill descent function having been activated.
In one embodiment, the step of determining the target vehicle speed for steep descent in response to the determination that the vehicle satisfies the condition for steep descent includes: responding to a judgment result that the vehicle meets a steep descent condition, and determining a target vehicle speed of the steep descent according to a preset initial target speed to start a steep descent function; and responding to that the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal is released after being stepped down in the steep descent process, acquiring the actual speed of the vehicle, and re-determining the target speed according to the actual speed.
In one embodiment, the step of re-determining the target vehicle speed based on the actual vehicle speed comprises: judging whether the actual vehicle speed exceeds a preset speed range or not; responding to the judgment result that the actual vehicle speed does not exceed the speed range, and re-determining the target vehicle speed according to the actual vehicle speed; and responding to the judgment result that the actual vehicle speed exceeds the speed range, exiting the steep slope slow descending function, and providing prompt information for the user to exit the steep slope slow descending function.
In an embodiment, the preset speed range includes a preset speed upper limit value and a preset speed lower limit value, and the step of determining whether the actual vehicle speed exceeds the preset speed range includes: responding to the fact that the actual vehicle speed is smaller than the speed lower limit value or larger than the speed upper limit value, and judging that the actual vehicle speed exceeds the speed range; and responding to the actual vehicle speed being larger than or equal to the speed lower limit value and smaller than or equal to the speed upper limit value, and determining that the actual vehicle speed does not exceed the speed range.
In one embodiment, the vehicle control method further includes: and in response to the vehicle exiting the forward gear, the steep descent function being turned off, and/or the vehicle being in a slip state, exiting the steep descent function and providing a prompt to the user to exit the steep descent function.
In one embodiment, the vehicle control method further includes: and in response to the battery temperature of the vehicle being lower than a preset temperature threshold and/or the energy recovery function of the vehicle being unavailable, determining that the vehicle does not meet the steep descent condition and providing a user with a prompt that the steep descent function is unavailable.
In order to solve the above problems, another aspect of the present invention also provides a vehicle. The vehicle comprises a controller and a torque executing mechanism, wherein the controller is connected with the torque executing mechanism and is configured to: acquiring vehicle data to judge whether the vehicle meets a steep descent condition or not; responding to a judgment result that the vehicle meets a steep descent condition, and determining a target vehicle speed of the steep descent and an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle; determining a target torque according to the target vehicle speed and the actual vehicle speed; and providing the target torque to the vehicle via the torque actuator to maintain the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle at the target vehicle speed. By adopting the configurations, the vehicle can realize the function of gradual descent on a steep slope with lower configuration cost and can run stably under various working conditions such as uphill slope, downhill slope, flat ground and the like.
In an embodiment, the vehicle further includes a human-machine interface, and the controller is connected to the human-machine interface and configured to: displaying a switch control and switch information of the steep descent function through the human-computer interface; and adjusting the switch information of the steep descent function according to the operation instruction of the user on the switch control.
In an embodiment, the controller is further configured to: and displaying prompt information for starting the steep descent function, quitting the steep descent function and/or making the steep descent function unavailable through the human-computer interface.
In one embodiment, the vehicle further includes an antilock braking system, and the controller is coupled to the antilock braking system and configured to: acquiring the actual speed of the vehicle through the anti-lock brake system; acquiring slip state information of the vehicle via the antilock braking system; and judging whether the vehicle is in a slipping state or not according to the slipping state information.
Yet another aspect of the present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the vehicle control method of any one of the above. By implementing the vehicle control method, the computer readable storage medium reduces the configuration cost of the steep descent function and is beneficial to the smooth driving of the vehicle under various working conditions such as uphill slope, downhill slope, flat ground and the like.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure. While the invention will be described in connection with the preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit its features to those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is described in connection with the embodiments for the purpose of covering alternatives or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The invention may be practiced without these particulars. Moreover, some of the specific details have been left out of the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the focus of the present invention.
In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.
Additionally, the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "horizontal," "vertical" and the like as used in the following description are to be understood as referring to the segment and the associated drawings in the illustrated orientation. The relative terms are used for convenience of description only and do not imply that the described apparatus should be constructed or operated in a particular orientation and therefore should not be construed as limiting the invention.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms, but rather are used to distinguish one element, region, layer and/or section from another element, region, layer and/or section. Thus, a first component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second component, region, layer or section without departing from some embodiments of the present invention.
As described above, at present, only high-class vehicles equipped with an ESC controller have a steep descent function, while low-cost vehicles without the ESC controller cannot achieve the steep descent function. Therefore, the existing steep slope slow-falling technology not only needs to add an ESC controller, improves the cost of the whole vehicle, but also cannot be applied to the flat ground working condition and the uphill working condition, and limits the further popularization of the steep slope slow-falling function. Moreover, the utilization of the ESC controller to realize the steep descent function does not consider the recovery of the energy wasted by the vehicle on/off the slope, which is not beneficial to the improvement of the endurance mileage of the electric vehicle.
In order to solve the above problems in the prior art, the present invention provides a vehicle control method, a vehicle, and a computer-readable storage medium, which can reduce the configuration cost of a steep descent function and facilitate smooth driving of the vehicle in various working conditions such as uphill, downhill, and flat ground.
In some non-limiting embodiments, the above-described vehicle control method provided by the first aspect of the invention may be implemented by the above-described vehicle provided by the second aspect of the invention. The working principle of the vehicle will be described below in connection with some embodiments of the vehicle control method. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these examples of vehicle control methods are but a few non-limiting embodiments provided by the present invention, and are intended to clearly demonstrate the broad concepts of the invention and provide specific details that are convenient for the public to implement and not to limit the overall operation and function of the vehicle. Similarly, the vehicle is only a non-limiting embodiment provided by the present invention, and the main implementation of each step in these vehicle control methods is not limited.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 illustrates a control structure diagram of a vehicle according to an aspect of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in some embodiments of the present invention, a control architecture for a vehicle includes a hybrid controller 120, a torque actuator 130, an antilock braking system 110, and a human-machine interface 140. The controller 120 is connected to the antilock braking system 110, the torque actuator 130, and the human-machine interface 140, respectively, and controls the 3 modules to execute operations according to the commands issued by the modules.
A Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) 120 is a core electronic control unit that implements Vehicle control decisions. The vehicle control unit 120 judges the driving intention of the driver by acquiring signals of an accelerator pedal, a gear, a brake pedal and the like, judges and processes the information by monitoring the speed, the temperature and the like of the vehicle, then sends a vehicle running state control command to the power battery system, and controls the running mode of the vehicle-mounted accessory power supply system. The vehicle control unit 120 has fault diagnosis, protection and storage functions for the entire vehicle system.
Torque actuator 130 is a core component of an automobile, including but not limited to a Motor Control Unit (MCU). The torque executing mechanism 130 controls the rotation state of the motor according to the instruction of the vehicle control unit 120, which may specifically include controlling the driving motor to output a given torque and a given rotation speed, so as to drive the vehicle to run.
An Antilock Brake System (ABS)110 is a safety control System for a vehicle having the advantages of skid resistance and locking prevention. The antilock brake system 110 is an improved technology based on a conventional brake device, and may be divided into a mechanical type and an electronic type. The brake system has the brake function of a common brake system, can prevent wheels from being locked, enables the automobile to still steer in a brake state, ensures the stability of the brake direction of the automobile, and prevents sideslip and deviation. The anti-lock braking system 110 is within the physical limit, and can automatically control the braking force of the brake when the automobile brakes, so that the wheels are not locked and are in a state of rolling and slipping (the slip rate is about 20%) to ensure that the adhesive force between the wheels and the ground is at the maximum.
The human-machine interface 140 may include an Infotainment Head Unit (IHU) of the vehicle, which is a central display screen of the vehicle for displaying content information in various vehicle control processes.
In order to better understand the above-described vehicle control method provided by the present invention, the vehicle control method will be described below with reference to the vehicle structure shown in fig. 1. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 shows a flow chart of a vehicle control method provided according to another aspect of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 2, during the driving process of the vehicle, the vehicle controller 120 may obtain vehicle data in real time, and determine whether the current vehicle meets the steep descent condition according to the vehicle data (step 210). Here, the vehicle data includes, but is not limited to, one or more of gear state information, accelerator pedal information, brake pedal information, and/or switch information for a hill descent function of the vehicle.
For example, for a case where the hill descent condition includes a gear state, an accelerator pedal state, and a brake pedal state of the vehicle at the same time, the controller 120 may monitor and acquire gear state information, accelerator pedal information, and brake pedal information of the vehicle at the same time. In response to the current vehicle being in a forward gear, the accelerator pedal not being depressed, and the brake pedal not being depressed, the controller 120 determines that the vehicle is currently meeting the condition for activating the steep descent function. Conversely, in response to any one or more of the vehicle gear state, the accelerator pedal state, and the brake pedal state not satisfying the monitored results of the above criteria, the controller 120 determines that the vehicle is not currently satisfying the condition for activating the steep descent function.
Preferably, as shown in fig. 1, in other embodiments of the present invention, the controller 120 may further display a switch control and switch information of the steep descent function via the human-machine interface 140. The user can realize the interaction with the human-computer interface 140 through modes such as voice, touch, button, and the like, and can adjust the on-off state of the vehicle steep descent function by issuing different operation instructions to the switch control on the human-computer interface 140.
For the embodiment of the switch control with the steep descent control function, the steep descent control condition further includes switch information of the steep descent control function. The user can query the switch state of the steep descent control function through the human-computer interface 140, and adjust the state of the switch control through voice, touch, buttons and the like, so as to start or quit the steep descent control function.
Specifically, in response to an operation instruction of the user selecting the switch control for turning on the steep descent function on the human-machine interface 140, the controller 120 may further obtain gear state information, accelerator pedal information, and brake pedal information of the vehicle. If the vehicle is in a forward gear, the accelerator pedal is not pressed, and the brake pedal is not pressed, the controller 120 may determine that the vehicle currently satisfies a condition for performing a steep descent, thereby activating the steep descent function. Thereafter, the controller 120 may also send flag bit information indicating the turned-on function status to the human-machine interface 140. After receiving the flag bit information indicating the turned-on function status sent by the controller 120, the human-machine interface 140 may switch the status of the switch control of the steep descent function to the turned-on status, and display confirmation information that the vehicle has turned on the steep descent function to the user.
On the contrary, if the vehicle is not in the forward gear, the accelerator pedal is pressed down, or the brake pedal is pressed down, the controller 120 may determine that the vehicle does not currently satisfy the condition for performing the steep descent, so as to send the information of the flag bit indicating the off function status to the human-machine interface 140, so as to inform the user that the vehicle is not currently allowed to start the steep descent function, and the vehicle does not have the prompt information for starting the steep descent function. In addition, after receiving the flag bit information indicating the off function status sent by the controller 120, the human-machine interface 140 may maintain the status of the switch control of the steep descent function in the off state, and display a prompt message to the user that the steep descent function is not available.
Further, before determining whether the vehicle satisfies the steep descent condition, the controller 120 may also preferentially determine whether the battery temperature of the vehicle is lower than a preset temperature threshold, and/or whether the energy recovery function of the vehicle is available. In the current new energy automobiles, a ternary lithium battery and a lithium iron phosphate battery are mostly adopted. Due to the nature of lithium ions, the activity of the lithium ion battery is reduced in a low-temperature environment, so that the net discharge rate of the battery is reduced, and electric energy cannot be normally released, so that the vehicle is not suitable for starting a steep descent function to increase the burden of the battery. In response to the determination that the battery temperature of the vehicle is lower than the preset temperature threshold and/or the determination that the energy recovery function of the vehicle is unavailable, the controller 120 may directly determine that the vehicle does not satisfy the downhill descent condition and send the information of the function status flag indicating shutdown to the human-machine interface 140, so as to provide the user with a prompt message that the downhill descent function is unavailable (e.g., temporarily disabled due to the disabled function) through the human-machine interface 140.
With continued reference to fig. 2, after determining that the vehicle satisfies the hill descent control condition and confirming that the hill descent control function is activated, the controller 120 needs to determine a target vehicle speed for performing the hill descent control, and an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle (step 220). Specifically, the controller 120 may first determine a target vehicle speed for steep descent from a preset initial target speed to start the steep descent function. For example, the controller 120 may first set an initial target vehicle speed of the vehicle to a creep maximum vehicle speed of 5 km/h. At the same time, the controller 120 may also determine the creep vehicle speed as the lowest available vehicle speed for the hill descent function.
After determining the target vehicle speed for the steep descent, the controller 120 may obtain the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle via the ABS system 110 of the vehicle and determine a corresponding target torque in conjunction with the target vehicle speed (step 230). Then, the controller 120 controls the torque actuator 130 to provide the target torque to the vehicle so that the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is maintained at the set target vehicle speed (step 240).
Specifically, the above target torque can be classified into the following two cases. When the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is greater than the target vehicle speed, such as 20km/h and 10km/h during a downhill, in order to decrease the actual vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed, the controller 120 may determine a target torque less than zero and control the torque actuator 130 to adaptively increase the energy recovery torque of the vehicle to provide the target torque less than zero to the vehicle, such that the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is decreased by the energy recovery torque and maintained at the target vehicle speed.
Conversely, when the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is less than the target vehicle speed, such as 10km/h and 20km/h during an uphill, in order to increase the actual vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed, the controller 120 may determine a target torque greater than zero and control the torque actuator 130 to adaptively increase the driving torque of the vehicle to provide the target torque greater than zero to the vehicle, so that the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is increased by the driving torque and maintained at the target vehicle speed.
By adopting the energy recovery system of the electric vehicle to provide the target torque smaller than zero, the invention can efficiently recover the redundant kinetic energy of the vehicle in the steep descent process, thereby improving the endurance mileage of the electric vehicle.
Further, the controller 120 may also determine whether a difference between the actual vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed exceeds a preset difference threshold during the steep descent of the vehicle, and determine the target torque according to the determination result.
For example, if the preset difference threshold is 40km/h, the target vehicle speed is 5km/h, and the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is 30km/h, the controller 120 may determine that the actual difference value between the two is 25km/h without exceeding the preset difference threshold. At this time, the controller 120 may determine a target torque required to decelerate the vehicle to the target vehicle speed based on an actual difference between the actual vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed, and control the torque actuator 130 to perform the target torque in a short time, thereby rapidly adjusting the vehicle from the current actual vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed.
On the contrary, if the preset difference threshold is still 40km/h, the target vehicle speed is still 5km/h, and the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle is 80km/h, the controller 120 may determine that the actual difference value between the two is 75km/h, which is obviously greater than the preset difference threshold. At this time, in order to prevent the vehicle from slipping due to rapid deceleration during the downhill descent, the controller 120 determines the target torque based on the difference between the speeds of the two, instead of determining the target torque based on the preset difference threshold value of 40km/h, and controls the torque actuator 130 to smoothly adjust the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle to the target vehicle speed step by step.
By setting the difference threshold value of the vehicle speed and/or the torque, the invention can reduce the deceleration of the vehicle in the downhill process in a step-by-step adjusting mode, and prevent the slipping phenomenon and the passenger forward rush phenomenon caused by the rapid deceleration of the vehicle, thereby ensuring the safe driving of the vehicle and improving the riding comfort of passengers.
Further, in the process of the vehicle performing the steep descent, when the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal of the vehicle is pressed and then released, the controller 120 may further obtain the current actual vehicle speed of the vehicle, and re-determine the target vehicle speed according to the obtained actual vehicle speed.
As shown in FIG. 1, in some embodiments of the present invention, an anti-lock braking system (ABS)110 is coupled to a controller 120 of the vehicle. The controller 120 may acquire an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle through the ABS system 110. It is understood that the scheme of obtaining the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle via the ABS system 110 is only one non-limiting embodiment provided by the present invention. Optionally, in other embodiments, the controller 120 of the vehicle may also determine the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle via one or more of a speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a wheel speed sensor, a GPS location module, and the like, in combination.
Thereafter, the controller 120 may determine whether the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle exceeds the preset speed range according to the preset speed range. For example, if the preset speed upper limit is 30km/h, and the user releases the vehicle after stepping on the accelerator pedal to accelerate to 20km/h, the controller 120 may determine that the current actual speed of the vehicle does not exceed the speed upper limit. At this time, the controller 120 may re-determine the target vehicle speed according to the actual vehicle speed when the accelerator pedal is released, i.e., adjust the target vehicle speed up to 20km/h from the initial preset creep speed of 5 km/h.
For another example, if the user releases the vehicle after decelerating the vehicle from 20km/h to 10km/h by pressing the brake pedal, the controller 120 may determine that the current actual vehicle speed of the vehicle does not exceed the lower limit of the slow-down speed of the steep slope by 5 km/h. At this time, the controller 120 may re-determine the target vehicle speed according to the actual vehicle speed when the brake pedal is released, i.e., the target vehicle speed is adjusted down from the original 20km/h to 10 km/h.
On the contrary, if the preset upper limit value of the speed is still 30km/h, the user steps on the accelerator pedal to accelerate to 40km/h and then releases the accelerator pedal. At this time, the controller 120 may determine that the current actual vehicle speed of the vehicle exceeds the speed upper limit value, thereby controlling the vehicle to exit the current steep descent function, and may provide a prompt message for the user to exit the steep descent function.
For another example, if the user decelerates the speed from 30km/h to 0km/h by pressing the brake pedal and then releases the speed, the controller 120 may determine that the actual vehicle speed exceeds the preset speed range. At this time, the controller 120 controls the vehicle to exit the current steep descent function and provides a prompt message to the user to exit the steep descent function.
Alternatively, in the process of the vehicle executing the steep descent function, in addition to the above-mentioned situation that the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle exceeds the preset speed range, the controller 120 may exit the steep descent function according to the gear state of the vehicle, the switch state of the steep descent function control, and/or the slip state of the vehicle. For example, when the vehicle exits the previous forward gear during the steep descent, the user turns off the switch control of the steep descent function via the human-machine interface 140, and/or the antilock braking system 110 outputs the slip state information that the vehicle is currently in the slip state, the controller 120 may also control the vehicle to exit the current steep descent function and send flag bit information indicating the turned-off function state to the human-machine interface 140. Upon receiving the shutdown signal sent by the controller 120, the human-machine interface 140 may automatically switch the switch control of the steep descent function to the shutdown state, and provide a prompt to the user that the steep descent function has been exited.
While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein or not shown and described herein, as would be understood by one skilled in the art.
Although the controller 120 described in the above embodiments may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. It is understood that the controller 120 may be implemented in software or hardware. For a hardware implementation, the controller 120 may be implemented in one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic devices designed to perform the functions described herein, or a selected combination thereof. For a software implementation, the controller 120 may be implemented by separate software modules, such as program modules (processes) and function modules (functions), running on a common chip, each of which performs one or more of the functions and operations described herein.
Those of skill in the art would understand that information, signals, and data may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits (bits), symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.
Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.
The various illustrative logical modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.