JPS60213537A - Controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides that a steering wheel rotatable relative to the undercarriage has control information to be supplied to an input device of an actuating unit of the vehicle, the control signal being transmitted to a transmission mounted on the steering wheel. via a common conductor to at least one receiver mounted on another vehicle part other than the steering wheel, said receiver converting the control signal into a control signal for the actuating unit. The present invention relates to an electrical control device for a vehicle adapted to be converted.

In a known control device of this type (German Offset Publication No. 28)
No. 47822), an electric operating device is provided at the shock absorber cylinder of the steering wheel, with which information can be supplied to the electrical equipment in the vehicle. Since a transmitter and a receiver are used, one conductor is sufficient to convey information to all operating devices. The information is conveyed in the form of a variety of different pulses. Also, only one slide ring is required in this transmission line, which is considerably simpler than such control devices, which require its own transmission line for each operating device. . Furthermore, mounting the operating device, such as a push button, on the steering wheel instead of for example on the instrument panel has the advantage that the operating device can be more easily seen and operated by the driver.

Furthermore, it is common practice to provide a horn contact on the steering wheel, which is connected to a horn or a horn relay through a horn conductor that is separated into the steering wheel side and the vehicle chassis side by means of a slide ring.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical control device as described above, which does not require transmission leads and slide rings, and requires only minor modifications to the handle during installation.

This object was solved according to the invention by the following features: a) The handle has a horn contact in a known manner, which horn contact is connected to the handle-side part (8) of the horn conductor (5).
and connected via the slide ring (7) to the horn (6) or to the part (8) with the horn relay; b) the transmitter is designed to emit a high frequency signal, the output of which C) the receiver is connected via a direct current blocking coupling element to the horn conductor section on the undercarriage side;

In such an arrangement, the horn conductor that most have is also utilized to convey control signals. Also, no other burdensome sliding ring is required. The high frequency signal can be coupled directly to the horn device. This is due to the fact that the horn conductors, on the one hand, have a reactance due to their spatial distance range (their length is approximately 1.5 m), and on the other hand, due to the connected horn or horn relay.
It has some inherent inductance that creates a potential difference for the coupled radio frequency signal. As a result, the receiver
Tune out the corresponding high frequency signal, (aus
Furthermore, high frequencies have the advantage that they can be operated with very low currents, since they create a capacitance that does not interfere with high-frequency currents if the sliding ring becomes dirty. The number of control signals that can be input to the handle is not limited, since the high frequency signal can include different control signals with different frequencies, different frequency modulations, and different amplification modulations.

Advantageously, the transmitter has a voltage supply connected in parallel with the horn contact, which is connected on one side to earth.

The supply voltage of the transmitter is thus formed by the current flowing from the battery through the horn. Due to the small output of the high frequency signal, the actual output is 5mA, or about 1/10 of the horn activation current.
0 will do. This has the advantage that no further connection to the vehicle battery is required for the transmitter, and the transmitter does not have to be equipped with its own battery that must be replaced from time to time. There is. The high frequency range is actually about 10K
It is I-12. The transmitter is reasonably 40-80K
Hz, preferably about 1-12 to 50.

This frequency provides the best transmission results considering the conventional horn conductor and horn relay.

Advantageously, the transmitter output and/or the receiver input has a capacitive coupling element.

In a most preferred embodiment, the transmitter has a modulator capable of providing a high frequency carrier signal and a binary code containing a control signal to generate the high frequency signal, and the receiver has a corresponding demodulator. It seems that it has. A high frequency signal modulated by such a binary code allows for very easy discrimination between various control information.

In particular, binary signals have two phases and codes (13i -Phase
−0 code) on the carrier signal. This provides even greater reliability during transmission.

In yet another embodiment, the transmitter has an operating sequence control for modulating multiple successive binary signals onto the carrier signal, and the receiver has an operating sequence control for modulating multiple successive binary signals onto the carrier signal. A test □ device may be provided that emits a control signal when the code is received. In this way high redundancy is achieved.

It is further advantageous if the transmitter has an activation sequence control which issues a clear signal after the input of the control information has ended.

From this clear signal, the receiver detects that no further information is conveyed. In this way, for example, the control signal can be terminated at the actuating unit.

A switching device for switching the transmitter from a rest position to a transmitting active position by inputting a control signal is also recommended. Energy can be saved by switching from "standby mode" to "transmission mode".

i an encoder in which one or more actuated pushbuttons of the group of pushbuttons used as input devices are indicated by a binary code; and a parallel-serial-coder in which the binary code is fed to a modulator;
If the transmitter has a transformer, the transmitter side will have a very simple configuration.

Similarly, if the receiver decodes the binary signal given by the demodulator and supplies it as a control signal to the corresponding operating unit via a series-parallel transformer, it is very easy to supply it at the receiver side. If this is done, the configuration on the receiver side will be very simple.

In other solutions, the input device is an infrared (IR-9tra)
hlung), on which a transmitter generating infrared radiation is provided for conveying control information by means of radiation pulses. Such a transmitter also has the advantage that the control signal is input directly to the handle from another location. In this case, the means attached to the handle can serve the purpose particularly well for infrared radiation. For example, the transmitter is
During actuation 2, it is possible to have a selector device emitting a continuous radiation of a binary code. In this way one or more control signals are generated by the transmitter.

A reservoir formed on the side of the handle for the transmitter adjacent to the means responsive to infrared radiation is also advantageous. The transmitter is thus kept in a fixed location next to the steering wheel during driving, ie it can be operated freely even when the transmitter can, for example, provide control information for opening and closing a door latch.

In another embodiment, the transmitter includes a rechargeable battery and charging contacts are provided on the side of the reservoir, one of these charging contacts being connected to the horn conductor. and the other is connected to ground. Therefore, the accumulator of the transmitter is charged via the horn conductor during driving.

In another embodiment, each of the plurality of actuating units is correlated with its own adjacent receiver, said receiver being coupled to a mains power lead carrying battery voltage.

It is also possible to examine the high frequency signal that can be used by the receiver with the conductor 3 that carries the battery voltage. Furthermore, since the actuating unit is connected to the mains supply, only other additional control lines are required.

Furthermore, the voltage supply of the transmitter has a DC voltage tune out.
It has a diode circuit that produces . In this way, high-frequency short circuits via the capacitors of the voltage supply are prevented.

It is also advantageous to have an assembly which is attachable to the handle and has a component comprising at least a transmitter with a terminal for connection to the horn conductor section on the handle side and a ground terminal. Therefore, in the simplest case, this component only needs to be integrated in addition to or instead of other handle parts. There are minimal changes to be made to the typical implementation.

In most cases, the assembly has at least an input portion attachable to a handle independent of the component and connected to the component by a conductor.
The handle can be easily refitted.

The term "horn" shall include all acoustic signal generators and all controls via relays.

In the following, the invention will be explained in detail by means of preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 clearly shows a handle area l and an undercarriage area 2, which are separated by a point w<3. The undercarriage area includes all parts of the vehicle except the steering wheel. On the steering wheel there is a horn contact 4 which is connected on one side to earth, which, via a horn conductor 5, connects the -power side to the battery voltage U and which is arranged in the undercarriage area. It is connected to the horn 6. The horn conductor 5 is in the area 1
A sliding ring 7 is provided at the separated portion of the region 2, and the sliding ring divides the vehicle into a handle-side portion 8 and a chassis-side portion 9.

Attached to the handle is a transmitter 10 with an input device 11 formed as a pushbutton area. The output 12 of the transmitter is connected to the horn conductor section 8 on the steering wheel side. The transmitter 8 is, for example, 50K
It has a transmitter 13 operating at Hz. Via an operating sequence controller 14, the transmitter is connected to a modulator 15. The encoder 1B uses a push button l of the input device 11.
Pressing la produces a binary code. This is converted into a series of pulses in parallel-to-series transformer 17 and fed to modulator 15 . On the output side, there is a 2-phase Φ code (
Bi-Phase-Code) modulated high frequency signal is generated.

This is amplified via a driver stage 18 and coupled to the horn conductor 5 via a coupling capacitor 18. Furthermore, a voltage supply 20 is connected to the output 12, which has a voltage stabilization circuit which is supplied from the battery voltage U via the horn conductor 5. This voltage stabilizing circuit usually includes a capacitor. In addition, the voltage supply 2
is the DC voltage tune out with two diodes
It is equipped with t.

6 A receiver 21 is provided in the undercarriage area 2, and its human power 22 is connected to the horn conductor part 9 on the undercarriage side, and when this receiver presses the push button lla, the battery is activated in this figure. It controls one of a number of actuating units 23, shown as relays connected to voltage U. Similarly, the receiver also has a transmitter 24 operated at 50 KH.

This oscillator 24 is connected via an operating sequence controller 25 to a demodulator and decoder 2B, to which a high-frequency signal is supplied from an input 22 via a coupling capacitor 27 and a bandpass filter amplifier 2B. The decoded signal is tested in test equipment 28 and serial-to-parallel transformer 30
is converted into a control signal which is supplied via a driver stage 31 and an output line 32 to the actuating unit 23 to be controlled. The receiver 21 has a voltage supply 33 corresponding to the voltage supply of the transmitter IO.

In operation, pushbutton lla is constantly checked for operation. When pushbutton lla is pressed, 7 transmitter lO is switched from the rest position to the transmitting active position. By means of the selected pushbutton lla, the specific control information is converted into a binary signal, i.e. a two-phase one code, in the encoder IB,
In the modulator 15, the signal is modulated to a carrier frequency of 50K)l.

The operating sequence controller 14 is such that the high-frequency signal generated in this way is repeated, for example every 40 m5. When the pushbutton lla is released, a clear signal is transmitted, from which the receiver 21 detects that no further information can be transmitted. Horn conductor 5 and horn 6
Due to the inherent inductance of , a potential difference is created due to the high frequency signal. In this case, the signal amplitude is approximately 0.3 to 0.
．． It is 7 volts.

External fault voltage stray effect (externe st6rsp
(ignition spark, electric motor) can cause considerable interference (stfiru
undergrund), the high frequency signal is capacitively tuned from the horn conductor 5 within the receiver 21.
out and supplied to a regulated broadband amplifier 28;
This allows the 0.5 mV signal 8 to be further selectively amplified. A square wave signal is obtained from the high frequency signal in the demodulator 28, which represents the transmitted two-fold symbol. The next code test in the test device 28 requires three transmissions of the same binary code in order to supply the corresponding information via the series-parallel transformer 30 and the driver stage 31 to the desired operating unit 23.

As actuating units, various flexible control devices of the vehicle, such as headlights, window shut-offs, ventilation and air conditioning systems, etc., are conceivable. The actuating unit may also be a measuring and/or displaying device that performs and/or displays a measurement upon generation of a corresponding control signal.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 2, in the corresponding part of FIG.
Reference numbers with the addition of 00 have been used.

The arrangement of the horn 4, the horn conductor 5, and the horn 6 is the same as in FIG. In this case, a transmitter 10 with an output 12 is connected to the horn conductor section 9 on the steering wheel side. However, the receivers 121 and 121a are mounted eccentrically on the vehicle and are closely adjacent to the associated working unit 123, 123a, respectively. Inputs 122 and 122a are the mains battery voltage U
It comes out from the conductor 33 that leads to. However, the high frequency signal at this position is somewhat weaker than at the horn conductor portion 9 on the vehicle body side. However, the receiver 121.121a is immediately implemented with such selection and amplification so that the control information is correctly received. Each receiver provides a control signal to the associated operating unit only when the associated code signal is received.

In FIG.
A handle l having a 37. Receiver 10 is contained within the hub. The input device 11 consists of two pushbutton housings 38 and 39, each of which is provided with three pushbuttons lla, each of which is provided with a ring symbol 40. is located.

FIG. 4 shows the handle of FIG. 3 in an exploded condition. The handle 1 is connected to a hub 41 attached to a handle post 42. This handle pillar 42
is held by a bearing 43. Below the hub 41 is a sliding surface 44 of the sliding ring 7. An associated slider 45 is attached to the bearing 43. The sliding surface 44 is connected to a slider 45 that includes a handle side portion 8 of the horn conductor and a vehicle chassis side portion 9 of the horn conductor. All parts marked with a "-" are at ground potential, whether through specific conductor connections or through mechanical devices to each other. In the area of the hub 41, below the horn contact 4, there is a component 46 containing the transmitter 10. This component 4B is connected to the pushbutton housings 38 to 39 via conductors 47 and 48, respectively. The output 12 is formed by a penetrating pin, so that the plug 49 of the original horn conductor is inserted directly into one end of said pin, and only a short additional conductor 50 connects the other end of the pin to the horn contact 4. It must be installed between the terminal 51 of the Such an arrangement can be easily installed in current vehicles by replenishment.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, a recess-shaped reservoir 52 is provided in the fixed central plate 136 of the handle 101. In the embodiment of FIG. On the front wall there is an input device t11 in the form of means responsive to infrared radiation. On its opposite side there are charging contacts 53 and 54, which are formed as two plugs, one of which is connected to the output 12 of the transmitter and the other to earth. The transmitter 55 is able to convey the control signal via radiation pulses to the input device 111 by means 56 for generating infrared radiation. For example, a selector device 57 comprising a contactless switching sensor can be used to select specific control information and communicate it to the transmitter via the coupling location 5B/111. The transmitter 55 has two plug sockets 59 and 60, said plug socket 53 when the transmitter is inserted into the reservoir 52.
and 60 into which a filling contact fist plug is engaged. Through these plugs, the transmitter's storage battery can be charged while driving. The input device 111 can, however, be activated by means of a transmitter even when it is not in storage, and also for example from outside the vehicle, in particular when unlatching a door.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a control device according to the invention. FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a modified embodiment. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a handle equipped according to the invention. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of this handle. FIG. 5 is a partial view of another embodiment. 4-m=honk horn contact, 5-m-honk horn conductor, 8--one horn,
lO-m-transmitter, 11-m-human power device, 12-m-transmitter output, 16-m-
- encoder, 19-m-coupling capacitor, 22-m-human power, 23-
m - working unit; 24 - m - oscillator; 26 - demodulator and decoder. 3 Continued from page 1 0 Inventor Rainer Bufamand 1: Federal Republic of the United States of America, 6000 Frankfurt Main, Mai/Derstraer No. 7 Procedural amendment (voluntary) May 21, 1980 Kazuo Wakasugi, Commissioner of the Patent Office 1. Indication of the case 1982 Patent Application No. 66808 2 Name of the invention Control device 3 Person making the amendment Relationship to the case Name of the patent applicant 4. Agent 5. Column of patent applicant (representative) of application subject to amendment, power of attorney and drawings 6.
, Contents of amendment (1) Submit the application for correction as attached. (2) Submit the power of attorney and translation as attached. (3) Submit official drawings as attached. that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A handle rotatable with respect to the chassis has control information to be supplied to an input device of an operating unit of the vehicle,
The control signal is transmitted by a transmitter attached to the handle.
is capable of communicating via a common conductor to a receiver mounted on at least a portion of another vehicle other than the steering wheel;
In an electrical control device for a vehicle, the receiver converts a control signal into a control signal for the actuating unit, comprising: a)
The handle (1) has a horn contact (4), which is connected to the horn contact on the undercarriage side via the handle-side portion (8) of the horn conductor (5) and the slide ring (7). horn(
8) or the part (8) of the horn conductor having the horn wire;
b) the transmitter (10,) is designed to emit a high-frequency signal, and its output side is connected to the horn on the handle side via a coupling element (18) blocking direct current; It is connected to the conductor part (8), and C)
A control device characterized in that the receiver (21) is connected to a horn conductor section (8) on the vehicle body side via a coupling element (27) that blocks direct current. 2. The transmitter (10) is connected in parallel with the horn contact (4), which is grounded on the other hand.
) The control device according to claim 1, having the following features. 3. The transmitter (10) is designed to emit frequencies between 40 and 80, preferably 50 KHz.
The control device according to item 1 or 2. 4. The transmitter output (12) and/or the receiver input are
Any one of claims 1 to 3 having a capacitive coupling element (,19,2?)
Control device according to paragraph 1. 5. Since the transmitter (10) generates a high frequency signal,
Claims characterized in that the receiver (21) comprises a modulator (15) capable of supplying a high-frequency carrier signal and a binary code containing said control information, said receiver (21) comprising a corresponding demodulator (26). The control device according to any one of items 1 to 4. 6. A control device according to claim 5, wherein the binary code is modulated onto the carrier signal as a two-phase one code. 7. The transmitter (lO) has an operating sequence (14) for modulating the binary code on the carrier signal in a multiplex manner, and the receiver (21) modulates the binary code on the carrier signal in a multiplexed manner; 7. Control device according to claim 5, comprising a test device (28) for emitting said control signal when the same binary signal is received. 8. According to any one of claims 1 to 7, the transmitter (10) has an operation sequence (14) for issuing a clear signal after the input of control information is completed. Control device as described. 9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising a switching device that switches the transmitter (lO) from a rest position to a transmission position by inputting control information. 10. The transmitter (10) comprises an encoder (16) in which the actuated pushbutton (lla) of the group of pushbuttons used as an input device (11) is indicated by a binary signal.
) and a parallel-to-series transformer (17) in which the binary code is supplied to the modulator (15). The control device described in . 11. The receiver (21) decodes the binary code given from the demodulator and supplies it as a control signal to the corresponding actuating unit (23) via the series-parallel transformer (30). Claim 5 comprising a decoder (26)
The W control device according to any one of Items 1 to 10. 12. The input device (111) is an infrared ray (IR-9tr)
ahlung), on which a transmitter (55) is provided which generates infrared radiation for conveying control information by means of radiation pulses. 12. The control device according to any one of the following items and item 11. 13. The control device according to claim 12, wherein the transmitter (55) has at least one selector device (57) which, in operation, emits a binary coded continuous radiation pulse. . 14, adjacent to the means (01) responsive to infrared radiation;
Claim 12 comprising a reservoir (52) for the transmitter (55) formed in the handle (101)
14. The control device according to item 1 or 13. 15. The transmitter (55) includes a rechargeable storage battery, and charging contacts (53, 54) are provided on the side of the storage, one of which is connected to the horn conductor (5). 15. The control device according to claim 14, wherein the control device is connected to the ground at the other end. 16. Claim 16, characterized in that the plurality of actuating units (123; 123a) are each arranged in a receiver adjacent to it, which receiver is coupled to a mains supply conductor (33) carrying the battery voltage. The control device according to any one of items 1 to 15. 1? , the control device according to any one of claims 2 to 1B, wherein the voltage supply section (20) of the transmitter (10) has a diode circuit for performing DC voltage balancing. . 18. A terminal (12) for connecting to the horn conductor (8) on the side of the handle, and a ground terminal, which is attachable to the horn handle (1), and at least the transmitter (10).
18. Control device according to any one of claims 1 to 17, comprising an assembly having a component (46) comprising: 18. at least one said configuration irrespective of the input part (38, 39) attachable to said /S handle (1), wherein said assembly is connected to said component by a conductor (4?, 48); Claim 18 comprising element (4B)
Control device as described in section.