WO2008082403A1

WO2008082403A1 - Multiple speed setting cruise control

Info

Publication number: WO2008082403A1
Application number: PCT/US2006/049673
Authority: WO
Inventors: Martin P. Luckhaus
Original assignee: Volvo Trucks North America, Inc.
Priority date: 2006-12-29
Filing date: 2006-12-29
Publication date: 2008-07-10

Abstract

System and methods provide vehicle speed control such as constant speed. Such a system may include a speed control mechanism for maintaining a speed of the vehicle at a selected one of a plurality of preset speed settings.

Description

Multiple Speed Setting Cruise Control by Martin Luckhaus

Background

This invention relates generally to a cruise control for vehicles. A cruise control permits an operator of a vehicle (i.e. a driver or a user) to set a desired speed at which the driver wishes to operate the vehicle.

Generally, the user accelerates (or decelerates) to the desired speed prior to setting the cruise control. Upon setting the cruise control, a user need not use the accelerator pedal to maintain the desired speed.

Once the speed is set, the cruise control provides the necessary acceleration and deceleration for maintaining the desired or set speed. Acceleration may be needed if the vehicle encounters an incline or upward slope on the road such as driving up a hill for example. Conversely, deceleration may be needed if the vehicle encounters a decline or downward slope on the road.

While the cruise control may be set either at or slightly above the speed limit for example, the user has to change speed (either accelerate or decelerate) and reset the cruise control to a different speed when the speed limit changes or if the user wishes to travel at a different speed based on traffic patterns, road conditions, etc.

SUMMARY

Existing systems provide a single cruise control setting. A plurality of cruise control settings can overcome the limitations described above. In one aspect of this invention, there is provided a system for vehicle control. The vehicle control system comprises a speed control mechanism for maintaining a speed of the vehicle at a selected one of a plurality of preset speed settings.

In another aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of for assigning a plurality of speed settings to a speed control mechanism of a vehicle. The method comprises accelerating the vehicle to a first speed, assigning the first speed to a first speed designation, adjusting the speed of the vehicle to a second speed and assigning the second speed to a second speed designation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The several features, objects, and advantages of Applicants' invention will be understood by reading this description in conjunction with the drawings, in which: FIG. IA illustrates a dashboard; FIG. IB illustrates a speedometer according to an exemplary embodiment; FIG. 2 illustrates a speedometer according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG.3 illustrates a steering wheel according to exemplary embodiments; and FIG. 4 illustrates a method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following description of the implementations consistent with the present invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements. The following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

Applicant's cruise control facilitates multiple speed settings. That is, the cruise control may be set for a number of different speeds and the user may switch between these multiple settings. The cruise control in exemplary embodiments provides for at least two settings. Implementation of a cruise control feature within a vehicle is known and therefore, details of such implementation are not described herein.

In exemplary embodiments, the speed settings may be pre-programmed prior to commencing a trip. If an exemplary cruise control includes three speed settings, a first setting may be at 45 mph, a second setting may be at 55 mph and a third setting may be at 65 mph. These speed settings may reflect the various speed limits in use on highways within a jurisdiction (such as a state or a country for example).

In other embodiments, a vehicle may be accelerated to a desired speed before setting a cruise control setting for that particular speed. This may be repeated for a plurality of speed settings.

The speed settings may be identified visually to the user of the vehicle. A dashboard display 100 is illustrated in FIG. IA. Dashboard 100 may include a speedometer 110. Speedometer 110 may include an arc 120 representing speed range (0 mph to 85 mph in this example). The speed range may be visually identified in 5 mph increments (markers 122) and numerically in 10 mph increments (marker 124). In some embodiments, each 1 mph increment may also be designated by markers 122.

Arc 120 of speedometer 110 may include designations 130 for the three exemplary speed settings as illustrated in FIG. IB. The three speed settings may be identified on the outer side of arc 120 by marking elements for example. In this example, a first marking element may correspond to 45 mph, a second marking element may correspond to 55 mph and a third marking element may correspond to 65 mph. Each of the three marking elements may be highlighted either via electrical or mechanical means. An electrical means may include a lighting source to illuminate the marking element.

An operator may accelerate the vehicle to a speed that he or she desires to set as one of the speed settings. Upon reaching the desired speed, this speed may be selected as a first of the desired speed settings. The corresponding marking element may be illuminated in a first color such as yellow for example. This process may be repeated (i.e. accelerate or decelerate to the next desired speed) and upon reaching the desired speed, second and third speed settings may be selected and in response, the corresponding marking elements may also be illuminated in the first color. In operation, a user may reach a desired speed (45 mph for example) and assign a first cruise control setting to this speed. Corresponding marking element 132 (see FIG. 2) may be illuminated in a first color such as yellow for example. If the cruise is activated (i.e. the user sets the cruise) at this speed, the illumination of marking element 132 may change to a second color such as green for example. The second color may indicate the user's choice of this speed as the cruising speed for example.

As the user travels at this speed (45 mph) and the speed limit increases to 55 mph, the user may wish to assign this speed to a second cruise control setting. Marking element 134 corresponding to 55 mph may be illuminated in the first color. If the user activates cruise at this speed (55 mph), illumination of marking element 134 may change to the second color and illumination of marking element 132 may revert to the first color.

The process may be repeated for assigning 65 mph to a third cruise control setting. Marking element 136 may be illuminated in a manner similar to marking elements 132 and 134 as described above.

The user/operator may switch from one cruise control setting to another cruise control setting by activating an upward or incrementing arrow 310 on a steering wheel 300 (illustrated in FIG. 3) to increase the speed to the pre-set level (65 mph) represented by 136. The change from one speed setting to another may also be accomplished using a switch. As this speed is reached and set, the marking element corresponding to the newly selected speed may be illuminated in the second color and the previous speed setting may revert to being illuminated in the first color. If the user is traveling at 55 mph (represented by marking element 134) and the speed limit decreases to 45 mph, the user may choose to travel at the new speed limit (45 mph). The user may activate a downward or decrementing arrow 320 on steering wheel 300 to decrease the speed to the speed limit corresponding to marking element 132. As this speed (45 mph) is reached and set, marking element 132 may be illuminated in green and marking elements 134 and 136 may be illuminated in yellow.

The choice of colors for illumination described above is for illustrative purposes. In some embodiments, the selected speed designation (marking elements 132, 134 and 136) may be illuminated in a particular color (yellow, blue, etc.) while the other designations may remain dark (i.e. no illumination) for example.

In this exemplary embodiment (i.e. where the user chooses the desired speeds for marking elements 132, 134 and 136), any speed above a predetermined minimum threshold can be a candidate for designation by the marking elements 132, 134 and 136. Therefore, a marking element 132, 134 or 136 may be designated for any of the 1 mph markers 122 on speedometer 110. The minimum speed may be set at 35 mph for example.

A method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may be described with reference to flow chart 400 of FIG. 4. A user or operator of vehicle may accelerate to a desired speed Sl at 410. A first cruise speed setting of Sl may be selected at 420. In response, a first marking element 132 may be assigned to Sl at 430. The operator may then accelerate or decelerate to a second speed S2 at 440. A second cruise speed setting of S2 may be selected at 450 and a second marking element 134 may be assigned to S2 at 460. Similarly, a third marking element 136 may also be assigned to a third speed S3. The designations for marking elements 132, 134 and 136 are for illustrative purposes. The user may select one of these settings as the cruising speed and adjust upward or downward using incrementing or decrementing arrows 310 and 320. The various speed settings assigned to each of marking elements 132, 134 and 136 may be displayed to the user via a display 150 in dashboard 100 as illustrated in FIG. IA. The speed settings for each of the marking elements may be displayed as CCl, CC2 and CC3 on display 150 for example. The display may be associated with a trip computer that is available in present vehicles. In some embodiments, the marking elements may not be present. In these cases, the speed settings may be displayed via display 150.

As described above, the speed settings may also be programmed by an operator prior to commencing the trip. That is, the operator may set a speed setting to a particular speed prior to accelerating to that speed. A plurality of speed settings may be set in this manner. A trip computer (of present vehicles) may be utilized to enter the speed settings.

It will be appreciated that procedures described above may be carried out repetitively as necessary to control a vehicle. To facilitate understanding, many aspects of the invention are described in terms of sequences of actions that can be performed by, for example, elements of a programmable computer system. It will be recognized that the various actions could be performed by specialized circuits (e.g., discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function or application-specific integrated circuits), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both.

Moreover, the invention can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an appropriate set of instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction-execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch instructions from a medium and execute the instructions. As used here, a "computer- readable medium" can be any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction-execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-readable medium can be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer- readable medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM).

Thus, the invention may be embodied in many different forms, not all of which are described above, and all such forms are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention. It is emphasized that the terms "comprises" and "comprising", when used in this application, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, or components and do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof.

The particular embodiments described above are merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is determined by the following claims, and all variations and equivalents that fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A vehicle control system, comprising: a speed control mechanism for maintaining a speed of the vehicle at a selected one of a plurality of preset speed settings.

2. The control system of claim 1, wherein the speed control mechanism is a cruise control device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the number of preset speed settings is at least two.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said preset speed settings are displayed to an operator of the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of said preset speed settings is assigned to one of a plurality of speed designations.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the designations are displayed along a speed range arc of a speedometer at the corresponding preset speed settings.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the designations are identified by a plurality of marking elements.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the designations are displayed via a display in the dashboard.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the speed settings are set after the vehicle accelerates to the particular speed.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the speed settings are set prior to commencing of a trip.

11. The system of claim 5, further comprising a means for facilitating switching from one of said plurality of speed designations to another of said plurality of speed designations.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said means is a switch.

13. The system of claim 3, wherein said preset speed settings are separated by at least 5 miles per hour (mph).

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the marking elements are identified by a first color

15. The system of claim 14, wherein a marking element corresponding to the selected speed setting is identified by a second color.

16. A method of assigning a plurality of speed settings to a speed control mechanism of a vehicle, said method comprising: accelerating the vehicle to a first speed; assigning the first speed to a first speed designation; adjusting the speed of the vehicle to a second spee'd; and assigning the second speed to a second speed designation.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: adjusting the speed of the vehicle to a third speed; and assigning the third speed to a third speed designation.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising: selecting the first speed designation for operating said vehicle.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising: moving to the second speed designation via a switch