Robert Bosch

W.e.t. Automotive Systems Ag

Georg Haubner

Jurgen Wesemeyer

Werner Meier

Hans Schrumpf

Hartmut Zobl

Albert Weckenmann

Walter Hofer

Uwe Kiencke

Hans Petermann

Peter Schmaldienst

Werner Jundt

Manfred Mezger

Alfred Schulz

Gunter Honig

Manfred Schwab

Lothar Haas

Karl Seeger

Reinhard Fassel

Gunter Lorenzen

Kurt Zimmermann

Jorg Birmelin

Hartmut Zobt

Jurgen Wesenmeyer

In a method and the arrangement for operating an electric seat heating apparatus of a vehicle, it is provided, with a view to optimizing the heat-up behavior, that the given heat-up time or temperature, respectively, being reached, the heating power is preset by a microprocessor as a function of a field of characteristic curves or tables stored in a non-volatile memory such that for seats that differ in size, upholstery, and surface quality, the optimally to be supplied heating power or heating time, respectively, is empirically detected as a function of the desired seat temperature on the surface of the seating face or the rear and is stored in the non-volatile memory in the form of curves or tables, that a curve or table is selected from the field of characteristic curves or tables, respectively, by the microprocessor as a function of a coding recorded by the microprocessor, of the respective seat to the heated, and that then the power supply to the respective seat to be actually heated takes place in accordance with the selected curves or table.

Method and circuit arrangement for operating an electric seat heating

Receiver for the reception of wirelessly transmitted information

An arrangement monitors a consumer in combination with an internal combustion engine or motor vehicle especially for monitoring an electric drive which is driven by an output stage in the form of a bridge circuit. Potentials are compared in the area of the consumer or of the output stage to pregiven threshold values derived from the normal operation. From this comparison, an alarm signal is generated in a time-delayed manner with the time delay being dependent upon the magnitude of the drive signal.

Arrangement for monitoring a consumer in combination with an internal

The method of controlling the modulation pressure in an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle engine includes determining which of n types of engines is being controlled, converting a digitized measured engine load value to one of eight scaled binary values, converting a digitized measured engine speed value signal to one of 32 scaled binary values, combining the scaled binary values of both engine speed and load into an address word for addressing one of n.times.256 storage locations of a data storage device containing reference control data, addressing the storage location corresponding to the address word and transferring the contents of the storage location so addressed to a microprocessor, which generates a current controlling a modulation pressure valve connected to the transmission according to the predetermined engine speed and load dependent data. For greater control sensitivity, reference data is retrieved from adjacent storage locations and an interpolation of the reference data in those locations is performed.

Method of automatically controlling modulation pressure in an automatic

Electrical switching and control apparatus

A microcomputer (10) in a motor vehicle is supplied with regulated operating voltage through a regulator (12) and a semiconductor (11) for the microcomputer is supplied with voltage from the same vehicle battery, through a voltage divider including a Zener diode, for its chip-select input (CSA) which feeds in through a Schmitt trigger circuit such as to enable writing into the memory (11) when the voltage at that chip-select input lies between upper and lower threshold values. Capacitances connected in parallel to ground where these voltages are respectively connected to the microcomputer and semiconductor memory are so dimensioned that any data statement transfer, begun before the longest delay the microcomputer might have in detecting the voltage drop-off, can be completed in the semiconductor memory before its chip-select input disables any further writing in. In order to keep the stabilizing capacitor (C.sub.4) for the operating voltage supply for the memory down to reasonable size, a separate battery can be advantageous for that voltage supply, although this precaution is less necessary when the memory is a EPROM for recording a one-time message from a crash sensor identifying operating conditions at the beginning of a crash.

Coordinated circuit for supplying power from a D-C source to a

Electric switching device

A modular, space-saving vehicle data acquisition and dashboard display system, comprising analog and/or digital sensors (30, 31, 32) connected to a central control logic (14) which is in turn connected over a single digital data line to a plurality of control modules (26) including microprocessors (28) and connected to individual display elements (29) such as liquid-crystal displays. The system includes a travel data read-out (21) which can be interrogated using a keyboard (27).

Vehicle data acquistion and dashboard display system

To provide for optical indication of output values relating to the operating conditions, or other parameters for display on the dashboard of a display panel, for example on automotive vehicles, a display panel (10) has a plurality of indicating blocks (15a . . . 15k) distributed thereover. A logic circuit, for example provided by a micro-processor (12) supplies data over data busses (21, 41) to the respective indicating blocks, which can be connected in series (FIGS. 2, 4) or in parallel (FIGS. 5-7). The logic circuit is connected through suitable connecting lines (13) with sensor inputs, providing ambiant, or operation or operating data. The logic circuit, additionally, generates data of its own, for example time outputs. The indicating blocks each include a shift register (17, 18, 50) which is connected to a data line, the stages of the shift register being connected to respective indicating elements (16, 53) which, together, formed the indicating blocks--for example LCD elements--so that the shift state of the respective shift register will provide suitable output indications. For example, if a shift register has eight positions, and four sequential positions have a 1-signal and four other sequential positions have a zero-signal, a line can be displayed representative of half-full state of a fuel tank.

Optical multiple output display system, particularly for automotive

To provide for uniform timing of program control cycles in which different control cycles have different cycling time, the control cycles being connected in parallel to a program control arrangement, timing elements are connected in the respective signal paths controlling the respective cycles and adding time increments to the signals coursing in the respective paths between the input and the output to at least approximate the coursing time of all signal paths to a uniform time duration; if the coursing time periods of the signals through the respective paths do not differ substantially, a fixed delay can be added to all the coursing times so that the percentage variation between the coursing time of different cycles, considering the overall time, is small.

Sequential program control system

To eliminate separate clock, control, and acknowledgment communication lines in a ring-connected remote-control operating system, for example a system applied to a vehicle in which switches (29) or command signals derived from a central station (10) generate code signals to which receivers (11, 12) are responsive to carry out commands, such as energization of a relay (18), a lamp (17), a motor (16, 20) or the like, or cause retransmission to the central station of a sensed operating signal, for example fuel level, for display on a display unit (28), only a single communication line (8), preferably in form of a light guide (15), is provided coupled to the central station (10) and to the respective receivers. The coding is effected by applying to the single line (15) cyclical pulse sequences. The pulse sequences are arranged to form codes which are derived by making the pulses of different pulse widths, and the pulse gaps of respectively different pulse gap widths, and sensing the number of pulses, the pulse widths, and the duration of the pulse gaps between the pulses to thereby obtain coding which is related to clock signals (B), synchronization signals (C), control signals (0, 1), as well as acknowledgment signals (B'). The decoding system includes timing circuits which respond respectively, to the timing pulse pauses and to the time duration of individual pulses.

Remote-control operating system and method for selectively addressing

The current consumption of a microprocessor is decreased by a switch which connects it to the electrical supply only when a control signal is received which indicates that the microprocessor is to execute a program. Specifically, an electronic switch such as a transistor is switched to the nonconductive state unless a control signal is received. For programs whose execution time is greater than the duration of the control signal, the microprocessor supplies a signal to the switch keeping it in the conductive state until the program has been fully executed.

Apparatus for decreasing current consumption of microprocessors in

In order to mount the control circuit for the ignition system at a location remote from the spark plug and ignition coil, i.e. at a location not subject to electromagnetic or electrical interference, photoconductors are used to interconnect the control circuit with the final output stage. Photoconductors are also used to interconnect the basic synchronization unit, that is the unit which furnishes a pulse for each rotation of a shaft of the engine, to the input of the control circuit. A theft prevention device is also incorporated. Specifically, the control circuit compares a sequence stored in a microprocessor to the on/off pattern of a received light pulse sequence. The latter is applied from a light emitter through a convex lens and a photoconductor to a second input of the control unit. Only if the stored pattern corresponds to the received light pattern can control signals initiating a spark be generated.

Vehicle engine ignition system utilizing light guides for protection

In an ignition system for an internal combustion engine, a digital system for computing the timing advance is provided. Constants approximating the curve of timing advance v. engine speed are stored in a microprocessor. The positive half waves of primary current in the magneto generate the ignition energy and also generate a reference signal for controlling the actual ignition time. The sequence of reference signals is also used to generate a digital value indicative of engine speed. The latter is used to address the read only memory in which the constants for approximating the timing advance curve are stored. After each reference signal, the value read out from the read only memory is counted down by a counter. When the counter reaches the value of zero, ignition is started.

Digital ignition control for a magnetopowered ignition system of an

In an ignition system for internal combustion engines, reference mark signals are furnished during the rotation of a shaft of an engine. These signals are also used to compute engine speed. The microcomputer contains a storage (ROM) in which the constants required to approximate one or at the most two characteristic curves of ignition timing advance angle v. engine speed are stored. Interpolation between the one stored curve and a fixed ignition timing angle or by interpolation between the two stored characteristic curves, a family of other characteristic curves can be generated without requiring any further storage locations. The values required for the other characteristic curves are arrived at by interpolation and, preferably, by division or multiplication by factors of 2 which are accomplished by shifting numbers in a register. After the required values have been computed, they are counted down in a counter which, when it reaches a reference value causes the ignition timing signal to be generated.

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Berg, Germany

Georg Haubner