Electronic Controls Company

Computrol, Inc.

Mark W Latham

Kevin David Brewster

William M Cresse

Eric Wilson

Dustin Christopherson

Disclosed are controller area network (CAN) nodes and associated methods for communicating through a CAN bus to form a set of communicatively coupled CAN nodes. A CAN node has, and is configured to monitor status of, one or both input and output devices for establishing a vehicle-carried warning system in which an event changing at least one input status causes a CAN message to be broadcast over the CAN bus to change at least one output status. Behavioral equations map input(s) to output(s), thereby resulting in desired actions. Also disclosed is a graphical user interface (GUI) for configuring the behavioral equations.

Control of vehicle-carried warning system through controller area network (CAN) communications of global variables processed as operands of behavioral equations

Techniques for communicating lighting commands through a controller area network (CAN) bus of a light bar system include generating a light code message. The light code message has a metadata portion and a value portion. The metadata portion defines a purpose of value portion. The value portion controls a state of a lighting device (e.g., a keypad's LED brightness or activation of a directional light module) in the light bar system. A data field is generated by encapsulating the light code message with an ISO-TP single frame header and a message subtype. A CAN controller generates a CAN message having an extended frame format and the data field. The CAN message is then transmitted through the CAN bus.

Modular light bar messaging system

A side-looking fish finding apparatus transmits a sonar pulse approximately horizontally into a body of water, and then monitors echoes from the pulse. The time interval between successive sonar pulses is varied in a random manner in order to permit two or more similar units to be used in close proximity to each other without significantly interfering with each other. An individual echo is treated as the detection of a fish if it has a magnitude above a predetermined threshold, if it has a length within a predetermined range bounded by upper and lower limits, if it is preceded by a leading space interval free of other echoes and having a predetermined duration, if it is followed by a trailing space interval free of other echoes and having a predetermined duration, the duration of the trailing space interval being less than the duration of the leading space interval, and if an equivalent echo is received in response to each of the next four successive sonar pulses.

Growing community of inventors

Boise, ID, United States of America

Mark W Latham