The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 18, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 25, 2000
Steven Paul Loudon, Howell, MI (US);
Michael Douglas Rizzo, White Lake, MI (US);
Kevin J Zelenka, Highland, MI (US);
Todd David Brown, Brooklyn, MI (US);
Other;
Abstract
A motor vehicle mounted system is responsive to sensed or estimated vehicle lateral acceleration and vehicle speed for detecting and signaling when the vehicle is operating on a racetrack. The system determines whether the vehicle is in a high lateral acceleration state or a low lateral acceleration state and when the vehicle is maintaining a minimum speed. The system increments a count when the vehicle is in the high lateral acceleration state if the vehicle has maintained the minimum speed for a first time since the last increment or decrement of the count and decrements the count when the vehicle is in the low lateral acceleration state if the vehicle has maintained the minimum speed for a second time since the last increment or decrement of the count. The system detects and signals operation on a racetrack while the count exceeds a predetermined threshold count and otherwise detects and signals no operation on a racetrack. Racetrack driving is thus detected through repeated episodes of high lateral acceleration during high speed turns on racetrack curves and corners.