Title of Invention

A CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRATED WITH STEERING WHEEL OF VEHICLE

Abstract

Type of steering wheel control switches which are interfaced with controller packaged inside the steering wheel. The switches which work on contact less principle are utilized. The controller in this case, is referred to a steering control inputs interface unit cum controller with CAN bus interface. The controller gets the communication data from flexible spiral ribbon which is packaged between the steering wheel and the combination switch. The contact less switches are interfaced to the controller which is the interface between the vehicle and the driver. The status of the contact less switches is read by the controller and depicted in terms of data messages. These messages are transmitted on the communication bus. The messages are read for the concerned electronic control units and related actions are performed. The contact less switch basically works Hall Effect principal. The controller referred here consists of a central processing unit with input/output processing capability, programmable memory storage, with a very good operating frequency. The system and functional program are re-writable depending upon the modification required. The communication bus is a part on the vehicle network system. This network has respective electronic control unit interfaced to the bus

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See Section 10; rule 13) TITLE OF THE INVENTION A Control System Integrated With Steering Wheel of Vehicle APPLICANTS TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company having its registered office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India INVENTOR Sunila Mulye An Indian National of TATA MOTORS LIMITED, an Indian company having its registered office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001 Maharashtra, India PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed. FIELD OF INVENTION The current invention relates to taking controls to steering wheel with the utilization of data communication concept more specifically it speaks about contact less switches utilization for controls on steering wheel for controlling various functionality in the vehicle. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION In an automobile, conventionally as number of controls / functions increase, the driver of the automobile needs to operate high number of control switches to make the functions work. The some of the functions for which the driver needs to operate the control switches are Environmental control gadgets, entertainment systems, in cabin light control systems; engine parameters control systems, etc. To operate this various control switches, the driver need to move either of his hands away from the steering wheel also he needs to look at the control switch to locate the switch. This diverts the attention of the driver leading to some sort of discomfort. To reduce the hand movement of driver, the requirement arose to take maximum controls to steering wheel. This concept reduces the driver hand movements and increases the driver comfort. The concentration of the driver while driver does not get diverted for operating the switches as, he have to simply use his fingers to operate the control switches. SUMMARY OF INVENTION The current invention provides contact less control switches interface on steering wheel to steering electronic control unit. The control switches are the inputs to the electronic control units located at the various places inside the vehicle. The contact less switch is basically operating on the principle of Hall Effect. The steering electronic control unit has an interface to the communication bus. This bus works on the serial bus technology. The CAN technology is utilized for communication between the various electronic control units inside the vehicle. The various electronic control units receive the status of the various contact less control switches which are interfaced to the steering electronic control unit. Depending on the status which is available on the communication bus the respective electronic control unit performs the required operation. In case the respective electronic control unit required to send any acknowledgement, it sends the acknowledgement status on the bus which is read by the steering electronic control unit. The present invention which talks about contact less switches increases the reliability of the whole system. The inputs to all the electronic control units are very critical. The mechanical type switches has a chance of failure due to continuous make and break of contact. The contact less switches increases the life of the switch also efficiency of the switch increases. The size of the contact less switch could be as small as of the detecting SMD IC hence there is the flexibility for styling of the switches. According to present invention a control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle comprising, at least one control switch deposed on said steering wheel, an steering electronic control unit, said control switch communicating with said steering electronic control unit, at least one electronic control unit of said vehicle, said steering electronic control unit communicates with said electronic control unit of said vehicle through CAN bus. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The brief description of the various figures will explain the detail advantages of the system. The drawings describe the details of the invention as it's application in the automotive environment. Figure 1 shows the interface drawing of the system on the steering electronic control unit. Figure 2 depicts the representation of the control system integrated with steering wheel in accordance with the invention Figure 3. shows the block diagram of the control system integrated with steering wheel. Figure 4 shows the block diagram of the steering electronic control unit. Figure 5 shows the component layout on the flexible printed circuit board layout. Figure 6 shows the internal arrangement for operation of contact less switch Figure 7 shows the internal electronic details of the digital contactless switch. DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED CONFIGURATION: The figure 1 shows the block diagram of the actual intended configuration of the inputs and outputs of the steering electronic control unit 2. The contact less switch 1 could be as many as the number of inputs the selected micro-controller can take. The communication channels 3 is basically a serial communication with high speed data transfer rate. The commonly used protocol for communication for automotive application is CAN bus link (controller area network) .The steering electronic control unit 2 is packaged on steering wheel shown in figure no.2 The figure 2 shows the contact less switch packaged on a steering wheel 11. The switches are mounted on the surface of the steering wheel facing the driver. The steering wheel is an assembly which rotates 360 degree. To make an electrical connection between the electronic control unit mounted on the steering wheel a flexible cable which could be packaged in between steering wheel 11 and combination switch 9. The device called as clock spring 4 is used for this purpose. The flexible ribbon with multi pole input and output ensure proper connection between the stationary part i.e steering rod 12, combination switch 9 and the rotating part steering wheel 11. The figure 2 shows the arrangement of contact less switches 7, 8 and 10 used for various applications that are as respective inputs to various electronic control units applied for controlling various functionalities. The figure 3 shows the details of the various functionalities that could be controlled through the contact less switches 13 interfaced to the steering electronic control unit 16. The contact less as interfaced to the steering electronic control unit 16 with hard wired signals which are depicted as signal lines 14. The steering electronic control unit 16 has a capability of processing the signals received from the contact less switches 13 which is described in figure 4 in detail. The status of the contact less switches 13 is communicated in terms of the messages through the high speed serial communication bus 17 to the intermediate device between rotating and non rotating component also called as clock spring 15. The output of the clock spring 15 is also a communication bus 18 which is interfaced with the rest of the electronic control units. The various controls that are described in the figure 3. Telematics unit 19, for this system the general driver interface controls that are required are for picking up incoming calls. The next electronic control unit described in the figure is driver information display system 20. The system is intended to display all vehicle related parameters which can add value to the driver. This is a basically introduced to increase good human machine interface. The driver control switches which are required for operating driver information display system 20 is for display menu selection. The other electronic control unit shown in the figure no.3 is the body computer electronic control unit or body control unit 21. This is the unit 21 is the heart of the whole control system. The most of the logic is defined inside the unit 21. The most important electronic control unit in an automobile which has a digitally controlled engine management system is the engine management electronic control unit 22. This control unit 22 controls the heart of the automobile. The functions which are operated through the driver interface for the engine electronic control unit 22 are cruise control through the contact less switches 13. The next electronic control unit described in the figure is the environmental parameter adjustment electronic control unit 23. The various controls that driver needs to operate frequently and could be used on steering wheel are the internal light dimming function which is controlled by the unit 23. The most frequently used function which the driver to operate during driving is the operation of the entertainment system. The function here is carried out the entertainment electronic control unit 24. The general functions that the driver needs to operate while driving is increase or decrease the sound level, changing the channels of the radio etc. The function when transferred on steering wheel reduces the fatigue of the drivers and also avoids driver attention getting disrupted from the actual function. Figure no. 4 shows the functioning of the steering electronic control unit 16. The contact less switches 13 are interfaced to the input / output interface module 27 inside the steering electronic control unit 16. The unit 16 consists of central processing unit 29; the instructions of the logic are stored in the program memory 30. The central processing unit 29 performs the execution on the basis of the instruction written in memory 30. There is a bus controller 33 which is basically a serial bus controller which communicates with the electronic control units. The input / output interface module 27 performs the main function of interfacing the contact less switches 13 to the electronic control unit 16. The power supply module 28 is the module which supplies the regulated 5v dc supply to the micro controller and the internal integrated circuits. The output of the steering electronic control unit is interfaced to the flexible spiral cable with multi-pole unit 15 .the cable required is basically an 8 -pole unit which has package protection for dual stage air bag and two poles are used for power supply. The rest two poles are used for high speed serial bus communication. Figure no. 5 describes the mounting layout of contact less Hall Effect based (35) integrated circuits on a flexible printed circuit board (34). The power consumption of the integrated circuit devices used in this application is very less. The contact less switch provides advantages like they are small in size, high sensitivity, and quick response. They also have good temperature performance high Accuracy and excellent Reliability. Figure no. 6 shows the details construction of the Hall Effect based contact less switch which is utilized as control switches on the steering assembly. The surface mountable integrated circuit (37) is mounted on the flexible printed circuit board (34). The surface of the switch (38) has a arrangement for mounting the single pole magnet (36). The Cap of the switch holds the magnet in a socket which is part of the switch inner surface. The air gap in between the surface of the switch (38) is adjusted in such a way that it switches OFF the surface mountable integrated circuit (37). The switch has a spring loaded mechanism. The air gap between the single pole magnet (36) and the integrated circuit (37) is so high that the magnet (36) does not actuate the integrated circuit (37), this condition is called as normally open or normally off condition. When the contact less switch surface (38) is mechanically displaced downwards in the vertical direction by the driver, the single pole magnet (36) comes closer to the integrated circuit (37) i.e. the air gap between the magnet (36) and the integrated circuit (37) reduces and it comes in the operating filed. This actuates the switch and the state of the switch changes from OFF to ON. That is by default the switch is in non actuated position and it actuates only when the contact less switch is physically operated. Figure no. 7 shows the electronic circuit diagram of a Hall Effect switch which could be utilized for this application. More recent devices incorporate advances in the ability to amplify the signal, in addition to the utilization of on-chip, offset cancellation techniques, which have allowed Hall-effect sensing technology to be employed even under extreme environmental conditions, such as under-hood applications in automobiles. Furthermore, the "non-contacting" operation of Hall-effect sensors affords the user a nearly infinite life with regard to actuation and switching. The diodes (39) are used for reverse supply protection and also the circuit provides protection against spike. The circuit provides regulated supply for all the internal sub circuits. The digital switched input is processed internally by the integrated circuit (37). The switching noise is eliminated by the low pass circuit. The sample and hold circuit (38) is a integral part of the integral part of the integrated circuit (37). The processed signal is available as Vout of the integrated circuit switch (37). This input is given to the controller unit integrated circuit which processes the logic which is in form of instructions or program. The foregoing description is a specific embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that this embodiment is described for purpose of illustration only, and that numerous alterations and modifications may be practiced by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they come within the scope of the invention as claimed or the equivalents thereof. WE CLAIM 1. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle comprising, at least one control switch disposed on said steering wheel, an steering electronic control unit, said control switch communicating with said steering electronic control unit, at least one electronic control unit of said vehicle, said steering electronic control unit communicates with said electronic control unit of said vehicle through CAN bus. 2. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control switch is a contact less switch having an integrated circuit, a cap located at distance above said integrated circuit, a single pole magnet disposed at bottom surface of said cap, said cap moves closer to the integrated circuit on pressing thereby actuating said switch. 3. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said steering electronic control unit communicates status of said control switch to said electronic control unit of vehicle to perform required operation. 4. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electronic control unit of vehicle can be a telematics unit, driver information display unit, body control unit, engine control unit, environmental parameter adjustment control unit or an entertainment control unit. 5. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said steering electronic control unit communicates with said electronic control unit of vehicle through a clock spring. 6. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said steering electronic control unit includes an interface module, a central processing unit, a power supply module, and a program memory and bus controller. 7. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control switch interfaced to interface module of said steering electronic control unit. 8. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control switch mounted on the surface of said steering wheel. 9. A control system integrated with steering wheel of a vehicle substantially as described in the description and illustrated in accompanying drawings. 10. A vehicle equipped with a control system as described in above claims. ABSTRACT A Control System Integrated With Steering Wheel of Vehicle Type of steering wheel control switches which are interfaced with controller packaged inside the steering wheel. The switches which work on contact less principle are utilized. The controller in this case, is referred to a steering control inputs interface unit cum controller with CAN bus interface. The controller gets the communication data from flexible spiral ribbon which is packaged between the steering wheel and the combination switch. The contact less switches are interfaced to the controller which is the interface between the vehicle and the driver. The status of the contact less switches is read by the controller and depicted in terms of data messages. These messages are transmitted on the communication bus. The messages are read for the concerned electronic control units and related actions are performed. The contact less switch basically works Hall Effect principal. The controller referred here consists of a central processing unit with input / output processing capability, programmable memory storage, with a very good operating frequency. The system and functional program are rewritable depending upon the modification required. The communication bus is a part on the vehicle network system. This network has respective electronic control unit interfaced to the bus.

Documents:

2479-MUM-2007-ABSTRACT(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-mum-2007-abstract.doc

2479-mum-2007-abstract.pdf

2479-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(21-8-2012).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-mum-2007-claims.doc

2479-mum-2007-claims.pdf

2479-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(10-12-2013).pdf

2479-mum-2007-correspondence(19-2-2008).pdf

2479-mum-2007-correspondence-received.pdf

2479-mum-2007-description (complete).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-DRAWING(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-mum-2007-drawings.pdf

2479-MUM-2007-FORM 13(21-8-2012).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-FORM 13(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-mum-2007-form 18(19-2-2008).pdf

2479-mum-2007-form 2(title page)-(18-12-2007).pdf

2479-mum-2007-form 8(19-2-2008).pdf

2479-mum-2007-form 9(19-2-2008).pdf

2479-mum-2007-form-1.pdf

2479-mum-2007-form-2.doc

2479-mum-2007-form-2.pdf

2479-mum-2007-form-26.pdf

2479-mum-2007-form-3.pdf

2479-MUM-2007-GENERAL POWER OF ATTORNEY(21-8-2012).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-MARKED COPY(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT(21-8-2012).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-REPLY TO HEARING(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-SPECIFICATION(AMENDED)-(21-8-2012).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-SPECIFICATION(AMENDED)-(23-12-2013).pdf

2479-MUM-2007-SPECIFICATION(MARKED COPY)-(21-8-2012).pdf

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