US PATENT CLASS 701
Class Notes


Current as of: June, 1999
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701 /   HD   DATA PROCESSING: VEHICLES, NAVIGATION, AND RELATIVE LOCATION



DEFINITION

Classification: 701/

This class provides for electrical computers, digital data

processing systems, and data processing processes for transferring data between a plurality of computers or processes wherein the computers or processes employ the data before or after transferring and the employing affects the transfer of data therebetween. More specifically, this class provides for the following subject matter:

A. This class is for electrical apparatus and corresponding methods for performing data processing operations in which there is a significant change in the data or for performing calculation operations wherein the electrical data processing system or calculating computer functions to indicate a condition of a vehicle, to regulate the movement of a vehicle, to monitor the operation of a vehicle, or to solve a diagnostic problem with the vehicle.

B. This class also provides electrical apparatus and corresponding methods wherein the electrical data processing system or calculating computer function to determine the course, position, or distance traveled.

C. This class further provides electrical apparatus and corresponding methods wherein the electrical data processing system or calculating computer functions to determine the relative location of an object (e.g., person or vehicle) and may include communication of the determined relative location to a remote location.

Class 701 is structured into three main divisions:

A. Vehicle control, guidance, operation or indication.

B. Navigation.

C. Relative location. See Subclass References to the Current Class, below, for the location of subclasses for each of the main divisions.

LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES

A. VEHICLE CONTROL, GUIDANCE, OPERATION, OR INDICATION

1. This class includes subject matter directed to significant data processing or calculation in determining the control, monitoring, guidance, and condition for one or more of the components or subsystems associated with a vehicle.

2. This class does not include subject matter wherein significant details of the mechanical construction of the component or subsystem within a vehicle are disclosed and claimed. Examples of subject matter not included are detailed mechanical structure of a transmission, internal combustion engine, power steering, suspension, and braking systems, each in conjunction with a nominally recited computer implemented function. See Search Class notes below for appropriate class.

3. This class also does not include subject matter wherein the data processing or calculation is employed solely for the purpose of manipulating or controlling robotic arm movement. See Search Class notes below for Class 395.

B. NAVIGATION

1. This class is limited to significant data processing or calculating operation to provide navigation information to either a vehicle or an operator.

2. This class does not include subject matter wherein significant details of the display device and/or technique in displaying the determined navigation information are disclosed and claimed. See the Search Class notes below in References to Other Classes for Class 340.

C. RELATIVE LOCATION

1. This class includes subject matter directed to significant data processing or calculation for determining the relative location of an object and may include communicating the determined relative location to a remote location for further processing and/or use. 2. This class does not include subject matter wherein significant details of the communication device and/or the technique of communicating are disclosed and claimed. See the Search Class notes below in References to Other Classes for Classes 340 and 375.

SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:

1, through 124, for vehicle control, guidance, operation or indication.

200, through 226, for navigation.

300, through 302, for relative location.

REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS

33, Geometrical Instruments, appropriate subclasses, especially

232, for aircraft or marine ground speed indicator, subclasses 268+ for celestial navigational instruments, subclasses 316+ for a magnetic field sensitive device (compass, flux valve) utilized to monitor a directional gyroscope by orienting the gyroscope in the direction of the magnetic meridian, and subclasses 318+ for a gyroscope utilized to (a) indicate direction or (b) maintain the equilibrium of a directional indicator or datum structure with respect to a reference plane (plurality of

coordinates).

73, Measuring and Testing, appropriate subclass for a process or apparatus for making a measurement of any kind or for making a test of any kind especially

11.04+, for the testing of a shock absorber device, subclasses 116+ for motor or engine testing, subclasses 121+ for brake testing excluding data processing techniques, and subclasses 178+ for navigational instruments. 74, Machine Element or Mechanism,

473+, for a system to manually control a transmission.

91, Motors: Expansible Chamber Type,

473, for condition responsive control of a drive transmission.

92, Expansible Chamber Devices,

12.1+, for displacement control of plural cylinders arranged in parallel, radial, or conical relationship with a rotary transmission axis.

104, Railways, appropriate subclass for railway rolling stock and track, especially

284, for sensing or controlling railway position or attitude with respect to a guide way.

105, Railway Rolling Stock, appropriate subclass for wheeled transportation equipment for a railway, especially

4.4, for train having a wheel steering provision and 453 for body suspension and springs.

116, Signals and Indicators,

31, for a vehicle steering wheel position indicator. 123, Internal-Combustion Engine,

319+, for engine speed regulators responsive to vehicle acceleration or deceleration, subclasses 350+ for electrical sensing or regulating of engine speed, subclasses 395+ for an engine speed regulator responsive to (a) an engine parameter, or (b) an environmental condition to alter the present engine speed without regard to the resulting engine speed, subclasses 406.12+ for electronic spark ignition timing control, subclasses 406.24+, 406.59 for speed responsive engine control, subclasses 406.25, 406.36, 406.5+, 492, and 493 for acceleration/deceleration condition responsive means, subclasses 406.53+ and 491 for the starting or cold running condition of an engine, subclass 429 for a combustion chamber means combined with air-fuel mixture forming means,

subclasses 438+ for a charge forming device which includes an electronic control system for carburetor fuel metering, subclasses 478+ for a fuel injection system having an actuator circuit (e.g., engine condition responsive electronic circuit actuates injector valve), subclass 479 for backup and fail-safe systems, subclass 480 for fuel injection which includes a microprocessor, subclass 486 for digital memory addressed by an engine parameter, subclasses 531+ for a charge forming device using auxiliary air or gas to inject fuel, subclasses 568.21+ for the electrical control of an e.g.r. valve for a charge forming device, subclasses 575+ for a means of forming a mixture of a diverse supply of fuel and an oxidant, subclasses 585+ for a charge forming device having auxiliary air or oxygen added to combustible mixture, subclasses 672+ for exhaust gas sensing, and subclass 690 for a charge forming device with fail-safe, backup, or malfunction means including an exhaust gas condition responsive means.

180, Motor Vehicles, appropriate subclasses for control devices in combination with vehicle structure especially

6.2+, for steering by driving systems, subclasses 65.1+ for electric vehicles, per se, subclasses 167+ for a motor vehicle with a means for controlling an operation responsive to electromagnetic radiation, magnetic force, or sound waves received from a source, or reflected from an object or surface, located apart from vehicle, subclasses 170+ for speed responsive means combined with vehicular structure, subclass 197 for antispin, traction control, and antiskid/antilock systems combined with vehicular structure, subclasses 234+ for steering of four wheel drive vehicles, subclasses 271+ for a vehicle with means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant, or load, or an external object, steering; subclass 315 for manually controlling the motor or driving mechanism with transmission control, subclasses 337+ for a vehicle drive train or transmission, subclass 408 for a vehicle having each wheel steerable, subclasses 421+ for condition modulated, and subclass 443 for electric power assist steering.

187, Elevators, Industrial Lift Truck, or Stationary Lift for vehicle,

231, for industrial lift truck steering by a walking attendant and 343+ for cushioning contact of load support.

188, Brakes, appropriate subclasses for brake control which includes specific structure to the brakes especially

350, for brakes in combination with a steering gear control.

192, Clutches and Power-Stop Control,

3.51+, for transmission control and clutch control, subclasses 215+ for control of transmission and brake, and subclass 137 for a safety device in which the

power-transmitting connections are disabled in response to the transmission guard striking an extraneous object. 244, Aeronautics,

3.1+, for missile control, 3.18 for celestial navigation, subclasses 17.17, 50, and 51 for aircraft steering, subclasses 75+ for aircraft control, and subclasses 158+ for spacecraft control.

246, Railway Switches and Signals,

182+, for the automatic actuation of signals and changeable exhibitors upon the cab or train or for stopping it or controlling its speed, usually by cooperation with means not on the train, but not disclosing a complete block system having speed-control means which is inoperative below but operative above predetermined speeds when predetermined points are reached.

250, Radiant Energy,

203.1+, for a means for illuminating a photocell in accordance with the relative position of the photoelectric cell and an object, and having means for causing the photoelectric cell to follow the object under the control of said illumination.

267, Spring Devices,

2+, for vehicle spring suspension devices.

280, Land Vehicles, appropriate subclasses, particularly

5.5+, for a general utility land vehicle including an active suspension system having a regulatable elastic means which is caused to alter its elasticity property in response to a force encountered while the vehicle is in surface traversing motion; subclasses 6.15+ for a general utility land vehicle including means, interposed between the vehicle body, chassis, or frame and running gear thereof, for altering height or levelness of the vehicle body, chassis, or frame; subclass 47.22 for a handle-propelled tiltable vehicle stabilized by the attendant or article and having a spring suspension; subclasses 124.1+ for a suspension arrangement for a general utility land vehicle, in particular subclasses 124.125+ for a land vehicle suspension arrangement including a wheel separately supported upon an individual stub axle; subclass 402 for a single end suspension of a transported articulated land vehicle; subclasses 676+ for a general utility land vehicle having an equalized frame, tandem axles, and a suspension arrangement; subclasses 734+ for an inflatable passenger restraint or confinement (e.g., air bag) or attachment responsive to a vehicle condition; subclasses 757+ for an attachment relating to antiskid or antislide; subclass 787 for a land vehicle frame of the single longitudinal beam type with spring suspension means; and

subclass 788 for a land vehicle frame with resilient means for suspension.

303, Fluid-pressure Brake and Analogous Systems, 22.6+, for railway vehicle load control, subclasses 122+ for speed-controlled vehicle with failure responsive means, subclasses 139+ for traction control which includes structure related to fluid-pressure brakes, subclass 141 for speed and traction control by regulating the engine torque, subclasses 146+ for yaw control which includes structure related to fluid-pressure brakes, subclasses 149 for speed control with a split coefficient of friction, 163 for speed control using a slip ratio as related to fluid-pressure brakes, and 167 for vehicle speed control by regulating brake pressure not having a positive recitation of data processing steps.

307, Electrical Transmission or Interconnecting Systems,

9.1+, for vehicle mounted systems (e.g., safety devices).

318, Electricity: Motive Power Systems,

580+, for vehicular guidance systems with single axis control using a positional servo system, subclass 582 for vehicular guidance systems with celestial navigation, and subclasses 588+ for marine vehicular guidance systems with single axis control.

340, Communications: Electrical,

436+, for a system designed to indicate contact between the vehicle and an external object, subclasses 438+ for monitoring or solving diagnostic problems associated with vehicle operation, subclasses 451+ for means responsive to vehicular brake conditions and indication thereof which exclude data processing techniques, subclass 465 for indicator of steering or turning, subclass 507 for a fail-safe responsive indicating system, subclass 903 for a vehicle collision alert system, subclasses 907+ for electrical signaling in a vehicle or traffic environment, subclasses 933+ for vehicles which are controlled by traffic conditions, subclasses 945+ for a flight condition indicating system excluding data processing technique, subclasses 984+ for nautical vehicles, subclass 951 for airport landing guidance systems which do not include data processing techniques, subclasses 988+ for vehicle position indication, and subclass 990 and 995 for vehicle position indication with a map display.

342, Communications: Directive Radio Wave Systems and Devices,

1+, for radar navigation systems, 42+ for radar transmitter and receiver system, 71 for return control signal for braking or steering, 72 for safety device, 357 for sending or receiving radio wave energy which is characterized by some

quality that varies according to the relative direction or position of a satellite used to locate the position of an object, 385+ for radio wave energy for direction finding receivers, and 450+ for an apparatus for determining the position in space of an object, vehicle or atmospheric condition by the reception of signals not having distinctive bearing or position determinative characteristics.

348, Television,

113+, for a picture signal generator or reproducer is used with a steerable vehicle to permit control of the vehicle from a remote location or to provide an indication in the vehicle of its position as an aid in the guidance of the vehicle. 353, Optics: Image Projectors,

11+, for a projector especially adapted to project an image of a map or navigation chart, an image of a target onto a map or chart, or a target which represents a vehicle such as an aircraft onto a screen.

356, Optics: Measuring and Testing,

3+, for optical range finders and 27+ for velocity or height measuring.

361, Electricity: Electrical Systems and Devices,

238, for electrical speed signal circuitry used for antispin and antilock/antiskid detection and which does not include significant data processing.

365, Static Information Storage and Retrieval, appropriate subclass for particular memory device.

375, Pulse or Digital Communications,

219+, for transceivers, 237+ for modulation techniques, 295+ for transmitters, and 316+ for receivers.

382, Image Analysis, appropriate subclass for an apparatus or corresponding method for the automated analysis of an image or recognition of a pattern, especially

104, for vehicle or traffic control.

395, Information Processing System Organization, 1+, for a system or method capable of performing one or more of the functions of recognition, speech signal processing, knowledge processing (e.g., propositional logic, reasoning, learning, self-improvement), complex operations of a manipulator (e.g., robot control), or inexact reasoning (e.g., fuzzy logic) and artificial intelligence with details of the artificial intelligence system, subclass 3 for fuzzy

logic hardware, subclasses 10+ for a knowledge processing system, subclasses 50+ for an expert system, subclasses 80+ for robotic arm control, subclass 900 relating to fuzzy logic, subclasses 902+ for applications of artificial intelligence with details of the artificial intelligence system, and subclasses 905 and 913 wherein artificial intelligence is used in applications related to vehicle control and diagnostics respectively.

434, Education and Demonstration,

1, for training in the use of radar or sonar detecting or range finding, subclasses 30+ for aircraft training per se, and subclasses 111, 186, and 239+ relating to training or instructions in the area of navigation.

440, Marine Propulsion,

53, for a means effecting or facilitating movement of propulsion unit or a segment of the propulsion unit (e.g., tilting or steering) and subclasses 84+ for engine, motor, or transmission control means.

441, Buoys, Rafts, and Aquatic Devices, appropriate subclass for structure or an attachment peculiar to a mooring buoy, marker buoy, container buoy, or other buoy; structure or an attachment peculiar to a raft, to rafting, and guiding of floating logs; water rescue apparatus or other aquatic devices.

475, Planetary Gear Transmission Systems or Components,

43, for a transmission with speed or torque responsive clutch.

477, Interrelated Power Delivery Controls Including Engine Control,

5, and 6 for plural engines having clutch control, subclass 8 for an electric engine with clutch control, subclasses 15+ for an electric engine with transmission control, subclass 31 for continuously variable transmission with a gas turbine engine, subclasses 34+ wherein the operation of an engine regulates or is regulated by the operation of a transmission, subclass 39 for a continuously variable friction transmission with clutch control, subclasses 57, 62, and 70+ for transmission control and clutch control, subclasses 166+ for clutch control, per se, and 182+ for engine brake control responsive to engine speed.

714, Error Detection/Correction and Fault Detection/Recovery, 799+, for general testing of programming digital data systems.

GLOSSARY:

The terms below have been defined for purposes of classification in this class and are shown in underlined type when used in the class and subclass definitions. When these terms are not underlined in the definitions, the meaning is not restricted to the glossary definitions below.

ANTILOCK OR ANTISKID

A process of controlling a vehicle to enhance the braking performance during deceleration of the vehicle by manipulating the brake pressure.

ANTISPIN

A process of controlling a vehicle to enhance the driveability of the vehicle during starting or acceleration of the vehicle by manipulating at least one of (1) brake pressure, (2) engine torque, and (3) transmission torque.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Computer emulation of aspects of human intelligence such as speech recognition, deduction, inference, creative response, the ability to learn from past experience, and the ability to make reasonable inferences from incomplete information. Examples of AI include expert systems, neural networks, and fuzzy logic.

ATTITUDE

Orientation of a vehicle with respect to a reference plane. An example in an automobile would be orientation of the vehicle body relative to the road surface whereas in aeronautics it may define the orientation of the aircraft relative to the earth. BRAKE-SLIP

The slippage of a wheel caused by the braking operation during deceleration of the vehicle.

CALCULATING OPERATIONS

Arithmetic and/or some limited logic operations performed upon or with signals representing numbers or values.

DATA PROCESSING

For the purpose of this class, data processing is defined as a systematic operation on data in accordance with a set of rules which results in a significant change in the data.

DRIVE SLIP

The slippage of a wheel caused by the driving condition during acceleration of the vehicle.

FUZZY LOGIC

A form of AI in which variables can have degrees of truthfulness or falsehood represented by a range of values between 1 (true) and 0 (false). The outcome of an operation using fuzzy logic can be expressed as a probability rather than as a certainty (e.g., inexact reasoning).

NAVIGATION The determination of a course, position, or distance traveled.

SLIP

Loss of adhesion or friction between an object and a surface. An example in a vehicle would be the reduction of friction between a wheel and a road surface (e.g., wheel slippage).

VEHICLE

Any means in or by which someone or something is carried or conveyed. This term includes, but is not limited to, automobiles, aircraft, spacecraft, blimps, trains, motorcycles, bicycles, watercraft, and submarines.