Remote control system for a watercraft
A remote control system for controlling a propulsion unit of a watercraft includes a plurality of remote controller side ECUs, all of which have the same construction in one embodiment. Each remote controller side ECU includes ECU discriminating terminal sections and an ECU determining section for determining a role of each remote controller side ECU based upon signals provided by the ECU discriminating terminal sections. The ECU determining section determines a role of the particular remote controller side ECU based upon the signals provided by the ECU discriminating terminal sections when the remote controller side ECU starts operating. The ECU determining section also reads out the most proper one of first through sixth exclusive use sections, which define the function of the ECU's role. A determination result is stored in first, second and third EPROMs so as to be used to determine the role.
1. A method of operating a remote control system for controlling propulsion units of a watercraft, the watercraft including at least a main cockpit and least a left side propulsion unit and a right side propulsion unit, first and second remote controller side ECUs disposed in the main cockpit, each of the ECUs including at least a central processing unit and plurality of programs stored in a memory, the plurality of programs including at least two exclusive use sections, a first exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of the main cockpit and the left side propulsion unit, the second exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of the main cockpit and the right side propulsion unit, the method comprising:
activating the first ECU;
receiving an input signal with the first ECU;
determining which of the roles should be performed by the first ECU based on the input signal;
reading out the exclusive use section corresponding to the role determined in the determining step, from the plurality of programs in the memory; and
executing the exclusive use section determined in the determining step with the central processing unit of the first ECU without executing any of the other exclusive use sections of the programs in the memory, so as to operate the first ECU in the role determined in the determining step.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the ECUs include an ECU determining section and at least first and second EPROMs, wherein the step of receiving an input signal comprises receiving at least first and second signals, and wherein the method additionally comprises storing first data in the first EPROM representing the first signal and storing second data representing to the second signal in the second EPROM.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of determining comprises correlating the datum stored in the first and second EPROMs to the role.
4. The method according to claim 1 additionally comprising activating the second ECU, receiving an input signal with the second ECU, determining which of the roles should be performed by the second ECU based on the input signal, and determining if the determined role for the second ECU is the same as the role determined for the first ECU.
5. The method according to claim 4 additionally comprising reading out another exclusive use section that is different than the exclusive use section corresponding to the role determined for the second ECU if the role determined for the second ECU is the same as the role determined for the first ECU.
6. The method according to claim 4 , additionally comprising storing the roles determined in the determining step, comparing the stored determined roles with each other, and determining which stored determined role is most frequently stored, wherein the step of reading out another exclusive use section comprises reading out the exclusive use section corresponding to the most frequently stored role.
7. The method according to claim 1 additionally comprising storing the roles determined in the determining step, comparing the stored determined roles with each other, and determining which stored determined role is most frequently stored.
8. The method according to claim 7 , additionally comprising determining if the first ECU does not receive a readable signal in the receiving step, and if all of the stored determined roles are different from each other, the first ECU functions as if only a single propulsion unit were associated with the remote control system.
9. A method of operation of a remote control system for controlling at least one propulsion unit of a watercraft, the watercraft including at least one remote controller having at least a first ECU, the first ECU including a plurality of programs stored in a memory, the plurality of programs including at least two exclusive use sections, a first exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of a main cockpit and at least one propulsion unit, the second exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of an auxiliary cockpit and the at least one propulsion unit, the method comprising:
activating the first ECU;
receiving an input signal with the first ECU;
determining which of the roles should be performed by the first ECU based on the input signal;
reading out the exclusive use section corresponding to the role determined in the determining step, from the plurality of programs in the memory; and
executing the exclusive use section determined in the determining step with the first ECU without executing any of the other exclusive use sections of the programs in the memory, so as to operate the first ECU in the role determined in the determining step.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the first ECU includes an ECU determining section and at least first and second EPROMs, wherein the step of receiving an input signal comprises receiving at least first and second signals, and wherein the method additionally comprises storing first data in the first EPROM representing the first signal and storing second data representing to the second signal in the second EPROM.
11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step of determining comprises correlating the datum stored in the first and second EPROMs to the role.
12. The method according to claim 9 additionally comprising activating a second ECU including a plurality of programs stored in a memory, the plurality of programs including at least two exclusive use sections, a first exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of a main cockpit and at least one propulsion unit, the second exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of an auxiliary cockpit and the at least one propulsion unit.
13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the method additionally comprises receiving an input signal with the second ECU, determining which of the roles should be performed by the second ECU based on the input signal, and determining if determined role for the second ECU is the same as the role determined for the first ECU.
14. The method according to claim 13 additionally comprising reading out another exclusive use section that is different than the exclusive use section corresponding to the role determined for the second ECU if the role determined for the second ECU is the same as the role determined for the first ECU.
15. The method according to claim 14 , additionally comprising storing the roles determined in the determining step, comparing the stored determined roles with each other, and determining which stored determined role is most frequently stored, wherein the step of reading out another exclusive use section comprises reading out the exclusive use section corresponding to the most frequently stored role.
16. The method according to claim 9 additionally comprising storing the roles determined in the determining step, comparing the stored determined roles with each other, and determining which stored determined role is most frequently stored.
17. The method according to claim 16 , additionally comprising determining if the first ECU does not receive a readable signal in the receiving step, and if all of the stored determined roles are different from each other, the first ECU functions as if only a single propulsion unit were associated with the remote control system.
18. A method of operation of a remote control system for controlling at least one propulsion unit of a watercraft, the watercraft including at least one remote controller having at least a first ECU, the first ECU including a plurality of programs stored in a memory, the plurality of programs including at least two exclusive use sections, a first exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of a first propulsion unit, the second exclusive use section providing a function corresponding to the role of a second propulsion unit, the method comprising:
activating the first ECU;
receiving an input signal with the first ECU;
determining which of the roles should be performed by the first ECU based on the input signal;
storing the role determined in the determining step;
repeating the activating, receiving, determining and storing steps a plurality of times;
determining which of the roles are stored most frequently; and
executing with the first ECU the exclusive use section that corresponds to the role that is determined as being stored most frequently, without executing any of the other exclusive use sections of the programs in the memory.