Granted Patent B2

US 12,434,674 · App. 18/222,107 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Inventors: Thomas J. Hayes (Lakewood, OH); Jeswanth Samayamantula (Avon Lake, OH)

Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC

B60T8/1708B60T2250/04

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. A park brake controller comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to park a vehicle, wherein the request is initiated by a virtual, non-human driver of the vehicle;

determine whether the vehicle is stationary or not stationary;

in response to determining that the vehicle is stationary, grant the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of a parking brake of the vehicle; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is not stationary:

determine whether the request to park the vehicle is associated with a relatively-low control level or a relatively-high control level;

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-low control level, grant the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle only if a speed of the vehicle is below a speed threshold; and

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-high control level, grant the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle even if the speed of the vehicle is not below the speed threshold.

2. The park brake controller of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the vehicle is stationary or not stationary is made using information about a speed of the vehicle.

3. The park brake controller of claim 2 , wherein the information about the speed of the vehicle is protected with parity bits.

4. The park brake controller of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a tractor-trailer, and wherein the program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to cause the trailer to park by causing air in a park brake chamber of the trailer to be exhausted before causing the tractor to park by causing air in a park brake chamber of the tractor to be exhausted.

5. The park brake system of claim 1 , wherein the relatively-low control level or the relatively-high control level is indicated by a pattern of human driver actuations of a user input element.

6. A method comprising:

performing in a park brake controller in a vehicle:

receiving a request to park the vehicle, wherein the request is initiated by a virtual, non-human driver of the vehicle;

determining whether the vehicle is stationary or not stationary:

in response to determining that the vehicle is stationary, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of a parking brake of the vehicle; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is not stationary:

determining whether the request to park the vehicle is associated with a relatively-low control level or a relatively-high control level;

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-low control level, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle only if a speed of the vehicle is below a speed threshold; and

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-high control level, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle even if the speed of the vehicle is not below the speed threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining whether the vehicle is stationary or not stationary is made using information about a speed of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the information about the speed of the vehicle is protected with parity bits.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the relatively-low control level or the relatively-high control level is indicated by a pattern of human driver actuations of a user input element.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein further comprising causing service brakes of the vehicle to be applied.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the vehicle comprises a tractor-trailer, and wherein the method further comprises causing the trailer to park by causing air in a park brake chamber of the trailer to be exhausted before causing the tractor to park by causing air in a park brake chamber of the tractor to be exhausted in response to the speed of the vehicle being above a threshold.

12. A park brake controller comprising:

means for receiving a request to park the vehicle, wherein the request is initiated by a virtual, non-human driver of the vehicle;

means for determining whether the vehicle is stationary or not stationary:

means for in response to determining that the vehicle is stationary, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of a parking brake of the vehicle; and

means for in response to determining that the vehicle is not stationary:

determining whether the request to park the vehicle is associated with a relatively-low control level or a relatively-high control level;

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-low control level, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle only if a speed of the vehicle is below a speed threshold; and

in response to determining that the request to park the vehicle is associated with the relatively-high control level, granting the request to park the vehicle by causing engagement of the parking brake of the vehicle even if the speed of the vehicle is not below the speed threshold.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (28)