Distributed electrical brake circuit and system

An integrated wheel control circuit for controlling the application of braking force to a vehicle drive component that moves a vehicle, the integrated circuit comprising:

• a memory circuit that stores executable data for controlling the application of braking force to the drive component;
• a rotational speed sensor configured to sense the rotational speed of the drive component;
• a network interface circuit configured to receive rotational speed data from at least one other drive component of the vehicle over a vehicle network, receive a braking input signal, and send data indicative of the sensed rotational speed over the network for use in controlling other vehicle drive components;
• a brake driver circuit configured to generate a drive signal for driving a brake to apply braking force to the drive component;
• and
• a logic circuit configured to access and use the executable data in the memory circuit to control the brake driver circuit for applying the braking force, based on the rotational speed sensed by the rotational speed sensor and both the braking input signal and rotational speed data received via the network interface circuit.

A distributed vehicle braking system comprising:

• a user interface device configured to receive a braking input from a user for slowing the vehicle;
• and
• for each of at least two wheels that drive the vehicle along a surface,
• a brake configured to apply a braking force to slow the wheel,
• a wheel control circuit comprising, in an integrated circuit chip,
• a memory circuit that stores executable data for controlling the brake,
• a rotational speed sensor configured to detect the rotational speed of the wheel,
• a network interface circuit configured to receive rotational wheel speed data from the wheel control circuit for the other of the at least two wheels, receive a braking input signal from the user interface device, and send rotational wheel speed data from the rotational speed sensor to the wheel control circuit for the other of the at least two wheels,
• a brake driver circuit configured to generate a drive signal to drive the brake to apply braking force to the wheel, and
• a processor circuit configured to access and use the executable data in the memory circuit to control the brake driver circuit to generate the drive signal, based on the rotational wheel speed detected by the rotational speed sensor, the braking input signal and the wheel speed data for other wheels of the vehicle received via the network interface circuit, the respective processor circuits for each wheel being configured to independently control the brake driver circuit for the wheel, relative to the processor circuit of another of the at least two wheels.

A method for controlling the application of braking force to drive components that move a vehicle, each drive component having a control unit that independently controls the application of braking force to the drive component, relative to other drive components in the vehicle, the method comprising:

• in a processor circuit at each drive component having a brake,
• storing executable data for controlling the application of braking force to the drive component,
• sensing the rotational speed of the drive component,
• receiving rotational speed data from a processor circuit at one of the other drive components over a vehicle network,
• receiving a braking input signal,
• sending data indicative of the sensed rotational speed of the drive component to the other processor circuits at the other drive components over the network,
• generating a drive signal for driving the brake to apply braking force to the drive component, and
• in a logic circuit, accessing and using the stored executable data to control the generation of the drive signal for driving the brake, based on the rotational speed sensed by the rotational speed sensor and both the braking input signal and rotational speed data received via the network.