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US 9,000,908 B2Granted
Vehicle fuse and brake light monitor
OwnerChristopher T. Schnorrinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to a device in a motor vehicle having a system for monitoring the active status of vehicle light bulbs such as brake light bulbs and the corresponding light fuse and reporting the status to a vehicle driver.
Claims9
A monitoring system for monitoring the function of a plurality of lights, and their corresponding fused light circuits and their corresponding fuse and fuse circuit on a vehicle the circuit having a positive and negative power line comprising:
- a) one or more optoisolators each connected to a different power line for monitoring the fuse circuits to determine if a fuse is operating and reporting the status of the fuses to a microprocessor wherein when there is only one optoisolator it is connected to positive line and not an open line;
- b) a current detector connected to one of the power lines and reporting the current status of the fused light circuit to the microprocessor;
- c) a microprocessor for receiving a status report from the one or more optoisolators, to determine if the fuse is blown, and receiving a report from the current detector, the microprocessor set for a maximum current to compare to the current detector to determine if each of the plurality of lights is functioning;
- and
- d) a vehicle readout for taking the status information about the fuses and lights from the microprocessor and reporting to a vehicle driver.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.