Abstract: A method for accelerating the rotational speed of a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders each having a spark plug wherein a predetermined amount of delivered fuel is to be combusted at a firing time within each of the plurality of cylinders with each rotation of the camshaft or crankshaft based on an acceleration input made by an operator includes the step of receiving the accelerating input, measuring the rotational speed of the crankshaft, defining an expected engine speed based on the acceleration input, calculating a speed error as the rotational speed of the crankshaft less the expected engine speed, calculating engine acceleration and adjusting the predetermined amount of fuel delivered to be combusted in each of the plurality of cylinders to reduce the speed error when the speed error is a function of the instantaneous engine speed. The preferred embodiment is implemented using fuzzy logic.

Abstract: A data movement apparatus (10) and method therefor include a register file (14) for storing data in a plurality of addressable locations. A register decoder (18) is connected to the register file (14) to modify addresses to access desired data. During move commands, data is not physically moved in the register file (14), but the register decoder (18) modifies a variable upon receiving the move command to correlate the new logical address to the physical location.

Abstract: A method for maintaining the rotational speed of a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders each having a spark plug wherein a predetermined amount of delivered fuel is to be combusted at a firing time within each of the plurality of cylinders with each rotation of the camshaft or crankshaft includes the step of operating the internal combustion engine, measuring the rotational speed of the crankshaft, defining an expected engine speed, calculating a speed error as the rotational speed of the crankshaft less the expected engine speed, and changing the predetermined amount of delivered fuel to be combusted in each of the plurality of cylinders to reduce the speed error. The preferred embodiment is implemented in fuzzy logic.

Abstract: A micro-sequencer apparatus (10) allows a plurality of threads to independently process one or several algorithms using common components by allowing each thread to execute one instruction during a cycle. A thread counter (12) identifies the current thread to allow processing of its instruction. A thread program counter (16) stores the program count or address for the current instruction for the current thread. An instruction memory (20) stores all instructions, and the program count identifies the particular instruction for processing. A processor (26) receives input information unique to the current thread and processes same with the current instruction to produce an output.

Abstract: A method (42) is disclosed for detecting the usage of a heater (31) in a block (30) of an internal combustion engine (11). The method (42) uses temperature measurements of the engine coolant and any ambient air used to create the air/fuel mixture. Based on the difference between the temperatures, the temperatures are weighted and added to create a temperature variable. The temperature variable is used by the electronic engine control module (34) to create an air/fuel mixture which will allow the internal combustion engine (11) to start smoothly. The method (42) operates on this modified temperature; i.e., the temperature variable, which is not the temperature of the engine coolant, nor the ambient air, and allows for the stoichiometric balance of the air/fuel mixture to be modified to optimize performance of the internal combustion engine (11) during a cold start in cold weather with warm engine coolant.

Abstract: A fuel canister (18) and fuel tank (14) are purged of any fuel vapors formed therein through a purge valve (22). A method (32) is used to purge the fuel canister (18) and fuel tank (14) in a manner which maintains the stoichiometric balance of fuel and air to be combusted by an internal combustion engine (12). Fuzzy logic is used to correlate the ratio of fuel to air (in mass per unit volume) to a duty cycle in which the purge valve (22) is opened. The fuzzy logic correlation includes the use of triangle functions having substantially similar period which are offset or skewed from each other by fifty percent. This allows each ratio value to be generated by two membership values which provides for a more accurate reading in a less complex manner.