Patents by Inventor Robert Charles Simon, Jr.

Robert Charles Simon, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Methods and apparatus for adjusting a throttle of a vehicle engine
    Patent number: 6659080
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for adjusting a throttle of a vehicle engine. The apparatus comprises an input sensor configured to provide an input signal having a value that approximately corresponds to an operating level of the vehicle engine requested by an operator and a memory configured to store a maximum input value for the input sensor. The maximum input value provides the value of the input signal that approximately corresponds to a maximum operating level of the vehicle engine. The apparatus is further configured to receive the input signal and access the memory to retrieve the maximum input value and further configured to update the maximum input value with the value of the input signal if the value of the input signal is greater than the maximum input value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2003
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Henry Costin, Paul Alan Bauerle, Robert J. Schaller, John Norman Stockbridge, Mario Vincent Maiorana, Jr., James T. Purcell, Robert Charles Simon, Jr.
  • Limited acceleration mode for electronic throttle control
    Patent number: 6513492
    Abstract: A method of controlling a motor vehicle engine having an electronic throttle including positioning the electronic throttle in response to a requested throttle area, determining a fault in the vehicle engine, limiting the throttle area after a fault has been determined to control vehicle speed, limiting acceleration of the vehicle after the fault has been determined, and determining if the engine may be operated at full throttle after the fault has been determined to allow the vehicle to operate in a high power demand application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Alan Bauerle, Mark Henry Costin, Robert J. Schaller, James T. Purcell, Robert Charles Simon, Jr., Mario Vincent Maiorana, Jr.
  • Internal combustion engine control
    Patent number: 5720258
    Abstract: Control of engine speed responsive to a deviation in engine speed away from a target speed is applied selectively under closed-loop airflow control operating conditions, such as idle and coastdown operating conditions in response to analysis of a cause of an engine intake airflow deviation away from a modeled airflow. If airflow deviations are determined to have resulted from variation in internal engine friction away from a nominal friction level, the control is applied. If airflow deviations are determined to have resulted from change in internal engine airflow restriction, such as due to contaminant build-up over a period of engine use, then the control is not applied under closed-loop airflow control operating conditions to avoid overcompensating for such deviations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1998
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Mark Tolkacz, William Joseph Bolander, Robert Charles Simon, Jr., Gary Arthur Nichols