Patent ID: 9358883
Filing Date: 2016-06-07
CPC Classification: B60K,B60W

Claim Text:
1. A method for use with a vehicle having a selectable transfer case, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a vehicle sensor reading from a vehicle sensor and an environmental sensor reading from an environmental sensor, the vehicle sensor reading is representative of one or more vehicle conditions and the environmental sensor reading is representative of one or more environmental conditions; (b) receiving a transfer case sensor reading from a transfer case sensor, the transfer case sensor reading is representative of a current transfer case mode; (c) when the current transfer case mode is a four-wheel mode then using the one or more vehicle conditions and the one or more environmental conditions in conjunction with a first set of criteria to determine if the four-wheel mode is optimal, when the current transfer case mode is a two-wheel mode then using the one or more vehicle conditions in conjunction with a second set of criteria to determine if the two-wheel mode is optimal, the first set of criteria for determining if the four-wheel mode is optimal includes a first plurality of thresholds with both vehicle condition thresholds and environmental condition thresholds where at least one of the first plurality of thresholds is a wheel slip or a wheel skid threshold and the first plurality of thresholds is used to evaluate a change from the current four-wheel mode to a two-wheel mode and the second set of criteria for determining if the two-wheel mode is optimal includes a second plurality of thresholds with vehicle condition thresholds where at least one of the second plurality of thresholds is a wheel speed or vehicle speed threshold and the second plurality of thresholds is used to evaluate a change from the current two-wheel mode to a four-wheel mode, and the first set of criteria is more stringent than the second set of criteria in that all of the first plurality of thresholds including the vehicle condition thresholds and environmental condition thresholds with the wheel slip or wheel skid threshold must be satisfied before determining an optimal transfer case mode whereas only some of the second plurality of thresholds including the vehicle condition thresholds with the wheel speed or vehicle speed threshold must be satisfied before determining an optimal transfer case mode; and (d) when the current transfer case mode is not optimal, then alerting the driver that it is preferable to change from the current transfer case mode to a new transfer case mode.