Patent ID: 8554440

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for performing vehicle traction control, the method comprising: measuring, by a computing system, time intervals between points of rotation of a rotating vehicle output shaft, wherein measuring the time intervals between the points of rotation includes: (a) measuring a time interval between (i) receiving an indication that a first discrete point on the shaft has rotated past a fixed reference point, and (ii) receiving an indication that a second discrete point on the shaft has rotated past the fixed reference point, or (b) measuring a time interval between (i) receiving an indication that a discrete point on the shaft has rotated past a first fixed reference point, and (ii) receiving an indication that the discrete point on the shaft has rotated past a second fixed reference point; generating, by the computing system, indicators of shaft rotation rate using, for each generated indicator, a set of one or more of the time intervals, wherein each generated indicator identifies a rate of shaft rotation for a different time; using, by the computing system, the generated indicators of shaft rotation rate to determine a value indicative of a rate of change of shaft rotation rate; computing, by the computing system, an indicator of a maximum allowable output shaft rotation rate based on the value indicating the determined rate of change and a previous indicator of output shaft rotation rate; determining, by the computing system, that a current indicator of output shaft rotation rate exceeds the maximum allowable output shaft rotation rate, wherein the current indicator is for a time that is subsequent to a time for the previous indicator; and outputting, by the computing system and in response to determining that the current indicator exceeds the maximum allowable output shaft rotation rate, a signal to trigger application of a traction control mechanism.