Patent ID: 6904344

Claim:
A shock absorber controller for generating a target control signal to adjust the energy in a spring mass system, said spring mass system comprising at least two masses, a spring coupled between said masses and a controllable damper, said shock absorber controller comprising: a plurality of inputs configured to receive input signals representing parameters selected from the group consisting of a relative position of said masses, a relative velocity of said masses, accelerations of said masses, a spring constant of said spring mass system, a mass of at least one said masses, a critically damped coefficient of said spring mass system, an upper force threshold for a critically damped force in said spring mass system, and an endstop position of said spring mass system; a first processor configured to determine if said spring mass system is compressing or expanding based on at least said relative velocity of said masses with respect to one another; at least second and third processors configured to generate control signals to control said controllable damper in said spring mass system in response to at least one of said input signals; and a fourth processor configured to select one of said control signals based on said spring mass system compressing or expanding and based on a comparison of said control signals and configured to generate a target control signal based on said selected signal, said target signal being proportional to a desired energy in said spring mass system.