Patent ID: 7050929

Claim:
A method of ensuring legitimacy of a sensor signal received from a rotor position sensor in a switched reluctance motor, the motor having a controller and a memory, the method comprising: polling the rotor position sensor to determine a first state of the sensor signal; determining a first time delay by summing a first plurality of time constants stored in the memory; initiating a first delay equal to the first time delay; re-polling the rotor position sensor upon completion of the first delay to determine a second state of the sensor signal; determining a second time delay by summing a second plurality of time constants stored in the memory; initiating a second delay equal to the second time delay if the second state of the sensor signal is the same as the first state of the sensor signal; re-polling the rotor position sensor upon completion of the second delay to determine a third state of the sensor signal; and considering the sensor signal as a legitimate signal if the third state of the sensor signal is the same as the first and second states of the sensor signal.