Patent ID: 7424642

Claim:
Fault-tolerant control system, comprising: a primary controller, operable to determine a primary output based upon a first input signal, a first secondary controller, operable to determine a secondary output based upon a second input signal; a second secondary controller, operable to determine a secondary output based upon a third input signal; a voting mechanism, operable to determine an output to a controlled device based upon the primary output and the secondary outputs; and, a storage medium having a computer program encoded therein for effecting a method to synchronize the primary output and the secondary outputs, the method comprising: a. effecting control of the controlled device using the secondary outputs; b. permitting the primary controller to recalculate the primary output, based upon: the primary output from the primary controller; a feedback signal from the controlled device; and, the secondary outputs from the secondary controllers; and, c. effecting control of the controlled device using the primary output when the primary output is within an allowable range of the secondary outputs.