Patent ID: 7826947

Claim:
A method for establishing a time limit on the time rate of change of a damper command signal applied to a damper associated with a wheel of a vehicle, wherein the damper has damping characteristics, wherein a change in the damper command signal changes the damping characteristics, wherein the damper command signal is derived at least from an algorithm for vehicle body control, and wherein the method comprises the steps of: (a) identifying a noise indicating signal predictive of noise occurring in the vehicle due to operation of the damper, wherein the noise indicating signal is derived from the algorithm and is obtained from filtering the absolute value of a ratio whose numerator is a difference between unlimited body demand force derived from the algorithm and a limited body demand force derived from the algorithm and whose denominator is the unlimited body demand force derived from the algorithm, and wherein the filtering passes at least one target noise detection frequency predictive of the noise; (b) calculating the noise indicating signal; (c) determining the limit based at least on the calculated noise indicating signal; (d) limiting the time rate of change of the damper command signal as determined by step (c); and (e) applying the damper command signal to the damper as limited by step (d).