Patent ID: 8204670

Claim:
A cruise control system installed in a vehicle and electrically connected to a plurality of switches installed therein, the plurality of switches including a first and a second switch, each of the plurality of switches configured to send, to the cruise control system, an instruction associated with cruise control of the vehicle when operated, the cruise control system comprising: a detecting unit configured to detect that at least one of the plurality of switches is operated; a determining unit having at least one predetermined combination of instructions to be sent from the plurality of switches as at least one disallowed combination, having any combination of instructions, except for the at least one disallowed combination, to be sent from the plurality of switches as one or more allowed combinations, and configured to, when the detecting unit detects that, during the first switch being operated, the second switch is operated, determine whether a combination of first and second instructions sent from the detected first and second switches is matched with the at least one disallowed combination or the one or more allowed combination; and a cruise control unit configured to: accept an instruction corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of switches upon detection of the at least one of the plurality of switches being operated to thereby execute cruise control of the vehicle based on the accepted instruction; prevent acceptance of the second instruction when it is determined that the combination of the first and second instructions is matched with the at least one disallowed combination; and accept the second instruction when it is determined, that the combination of the first and second instructions is matched with the one or more allowed combinations.