Patent ID: 8474364

Claim:
A method comprising: assigning a priority level so that it is associated with each of a plurality of hydraulic loads; formulating a pulse width modulated control signal based on the assigned priority levels; transmitting the control signal to a plurality of digital valves, each valve operable to selectively fluidly connect at least one of the hydraulic loads to a pressure source; sequentially actuating at least a subset of the digital valves in response to the control signal; actuating each of the digital valves no more than once over a single operating cycle; actuating the valves in sequential order based on the assigned priority level of the associated hydraulic load; basing each assigned priority level on a pressure requirement of the specific hydraulic load; and sequentially actuating the valves commencing with the valve associated with the hydraulic load having the highest pressure requirement and proceeding in sequential descending order based on the pressure requirements of the remaining hydraulic loads.