Patent ID: 7637845

Claim:
A system for controlling the speed of a vehicle having a power plant and a transmission, the system comprising: a control unit configured to: receive a signal indicative of the speed of the vehicle, receive a signal indicative of a gear ratio of the transmission, receive a signal indicative of a desired vehicle speed range associated with the gear ratio, determine a desired output speed of the power plant according to: ω dpp =m ( v v )+ b wherein ω dpp is the desired output speed of the power plant, m is a predetermined constant, v v correlates to the signal indicative of the speed of the vehicle, and b is determined from the signal indicative of the gear ratio of the transmission and the desired vehicle speed range associated with the gear ratio, and send a signal to the power plant such that the power plant operates at the desired output speed, wherein the desired output steed substantially maintains the speed of the vehicle substantially independent of a magnitude of load on the power plant, wherein the power plant and the transmission are operably coupled via a torque converter.