Patent ID: 7606449

Claim:
An adaptive switch contamination compensation system for compensating for contamination of a switch or a switch load circuit connected to said switch in a switch circuit, comprising: a microcontroller receiving on/off signal levels corresponding to on/off states of said switch; said microcontroller having an output providing a polling signal for repeatedly turning said switch on and off in said switch circuit; and said microcontroller comparing said on/off signal levels each time said switch is polled by said polling signal to determine if the on signal level differs from the off signal level by more than a defined amount indicating that the switch or said switch load circuit has been unacceptably contaminated, and said microcontroller outputting a switch or switch load circuit contamination indication output signal to said switch circuit based on said comparison permitting said switch circuit to continue operation with said switch or to take action when the switch or said switch load circuit has been determined to be unacceptably contaminated.