초록 ▼

An electronic control system, particularly adaptable to coin-operated laundry appliances, which enables owners of such machines to customize machine operation. Laundry parameters are stored in random access memory, and timing functions are performed in control logic. Thus, the owner may simply updat

An electronic control system, particularly adaptable to coin-operated laundry appliances, which enables owners of such machines to customize machine operation. Laundry parameters are stored in random access memory, and timing functions are performed in control logic. Thus, the owner may simply update the information on a computer and download the parameters to individual laundry machines. A portable receiver/transmitter may be utilized to transfer information to the laundry machine controller by way of an infrared communications link. Also disclosed is a reconfigurable fuzzy logic control which is general purpose, having a functionality that may be easily altered in accordance with the type of machine. The structure of the fuzzy logic controller is identical for all applications. Definitions of both fuzzy logic membership functions and fuzzy logic rules are input to the controller as a set of parameters, such that the fuzzy logic controller is programmably reconfigurable without any change in the actual fuzzy logic. In the disclosed embodiment, the reconfigurable and reprogrammable fuzzy logic controller is used for two different purposes, one relating to the control of a washing machine and the other to control of a clothes dryer.

대표청구항 ▼

A fuzzy logic controller comprising: at least one input for receiving an input value; an output; a configuration input for receiving definitions of at least one set of input membership functions corresponding to said at least one input, definitions of a set of output membership functions, and a set

A fuzzy logic controller comprising: at least one input for receiving an input value; an output; a configuration input for receiving definitions of at least one set of input membership functions corresponding to said at least one input, definitions of a set of output membership functions, and a set of inferencing rules each defined as a plurality of control bits; memory elements for storing input membership function definitions, output membership function definitions and inferencing rules; updating elements connected to said configuration input and to said memory elements for updating membership functions and inferencing rules in said memory elements while inferencing rules are being processed during operation of the fuzzy logic controller; elements for calculating a degree of belief for each of the stored input membership functions based on the input value; an inference engine operable, for each of the stored set of inferencing rules, to calculate a scaled value for a particular output membership function based on at least one input membership function degree of belief in accordance with control bits of the inferencing rule; and elements for calculating a crisp value based on the calculated scaled values and for outputting the crisp value to said output.