US Patent 7764034 Method and system for operating windshield wipers

Methods and systems for operating a wiper for removing material impacting a surface of a vehicle are provided. An event indicating that the material has stopped impacting the surface of the vehicle is detected. A first number of wipe cycles are performed with the wiper if movement of the wiper between the detecting of the event and the wiper being moved into a predetermined position is less than a predetermined portion of a wipe cycle of the wiper. A second number of wipe cycles are performed with the wiper if movement of the wiper between the detecting of the event and the wiper being moved into the predetermined position is not less than a predetermined portion of the wipe cycle of the wiper.