System and method for providing dynamic tactile feedback to a vehicle operator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10457382-B2
Application number	US-201715487246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2017
Priority date	Apr 13, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for providing dynamic tactile feedback. A tactile feedback generator is mounted in each vehicle in a group of vehicles and is coupled to provide a controllable tactile feedback signal to an operator of each vehicle in the group of vehicles upon receipt of an activation signal. A tactile feedback control device is mounted in each vehicle in the group of vehicles and is coupled to the tactile feedback generator for selectively providing an activation signal and a tactile feedback characteristic signal thereto. An accelerometer is positioned within each vehicle in the group of vehicles. A turbulence processing unit is coupled to receive accelerometer data from each accelerometer. The turbulence processing unit processes the accelerometer data to identify characteristics of a current level of turbulence-induced vibration, and, based thereon, selects and provides updated tactile feedback characteristics to each tactile feedback control device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for providing dynamic tactile feedback to an operator of a vehicle, comprising:
a tactile feedback generator coupled to provide a controllable tactile feedback signal to an operator of a vehicle upon receipt of an activation signal;
a tactile feedback control device coupled to the tactile feedback generator for selectively providing an activation signal and a tactile feedback characteristic signal thereto;
an accelerometer positioned within the vehicle; and
a turbulence processing unit coupled to receive accelerometer data from the accelerometer, the turbulence processing unit processing the accelerometer data to identify characteristics of a current level of turbulence-induced vibration, and, based thereon, selecting and providing updated tactile feedback characteristics to the tactile feedback control device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an aircraft and the operator is a flight crew member.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the tactile feedback generator is coupled to a control yoke to provide the controllable tactile feedback signal to the flight crew member.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the tactile feedback generator is coupled to a seat for the flight crew member to provide the controllable tactile feedback signal to the flight crew member.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the tactile feedback control device adjusts the tactile feedback characteristic signal based on a physiological characteristic of the flight crew member.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the turbulence processing unit is mounted within the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 3 , wherein tactile feedback control device adjusts the tactile feedback characteristic signal to have a different frequency or magnitude from current level of turbulence-induced vibration in the cockpit as determined from the accelerometer data, to provide a high signal to noise ratio for the tactile feedback signal over the turbulence-induced vibrations.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the turbulence processing unit is coupled to the tactile feedback control device and the accelerometer via a wide area network.

9. A system for providing dynamic tactile feedback to operators of a group of vehicles, comprising:
a tactile feedback generator mounted in each vehicle in the group of vehicles and coupled to provide a controllable tactile feedback signal to an operator of each vehicle in the group of vehicles upon receipt of an activation signal;
a tactile feedback control device mounted in each vehicle in the group of vehicles and coupled to the tactile feedback generator for selectively providing an activation signal and a tactile feedback characteristic signal thereto;
an accelerometer positioned within each vehicle in the group of vehicles; and
a turbulence processing unit coupled to receive accelerometer data from each accelerometer, the turbulence processing unit processing the accelerometer data to identify characteristics of a current level of turbulence-induced vibration, and, based thereon, selecting and providing updated tactile feedback characteristics to each tactile feedback control device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein each vehicle in the group of vehicles is an aircraft and each operator is a flight crew member.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the tactile feedback generator in each aircraft is coupled to a control yoke to provide the controllable tactile feedback signal to the associated flight crew member.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the tactile feedback generator in each aircraft is coupled to a seat for the flight crew member to provide the controllable tactile feedback signal to the associated flight crew member.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the tactile feedback control device in each aircraft adjusts the tactile feedback characteristic signal based on a physiological characteristic of the associated flight crew member.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein each aircraft in the group of vehicles is traversing the same route in a known order.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the turbulence processing unit processes only the accelerometer data from the accelerometer in an aircraft that is first in the known order to identify characteristics of a current level of turbulence-induced vibration.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the turbulence processing unit selects and provides updated tactile feedback characteristics to each tactile feedback control device in each aircraft based on the characteristics of a currently level of turbulence-induced vibration identified only from the accelerometer in the aircraft that is the first in the known order.

17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the turbulence processing unit is mounted remotely from each vehicle in the group of vehicles.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the turbulence processing unit is coupled to the tactile feedback control device and the accelerometer in each vehicle in the group of vehicles via a wide area network.

19. A method for providing dynamic tactile feedback to an operator of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
receiving accelerometer data from an accelerometer positioned within the vehicle;
determining a frequency of turbulence-induced vibration within the vehicle;
selecting updated tactile feedback characteristics that are different from the determined frequency of turbulence-induced vibration within the vehicle; and
providing the selected updated tactile feedback characteristics to a tactile feedback control device in the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising the step of selectively providing a tactile feedback signal based on the updated tactile feedback characteristics to an operator of a vehicle upon receipt of an activation signal from the tactile feedback control device.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Reid Katie M
• Clark Jason W
• Chapiro Fermon Andres

Classifications

• B64D11/0689

  specially adapted for pilots · CPC title

• B64C13/10 Primary

  comprising warning devices · CPC title