Method for adjusting fine particulate measurement values

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10596876-B2
Application number	US-201916295286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2019
Priority date	Mar 14, 2018
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A motor vehicle monitoring system displays air quality data comprised of a particulate matter concentration to a vehicle occupant. Fine particulate measurement values are collected from a sensor. At least one state parameter of the motor vehicle is detected, wherein the state parameter is indicative of a temporary disturbance of a concentration of the fine particulates exposed to the sensor. The fine particulate measurement values may be updated according to a correction factor as a function of the detected state parameter. The state parameter may include an air temperature, an air humidity, a current geographic position of the motor vehicle, an opened or closed state of a vehicle door, an opened or closed state of a vehicle window, an operating state of a blower fan of an air conditioning system, and a determination whether smoking is currently taking place in the motor vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring particulates in air within a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle using fine particulate measurement values detected by a sensor for detecting fine particulates, the method comprising:
collecting a plurality of fine particulate measurement values from the sensor;
detecting at least one state parameter of the motor vehicle from a predetermined plurality of state parameters, wherein each of the predetermined plurality of state parameters is indicative of a respective temporary disturbance of a concentration of the fine particulates being exposed to the sensor, and wherein a corresponding correction factor is defined for each of the predetermined plurality of state parameters;
updating the plurality of fine particulate measurement values according to the correction factor determined as a function of the detected at least one state parameter to compensate for the respective temporary disturbance; and
displaying the updated fine particulate measurement values to an occupant of the motor vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:
determining a rate of change of the fine particulate measurement values;
wherein updating of the fine particulate measurement values is carried out only if the rate of change exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the motor vehicle comprises an air conditioning system, and wherein an operating state of the air conditioning system is detected as the state parameter of the motor vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the state parameter is at least one of a group comprising an air temperature, an air humidity, a current geographic position of the motor vehicle, an opened of closed state of a vehicle door, an opened or closed state of a vehicle window, and an operating state of a blower fan of an air conditioning system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the state parameter is comprised of whether smoking is currently taking place in the motor vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
capturing images of at least one of an interior of the vehicle and surroundings of the motor vehicle using a camera; and
analyzing the images to recognize potential causes of an increased fine particulate loading, wherein the updating of the fine particulate measurement values is carried out only if a potential cause is recognized.

7. A monitoring system in a motor vehicle, comprising:
a sensor for detecting fine particulates in air within a passenger compartment of the motor vehicle;
a detector for determining at least one state parameter of the motor vehicle from a predetermined plurality of state parameters, wherein each of the predetermined plurality of state parameters is indicative of a respective temporary disturbance of a concentration of the fine particulates being exposed to the sensor;
a controller storing a respective correction factor corresponding to each of the predetermined plurality of state parameters adapted to compensate for the respective temporary disturbance, wherein the controller is programmed to update the fine particulate measurement values according to the correction factor determined as a function of the detected at least one state parameter; and
a display for displaying the updated fine particulate measurement values to an occupant of the motor vehicle.

8. The monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the controller further determines a rate of change of the fine particulate measurement values, and wherein the updating of the fine particulate measurement values is carried out only if the rate of change exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

9. The monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the motor vehicle comprises an air conditioning system, and wherein the controller detects an operating state of the air conditioning system as the state parameter of the motor vehicle.

10. The monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the state parameter is at least one of a group comprising an air temperature, an air humidity, a current geographic position of the motor vehicle, an opened of closed state of a vehicle door, an opened or closed state of a vehicle window, and an operating state of a blower fan of an air conditioning system.

11. The monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the state parameter is comprised of whether smoking is currently taking place in the motor vehicle.

12. The monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the sensor comprises a camera capturing images of at least one of an interior of the vehicle and surroundings of the motor vehicle using a camera, wherein the controller analyzes the images to recognize potential causes of an increased fine particulate loading, and wherein the updating of the fine particulate measurement values is carried out only if a potential cause is recognized.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dhake Abhinav
• Scheer Volker
• Patel Upendra
• Maranville Clay W
• Karas Lawrence C

Classifications

• B60H1/0073

  Control systems or circuits characterised by particular algorithms or computational models, e.g. fuzzy logic or dynamic models · CPC title

• B60H1/008 Primary

  the input being air quality · CPC title

• B60H1/00985

  Control systems or circuits characterised by display or indicating devices, e.g. voice simulators (characterised by the input of sound using a voice synthesizer B60H1/00757; B60H1/00978 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/00771

  the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel · CPC title

• B60H1/00742

  by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors · CPC title