Vehicle system, method for controlling vibration units and use of vibration units of a vehicle system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10766499-B2
Application number	US-201816036974-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2018
Priority date	Jul 17, 2017
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vehicle system, in particular a vehicle seat system, having at least one vibration unit which is configured and disposed to generate vibrations perceptible for a passenger of a motor vehicle, based on real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle. The present invention further relates to a method for controlling and the use of at least one vibration unit of a vehicle system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle system, comprising at least one vibration unit, which is configured and disposed to generate perceptible vibrations as a tactile feedback of current driving influences for a passenger of a motor vehicle correlating with real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle,
wherein a calculating device, which is configured to calculate a control signal correlating with real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle, and a control unit are provided, which is configured to control the at least one vibration unit based on the control signal correlating with a tactile feedback of different dynamic driving behavior of different vehicle drive trains, and at least by the different behavior during load changes of different drive motor types and/or by the different pitching behavior for different configurations of driven wheels of the motor vehicle.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one vibration unit is configured as a rotational motor.

3. The vehicle system of claim 2 ,
wherein the rotational motor is integrated into a vehicle seat.

4. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to include a currently retrieved drive power of the motor vehicle as drive parameter for calculating the strength of the control signal, in particular with a directly proportional relationship between a level of the currently retrieved drive power and a strength of a calculated drive power control signal.

5. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to provide the calculation of a strength of the control signal independently of a current speed of a motor vehicle drive motor.

6. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to include a current slip of at least one drive wheel or a slip of at least one drive wheel, which is currently caused by drive command inputs and prevented by a driver assistance system, as drive parameters for calculating the control signal.

7. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to superimpose a plurality of drive parameters for calculating the control signal.

8. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to superimpose a plurality of individually calculated control signals for calculating the control signal.

9. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein a storage device is provided, the calculating device being configured to retrieve at least one characteristic parameter of the control signal from a predetermined characteristic curve stored in the storage device or from a predetermined characteristic map stored in the storage device in order to calculate the control signal depending on current real drive parameters of the motor vehicle.

10. The vehicle system of claim 9 ,
wherein a characteristic curve and a characteristic map are characterized by drive noises of a specific motor vehicle drive train, respectively.

11. The vehicle system of claim 1 ,
wherein a plurality of individually or in groups controllable vibration units is provided, and in that the calculating device is configured to calculate the control signal individually for controlling the individual vibration units and/or for site-specific control of vibration units and/or for controlling predetermined groups of vibration units, in particular in a characteristic adapted to the selected characteristic map or predetermined by the selected characteristic map.

12. A vehicle system, comprising at least one vibration unit, which is configured and disposed to generate perceptible vibrations for a passenger of a motor vehicle based on real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle,
wherein a calculating device, which is configured to calculate a control signal correlating with real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle, and a control unit are provided, which is configured to control the at least one vibration unit based on the control signal correlating with current real drive parameters of the motor vehicle,
wherein a plurality of individually or groups of controllable vibration units are provided, and the calculating device is configured to calculate the control signal individually for controlling the individual vibration units and/or for site-specific control of vibration units and/or for controlling predetermined groups of vibration units, in particular in a characteristic adapted to the selected characteristic map or predetermined by the selected characteristic map,
wherein the different characteristic maps are characterized by a tactile feedback of the different dynamic driving behavior of different vehicle drive trains, in particular by the different behavior during load changes of different drive motor types and/or by the different pitching behavior for different configurations of driven wheels of the motor vehicle.

13. The vehicle system of claim 12 ,
wherein the calculating device is configured to provide the calculation of the control signal such that the control device may be deactivated in an autonomous driving mode of the motor vehicle, and in particular may be automatically deactivated when switching to the autonomous driving mode.

14. A method of controlling at least one vibration unit, the method being provided in a motor vehicle in a manner perceptible to a passenger during operation, comprising the following method steps:
calculating a control signal correlating with current real drive parameters of the motor vehicle; and
controlling the at least one vibration unit based on the control signal correlating with current drive parameters of the motor vehicle to generate perceptible vibrations as a tactile feedback of current driving influences for a passenger of the motor vehicle correlating with the real current drive parameters of the motor vehicle,
wherein the tactile feedback correlates to different dynamic driving behavior of different vehicle drive trains, and at least by the different behavior during load changes of different drive motor types and/or by the different pitching behavior for different configurations of driven wheels of the motor vehicle.

15. A method of using at least one vibration unit of a vehicle system in a motor vehicle for re-production of vibrations, the method comprising:
generating, by the at least one vibration unit, perceptible vibrations as a tactile feedback of current driving influences for a passenger of a motor vehicle correlating with real drive parameters of the motor vehicle;
wherein the tactile feedback correlates to different dynamic driving behavior of different vehicle drive trains, and at least by the different behavior during load changes of different drive motor types and/or by the different pitching behavior for different configurations of driven wheels of the motor vehicle.

Assignees

• Brose Fahrzeugteile

Inventors

• Mergl Christian
• Falinski Wojciech

Classifications

• B60W50/16 Primary

  Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal · CPC title

• B60Q9/00 Primary

  Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 {, e.g. haptic signalling} · CPC title

• B60N2002/981

  Warning systems, e.g. the seat or seat parts vibrates to warn the passenger when facing a danger · CPC title

• B60W20/00

  Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles {(hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L)} · CPC title

• B60W2050/0026

  Lookup tables or parameter maps · CPC title