System and method for responding to driver behavior

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016152233-A1
Application number	US-201514977787-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 22, 2015
Priority date	Feb 18, 2011
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods of assessing driver behavior include monitoring vehicle systems and driver monitoring systems to accommodate for a driver's slow reaction time, attention lapse and/or alertness. When it is determined that a driver is drowsy, for example, the response system may modify the operation of one or more vehicle systems. The systems that may be modified include: visual devices, audio devices, tactile devices, antilock brake systems, automatic brake prefill systems, brake assist systems, auto cruise control systems, electronic stability control systems, collision warning systems, lane keep assist systems, blind spot indicator systems, electronic pretensioning systems and climate control systems.

First claim

1 - 25 . (canceled)

26 . A method of controlling a vehicle system in a motor vehicle, comprising:
receiving monitoring information from a monitoring system, wherein the monitoring information is information about a driver; determining a body state index for the driver using the monitoring information; determining a value of a control parameter based on a factor dependent on the body state index, wherein the control parameter is used to control a feature of the vehicle system; and modifying control of the vehicle system using the value of the control parameter.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein determining the value of the control parameter further includes determining the value of the control parameter based on a difference between an initial value of the control parameter and the factor dependent on the body state index.

28 . The method of claim 26 , wherein determining the value of the control parameter further includes modifying an initial value of the control parameter based on the factor dependent on the body state index.

29 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the vehicle system is a blind spot monitoring system and the value of the control parameter is the size of a warning area of the blind spot monitoring system.

30 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the vehicle system is a power steering system and the value of the control parameter is an amount of steering assistance applied by the power steering system.

31 . The method of claim 26 , further including comparing vehicle information, received from the monitoring system to the value of the control parameter and modifying control of the vehicle system based on the comparison.

32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the vehicle system is an electronic stability control system, the vehicle information is a steering yaw rate, and the value of the control parameter is a threshold error in the steering yaw rate, wherein the steering yaw rate is compared to the threshold error, and wherein the electronic stability control system is modified based on the comparison.

33 . The method of claim 26 , wherein modifying control of the vehicle system further includes using the value of the control parameter so the vehicle system is controlled at a level corresponding to value of the control parameter.

34 . The method of claim 26 , further including calculating a control coefficient based on a functional relationship with the body state index.

35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein calculating the value of the control parameter further includes calculating the value of the control parameter based on the control coefficient.

36 . The method of claim 26 , further including calculating a value of a second control parameter based on the factor dependent on the body state index, wherein the control parameter and the second control parameter are used to control the same vehicle system.

37 . The method of claim 36 , wherein the vehicle system is an auto cruise control system, the value of the control parameter is an auto cruise control status used to control activation of the auto cruise control system and the value of the second control parameter is a distance setting used to control a headway distance of the auto cruise control system.

38 . A system for controlling a vehicle system in a motor vehicle, comprising:
a monitoring system including one or more sensors, the sensors measuring monitoring information about a state of a driver, the monitoring system providing the monitoring information to a response system, wherein the response system determines a body state index of the driver using the monitoring information; and a calculating unit for modifying a control parameter based on the body state index, wherein the control parameter is a value used to control an amount of functionality of the vehicle system, and wherein the response system modifies the operation of the vehicle system using the control parameter.

39 . The system of claim 38 , wherein the calculating unit further calculates a control coefficient based on the body state index, wherein the control coefficient is calculated as a function of the body state index.

40 . The system of claim 39 , wherein the calculating unit further determines the control parameter by using the control coefficient as a multiplicative factor to modify the control parameter.

41 . The system of claim 40 , wherein the vehicle system is an electronic stability control system, the control coefficient is a stability control coefficient, the control parameter is an activation threshold for the electronic stability control system, wherein the calculating unit uses the stability control coefficient as the multiplicative factor to modify the activation threshold.

42 . A method of controlling a vehicle system in a motor vehicle, comprising:
receiving monitoring information from a monitoring system, the monitoring information including vehicle information from the vehicle system and information about a state of a driver; determining a body state index for the driver using the monitoring information, wherein the monitoring information includes the vehicle information and the information about the state of the driver; modifying a control parameter of the vehicle system based on the body state index, wherein the control parameter is used to control a feature of the vehicle system; and modifying control of the vehicle system using the control parameter.

43 . The method of claim 42 , further including determining a control coefficient using the body state index, wherein the control coefficient is determined as a function of the body state index.

44 . The method of claim 43 , wherein modifying the control parameter further includes modifying the control parameter based on the control coefficient.

45 . The method of claim 42 , further including determining a control coefficient based on a predetermined relationship between the body state index and the control coefficient.

46 . The method of claim 44 , wherein the vehicle system is an automatic cruise control system and the control parameter is a predetermined percentage used to control a cruising speed of the vehicle, and wherein the cruising speed is modified using the control parameter.

47 . The method of claim 44 , wherein the vehicle system is a blind spot monitoring system and the control parameter is the size of a warning area of the blind spot monitoring system, wherein the control parameter is modified based on the control coefficient.

48 . The method of claim 44 , wherein the vehicle system is a power steering system and the control parameter is an amount of steering assistance applied by the power steering system.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fung Kin C
• Dick Timothy J

Classifications

• B60W2540/221

  Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs · CPC title

• G08G1/167

  Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection · CPC title

• B60W2540/22

  Psychological state; Stress level or workload · CPC title

• B60T2201/03

  Brake assistants · CPC title

• B60T8/172

  Determining control parameters used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters {(B60T8/17551 takes precedence)} · CPC title