Apparatus and method for adjusting driving position of driver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017129366-A1
Application number	US-201615176995-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 8, 2016
Priority date	Nov 11, 2015
Publication date	May 11, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus for adjusting a driving position of a driver of a vehicle includes: a communication module performing wireless communication with an external terminal of a user; a door module sensing an opening or closing of a door of the vehicle; and a controller receiving, when the door of the vehicle is opened, user information identifying the user from the external terminal via the communication module, retrieving driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user information from a big data server, and adjusting the driving position based on the driving position adjustment information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for adjusting a driving position of a driver of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a communication module performing wireless communication with an external terminal of a user; a door module sensing an opening or closing of a door of the vehicle; and a controller receiving, when the door of the vehicle is opened, user information identifying the user from the external terminal via the communication module, retrieving driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user information from a big data server, and adjusting the driving position based on the driving position adjustment information.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the communication module performs wireless communication with the external terminal using any one of communication technologies among Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared data association (IrDA), and ZigBee.

3 . The driving position adjusting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the user information includes identification information of the external terminal and body type information of the user.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the external terminal first attempts at communication connection with the communication module, the controller senses an occupancy position of the user, receives the user information from the external terminal via the communication module, registers the user information together with driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user information in the big data server, and manages the driving position adjustment information.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the big data server searches for standard driving position adjustment information based on the user information.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the opening of the door is sensed by the door module, the controller determines an occupancy position of the user using door information, seat pressure information, seat belt information, and external terminal movement information.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the driving position adjustment information includes two or more of: outside mirror adjustment information, seat adjustment information, steering wheel adjustment information, head-up display adjustment information, and cluster adjustment information.

8 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller adjusts at least one of: a reflection angle of an outside mirror via an outside mirror module, a seat position via a power seat module, a height or a depth of a steering wheel via a steering column module, and a brightness of a display via an output module, based on the driving position adjustment information.

9 . A method for adjusting a driving position of a driver of a vehicle, the method comprising:
sensing that a user is present in the vehicle when an opening of a door of the vehicle is sensed; receiving user information identifying the user from an external terminal of the user in wireless communication with a communication module; retrieving driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user information from a big data server; and adjusting the driving position based on the driving position adjustment information.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising determining an occupancy position of the user using door information, seat pressure and safety belt information, and external terminal movement information.

11 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising searching for the driving position adjustment information in the big data server using vehicle identification information and identification information of the external terminal.

12 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the retrieving of the driving position adjustment information comprises:
determining whether the external terminal is present within the vehicle and paired with the communication module; when the paired external terminal is present within the vehicle, receiving the user information from the external terminal; and searching for standard driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user based on the user information in the big data server.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the user information includes body information including a height and a weight of the user.

14 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the determining of whether the paired external terminal is present in the vehicle comprises:
when the paired external terminal is not present within the vehicle, searching for an unpaired external terminal uniformly maintaining a signal strength greater than or equal to a reference value, while the vehicle is driving for a period of time greater than or equal to a predetermined period of time; and registering the unpaired external terminal as a valid device.

15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for adjusting a driving position of a driver of a vehicle, the computer readable medium comprising program instructions that:
sense that a user is present in the vehicle when an opening of a door of the vehicle is sensed; receive user information identifying the user from an external terminal of the user in wireless communication with a communication module; retrieve driving position adjustment information corresponding to the user information from a big data server; and adjust the driving position based on the driving position adjustment information.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Jin
• Lee Dong Youl
• Kim Chul Min
• Kim Young Su

Classifications

• B60K35/658

  the instruments being ergonomically adjustable to the user · CPC title

• B60K35/60

  Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles (arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10) · CPC title

• B60K35/85

  Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• B60K35/23

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title