Automatic control of heating and cooling of a vehicle seating assembly pursuant to predictive modeling that recalibrates based on occupant manual control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020079173-A1
Application number	US-201916670010-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 31, 2019
Priority date	Dec 8, 2017
Publication date	Mar 12, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of controlling a temperature altering element within a seating assembly of a vehicle comprising: presenting a vehicle including a seating assembly including a temperature altering element, a controller in communication with the temperature altering element, the controller including a Pre-established Predictive Activation Model setting forth rules governing the activation of the temperature altering element as a function of data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions, and a user interface configured to allow the temperature altering element to be manually activated or deactivated; occupying the seating assembly with a first occupant; collecting data relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions while the first occupant is occupying the seating assembly; determining, by comparing the collected data to the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model, whether the collected data satisfies the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model so as to activate the temperature altering element; and activating the temperature altering element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling a heating element within a seating assembly of a vehicle comprising:
collecting data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions while an occupant is occupying the seating assembly, the heating element configured to impart heating to an occupant of the seating assembly within which the heating element is disposed, and the vehicle further comprising: (a) a controller in communication with the heating element, the controller including a Pre-established Predictive Activation Model setting forth rules governing activation of the heating element as a function of data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions; and (b) a user interface configured to allow the heating element to be manually activated or deactivated; and automatically activating the heating element when the collected data satisfies the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model for activation of the heating element as a function of the data relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions, and the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model are a function of data relating to ambient temperature and at least one other of: (a) time of day; (b) whether automatic windshield wipers have been activated; (c) speed of the vehicle; and (d) engine speed.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after the occupant manually deactivates the heating element via the user interface, recalibrating the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model into a New Predictive Activation Model accounting for the collected data relative to the Certain Identifiable Conditions existing when the occupant manually deactivated the heating element that establishes new rules for activation of the heating element.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after automatically activating the heating element, providing a notification at the user interface that the heating element has been automatically activated.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after automatically activating the heating element, providing a touchable OFF button at the user interface to allow an occupant of the vehicle to manually deactivate the heating element.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after automatically activating the heating element, automatically deactivating the heating element when the collected data no longer satisfies the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model for activation of the heating element.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
automatically setting the level, among more than one possible levels, at which the heating element imparts heat, pursuant to a Pre-established Predictive Level Model setting forth rules governing the level at which the heating element imparts heat as a function of data relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions.

7 . The method of claim 1 ,
the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model are a function of data relating to ambient temperature and at least one other Certain Identifiable Condition including time of day.

8 . A method of controlling a cooling element within a seating assembly of a vehicle comprising:
collecting data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions while an occupant is occupying the seating assembly, the cooling element configured to impart cooling to an occupant of the seating assembly within which the cooling element is disposed, and the vehicle further comprising: (a) a controller in communication with the cooling element, the controller including a Pre-established Predictive Activation Model setting forth rules governing activation of the cooling element as a function of data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions; and (b) a user interface configured to allow the cooling element to be manually activated or deactivated; and automatically activating the cooling element when the collected data satisfies the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model for activation of the cooling element as a function of the data relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions, and the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model are a function of data relating to ambient temperature and at least one other of: (a) whether automatic windshield wipers have been activated; (b) speed of the vehicle; and (c) engine speed.

9 . The method of claim 8 further comprising:
after the occupant manually deactivates the cooling element via the user interface, recalibrating the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model into a New Predictive Activation Model accounting for the collected data relative to the Certain Identifiable Conditions existing when the occupant manually deactivated the cooling element.

10 . The method of claim 9 further comprising:
after the occupant manually activates the cooling element via the user interface, recalibrating the New Predictive Activation Model into a Newer Predictive Activation Model accounting for the collected data relative to the Certain Identifiable Conditions existing when the occupant manually activated the cooling element; and
automatically activating the cooling element when the collected data satisfies the rules of the Newer Predictive Activation Model for activation of the cooling element as a function of the data relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions.

11 . The method of claim 8 ,
the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Activation Model are a function of data relating to ambient temperature and at least one other Certain Identifiable Condition including whether automatic windshield wipers have been activated.

12 . The method of claim 8 ,
the cooling element being adjustable to different levels of cooling; and the controller further comprising a Pre-established Predictive Level Model establishing rules governing which level of the different levels of cooling the controller will initially automatically set for the cooling element, the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Level Model being a function of one or more of the Certain Identifiable Conditions; the method further comprising:
determining, by comparing the collected data to the rules of the Pre-established Predictive Level Model, which level of the different levels of cooling the controller will initially automatically set for the cooling element; and
initially automatically setting the cooling element to the determined level.

13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising:
after the occupant manually changes the level of cooling for the cooling element via the user interface, recalibrating the Pre-established Predictive Level Model into a New Predictive Level Model accounting for the collected data relative to the Certain Identifiable Conditions existing when the occupant manually changed the level of cooling and establishing new rules governing the level of cooling for the cooling element when the cooling element is automatically activated.

14 . The method of claim 8 further comprising:
recognizing that a second occupant, different than the occupant, is occupying the seating assembly; and
collecting data relative to the Certain Identifiable Conditions while the second occupant is occupying the seating assembly and disregarding data collected relating to the Certain Identifiable Conditions while the occupant was occupying the seating assembly.

15 . A method of controlling a temperature altering element within a seating assembly of a vehicle comprising:
collecting data relating to Certain Identifiable Conditions while an occupant is occupying the seating assembly, the temperature altering element configured to impart heating

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Ostrowski David
• Manwell Elizabeth Anne
• Herbert William G
• John Mohan

Classifications

• B60H1/00964

  Control systems or circuits characterised by including features for automatic and non-automatic control, e.g. for changing from automatic to manual control · CPC title

• B60H1/0073

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

• B60H1/00285 Primary

  for vehicle seats · 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

• B60H1/00878

  the components being temperature regulating devices · CPC title