Method and system for adjusting performance based on vehicle occupants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9348793-B2
Application number	US-201313778297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2013
Priority date	Feb 27, 2013
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A vehicle having a system is provided. The system has at least one operating output. The system includes an occupant module and a vehicle system module. The occupant module receives at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, and determines a current number and location of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal. The vehicle system module receives as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle. The vehicle system module is configured for determining whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat. The vehicles system module is configured for adjusting the at least one operating output of the system if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle having a system, the system having at least one operating output, comprising:
an occupant module receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, the occupant module determining a current number of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal; and
a vehicle system module receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle, the vehicle system module configured to:
determine if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat; and
adjust the at least one operating output of the system whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat,

wherein the system is an active noise cancellation system and the at least one operating output is attenuation of unwanted noise,
wherein an amount of sound cancellation provided to the occupants currently located within the vehicle is controlled by the active noise cancellation system to provide sound cancellation,
wherein a vehicle powertrain module of the vehicle and an engine control module of the vehicle are tuned for fuel economy or vehicle performance when the active noise cancellation system provides the amount of sound cancellation to only front seat vehicle occupants of the occupants currently located.

2. The vehicle in claim 1 , wherein the occupant module determines a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle.

3. The vehicle in claim 2 , wherein the vehicle system module adjusts the at least one operating output based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle.

4. The vehicle in claim 2 , wherein the specific seating position is one of a driver seat position, a front passenger seat position, a second row seat position, and a third row seat position.

5. The vehicle in claim 1 , wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of seatbelt sensors.

6. The vehicle in claim 1 , wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of occupant sensors, wherein each of the plurality of occupant sensors are located in a corresponding seat.

7. The vehicle in claim 1 , wherein the front seat vehicle occupants of the occupants currently located include occupants located in a driver seat and a front passenger seat, and wherein the amount of sound cancellation provided to the driver seat and the front passenger seat is reduced to provide acceptable noise cancellation to the occupants in a second row seats.

8. A method of modifying at least one operating output of a system for a vehicle, comprising:
receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle by an occupant module;
determining a current number of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal;
receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by a vehicle system module;
determining if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat by the vehicle system module; and
adjusting the at least one operating output of the system based on whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat,
wherein the system is an active noise cancellation system and the at least one operating output is attenuation of unwanted noise,
wherein an amount of sound cancellation provided to the occupants currently located within the vehicle is controlled by the active noise cancellation system to provide sound cancellation,
wherein a vehicle powertrain module of the vehicle and an engine control module of the vehicle are tuned for fuel economy or vehicle performance when the active noise cancellation system provides the amount of sound cancellation to only front seat vehicle occupants of the occupants currently located.

9. The method in claim 8 , comprising determining a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by the occupant module.

10. The system in claim 9 , comprising adjusting the at least one operating output based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by the vehicle system module.

11. The system in claim 8 , wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of seatbelt sensors.

12. The system in claim 8 , wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of occupant sensors, wherein each of the plurality of occupant sensors are located in a corresponding seat.

13. A vehicle having a system, the system having at least one operating output, comprising:
an occupant module receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, the occupant module determining a current number of occupants located in the vehicle based on the occupant signal and a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle; and
a vehicle system module receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle, the vehicle system module configured to:
determine if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat; and
adjust the at least one operating output of the system based on whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat and based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle,
wherein the system is an active noise cancellation system and the at least one operating output is attenuation of unwanted noise,
wherein an amount of sound cancellation provided to one of the occupants currently located within the vehicle is controlled by the active noise cancellation system to provide sound cancellation,
wherein a vehicle powertrain module of the vehicle and an engine control module of the vehicle are tuned for fuel economy or vehicle performance when the active noise cancellation system provides the amount of sound cancellation to only front seat vehicle occupants of the occupants currently located.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Inc

Inventors

• Singer Ian R
• Valeri Frank C

Classifications

• G06F17/00 Primary

  Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions (information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00) · CPC title

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• G10K2210/1282

  Automobiles · CPC title

• G10K11/178

  by electro-acoustically regenerating the original acoustic waves in anti-phase · CPC title

• H04R2420/01

  Input selection or mixing for amplifiers or loudspeakers · CPC title