Vehicle system communicating with a wearable device to provide haptic feedback for driver notifications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9542781-B2
Application number	US-201514713545-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2015
Priority date	May 15, 2015
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

A system includes a user interface and a controller in communication with a transceiver and the user interface. The controller is configured to receive a predefined threshold and alert for a vehicle indication at the user interface. The controller is further configured to generate a notification based on the preconfigured alert in response to the vehicle indication exceeding the predefined threshold. The controller is further configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the notification for the vehicle indication to a wearable device configured to output the predefined alert.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a controller, in communication with a transceiver and a user interface, configured to:
in response to a vehicle indication exceeding a predefined threshold, generate a notification based on a predefined alert;
compare motion detection data received from a wearable device to a steering wheel angle to determine the wearable device belongs to a vehicle operator; and
transmit, via the transceiver, the notification to the wearable device configured to output the predefined alert.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device has a vibrating motor and is configured to control the vibrating motor based on the predefined alert.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification is at least one of speed limitation, low fluid warning, fluid pressure warning, tire pressure low, out of lane detection and seat belt warning.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the predefined alert is a number of vibrations for the at least one of speed limitation, low fluid warnings, fluid pressure warning, out of lane detection and seat belt warning.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined alert is at least one of a number of vibrations via a vibrating motor at the wearable device and an output message via a display at the wearable device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined threshold is a fuel or fluid threshold value based on a user specified threshold value for tank fluid level, remaining amount of fuel value, or miles-per-gallon range.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to establish communication with the wearable device via a nomadic device in communication with the transceiver and the wearable device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle indication is monitored using vehicle sensors of at least one of radar, wheel speed, pressure, and fluid level sensors.

9. A vehicle computing system comprising:
a processor in communication with a transceiver and configured to:
receive motion detection data from a wearable device via a motion sensor;
compare the motion detection data to a steering wheel angle to determine the wearable device belongs to an operator of a vehicle; and
transmit signals to the wearable device via the transceiver to generate a haptic alert based on a vehicle parameter monitored by vehicle sensors exceeding a threshold, the vehicle parameter associated with a predefined vibration pattern for the haptic alert based on at least one of an accelerator pedal, a radio volume, navigation information, and lane departure detection inputs or signals.

10. The vehicle computing system of claim 9 , wherein the wearable device comprises a vibrating motor configured to adjust the predefined vibration pattern based on the haptic alert.

11. The vehicle computing system of claim 9 , wherein the haptic alert is at least one of speed limitation, low fluid warning, fluid pressure warning, out of lane detection, volume control, turn-by-turn navigation data, and seat belt.

12. The vehicle computing system of claim 11 , wherein the speed limitation is configured to have multiple values such as the threshold is a first predefined threshold speed and a second predefined threshold speed.

13. The vehicle computing system of claim 12 , wherein the haptic alert is the predefined vibration pattern of a vibrating motor at the wearable device based on the first predefined threshold speed and the second predefined threshold speed.

14. The vehicle computing system of claim 11 , wherein the haptic alert for the out of lane detection exceeding the threshold being set to monitor whether a turn signal is enabled when the vehicle is changing lanes, the out of lane detection is associated with the predefined vibration pattern equal to a continuous vibration at the wearable device until the out of lane detection falls below the threshold based on at least one of the vehicle remaining in a lane via the lane departure detection inputs or signals or enabling the turn signal.

15. The vehicle computing system of claim 9 , wherein the predefined vibration pattern is based on at least one of amplitude, frequency, duration, and period/duty-cycle of the signal.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Hatton David Anthony

Classifications

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G07C5/0816 Primary

  Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction · CPC title

• H04L41/069 Primary

  using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications · CPC title

• H04L43/16

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title