Method and device for providing driver feedback

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9619950-B2
Application number	US-201314370420-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2013
Priority date	Jan 9, 2012
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of evaluating at least one operating parameter of a motor vehicle. A system variable relating to an operating parameter of the vehicle is measured. A look-up map (A; S; B) associated with the operating parameter is accessed. The look-up map (A; S; B) comprises of one or more sets of threshold values (R 0 , R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 ) and a comparison is made between the measured system variable and the threshold values (R 0 , R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 ). An economy rating (E 1 , E 2 , E 3 , E 4 , E 5 ) is obtained from the look-up map and an indicator output based on the economy rating (E 1 , E 2 , E 3 , E 4 , E 5 ) to provide the driver with feedback. The present invention also relates to a device for providing driver feedback.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of evaluating at least one operating parameter of a motor vehicle and providing driver feedback, the method comprising:
measuring a first system variable related to a first operating parameter of the vehicle;
accessing a first look-up map from a plurality of look-up maps, each of said plurality of look-up maps being associated with a respective vehicle operating mode and associated with said first operating parameter, the first look-up map comprising one or more sets of first threshold values;
comparing the first system variable to said first threshold values and determining a first economy rating; and
outputting a first economy indicator based on said first economy rating.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving vehicle mode data, determining a vehicle operating mode in dependence on said received vehicle mode data, and accessing the first look-up map from the plurality of look-up maps in dependence on the determined vehicle operating mode.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first look-up map comprises a plurality of sets of said first threshold values, each set relating to a particular vehicle operating condition.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each set of first threshold values is associated with a predetermined range of vehicle speeds, the method comprising determining a speed of the motor vehicle, and selecting a set of first threshold values of the first look-up map for comparison with the first system variable in dependence on the determined vehicle speed.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first threshold values correspond to a steady-state measure of the first system variable of the vehicle; or said first threshold values correspond to a measure of a rate of change of the first system variable of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising selecting said first look-up map from a plurality of look-up maps associated with said first operating parameter, the selection being performed based on a property of the measured first system variable.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising applying a modifier to said first economy rating to generate the first economy indicator.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising repeating the steps of measuring, accessing, comparing and outputting for at least one additional system variable relating to a different operating parameter of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising outputting at least one additional indicator based on an economy rating determined for said at least one additional system variable.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform all the steps of the method of claim 1 .

11. A system for providing driver feedback in response to an evaluation of at least one operating parameter of a motor vehicle, the system comprising:
a data bus for receiving sensor data corresponding to a first system variable related to a first operating parameter of the vehicle;
a storage device storing a first look-up map associated with said first operating parameter, the first look-up map comprising at least one set of first threshold values;
a processor configured to compare said sensor data with a set of said first threshold values and to determine a first economy rating; and
an output device for outputting a first economy indicator based on said first economy rating;
wherein the storage device stores a plurality of look-up maps, each of said plurality of look-up maps being associated with a respective vehicle operating mode, the processor being configured to select the first look-up map for comparison with said sensor data from said plurality of look-up maps.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to receive vehicle operating mode data, to determine a vehicle operating mode in response to receiving said vehicle operating mode data, and to select the first look-up map from said plurality of look-up maps in dependence on the determined vehicle operating mode.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first look-up map comprises a plurality of sets of said first threshold values, each set relating to a particular vehicle operating condition.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein each set of first threshold values is associated with a predetermined range of vehicle speeds, the processor being configured to determine a speed of the motor vehicle, and to select a set of first threshold values of the first look-up map for comparison with the first system variable in dependence on the determined vehicle speed.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein said first threshold values correspond to a steady-state measure of the first system variable of the vehicle; or said first threshold values correspond to a measure of a rate of change of the first system variable of the vehicle.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein said data bus is configured to receive sensor data relating to a plurality of operating parameters of the vehicle and the processor is configured to compare said sensor data relating to each operating parameter with a respective set of threshold values stored in said storage device to determine respective economy ratings.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to apply a modifier to said first economy rating to generate the first economy indicator.

18. A vehicle having a system for providing driver feedback as claimed in claim 11 .

Assignees

• Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Inventors

• Hennessey Giles
• Serras-Pereira Jose
• Gardiner Andrew
• Robertson Duncan
• Smith David
• Shewakramani Mehul

Classifications

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• B60W50/14 Primary

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60R16/0236 Primary

  for economical driving · CPC title

• G07C5/0816

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

• B60W2050/0095

  Automatic control mode change · CPC title