System and method for determining optimal vehicle component settings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9707913-B1
Application number	US-201615078476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2016
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

Described herein is a system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger, such as a vehicle seat or mirror, to increase driver and/or passenger safety. The system includes a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting, such as a recline angle for a seat back. The system also includes a sensor, such as a camera or force sensor, configured to detect body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user. For example, the body measurement data may include a height, a weight or the like. The system also includes an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component and the sensor. The ECU is designed to determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data. The ECU can also control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger comprising:
a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting;
an input device configured to receive user input corresponding to a user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component;
a sensor configured to detect body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user; and
an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component, the input device, and the sensor and configured to:
determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data,
control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting,
determine or retrieve an acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component that is based on the body measurement data,
determine whether a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component from the optimal setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component, and
prevent the setting of the vehicle component from being outside of the acceptable range of settings.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second sensor configured to detect upper body measurement data corresponding to an upper body physical attribute of the user and wherein the first body measurement data includes lower body measurement data corresponding to a lower body physical attribute of the user and the ECU is configured to determine the optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the upper body measurement data and the lower body measurement data.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the body measurement data corresponds to at least one of an arm length, a torso length, a leg length, a height, an eye position, a shoulder-to-shoulder distance or a weight.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second input device configured to receive an identifier of the user and a network access device configured to communicate with a cloud, wherein:
the ECU is further configured to instruct the network access device to transmit the identifier of the user and user-preferred component settings including at least one of the optimal setting of the vehicle component or a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component to the cloud for storage, and
the user-preferred component settings can be retrieved by a second ECU of a second vehicle for setting a second vehicle component of the second vehicle to the user-preferred component settings in response to the second ECU identifying the user.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an output device coupled to the ECU and configured to output data and wherein the ECU is further configured to cause the output device to output data indicating that the new component setting may be unsafe in response to determining that the new component setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings.

6. A system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger comprising:
a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting;
at least one input device configured to receive body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user and to receive user input corresponding to a user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component; and
an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component and the input device and configured to:
determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data,
control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting,
determine or retrieve an acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component that is based on the body measurement data,
determine whether a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component from the optimal setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component, and
prevent the setting of the vehicle component from being outside of the acceptable range of settings.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the body measurement data includes upper body measurement data corresponding to an upper body physical attribute of the user and lower body measurement data corresponding to a lower body physical attribute of the user.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the body measurement data corresponds to at least one of an arm length, a torso length, a leg length, a height, an eye position, a shoulder-to-shoulder distance or a weight.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising a network access device configured to communicate with a cloud, wherein:
the at least one input device is further configured to receive an identifier of the user,
the ECU is further configured to instruct the network access device to transmit the identifier of the user and user-preferred component settings including at least one of the optimal setting of the vehicle component or a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component to the cloud for storage, and
the user-preferred component settings can be retrieved by a second ECU of a second vehicle for setting a second vehicle component of the second vehicle to the user-preferred component settings in response to the second ECU identifying the user.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising an output device coupled to the ECU and configured to output data and wherein the ECU is further configured to cause the output device to output data indicating that the new component setting may be unsafe in response to determining that the new component setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings.

11. A method for setting and storing a user preference for a first component of a first vehicle and for implementing the user preference for a second component of a second vehicle comprising:
receiving, by a first input device of the first vehicle, an identifier of a user of the first vehicle, the first input device including at least one of a key reader configured to detect the identifier from a key, an input/output port configured to receive the identifier from a remote device, or a biometric sensor configured to detect a biometric of the user such that the biometric is the identifier;
receiving, by a first electronic control unit (ECU), body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of the user;
determining, by the first ECU, an optimal setting of the first component for the user based on the body measurement data;
transmitting, by a first network access device of the first vehicle, the identifier of the user and the optimal setting of the first component to a cloud;
receiving, by a second input device of the second vehicle, the identifier of the user;
transmitting, by a second network access device of the second vehicle, the identifier of the user to the cloud;
receiving, by the second network access device of the second vehicle, the optimal setting of the vehicle component based on the transmitted identifier of the user; and
controlling, by a second ECU of the second vehicle, a setting of the second component of the second vehicle based on the received optimal setting of the first component of the first vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the body measurement data is received from at least one of a sensor of the first vehicle configured to detect the body measurement data or from an input device of the first vehicle.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
receiving, from a component input device of the first vehicle, a user-requested adjustment of the first component from the optimal setting;
determining, by the first ECU, whether a new setting of the first component corresponding

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Eng & Mfg North America Inc
• Toyota Motor Enegineering & Mfg North America Inc

Inventors

• Ochiai Yuichi
• Nagata Katsumi
• Sasaki Akira

Classifications

• B60W2040/0872

  Driver physiology · CPC title

• B60R16/037 Primary

  for occupant comfort {, e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel} · CPC title

• B60W40/08

  related to drivers or passengers · CPC title

• B60N2/0248

  with memory of positions · CPC title

• B60N2210/40

  Force or pressure sensors · CPC title