Vehicle control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9914359-B2
Application number	US-201514833188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2015
Priority date	Jun 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle can be controlled based on feedback from a driver of the vehicle when a mobile device is connected to a computer system. A profile for a driver can be used. The system can receive data about the driver from the mobile device. The data and answers can be sent to a natural language processing (NLP) system for analysis. The NLP system can return a determination that the user is cognitively disengaged, and thus unable to safely drive the vehicle. The system can then control the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for controlling a vehicle based on feedback from a driver of the vehicle, the method comprising:
connecting to a user device, the user device associated with the driver of the vehicle and connected to the vehicle;
accessing, based on the connecting, a profile associated with the driver of the vehicle, the profile including information regarding the driver's medical conditions;
receiving, from the user device, data about the driver of the vehicle;
sending, to a natural language processing (NLP) system, the NLP system configured to process unstructured textual data, the data about the driver of the vehicle and the profile;
receiving, from the NLP system, a determination based on data, including unstructured textual data, that the driver is cognitively disengaged;
transfer, based on the determination, control of the vehicle to an automated control node within the vehicle;
in response to receiving the determination that the driver is cognitively disengaged, determining a severity of the driver's cognitive disengagement;
determining, based on the severity, one or more contacts associated with the driver to contact; and
notifying the one or more contacts of the driver's cognitive disengagement.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, based on the profile, prompts to the user device;
receiving, in response to the prompts, input from the user device; and
sending, to the NLP system, the input from the user device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the prompts comprise questions designed to test cognitive abilities of the driver.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
notifying, based on the controlling, one or more contacts associated with the driver of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the vehicle comprises shutting off an engine of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the vehicle comprises initiating transfer of control of the vehicle to an automated control node in the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data about the driver of the vehicle comprises data collected from sensors on the user device and from the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data about the driver of the vehicle comprises historical usage data, relative to driving patterns.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving, in response to the controlling and from the user device, additional data about the driver of the vehicle;
sending, to the NLP system, the additional data about the driver;
receiving, from the NLP system, a determination that the driver is cognitively engaged;
initiating transfer of control of the vehicle to the driver.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Brewer Derek R
• Langford Kerry M
• Wilhelm Robert D

Classifications

• B60W40/08

  related to drivers or passengers · CPC title

• G06F40/279

  Recognition of textual entities · CPC title

• G06F40/00

  Handling natural language data (speech analysis or synthesis, speech recognition G10L) · CPC title

• B60W2040/0818

  Inactivity or incapacity of driver · CPC title

• B60W2040/0872

  Driver physiology · CPC title