Method for operating a vehicle system of a motor vehicle and motor vehicle

• US 10,011,175 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2012
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Schadeck, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Lang, Michael Dean
• Application Number:
  US13/671,066
• Publication Number:
  US 20130116856A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,064 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0827 due to sleepiness
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0863 due to erroneous selection or response of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0082 for initialising the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/043 Identity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/106 Rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/12 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/20 Direction indicator values
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/804 Relative longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/087 : where the control system corrects or modifies a request from the driver

Abstract

A method for operating a vehicle system of a motor vehicle for determining at least one state variable which describes the state of the driver, in particular the attention and/or fatigue of the driver, wherein the state variable is determined by using a reference data set which describes a reference state, in particular a normal state of the driver, wherein the conditions of a condition group are verified during an entire drive of the motor vehicle, and wherein when all conditions are established a reference data set is recorded so long as all conditions are established and the reference data set is analyzed for calibrating and/or adjusting at least one operating parameter of the vehicle system.

Claims

1. A Method for operating a vehicle system of a motor vehicle for determining at least one state variable which describes a state of a driver, in particular an attention and/or fatigue of the driver, comprising the steps of:

verifying during an entire drive of the motor vehicle, whether conditions of a condition group are established;

recording with sensors a reference data set when all conditions of the condition group are established, for as long as all said conditions are established, wherein said reference data set describes a reference state of the driver;

storing the reference data set in a memory device;

calibrating and/or adjusting at least one operating parameter of the vehicle system as a function of the reference data set; and

determining the at least one state variable with the vehicle system having the calibrated and/or adjusted at least one operating parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditions include at least one member selected from the group consisting of a condition relating to ego data of the motor vehicle, a condition relating to sensor data of at least one sensor, and a condition relating to system data of at least one further vehicle system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is constructed as an internal camera.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the condition relating to sensor data of the internal camera includes at least one member selected from the group consisting of exceeding a threshold value by a quality value which describes a quality of the sensor data, falling below a threshold value for a horizontal pivot angle of the head of the driver from a straight ahead viewing position, falling below a threshold value for a spread which relates to the horizontal pivot angle of the head of the driver from the straight ahead viewing position for a predetermined time interval, falling below a threshold value for a value of a vertical pivot angle of the head of the driver from the straight ahead viewing position, and falling below a threshold value for another spread which relates to the vertical pivot angle of the head of the driver from the straight ahead viewing position for a predetermined time interval.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising removing one of the conditions from the condition group when the one of the conditions relates to unavailable data.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising before the verifying step adapting the conditions so as to facilitate establishment of the conditions, and using the adapted conditions after beginning the drive for a predetermined period of time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reference data set to be analyzed in said analyzing step is selected as a function of at least one criteria and wherein said reference data sets are analyzed by using at least one analysis module.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the criteria is a minimal recording time.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising adapting the criteria in as a function of a driving situation parameter.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the criteria is adapted to reduce the minimal recording time during a predetermined time period after beginning the drive.

11. The method of claim 4, further comprising adapting the conditions and/or taking the conditions of the condition group into account as a function of an actual driving environment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the actual driving environment is defined by a road category.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one further vehicle system includes a longitudinally guiding or transverse guiding driver assist system.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the condition relating to ego data includes at least one member selected from the group consisting of falling below a threshold value for the value of a steering angle, failure by the driver to set a direction indicator, falling below a threshold value for a value of an acceleration, failure by the driver to actuate a brake-actuating element, falling below a threshold value for a gas pedal gradient, failure by the driver to actuate at least one control element for a predetermined period of time, and a curviness which is determined from the ego data and falls below a threshold value.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the condition relating to system data of a further vehicle system includes at least one member selected from the group consisting of falling below a threshold value for a time until leaving a lane, falling below a threshold value for a standard deviation from a center of an actual lane, a presence of a minimal time gap to a vehicle driving ahead, and a speed relative to the vehicle driving ahead, said speed being within an interval of 0.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditions and/or a belonging of the conditions to the condition group is dynamically adjusted in dependence on driving situation data which describe a driving situation.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the reference data sets in a memory device together with information indicating a time of recordation of the reference data sets.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at a start of the drive, the vehicle system is operated with at least one member selected from the group consisting of a preset calibration, a calibration derived from at least one reference data set which was recorded in a previous drive, preset operating parameters, and operating parameters derived from at least one reference data set recorded in a previous drive.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the previous drive is a previous drive of the same driver.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the driver is identified prior to the drive and a calibration and/or operating parameters which correspond to the driver are set.

21. The motor vehicle of claim 20, wherein the state variable is an attention and/or a fatigue of the driver.

22. A motor vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle system for determining a state variable which describes a state of a driver of the motor vehicle; and

a control device for implementing the method of claim 1.