Systems and methods for vehicle system control based on physiological traits

• US 10,137,777 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2017
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lu, Peng, Huang, Xiaosong, Szczerba, Joseph F., Neiiendam, Tricia E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US15/410,582
• Publication Number:
  US 20170129335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 677 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00357 Air-conditioning arrangements specially adapted for particular vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/223 Posture, e.g. hand, foot, or seat position, turned or inclined
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/24 Drug level, e.g. alcohol
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/082 Selecting or switching between different modes of propelling
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0051 from occupants to vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/00 : ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for controlling a vehicle based on a physiological trait. The method includes: receiving physiological data from one or more physiological sensors; processing the received physiological data, by a processor, to determine one or more physiological conditions; and based on the determined physiological condition, outputting one or more control signals to a vehicle system to control an operation of the vehicle system.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a vehicle based on a physiological trait, comprising:

receiving physiological data from one or more physiological sensors, the physiological data including at least one of a blood pressure, a pulse rate, a body temperature, a respiration rate, a blood sugar and a blood alcohol level;

processing the received physiological data, by a processor, and determining, by the processor, one or more physiological conditions based on the received physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors;

processing the received physiological data, by the processor, and determining, by the processor, one or more physiological changes based on a comparison of a baseline reading of the physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors and a subsequent reading of the physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors;

based on the determined one or more physiological changes, retrieving, by the processor, a setting associated with the determined one or more physiological changes and outputting, by the processor, one or more control signals to a vehicle system to control an operation of the vehicle system based on the setting associated with the determined one or more physiological changes;

outputting, by the processor, a prompt based on the determined one or more physiological conditions;

determining, by the processor, whether the prompt has been dismissed; and

based on the determining that the prompt has not been dismissed, retrieving, by the processor, the setting associated with the determined one or more physiological conditions and outputting, by the processor, one or more control signals to a vehicle control system to operate the vehicle autonomously based on the setting associated with the determined one or more physiological conditions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting is a user defined setting or a predefined default setting.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting, by the processor, a message to an external authority system based on the determining that the prompt has not been dismissed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting, by the processor, at least a notification and a GPS location of the vehicle based on the determining that the prompt has not been dismissed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining, by the processor, whether the prompt has been dismissed further comprises:

receiving sensor data from one or more response sensors;

processing the sensor data to determine whether a gesture has been made by the user to dismiss the prompt; and

determining the prompt has been dismissed based on the determination of the gesture.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting, by the processor, the prompt based on the determined one or more physiological conditions further comprises:

outputting, by the processor, a prompt to place the vehicle in autonomous drive mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting, by the processor, the prompt based on the determined one or more physiological conditions further comprises:

outputting, by the processor, a prompt to suggest a diversion from a planned route to rest or seek treatment and one or more locations to rest or seek treatment based on a location of the vehicle.

8. A system for controlling a vehicle based on a physiological trait, comprising:

a source of physiological data regarding a user of the vehicle, the physiological data observed by one or more physiological sensors and the physiological data including at least one of a blood pressure, a pulse rate, a body temperature, a respiration rate, a blood sugar and a blood alcohol level; and

a control module having a processor that;

processes the physiological data;

determines one or more physiological conditions based on the received physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors;

outputs one or more control signals to a vehicle control system to operate the vehicle autonomously based on the determined one or more physiological conditions;

determines one or more physiological changes based on a comparison of a baseline reading of the physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors and a subsequent reading of the physiological data from the one or more physiological sensors; and

outputs one or more control signals to the vehicle control system to command one or more of an HVAC system, a seat system, an infotainment system, a lock system, a light system, a window system and an alarm system based on the determined one or more physiological changes.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the source of physiological data is a personal device associated with the user.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor retrieves a setting associated with the determined one or more physiological changes, and outputs the one or more control signals to the vehicle control system based on the setting.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the setting is a user defined setting or a predefined default setting.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor outputs a prompt based on the determined one or more physiological conditions, determines whether a user response has been received to dismiss the prompt and the control module outputs the one or more control signals to the at least one vehicle control system based on a determination that the prompt has not been dismissed.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor outputs at least a notification that the physiological data is outside of a predefined acceptable range and a GPS location of the vehicle based on the determination that the prompt has not been dismissed.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor outputs a message to an external authority system based on the determination that the prompt has not been dismissed.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor determines whether the user response has been received based on sensor data received from one or more response sensors, and the processor processes the sensor data to determine whether a gesture has been made by the user, and determines whether the user response has been received to dismiss the prompt based on the determination of the gesture.

16. A wearable physiological device, comprising:

at least one physiological sensor that observes at least one of a blood pressure, a body temperature, a respiration rate, a blood sugar and a blood alcohol level associated with a wearer of the physiological device and generates sensor signals based thereon; and

a control module having a processor that processes the sensor signals and outputs the sensor signals to a system associated with a vehicle to control a vehicle system based on the sensor signals.

17. The wearable physiological device of claim 16, wherein the wearable physiological device is a portable electronic device selected from the group comprising:

a watch, a ring, an earring, a bracelet, a cufflink, a necklace, a tie, glasses, chest band, smart clothes and combinations thereof.