Driving assistance systems and methods

• US 10,210,761 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sackett Solutions & Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Sackett Solutions & Innovations LLC
• Inventors: Rau, Nemoy, Rau, Esha, Rau, Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Christopher S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kwan, Matthew K
• Application Number:
  US14/500,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20150092056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• Field of Search: 348148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/02 Rear-view mirror arrangements periscope arrangements B60R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/025 comprising special mechanical means for correcting the field of view in relation to particular driving conditions, e.g. change of lane; scanning mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/072 for adjusting the mirror relative to its housing
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/081 avoiding blind spots, e.g. by using a side-by-side association of mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/21 Voice
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/056 with provision for distinguishing direction of travel
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Systems and methods for promoting safety during operation of a passenger vehicle. Such a system/method may determine positions of rear and sideview mirrors of a passenger vehicle that are optimized for a particular driver of the passenger vehicle to minimize “blind spots” based on the driver and the particular vehicle configuration, and for moving the rear and sideview mirrors into the optimized positions. Alternatively or in addition, such a system/method may collect data corresponding to internal and external conditions of the vehicle, optionally establish a driver profile of typical driving characteristics from the collected data, determine potential risks and/or hazards from the collected data, and warn the driver of the potential risks and/or hazards.

Claims

1. A system for improving safety during operation of a passenger vehicle having rear and sideview mirrors and a passenger compartment configured to be occupied by drivers of the vehicle, the system comprising:

means for invoking a mirror optimizing capture mode while the rear and sideview mirrors are in current mirror settings, the invoking means being accessible by each driver of the vehicle when seated in a driver seat of the vehicle;

a camera subsystem used by the mirror optimizing capture mode to identify positions of the head, eyes, and nostrils of each driver when seated in the driver seat;

a subsystem of algorithms that computes driver “

blind spots”

of each driver when seated in the driver seat and determines optimum settings for the rear and sideview mirrors to reduce the driver “

blind spots”

of the driver seated in the driver seat; and

means for automatically setting the rear and sideview mirrors in the optimum settings thereof;

the subsystem of algorithms computing the driver “

blind spots”

based on the current mirror settings of the rear and sideview mirrors relative to the driver seated in the driver seat, internal factors comprising the height and body structure of the driver seated in the driver seat and the physical configuration of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and external factors comprising the physical configuration of the vehicle including pillars of the vehicle.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a camera subsystem that collects data corresponding to images displayed on rear and sideview mirrors of the vehicle and a second subsystem of algorithms to collect data corresponding to the orientations of the rear and sideview mirrors to the driver.

3. The system according to claim 1, the system further comprising:

means for incrementally moving the rear and sideview mirrors away from the current mirror settings and moving the rear and sideview mirrors closer to the optimum settings thereof each time the driver invokes the mirror optimizing capture mode.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the system allows the driver to manually alter the rear and sideview mirrors to manually-adjusted positions that are different from the optimum settings thereof.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the system comprises means for visually informing the driver of the optimum settings of the rear and sideview mirrors, the manually-adjusted positions if any, and any blind spots resulting therefrom.

6. The system according to claim 3, wherein the system comprises means to save a driver seat position of the driver seat and the optimum settings of the rear and sideview mirrors for the driver.