Vehicle accessory adjusting system and method of adjusting vehicle accessory

• US 20070021893A1
• Filed: 07/12/2006
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ikeda, Hirotane, Tanaka, Kimiaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,415,339 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/49
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/2081 combined with personal settings of other vehicle devices, e.g. mirrors, seats, steering wheels

Abstract

A vehicle accessory adjusting system that adjusts a variety of on-vehicle accessories of a vehicle to suit a driver or a passenger according to personal data stored in an IC card or other portable data storage medium. The vehicle accessory adjusting system includes a memory that stores standard setting data on the on-vehicle accessories, calculation circuit for calculating personal data based on specific setting data obtained when a driver or a passenger uses some on-vehicle accessories and corresponding standard setting data of the on-vehicle accessories, a rewriting unit to rewrite the personal data stored in the IC card with new personal data; and setting circuit to set the on-vehicle accessories according to the personal data stored in the IC card and the standard setting data stored in the memory.

Claims

1. A vehicle accessory adjusting system for adjusting a plurality of on-vehicle accessories of a vehicle to suit an individual according to personal data stored in a portable data storage medium, said vehicle accessory adjusting system comprising:

memory means for storing standard setting data on the on-vehicle accessories;

calculation means for calculating personal data based on specific setting data obtained when the individual uses at least one of the on-vehicle accessories and one of the stored standard setting data that correspond to the at least one of the on-vehicle accessories;

rewriting means for rewriting data stored in the portable data storage medium with the personal data; and

setting means for setting the on-vehicle accessories according to the personal data stored in the portable storage medium and the standard setting data.

2. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said memory means stores standard setting data for a plurality of different types of vehicles that correspond to at least one of the on-vehicle accessories; and

said calculation means calculates specific offset values of the specific setting data relative to the corresponding standard setting data as the personal data.

3. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said plurality of on-vehicle accessories includes a vehicle seat operating unit.

4. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said plurality of on-vehicle accessories includes a vehicle mirror operating unit.

5. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said potable data storage medium is a memory card.

6. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising drive-condition-mode-sensing means for providing a plurality of drive condition modes, wherein:

said memory means stores standard setting data that correspond to the drive condition modes; and

said setting means sets the on-vehicle accessories according to the personal data stored in the portable storage medium, the standard setting data and the drive condition modes.

7. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

history memory means for memorizing data on the drive condition modes and corresponding setting data in a chronological order; and

selection means for selecting setting data that correspond to one of the drive condition modes.

8. The vehicle accessory adjusting system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said selection means selects the most frequently applied setting data.

9. A vehicle accessory adjusting system for adjusting an on-vehicle accessory of a vehicle comprising

an IC card having a personal data memory;

a reader-writer controlled by said data processor to read personal data from or write the personal data into the personal data memory of said IC card;

setting data memory storing standard setting data on the on-vehicle accessory;

accessory control means having a controller, a handle and a driver, said accessory means setting the on-vehicle accessory according to the personal data stored in the portable storage medium and the standard setting data stored in the setting data memory;

a data processor for controlling said reader writer, said setting data memory and said accessory control means;

wherein;

said data processor calculates personal data when the individual sets the on-vehicle accessories by the handle, thereby to control said reader-writer to renews the personal data stored in the portable data storage medium.

10. A method of adjusting a plurality of on-vehicle accessories of a vehicle to suit an individual according to personal data stored in a portable data storage medium, said method comprising the steps of:

storing standard setting data on the on-vehicle accessories into a memory disposed in a vehicle;

calculating personal data based on specific setting data obtained when the individual uses at least one of the on-vehicle accessories and one of the stored standard setting data that correspond to the at least one of the on-vehicle accessories;

rewriting the personal data stored in the portable data storage medium with the personal data; and

setting the on-vehicle accessories according to the personal data stored in the portable storage medium and the standard setting data.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the standard setting data on-vehicle accessories include data for a plurality of different types of vehicles; and

said step of calculating specific offset values of the specific setting data relative to the corresponding standard setting data as the personal data.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein

said potable data storage medium is a memory card.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a step of:

providing drive-condition-mode-sensing means for providing a plurality of drive condition modes, wherein;

said step of storing comprises a step of storing standard setting data that correspond to a plurality of vehicle drive condition modes.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

memorizing data on the drive condition modes and corresponding setting data in a chronological order; and

selecting most frequently applied setting data from the setting data that correspond to one of the drive condition modes.

15. A method of adjusting a plurality of on-vehicle accessories of a vehicle to suit an individual according to personal data stored in a portable data storage medium, said method comprising the steps of:

storing standard setting data on the on-vehicle accessories of a variety of types vehicles into a memory disposed in a vehicle;

examining if personal data are stored in the portable data storage medium;

adjusting the on-vehicle accessories according to the standard data if the personal data are not stored in the portable storage medium and according to the personal data if the personal data are stored;

calculating new personal data when the individual uses at least one of the on-vehicle accessories as an offset value relative to the standard setting data that correspond to the at least one of the on-vehicle accessories;

writing the new personal data into the portable data storage medium for setting the on-vehicle accessories according to the personal data stored in the portable storage medium and the standard setting data stored in a vehicle to be used next time.