Vehicle Personalization System

• US 20080228358A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Deng, Bing, Neal, Mark O., Wang, Jenne-Tai, Sala, Dorel M., Lin, Chin-Hsu, Hogan, Martin Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,437,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/49
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0104 Communication circuits for data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01512 Passenger detection systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01554 Seat position sensors

Abstract

A vehicle includes at least one reconfigurable system having a plurality of selectively variable parameters, and a controller that is operatively connected to the at least one reconfigurable system to control the values of the plurality of selectively variable parameters. The controller is also configured to receive data indicative of physical characteristics of a person from at least one data storage medium, and configured to determine values of the selectively variable parameters according to a predetermined algorithm based on the data indicative of physical characteristics of a person. The controller is also configured to cause the selectively variable parameters to assume the determined values.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a seat assembly for supporting an occupant;

at least one reconfigurable system mounted with respect to the seat assembly and having a plurality of selectively variable parameters; and

a controller being

operatively connected to said at least one reconfigurable system to control the values of said plurality of selectively variable parameters,

configured to receive data indicative of physical characteristics of a person from at least one data storage medium,

configured to determine values of said selectively variable parameters according to a predetermined algorithm based on the data indicative of physical characteristics of a person, and

configured to cause said selectively variable parameters to assume the determined values.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a user interface operatively connected to the controller and being configured to retrieve the data indicative of physical characteristics from said at least one data storage medium and to transmit the data to the controller.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein the user interface is configured to retrieve the data from one of magnetic media, optical media, radiofrequency identification units, and programmable ROM.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one data storage medium stores a plurality of data sets, each of said data sets containing data indicative of physical characteristics of a respective person.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, further comprising an input device being configured to transmit occupant identification data to the controller;

and wherein the controller is configured to retrieve one of said data sets based on the occupant identification data.

6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the input device is configured to read the occupant identification data from a prerecorded medium.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a biometric sensor configured to receive biometric information about the occupant and to transmit the biometric information to the controller;

wherein the controller is configured to use the biometric information to confirm that the occupant is the person.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the predetermined algorithm includes at least one of an impact simulation algorithm and an impact mode and severity algorithm.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one reconfigurable system includes at least one of the seat assembly, an air bag and a seat belt system.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the occupant has altered the value of one of the variable parameters, and to redetermine the values of the other variable parameters based on the value of the altered parameter and the data indicative of physical characteristics of a person.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the data includes personal preferences;

and wherein the controller is configured to determine values of said selectively variable parameters according to a predetermined algorithm based on the personal preferences.

12. A method of personalizing a vehicle having reconfigurable systems characterized by selectively variable parameters, the method comprising:

receiving data indicating physical characteristics of a person from a data storage medium;

determining values for said selectively variable parameters based on the data indicating physical characteristics in accordance with a predetermined algorithm; and

causing said selectively variable parameters to assume the determined values.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicle includes a seat assembly;

wherein the method further comprises, subsequent to said causing said selectively variable parameters to assume the determined values, determining whether the value of one of said parameters has been changed by an occupant of the seat assembly;

determining new values for said selectively variable parameters based on the value of the changed parameter and the data indicating physical characteristics; and

causing said selectively variable parameters to assume the new values.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining vehicle impact mode and severity;

determining new values for said selectively variable parameters based on the data indicating physical characteristics and the impact mode and severity; and

causing said selectively variable parameters to assume the new values.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicle includes a seat assembly;

and wherein the method further comprises verifying that an occupant of the seat assembly is the person.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said verifying includes measuring a biometric identifier of the occupant and comparing the biometric identifier to the data indicative of physical characteristics.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving data indicating personal preferences of a person from a data storage medium;

and wherein said determining values for said selectively variable parameters includes determining values for said selectively variable parameters based on the data indicating personal preferences in accordance with a predetermined algorithm

18. A method comprising:

obtaining personal information of each of a plurality of persons, said personal information including physical characteristics of said plurality of persons; and

recording a plurality of data sets in a storage medium accessible by a controller in a vehicle, each of said data sets containing the personal information of a respective one of said plurality of persons.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising assigning a unique identifier to each of said plurality of persons;

and wherein said recording a plurality of data sets includes associating each of said data sets with a respective one of said unique identifiers.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transferring possession of the vehicle to one of said plurality of persons.