Vehicle with on-board overweight and obesity preventing system and method

• US 20090132099A1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yefim Kriger
• Original Assignee: Yefim Kriger
• Inventors: Kriger, Yefim
• Granted Patent: US 7,803,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4142 for controlling activation of safety devices, e.g. airbag systems electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements in case of vehicle accidents B60R21/015
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4146 for controlling caloric intake, e.g. diet control
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/44 for weighing persons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/921 Diet management

Abstract

A motor vehicle and a method of operating same, including an on-board vehicle microcomputer having a memory, and a display connected to the microcomputer. An on-board weighing apparatus located in the vehicle is adapted to weigh a person in the vehicle and provide an input to the on-board vehicle microcomputer of the weight of the person from time to time, whereby a weight trend can be analyzed for the person and overweight or obesity condition of the person that may develop in a short period of time, if any, will be forecasted and information of such weight trends provided to a health care professional to prevent it.

Claims

1-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method of operating an automotive vehicle having an on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system including a microcomputer with a central processing unit, a memory and a display, and a means responsive to weight of at least one individual in said vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) weighing an individual in said vehicle and registering the weighed individual'"'"'s weight with said microcomputer;

(b) forecasting an overweight or obesity condition of said individual;

(c) evaluating trial weight loss plan conditions for said individual if an overweight or obesity condition of said individual is detected;

(d) programming said microcomputer with information as to a multiplicity of diets and exercise regimen suitable for a variety of different dieters;

(e) displaying diet and exercise information for the weighed individual based upon stored information in the microcomputer;

(f) displaying weight progress resulting from dieting for said individual in said vehicle upon the issuance of an instruction by said individual to said microcomputer;

(g) sending at the individual'"'"'s discretion a warning about overweight or obesity of said individual or individual'"'"'s child or teenager, to said overweight or obese individual, to a primary doctor of said individual, to a primary doctor of an overweight or obese child or teenager if the result of a weight loss trial plan is negative, and

(h) disabling said touch screen of said microcomputer from responding to the activities of said driver under certain driving conditions of said vehicle.

30. The method defined in claim 29, further comprising the step of providing a friendly and confidential overweight or obesity warning to said individual and, at individual'"'"'s discretion, not showing a warning of overweight or obesity on a fitness screen if during installation of said on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system that said individual is overweight or obese but suggesting to said individual to start a weight loss trial plan, and giving an encouraging message for successful overweight or obesity prevention.

31. The method defined in claim 29, further comprising determining weekday and weekend after intake patterns with information from a dialog with said individual or from a global position system as to names of the most popular and most used restaurants and buffets at which said individual eats at a certain time, with the names of the basic dishes and amount of calories, fat and cholesterol and automatically suggesting to said individual what kind food and how much to eat.

32. The method defined in claim 29, further comprising issuing a warning when said individual is not overweight and continuously loses weight, and his/her weight goes down to a certain level, and said on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system continues to monitor weight of said individual during a certain trial period, and if said individual continues to lose weight, an on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system sends a warning at individual'"'"'s discretion to said individual'"'"'s primary doctor.

33. The method defined in claim 29, further comprising measuring a height of a child in said vehicle by use of special markers on a rear seat of said vehicle, or by use of a supplemental cushion for car rear seat with the marks on it to measure height of the children by laying a child on the rear car seat and measure one'"'"'s length orb use of a pull-out tape, and inserting this data in an on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system.

35. The method defined in claim 29, including automatically warning at least one of the individuals and a health care professional of a developing overweight or obesity condition.

36. The method defined in claim 29, including providing an option to prevent overweight or obesity of an individual who is not overweight or obese but may develop such a condition by forecasting and predicting a trend to overweight or obesity and automatically alerting at least one of said individuals and their health care professionals when there is a possibility that such a condition may develop in a short predetermined period of time that is long enough to prevent this condition and to start treatment before the individual will become overweight or obese and this option is a Comprehensive Obesity Prevention Technology (C-OPT).

37. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method provides body parameters for overweight and obesity condition recognition that are used according to medical requirements.

38. The method defined in claim 37, wherein said body parameters include at least one of body mass index (BMI) and body fat.

39. The method defined in claim 29, including at least two weighing means in said vehicle, including a weighing means located in a car seat of said individual in said vehicle, and an additional weighing means for the foot part of said individual that is fixed or retractable from a part of the vehicle or located in a floor mat, wherein each of said weighing means weighs a part of a whole individual'"'"'s weight and can be any optional kind of weighing device.

40. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method is operative to prevent the developing of an overweight or obesity condition of said individual occupying said vehicle by checking of a state of individual seat belt and existence of an individual'"'"'s feet on a weighing device when said individual is sitting down in an individual car seat.

41. The method defined in claim 39, wherein said method issues the following weighing instructions:

1. when you sit down in the car seat, put your feet on a weighing device near your feet;

2. keep your hands on your knees, don'"'"'t touch anything in the car by hand and don'"'"'t push the seat back against your back for a few seconds; and

3. buckle the seat belt.

42. The method defined in claim 39, wherein said method determines a true weight of said individual from said weighing means by processing acquired data over an interval between said individual engaging said weighing means and a point at which said individual engages a seat belt, whereby said true weights reflect a measurement during which hands of the individual are not resting on a surface.

43. The method defined in claim 39, wherein said weighing means for the foot part of said individual that is fixed or retractable from a part of the vehicle or located in a floor mat contains information to sense that said individual changed shoes when a foot portion of weight of said individual is analyzed relative to the weight of a car seat portion of said individual'"'"'s body.

44. The method defined in claim 39, wherein said vehicle includes an air bag safety system at a front of the vehicle, and wherein said additional weighing means for the foot part of said individual is fixed or retractable from a part of the vehicle or located in a floor mat, signals whether the passenger is facing front, thereby preventing triggering the air bag against a rear facing front passenger.

45. The method defined in claim 29, employing a sensor of speed of said vehicle that is included in said on-board overweight and obesity preventing system to provide a drive safety routine, wherein in case a signal of the vehicle speed is received from a speedometer of said vehicle, this signal is connected to said microcomputer of said on-board overweight and obesity preventing system.

46. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method, after diagnosing a possible overweight or obesity situation that may occur in a short predetermined period of time, will suggest that the individual may begin an exercise program for a trial period depending on age and an overweight or obesity level of said individual, provide lifestyle recommendations of a medical authority, and positively reinforce healthy weight trends during said trial period.

47. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method includes transmission of personal data acquired outside of said overweight and obesity preventing system of each child or student and personal data of each adult to said on-board overweight and obesity preventing system that will build a weight progress database of said individuals in said on-board overweight and obesity preventing system, at said individual'"'"'s discretion or at the discretion of a nurse or a delegated person in an education or medical facility depending on the age of the individual.

48. The method defined in claim 29, including a vehicle change procedure included in a memory of said on-board vehicle microcomputer, wherein said method provides a means to keep or remove personal data of said individual that employs said on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system in case of selling said vehicle or buying a new vehicle.

49. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method further prevents future overweight and obesity by identification of weight progress and predicting an overweight or obesity condition of at least one of a driver and passengers in said vehicle, and by selecting from said on-board vehicle overweight and obesity preventing system'"'"'s memory at least one of lifestyle recommendations, exercises, and diets, included by permission of the medical and nutrition authorities that are interested in the overweight or obese individuals in the early stages of illness.

50. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method provides an on-board overweight and obesity preventing system which comprises means that can detect a possibility of overweight or obesity condition that may happen in a short predetermined period of time of said individual in the vehicle and evaluate a period of trial and the other conditions of a weight loss trial plan if an overweight or obese condition may happen, and provide information that may be required in that regard.

51. The method defined in claim 40, wherein said method provides measuring tension in said seat belt during a period of time from the moment when said individual sits in the vehicle to a moment in time when a signal appears that a seat belt is buckled.

52. The method defined in claim 39, wherein said method provides weighing a driver when said vehicle is running, including a weighing device located in a car seat of said driver in said vehicle, and two additional weighing devices, with the first of said additional weighing devices located on the vehicle floor, footrest, in a floor mat, or in other suitable location and the second of said additional weighing devices fixed on the gas pedal, wherein one foot of the driver will push the gas pedal via the second additional weighing device and the other foot of said driver will be on the first of said additional weighing devices.

53. The method defined in claim 29, wherein said method determines said individual'"'"'s weight change from a previous measurement exceeding a certain magnitude, ascertains whether there has been a change in clothing, footwear, or extraneous weight since the previous measurement processing a correlation of the separate measurements of the body and foot parts of said individual weight and by a dialogue with said individual and checking a temperature sensor and memorizing its output for creating data that correlates clothing or footwear to outside vehicle temperature.

34. (canceled)