HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL VEHICLE SAFETY CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20120283894A1
• Filed: 02/25/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACT-IP LLC
• Original Assignee: Mouhamad Ahmad Naboulsi
• Inventors: Naboulsi, Mouhamad Ahmad
• Granted Patent: US 8,768,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/02 for radio sets, television sets, telephones, or the like; Arrangement of controls thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0264 for control means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/001 Vehicle control means, e.g. steering-wheel or column
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241

Abstract

The present invention provides a safety control system for a vehicle with controls located on the vehicle steering wheel. The controls may be arranged in a cluster on one or both sides of the upper half of the steering wheel or on a special flange mounted to the steering wheel. The contours are easily recognizable and accessible while driving without any distraction to the driver. The controls can be enhanced by varied coloring, shape, size, and texture to make them easily identifiable. The controls can be used with portable telematics devices, in a multi-modal process in conjunction with thumb gesture interpretation or speech recognition. A universal portable device docking station may be used in conjunction with the control system.

Claims

1. A driver operated vehicle control system, comprising:

i. one or more control clusters disposed on one or more upper portions of a vehicle steering member;

said control clusters having

a. one or more distinct shortcut actuators for selecting or activating one or more menu selections for one or more devices, wherein the menu selections include one or more submenus, options, or commands that are verbally or visually communicated to the driver by the control system,

b. one or more response actuators for affirming, skipping or rejecting a control system communicated submenus, options, or commands;

ii. a controller for communicating with the one or more shortcut actuators and the one or more response actuators;

wherein the shortcut actuators and response actuators are accessible by a thumb of the driver of the vehicle while both hands of the driver remain in contact with the steering member; and

further wherein the controller communicates with a vehicle communication bus or the devices.

2. The control system of claim 1, wherein the controller communicates with the vehicle bus or one or more devices through a physical or wireless protocol.

3. The control system of claim 1, wherein the one or more devices comprise one or more vehicle components, functions or features, one or more portable telematics devices, or any combination thereof.

4. The control system of claim 1, wherein the one or more response actuators are activated physically or verbally by the driver.

5. The control system of claim 1, wherein one or more shortcut actuators have a distinct color, illumination, shape, size, texture, or any combination thereof from one or more other shortcut actuators.

6. The control system of claim 1, wherein the submenus, options, or commands are static in structure or arranged in a dynamic order dependent upon condition factors.

7. The control system of claim 6, wherein the condition factors include one or more current function factors, commands or menu selection factors, driver preferences, temporal factors, environmental factors, traffic factors, preset parental or employer presets, or driver license type factors, or any combination thereof.

8. The control system of claim 1, wherein the disposition of the control clusters is interchangeable with other control clusters.

9. The control system of claim 1, wherein the shortcut actuators comprise removable or interchangeable modules.

10. The control system of claim 1, wherein the shortcut actuators and the response actuators include one or more touch sensitive displays, said displays displaying iconic shortcuts for selecting or activating a submenu, function, or driver response.

11. The control system of claim 10, wherein touch sensitive display lighting intensity or color varies depending on lighting conditions within the vehicle, driver contact with the touch sensitive display, driver preferences, or any combination thereof.

12. The control system of claim 10, wherein the touch sensitive display comprises two regions, wherein a first region having one or more shortcut icons and a second region having a response actuator.

13. The control system of claim 1, wherein the response actuators provide at least one of distinct haptic feedback, verbal feedback, visual feedback, or any combination thereof, based upon driver responses or selections.

14. The control system of claim 13, wherein said distinct haptic feedback is distinguishable based upon one or more pluses of different amplitudes over different time spans based upon the driver response or selection.

15. The control system of claim 14, wherein the haptic feedback varies as an inverse of the sequence of the pulse.

16. The control system of claim 1, wherein one or more shortcut actuators include shortcut barriers to prevent accidental selection of the shortcut actuator.

17. The control system of claim 13, wherein one or more virtual barriers separate the shortcut actuators, further wherein the virtual barriers provide distinct haptic feedback when a digit of the driver crosses said virtual barrier, and further wherein said distinct haptic feedback is distinguishable based upon one or more pluses of different amplitudes over different time spans, further wherein said haptic feedback varies as an inverse of the sequence of the pulse when the gesture crosses said barrier in a reverse direction.

18. The control system of claim 1, wherein the selecting or the activating of the one or more shortcut actuators enhances the reliability of speech or gesture recognition by the control system, wherein the possible span of received speech or gesture recognition responses from the driver is reduced to speech or gesture patterns associated with the selected or activated shortcut actuator.

19. The control system of claim 1, wherein the disposition, orientation or any combination thereof, of the control clusters is adjustable in relation to the steering member.

20. The control system of claim 1 is responsive to a swipe across at least two consecutive shortcut actuators where the response will vary by at least the number of shortcuts, the direction of the swipe and the initial shortcut actuator activated

21. The control system of claim 3, wherein the one or more portable telematics devices shortcut actuators are disabled incompliance with cell phone driving etiquette.