IN-VEHICLE TRAINING SYSTEM FOR TEACHING FUEL ECONOMY

• US 20130143181A1
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Greenberg, Jeff Allen, Mengel, Dean, Bodnar, Les R., Nematollahi, Sonya, Tseng, Fling
• Application Number:
  US13/310,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20130143181A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/62
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/00 Simulators for teaching or training purposes for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/042 providing simulation in a real vehicle G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/052 characterised by provision for recording or measuring trainee's performance devices for psychotechnics, e.g. for vehicle drivers A61B5/16, A61B5/18
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a method for teaching fuel economy in a vehicle. The method includes activating an in-vehicle training mode and sending an instruction set for an initial vehicle maneuver. By calculating the fuel economy during the initial vehicle maneuver, an optimized speed/acceleration profile is computed. Subsequent vehicle maneuvers are initiated, and the speed/acceleration profiles computed during subsequent vehicle maneuvers are compared to the optimized speed/acceleration profile. Corrective feedback is generated during subsequent vehicular maneuvers upon deviations from the optimized speed/acceleration profile.

Claims

1. A fuel economy teaching method comprising:

activating an in-vehicle training mode;

sending an instruction set for an initial vehicle maneuver;

calculating the fuel economy during the initial vehicle maneuver;

computing an optimized speed/acceleration profile based on the fuel economy during the initial maneuver;

initiating subsequent vehicle maneuvers;

comparing the speed/acceleration profiles computed during subsequent vehicle maneuvers to the optimized speed/acceleration profile; and

generating corrective feedbacks during subsequent vehicular maneuvers upon deviations from the optimized speed/acceleration profile.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising a feedback interface for establishing audio/visual communications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction set and the corrective feedback is communicated using one of:

an audible format;

a visual format;

or

a combination of the audible and visual formats.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a summary of the speed/acceleration profiles of subsequent vehicle maneuvers is established before exiting the training mode.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the summary established is communicated using at least one of:

visual display;

audible feedback;

or

a combination of the visual display and audible feedback.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the fuel economy teaching method is deactivated either upon:

exceeding the vehicular speed threshold limit;

or

manual deactivation.

7. An in-vehicle fuel economy teaching system comprising:

an interactive module, configured to send a set of initial instructions for an initial vehicular maneuver, and initiate subsequent set of vehicular maneuvers;

a calculating module, configured to calculate the fuel economy achieved by the vehicle during the initial maneuver and subsequent maneuvers;

a computing module, configured to compute and establish an optimized speed/acceleration profile based on the achieved fuel economy during the initial maneuver, and

generate speed/acceleration profiles based on the fuel economy during the subsequent maneuvers; and

a comparison module, configured to compare the subsequent speed/acceleration profiles to the optimized speed/acceleration profile, and

generate corrective feedback through a feedback interface, upon deviations of the subsequent speed/acceleration profiles from the optimized speed/acceleration profile during subsequent vehicle maneuvers.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the feedback interface enables establishment of audio/visual communications.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the interactive module communicates the instruction set and the corrective feedback using at least one of:

an audible format;

a visual format;

or

a combination of the audible and the visual formats.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison module generates a summary of the speed/acceleration profiles of subsequent vehicle maneuvers before exiting the system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the summary generated at the end is provided using at least one of:

visual display;

audible feedback;

or

a combination of the visual display and the audible feedback.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the in-vehicle fuel economy improvement system is deactivated either upon:

exceeding the speed threshold limit;

or

manual deactivation.

13. A vehicular fuel economy training system, the system comprising:

an interactive module configured to send an instruction set for an initial maneuver, and also configured to initiate subsequent vehicular maneuvers;

a calculating module configured to calculate the fuel economy during initial and subsequent vehicle maneuvers;

a computing module configured to consequently generate an optimized speed/acceleration profile based on fuel economy during the initial maneuver, and

to generate speed/acceleration profiles based on fuel economy during subsequent vehicular maneuvers; and

a comparison module configured to compare the subsequent speed/acceleration profiles to the optimized speed/acceleration profile by generating corrective feedbacks through a feedback interface during subsequent maneuvers upon deviations of the subsequent speed/acceleration profiles from the optimized speed/acceleration profile, and thereby summarize the speed/acceleration profiles of the subsequent maneuvers before exiting the training system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the feedback interface enables establishment of audio/visual communications.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the provision of communicating the instruction set and the corrective feedback is carried out using at least one of:

an audible format;

a visual format;

or

a combination of the audible and the visual formats.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the summary obtained at the end is provided using at least one of:

visual display;

audible feedback;

or

a combination of the visual display and the audible feedback.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the in-vehicle fuel economy improvement system is deactivated either upon:

exceeding the speed threshold limit;

or

manual deactivation.