TTG for Body Cooling and Driver Alertness
First Claim
1. A method for controlling a thermal grill on a steering wheel of a vehicle having a driver with biomarker information, comprising:
- receiving signals representing the biomarker information;
configuring the thermal grill to a heat sink configuration based on said biomarker information;
receiving signals representing additional biomarker information while the thermal grill is in said heat sink configuration;
determining if a vasoconstriction threshold is passed based on said additional biomarker information; and
configuring the thermal grill into a second configuration, wherein said second configuration is no said heat sink configuration, when a vasoconstriction threshold is passed.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for keeping a driver alert by employing a thermal grill that includes warm and cool regions. The disclosed system includes an alert module that configures the thermal grill to a heat sink configuration and a heat source configuration. The thermal grill in the heat sink configuration extracts heat from the driver'"'"'s body, lowers the driver'"'"'s temperature, and keeps the driver alert. The thermal grill in the heat source configuration raises the driver'"'"'s temperature and avoids vasoconstriction. The alert module also monitors at least one of the driver'"'"'s biomarkers like blood flow in the driver'"'"'s fingers. The alert module monitors the driver'"'"'s biomarkers to determine when to reconfigure the thermal grill to a configuration other than the heat sink configuration. For example, if the monitored biomarkers indicate that the driver is in a vasoconstricted state, the alert module can reconfigure the thermal grill.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for controlling a thermal grill on a steering wheel of a vehicle having a driver with biomarker information, comprising:
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receiving signals representing the biomarker information; configuring the thermal grill to a heat sink configuration based on said biomarker information; receiving signals representing additional biomarker information while the thermal grill is in said heat sink configuration; determining if a vasoconstriction threshold is passed based on said additional biomarker information; and configuring the thermal grill into a second configuration, wherein said second configuration is no said heat sink configuration, when a vasoconstriction threshold is passed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system in a vehicle, receiving biomarker information of a driver, comprising:
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sensor receiving unit, to receive information representing biomarker information; a steering wheel having a thermal grill unit; a thermal grill control unit for configuring a thermal grill to a heat sink configuration based on said biomarker information; receiving signals representing additional biomarker information while the thermal grill is in said heat sink configuration; determining if a vasoconstriction threshold is passed based on said additional biomarker information; and configuring the thermal grill into a second configuration, wherein said second configuration is no said heat sink configuration, when a vasoconstriction threshold is passed. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program instructions for controlling a thermal grill on a steering wheel of a vehicle having a driver biomarker information, the instructions when executed cause the at least one processor to perform steps including:
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receiving signals representing the biomarker information; configuring a thermal grill to a heat sink configuration based on said biomarker information; receiving signals representing additional biomarker information while the thermal grill is in said heat sink configuration; determining if a vasoconstriction threshold is passed based on said additional biomarker information; and configuring the thermal grill into a second configuration, wherein said second configuration is no said heat sink configuration, when a vasoconstriction threshold is passed.
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Specification