INPUT DEVICE FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE

• US 20140136051A1
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: WAGNER, Michael, POPPE, Stefan, WRZESNIEWSKI, Marius, VOSS, David, LANG, Andreas, FUERST, Marc, HEDRICH, Joerg
• Application Number:
  US14/081,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20140136051A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/252 Fingerprint recognition

Abstract

An input device is provided for a motor vehicle, which comprises a touch-sensitive surface designed to detect the touch of a finger in order to selectively provide one or more instruction types for a connected device, and a finger type recognition unit for recognizing a finger type of the finger detected by the touch-sensitive surface, as well as an instruction output unit for outputting at least one instruction type as a function of the detected finger type.

Claims

1. An input device for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a touch-sensitive surface that is configured to detect a touch of a finger in order to selectively provide an instruction type for a connected device; and

a finger type recognition unit that is configured to recognize a finger type of the finger detected by the touch-sensitive surface; and

an instruction output unit that is configured to output the instruction type as a function of the finger type.

2. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is a touchpad.

3. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the finger type recognition unit is a capacitive sensor.

4. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the finger type recognition unit is an optical sensor.

5. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the finger type recognition unit is configured to recognize the finger type of the finger that was detected by the touch-sensitive surface based on recognizing a fingerprint of the finger.

6. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the finger type recognition unit is configured to identify by allocating a detected fingerprint to a left hand proceeding from the fingers detected by the touch-sensitive surface during contact.

7. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the finger type recognition unit is configured such a way that the finger type recognition unit is configured to instruct the instruction output unit to output a base function if the finger type is unrecognizable.

8. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the input device comprises a selection device for preselecting at least one instruction type as a function of finger type.

10. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the connected device is a navigation system.

16. The input device according to claim 10, wherein the connected device is an infotainment system of the motor vehicle.

17. The input device according to claim 10, wherein the connected device is an engine start button.

9. (canceled)

11. A method for selectively providing an instruction type for a connected device for a motor vehicle, comprising:

detecting contact by a finger of a user with a touch-sensitive surface of an input device;

recognizing a finger type of the finger touching the touch-sensitive surface with a finger type recognition unit, wherein the finger type is detected by the touch-sensitive surface; and

outputting the instruction type as a function of the finger type.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of recognizing the finger type of the finger touching the touch-sensitive surface is based at least in part on recognizing a fingerprint of the finger.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of recognizing the finger type of the finger touching the touch-sensitive surface comprises allocating a detected fingerprint to a left hand proceeding from the finger detected by the touch-sensitive surface during contact.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

recognizing a point of contact on the touch-sensitive surface; and

providing an instruction type based on the finger type and the point of contact.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises preselecting at least one instruction type as a function of finger type.