METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADJUSTING PERFORMANCE BASED ON VEHICLE OCCUPANTS

• US 20140244106A1
• Filed: 02/27/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Singer, Ian R., Valeri, Frank C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,348,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/016 characterised by their responsiveness, when the vehicle is travelling, to specific motion, a specific condition, or driver input B60G17/017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 2001/00185 Distribution of conditionned air
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2210/12 Capacitive; Electric field
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2500/30 Arrangements for illuminating different zones in the vehicle, e.g. front/rear, different seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/80 Circuits; Control arrangements for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1401 characterised by the control or regulation method F02D41/1473, F02D41/1477 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/52 dependent on the weight of the machine, e.g. change in weight resulting from passengers boarding a bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17821 characterised by the analysis of the input signals only
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1783 handling or detecting of non-standard events or conditions, e.g. changing operating modes under specific operating conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1787 General system configurations
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/1282 Automobiles
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3016 Control strategies, e.g. energy minimization or intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/01 Input selection or mixing for amplifiers or loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle having a system is provided. The system has at least one operating output. The system includes an occupant module and a vehicle system module. The occupant module receives at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, and determines a current number and location of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal. The vehicle system module receives as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle. The vehicle system module is configured for determining whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat. The vehicles system module is configured for adjusting the at least one operating output of the system if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat.

Claims

1. A vehicle having a system, the system having at least one operating output, comprising:

an occupant module receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, the occupant module determining a current number of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal; and

a vehicle system module receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle, the vehicle system module configured to;

determine if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat; and

adjust the at least one operating output of the system whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat.

2. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the occupant module determines a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle.

3. The vehicle in claim 2, wherein the vehicle system module adjusts the at least one operating output based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle.

4. The vehicle in claim 2, wherein the specific seating position is one of a driver seat position, a front passenger seat position, a second row seat position, and a third row seat position.

5. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the system is an active noise cancellation (“

ANC”

) system and the at least one operating output is attenuation of unwanted noise.

6. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the system is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“

HVAC”

) system and the at least one operating output is a multi-zone control.

7. The vehicle in claim 6, wherein the multi-zone control is one of a single-zone mode of operation, a dual zone mode of operation, a tri-zone mode of operation, and a quad-zone mode of operation.

8. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the system is an audio system and the at least one operating output is a sound setting.

9. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of seatbelt sensors.

10. The vehicle in claim 1, wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of occupant sensors, wherein each of the plurality of occupant sensors are located in a corresponding seat.

11. A method of modifying at least one operating output of a system for a vehicle, comprising:

receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle by an occupant module;

determining a current number of occupants in the vehicle based on the occupant signal;

receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by a vehicle system module;

determining if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat by the vehicle system module; and

adjusting the at least one operating output of the system based on whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat.

12. The method in claim 11, comprising determining a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by the occupant module.

13. The system in claim 12, comprising adjusting the at least one operating output based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle by the vehicle system module.

14. The system in claim 11, wherein the system is an active noise cancellation (“

ANC”

) system and the at least one operating output is attenuation of unwanted noise.

15. The system in claim 11, wherein the system is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“

HVAC”

) system and the at least one operating output is a multi-zone control.

16. The system in claim 15, wherein the multi-zone control is one of a single-zone mode of operation, a dual zone mode of operation, a tri-zone mode of operation, and a quad-zone mode of operation.

17. The system in claim 11, wherein the system is an audio system and the at least one operating output is a sound setting.

18. The system in claim 11, wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of seatbelt sensors.

19. The system in claim 11, wherein the occupant signal is generated by a plurality of occupant sensors, wherein each of the plurality of occupant sensors are located in a corresponding seat.

20. A vehicle having a system, the system having at least one operating output, comprising:

an occupant module receiving at least one occupant signal indicative of occupants currently located within the vehicle, the occupant module determining a current number of occupants located in the vehicle based on the occupant signal and a specific seating position for each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle; and

a vehicle system module receiving as input the current number of occupants located in the vehicle, the vehicle system module configured to;

determine if the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than a total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat; and

adjust the at least one operating output of the system based on whether the current number of occupants located in the vehicle is less than the total number of occupants the vehicle is configured to seat and based on the specific seating position of each of the current number of occupants located in the vehicle.