ADAPTIVE DRIVER IDENTIFICATION FUSION

• US 20160101783A1
• Filed: 03/23/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Abou-Nasr, Mahmoud A., Kristinsson, Johannes Geir, Baker, Ryan Lee, Feldkamp, Timothy Mark, Dutta, Arun
• Granted Patent: US 9,663,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: B60W 2040/0809 Driver authorisation; Driver identity check
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/043 Identity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a driver identification fusion module programmed to receive a confidence level from a plurality of identification modules. Each confidence level indicates the likelihood that a driver of a vehicle is a particular person. The driver identification fusion module is programmed to aggregate the confidences levels received from the plurality of identification modules and output an aggregated confidence level signal representing an identity of the driver based at least in part on the confidence levels received from the plurality of identification modules.

Claims

1. A vehicle system comprising:

a driver identification fusion module programmed to receive a confidence level from a plurality of identification modules, each confidence level indicating a likelihood that a driver of a vehicle is a particular person,

wherein the driver identification fusion module is programmed to aggregate the confidence levels received from the plurality of identification modules and output an aggregated confidence level signal representing an identity of the driver based at least in part on the confidence levels received from the plurality of identification modules.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the driver identification fusion module is programmed to identify the driver based at least in part on a driver profile stored in a driver database.

3. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of identification modules includes at least one of a voice recognition module, a face recognition module, a fingerprint recognition module, a phone detection module, and a wireless device detection module.

4. The vehicle system of claim 1, further comprising a training module programmed to generate a driver profile.

5. The vehicle system of claim 4, wherein the training module is programmed to store the driver profile in a driver database.

6. The vehicle system of claim 4, wherein the training module is programmed to continuously update the driver profile based at least in part on signals generated by at least one of the plurality of identification modules.

7. The vehicle system of claim 1, further comprising a prediction module programmed to determine settings common to at least two known drivers.

8. The vehicle system of claim 7, wherein the prediction module is programmed to output a signal to the driver identification fusion module identifying the settings common to at least two known drivers, wherein the driver identification module is programmed to output a control signal to control at least one vehicle subsystem based on the signal output by the prediction module.

9. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the driver identification fusion module is programmed to output a control signal to at least one vehicle subsystem.

10. The vehicle system of claim 9, wherein the control signal includes a setting associated with the identity of the driver determined by the driver identification fusion module.

11. A method comprising:

collecting, via a plurality of identification modules, driver information associated with a driver of a vehicle;

determining a likely identity of the driver based at least in part on the driver information;

generating, via the plurality of identification modules, a confidence level associated with the driver, wherein the confidence level represents a likelihood that the driver of the vehicle is a particular person;

aggregating the plurality of confidence levels at a driver identification fusion module; and

generating an aggregated confidence level signal representing an identity of the driver based at least in part on the plurality of confidence levels.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a control signal to control at least one vehicle subsystem, wherein the control signal includes a setting associated with the driver identified.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the identity of the driver includes accessing a driver profile stored in a driver database.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting an unknown driver;

generating a driver profile associated with the unknown driver; and

storing the driver profile in a driver database.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising continuously updating the driver profile based at least in part on signals generated by at least one of the plurality of identification modules.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining settings common to at least two known drivers;

receiving, at the driver identification fusion module, a signal identifying the settings common to the at least two known drivers; and

generating, via the driver identification fusion module, a control signal to control at least one vehicle subsystem based on the signal identifying the settings common to the at least two known drivers.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating, via the driver identification fusion module, a control signal; and

transmitting the control signal to at least one vehicle subsystem.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the control signal is generated to include a setting associated with the identity of the driver determined by the driver identification fusion module.

20. The vehicle system of claim 16, wherein the training module is programmed to continuously update the driver profile based at least in part on signals generated by at least one of the plurality of identification modules.

19. A vehicle system comprising:

a plurality of identification modules;

a driver identification fusion module programmed to receive a confidence level from at least one of the plurality of identification modules, each confidence level indicating a likelihood that a driver of a vehicle is a particular person,

wherein the driver identification fusion module is programmed to aggregate the confidence levels received from the plurality of identification modules and output an aggregated confidence level signal representing an identity of the driver based at least in part on the confidence levels received from at least one of the plurality of identification modules; and

a training module programmed to generate a driver profile and store the driver profile in a driver database.