Methods and Systems for Enabling Gesture Control for a Vehicle Feature

• US 20170147074A1
• Filed: 11/24/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: TOKISH, Stephen Ronald, RANKIN, II, James Stewart, CHEN, Yifan, STRUMOLO, Gary Steven, BUTTOLO, Pietro, SALTER, Stuart C.
• Granted Patent: US 11,023,049 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/02 the seat or part thereof being movable, e.g. adjustable adjustable arm-rests B60N2/75; adjustable head-rests B60N2/806
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0224 Non-manual adjustments, e.g. with electrical operation
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0228 Hand-activated mechanical switches B60N2/0229 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0244 with logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/20 for lighting specific fittings of passenger or driving compartments; mounted on specific fittings of passenger or driving compartments lighting for dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883

Abstract

A vehicle gesture system includes a processor connected to a transceiver and programmed to detect a wireless device associated with a vehicle feature settings interface for a first vehicle feature. The processor is further programmed to detect the wireless device based on received user input at the vehicle feature settings interface of the first vehicle feature. The processor is further programmed to control a setting for the first vehicle feature based on received data associated with one or more gestures made using the wireless device.

Claims

1. A vehicle gesture system comprising:

a transceiver associated with a vehicle feature settings interface controlling a first vehicle feature; and

a processor communicating with the transceiver and programmed to;

in response to user input received at the vehicle feature settings interface, associate a wireless device with the vehicle feature settings interface, and

control a setting for the first vehicle feature based on received data associated with one or more gestures made using the wireless device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless device associated with the vehicle feature settings interface is within a predefined distance of the vehicle feature settings interface and wherein the processor is further programmed to determine proximity of the wireless device via a Bluetooth Low Energy vehicle antenna.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more gestures are associated with a predefined setting for the first vehicle feature.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first vehicle feature comprises a lighting system and wherein the processor is further programmed to control the lighting system in response to the received data being associated with one or more gestures including at least one of an up and down motion.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second vehicle feature settings interface for controlling a second vehicle feature, wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to received user input at the second vehicle feature settings interface, associate the wireless device with the second vehicle feature and control a second vehicle feature setting based on received data associated with the one or more gestures made using the wireless device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second vehicle feature comprises a climate system and wherein the processor is further programmed to control the climate system in response to the received data being associated with one or more gestures including at least one of an up and down motion.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle feature is at least one of a climate system, a seat system, a navigation system, and a radio system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle feature settings interface is at least one of a user interface screen, knob, button, soft key button, and hard key button.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is at least one of a smartphone, smartwatch, wearable wrist device, and wearable ring device.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, via a processor, a request to control a vehicle feature using a wireless device based on input received at a user interface associated with the vehicle feature;

searching for the wireless device based on the request to control the vehicle feature; and

if the wireless device is detected within a predefined distance of the user interface, enabling the wireless device to control the vehicle feature using gestures performed with the wireless device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, detecting a proximity of the wireless device based on a Bluetooth Low Energy vehicle antenna;

and, if the proximity is within the predefined distance of the user interface associated with the vehicle feature, controlling a setting of the vehicle feature based on the gestures at the wireless device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the vehicle feature includes a lighting system, the method further comprising controlling the setting associated with a light brightness of the lighting system based on the gestures including at least one of an up and down motion.

13. The method of claim 11, the vehicle feature being a climate system, the method further comprising controlling the setting associated with a temperature value of the climate system based on the gestures including at least one of an up and down motion.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to the vehicle feature being a seat system, controlling the setting associated with a chair tilt position of the seat system based on the gesture including at least one of an up and down motion.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the gesture is a side-to-side shaking motion for controlling the setting associated with a massage vibration function of the seat system.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the gesture is a forward-to-back motion for controlling the setting associated with moving a seat position forward and back.

17. A computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored instructions for programming a processor, comprising instructions for:

in response to a vehicle feature selected via a user interface, searching for a wireless device within a predefined distance from the user interface, and

in response to the wireless device being within the predefined distance, controlling the vehicle feature using one or more gestures at the wireless device.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the vehicle feature is at least one of a climate system, a seat system, a navigation system, and a radio system.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the user interface is at least one of a touch screen, knob, button, soft key button, and hard key button.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the wireless device is at least one of a smartphone, smartwatch, wearable wrist device, and wearable ring device.