Vehicle information/task manager

• US 7,831,350 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2006
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Goudy, Roy Wesley
• Primary Examiner(s): MANCHO, RONNIE M
• Application Number:
  US11/361,591
• Publication Number:
  US 20060142917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,719 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/29, 701/30, 701/31, 701/34, 701/35, 701/36, 701/45, 701/33, 340/439, 340/576, 340/575, 340/466, 340/471, 180/272, 180/274, 180/277
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1868 according to driving situations
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0231 Circuits relating to the driving or the functioning of the vehicle monitoring tyres B60C23/00; indicating overspeed B60K31/00; for dash boards B60K37/00, B60Q3/10; for indicating emergencies B60Q1/52; brake control systems B60T; registering or indicating the working of vehicles G07C5/00; measuring distance G01C, e.g. combinations of speed and distance G01C23/00; engine indicators G01L; measuring speed or acceleration G01P

Abstract

The present invention is operative to disable at least one infotainment device under certain conditions relative to the current driving environment of the user. The system uses a weighted matrix to assign risk to certain sensed conditions while driving. A changed condition is assigned a weight and the weighted risks are summed to calculate risk level information. The risk level information is thereafter compared to priority level information associated with at least one infotainment device. When the risk level information exceeds or is equal to the priority level information of the at least one infotainment device the system temporarily disables the infotainment device until the driving environment changes to a condition where it is safe to operate the infotainment device.

Claims

1. A method of information task management for a vehicle having an infotainment device, said method including the steps of:

sensing a plurality of predetermined external operating conditions of the vehicle using a plurality of sensors disposed on the vehicle;

storing a plurality of quantitative risk level values for each said predetermined external operating condition in an information task manager;

storing information related to external operating conditions in the information task manager;

updating the plurality of risk level values based on the information related to external operating conditions;

summing the risk level value for each of the plurality of predetermined external operating conditions to produce a sum of risk level values;

assigning a priority level value to the infotainment device on the vehicle; and

disabling the infotainment device when the summed risk level value is greater than the priority level value for the infotainment device.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said updating step includes using artificial learning to update the risk level values.

3. A method of information task management for a vehicle having an infotainment device, said method including the steps of:

defining a predetermined priority level value for the infotainment device, wherein the predetermined priority level value determines disablement of the infotainment device;

associating a quantitative risk level value with each of a plurality of predetermined external operating conditions of the vehicle, wherein the operating condition risk level value is a weighted value, and the operating condition risk level value is stored in a memory of an information task manager;

sensing a plurality of external operating conditions of the vehicle, wherein each operating condition is sensed using an associated sensing device;

comparing each of the sensed operating conditions of the vehicle to a corresponding previously sensed external operating condition of the vehicle, to determine if any of the sensed operating conditions of the vehicle has changed by a predetermined amount;

assigning a quantitative risk level value to each changed external operating condition, wherein the actual risk level value for each changed operating condition is the operating condition risk level value associated with the respective sensed operating condition from the information task manager;

determining a summed risk level value by summing together each assigned risk level value for each changed operating condition; and

comparing the summed risk level value to the predetermined priority level value for the infotainment device, and disabling the infotainment device when the summed risk level value is greater than the predetermined priority level value for the infotainment device.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein a user may define the predetermined priority level value for the infotainment device so that at least one function of the infotainment device will not be disabled.

5. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein a user may selectively define the predetermined priority level for the infotainment device.

6. The method as set forth in claim 3 further including the step of re-enabling the disabled infotainment device when the summed risk level value is less than the predetermined priority level value for the infotainment device.

7. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein the risk level value is updated using information learned during operation of the vehicle.

8. The method as set forth in claim 3 further including the step of providing a user with a visual indicator that the infotainment device is disabled.