Interactive fatigue management system and method

• US 8,022,831 B1
• Filed: 01/02/2009
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Great Changes Inc.
• Original Assignee: Great Changes Inc.
• Inventors: Wood-Eyre, Pamela
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Application Number:
  US12/348,086
• Time in Patent Office: 991 Days
• Field of Search: 340/575, 340/576, 340988-990, 340/995.19, 340/995.2, 340/995.21, 180/272, 701200-216
• US Class Current: 340/575
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/14 operated upon collapse of driver deadman's devices for electrically propelled vehicles B60L3/02

Abstract

Systems and methods of detecting fatigue and drowsy conditions of vehicle drivers without initially using any disruptive visual and sound alarms, and instead immediately interacting with the driver as to their condition and providing information on rest stops through onboard GPS (global positioning satellite) systems, as well as alerting acquaintances and friends of the driver through telephones such as a cellular phone. The systems and methods can interact with the driver through touch type screens, and/or audible feedback to alert the driver of their condition and to temporarily take the driver off the roads.

Claims

1. An interactive system for coaching drivers under fatigue and drowsy conditions, comprising:

a pre-programmed driver profile record for storing driver information pre-programmed by a driver into a computer, the driver information including;

name of the driver, medical history of the driver, emergency contact for the driver, personal interests of the driver;

an interactive feedback system for automatically providing audio feedback to the driver based on audio questions directed to the driver and audio answers received from the driver;

wherein the driver profile record further includes;

pre-programmed threshold settings between triggering operation of the interactive feedback system, the pre-programmed threshold settings include an average elapsed time between the feedback of questions and answers is initiated between the computer and the driver, once the driver is driving the vehicle;

a GPS (global positioning satellite) system associated with the computer for determining location of the vehicle and location of a stop based on the interactive feedback system, the stop selected from at least one of an off ramp, a rest stop, a fuel stop, a food stop and a lodging stop; and

an instructional medium for automatically communicating the location of the stops to the driver of the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructional medium includes at least one of:

a screen visible to the driver, and an audio voice communication to the driver.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an alternative driver name stored in the driver profile record, wherein the interactive medium communicates to the driver to allow the alternative driver to take over driving duties from the driver.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal interests stored by the driver is selected from a group that includes:

entertainment interests of the driver, food preferences of the driver and role of the driver, the role including at least one of father, mother, son and daughter.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the emergency contact includes:

name and phone number of the contact, and relationship of the contact to the driver.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

a cell phone for housing the pre-programmed driver profile record, the interactive feedback system, the GPS system and the instructional medium.

7. An interactive system for coaching drivers under fatigue and drowsy conditions to safely remove themselves from driving under the fatigue and the drowsy conditions, comprising:

a pre-programmed driver profile record for storing driver information pre-programmed by a driver into a computer, the driver information including;

name of the driver, medical history of the driver, emergency contact for the driver, personal interests of the driver;

an interactive feedback system associated with the computer for communicating audio questions with the driver based on the pre-programmed driver profile record which require feedback from the driver as to the fatigue and drowsy condition of the driver, wherein the communicating is without initially setting off disruptive visual or sound alarms to the driver;

wherein the driver profile record further includes;

pre-programmed threshold settings between triggering operation of the interactive feedback system, the pre-programmed threshold settings include an average elapsed time between the feedback of questions and answers is initiated between the computer and the driver, once the driver is driving the vehicle.

8. The interactive system of claim 7, further comprising:

a GPS (global positioning satellite) system associated with the computer for detecting location of the vehicle and for determining location of rest stops; and

an instructional communication which communicates by audio the location of the rest stops to the driver of the vehicle.

9. The interactive system of claim 8, wherein the driver profile record further includes:

an alternative driver name in the computer, wherein the instructional communication communicates to the driver to allow the alternative driver to take over driving duties from the driver.

10. The interactive system of claim 8, wherein the rest stop is selected from the group consisting of an off-ramp, a restaurant, a lodging location, and a fuel station.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the personal interests stored by the driver is selected from a group that includes:

entertainment interests of the driver, food preferences of the driver and role of the driver, the role including at least one of father, mother, son and daughter.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the emergency contact includes name and phone number of the contact, and relationship of the contact to the driver.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a cell phone for housing the pre-programmed driver profile record, the interactive feedback system, the GPS system and the instructional medium.

14. A method of coaching drivers operating vehicles under fatigue and drowsy conditions, comprising the steps of:

providing an interactive feedback system with a computer in a vehicle;

storing a pre-programmed driver profile record of driver information into the computer, the driver information including;

name of the driver, medical history of the driver, emergency contact for the driver, personal interests of the driver, and pre-programmed threshold settings between triggering operation of the interactive feedback system, the pre-programmed threshold settings include an average elapsed time between the interactive feedback of audio questions and answers is initiated between the computer and the driver, once the driver is driving the vehicle;

interacting between the computer and driver with prompt questions based on the driver information in the pre-programmed driver profile record, where responses determine whether to alert the driver of the fatigue and the drowsy condition, without initially setting off any disruptive visual and sound alarms to the driver; and

coaching the driver to a safe use of their vehicle, without setting off the disruptive visual and sound alarms.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

determining location of the vehicle and location of a stop with a GPS (global positioning satellite) system, the stop selected from at least one of an off ramp, a rest stop, a fuel stop, a food stop and a lodging stop; and

communicating the location of the rest stop to the driver of the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the personal interests stored by the driver is selected from a group that includes:

entertainment interests of the driver, food preferences of the driver and role of the driver, the role including at least one of father, mother, son and daughter, and wherein the emergency contact includes;

name and phone number of the contact, and relationship of the contact to the driver.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

providing a cell phone for housing the pre-programmed driver profile record, the interactive feedback system, the GPS system and the instructional medium.