Techniques for presenting vehicle-related information
First Claim
1. An apparatus for presenting a time-variant information element in a vehicle, which has a steering wheel, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of remotely and individually controllable tactile pads, each of which is operable to produce a tactile sensation in response to a respective pad output signal, wherein a plurality of pad output signals are produced by a controller, and wherein the plurality of tactile pads are positioned or adapted to be positioned on the steering wheel or proximate to the steering wheel, the plurality of tactile pads being configured to be touched by at least one hand of a vehicle driver while driving the vehicle;
means for determining the time-variant information element to be presented and for applying the determined time-variant information element to the controller; and
means for encoding the determined time-variant information element by the controller into temporal variations of the plurality of pad output signals, wherein the encoding comprises encoding the time-variant information element to a simultaneous set of states of the plurality of tactile pads;
whereby the apparatus is configured to present the time-variant information element to the vehicle driver via the tactile sensation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for presenting a time-variant information element in a vehicle, which has a steering wheel (1602), comprises one or more remotely and individually controllable tactile pads (1620), which produce a tactile sensation in response to a respective pad output signal, which is produced by a controller (CTRL). The tactile pads are positioned or adapted to be positioned on the steering wheel (1602) or proximate to it, such that they can be touched by at least one hand (1610,1612) of the vehicle driver while driving the vehicle. The apparatus further comprises means for determining the time-variant information element to be presented and for applying the determined time-variant information element to the controller and means for encoding the determined time-variant information element by the controller into temporal variations of the one or more pad output signals.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. An apparatus for presenting a time-variant information element in a vehicle, which has a steering wheel, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of remotely and individually controllable tactile pads, each of which is operable to produce a tactile sensation in response to a respective pad output signal, wherein a plurality of pad output signals are produced by a controller, and wherein the plurality of tactile pads are positioned or adapted to be positioned on the steering wheel or proximate to the steering wheel, the plurality of tactile pads being configured to be touched by at least one hand of a vehicle driver while driving the vehicle; means for determining the time-variant information element to be presented and for applying the determined time-variant information element to the controller; and means for encoding the determined time-variant information element by the controller into temporal variations of the plurality of pad output signals, wherein the encoding comprises encoding the time-variant information element to a simultaneous set of states of the plurality of tactile pads; whereby the apparatus is configured to present the time-variant information element to the vehicle driver via the tactile sensation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for presenting a time-variant information element in a vehicle, which has a steering wheel, the method comprising:
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providing the steering wheel with two or more remotely and individually controllable tactile pads, each of which is operable to produce a tactile sensation in response to a respective pad output signal, wherein a plurality of pad output signals are produced by a controller, and wherein the two or more tactile pads are positioned on the steering wheel or proximate to the steering wheel, the two or more tactile pads being configured to be touched by at least one hand of a vehicle driver while driving the vehicle; determining the time-variant information element to be presented and applying the determined time-variant information element to the controller; and encoding the determined time-variant information element by the controller into temporal variations of the plurality of pad output signals, wherein the encoding comprises encoding the information element to a simultaneous set of states of the two or more tactile pads.
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Specification