Driver health and fatigue monitoring system and method
First Claim
1. A vehicle, comprising:
- a seat in which an occupant sits during use of the vehicle; and
a monitoring system for monitoring the occupant in said seat, said monitoring system comprising;
a plurality of sets of electric field antennas, each of said sets including at least one antenna;
a control unit connected to said sets of antennas, said control unit including selectors coupled to said antennas and controlling said selectors to obtain signals from one or more of said antennas serving as receiving antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as sending antennas, said control unit determining which combination of one or more of said antennas serving as the sending antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as the receiving antennas provides a strongest signal in at least one of an expected heartbeat range and an expected respiration range of the occupant and then monitoring this determined combination for at least one of changes and deviations from a normal range of at least one of heartbeats and respiration rate.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicle including a seat in which an occupant sits during use of the vehicle and a monitoring system for monitoring the occupant in the seat. The monitoring system includes sets of electric field antennas, each including at least one antenna, a control unit connected to the antenna sets and including selectors coupled to the antennas. The selectors are controlled by the control unit to obtain signals from one or more antennas serving as receiving antennas and one or more antennas serving as sending antennas. The control unit determines which combination of sending antenna(s) and receiving antenna(s) provides a strongest signal in an expected heartbeat range and/or expected respiration range of the occupant and then monitors this combination for changes and/or deviations from a normal range of heartbeats and/or respiration.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A vehicle, comprising:
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a seat in which an occupant sits during use of the vehicle; and a monitoring system for monitoring the occupant in said seat, said monitoring system comprising; a plurality of sets of electric field antennas, each of said sets including at least one antenna; a control unit connected to said sets of antennas, said control unit including selectors coupled to said antennas and controlling said selectors to obtain signals from one or more of said antennas serving as receiving antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as sending antennas, said control unit determining which combination of one or more of said antennas serving as the sending antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as the receiving antennas provides a strongest signal in at least one of an expected heartbeat range and an expected respiration range of the occupant and then monitoring this determined combination for at least one of changes and deviations from a normal range of at least one of heartbeats and respiration rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for monitoring an occupant of a vehicle, comprising:
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arranging a plurality of antennas on a seat, each separated from one another; selecting from a plurality of different possible combinations of the antennas, two or more of the antennas to form a sending and receiving arrangement of antennas; generating a weak electric field via the selected antenna arrangement; detecting information related to a current flow in the selected antenna arrangement during generation of the weak electric field; and determining, using a processor, a health condition of the occupant based on the detected information. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A vehicle, comprising:
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a seat in which a driver or operation of the vehicle sits during use of the vehicle; and a monitoring system for monitoring the driver in said seat, said monitoring system comprising; a plurality of sets of electric field antennas, each of said sets including at least one antenna; a control unit connected to said sets of antennas, said control unit including selectors coupled to said antennas and controlling said selectors to obtain signals from one or more of said antennas serving as receiving antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as sending antennas, said control unit determining which combination of one or more of said antennas serving as the sending antennas and one or more of said antennas serving as the receiving antennas provides a strongest signal in at least one of an expected heartbeat range and an expected respiration range of the driver and then monitoring this determined combination for at least one of changes and deviations from a normal range of at least one of heartbeats and respiration rate; and a notification system coupled to said monitoring system and that notifies the driver of their potential inability to operate the vehicle based on analysis of at least one of changes and deviations from a normal range of at least one of heartbeats and respiration rate and that is configured to require responsive action by the driver when said control unit determines at least one of changes and deviations from the normal range of at least one of heartbeats and respiration rate. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification