System and method for biometric identification in a vehicle

• US 9,272,689 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2013
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Fung, Kin C., Dick, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US13/858,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20140303899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,060 Days
• Field of Search: 600/509, 600/508, 701/1, 382/115, 382/117
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/25 using biometry
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/15 Biometric patterns based on physiological signals, e.g. heartbeat, blood flow
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A computer implemented method for identifying a vehicle occupant including receiving a signal from a plurality of sensors, wherein the signal indicates a measurement of cardiac activity, determining a biomarker based on biometric features of the signal and identifying the vehicle occupant based on the biomarker.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for identifying a vehicle occupant, comprising:

transmitting an optical signal from a plurality of contract sensors located in a vehicle towards a thoracic region of the vehicle occupant;

receiving a reflected signal from the thoracic region of the vehicle occupant as a result of the optical signal reflecting from the vehicle occupant, wherein the reflected signal is an cardiac signal that indicates a measurement of cardiac activity;

determining a biomarker based on biometric features of the cardiac signal;

identifying the vehicle occupant based on the biomarker, wherein identifying the vehicle occupant includes comparing the biomarker to a stored biomarker; and

modifying a vehicle system based on identifying the vehicle occupant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contactless sensors transmit and receive signals without direct contact between the sensor and the vehicle occupant.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement of cardiac activity is a cardiac waveform.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the biomarker further includes extracting a P wave and a T wave of the cardiac waveform.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contactless sensors located in the vehicle include photoelectric sensors and the optical signal indicates a photoplethysmogram of cardiac activity.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contactless sensors located in the vehicle are located inside a seat of the vehicle.

7. A computer implemented method for identifying a vehicle occupant, comprising:

receiving an optical signal from one or more contactless sensors located in a vehicle, the optical signal being a cardiac signal produced from the vehicle occupant, wherein the optical signal is a reflected signal that is reflected from a thoracic region of the vehicle occupant;

analyzing a cardiac signal for identifying features;

identifying the vehicle occupant identity based on the identifying features, wherein the identifying the vehicle occupant identity includes comparing the identifying features to vehicle occupant identifying features that are stored in a vehicle occupant profile; and

transmitting the vehicle occupant identity to a vehicle system, wherein the vehicle system is modified based on the vehicle occupant identity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein analyzing the cardiac signal further includes processing the cardiac signal to determine a cardiac waveform.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the reflected signal is reflected from the vehicle occupant after transmitting a signal towards the thoracic region of the vehicle occupant.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle occupant identity is used to determine vehicle personalization features of the vehicle system.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the one or more contactless sensors include one or more photoelectric sensors for sensing a photoplethysmogram of cardiac activity.

12. A system for personal identification in a vehicle, comprising:

A plurality of contactless sensor configured to transmit a signal towards a thoracic region of a vehicle occupant;

receiving module configured for receiving a reflected signal from a plurality of contactless sensors, wherein the reflected signal indicates a measurement of cardiac activity of the vehicle occupant, and wherein the contactless sensors optically obtain the signal;

a biomarker module configured for determining a biomarker based on biometric features of a cardiac signal; and

an identification module configured for identifying the vehicle occupant based on the biomarker, wherein the identification module identifies the vehicle occupant based on comparison of the biomarker features with stored biometric features and the vehicle modifies a vehicle system based on identifying the vehicle occupant.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the measurement of cardiac activity is a cardiac waveform.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the biometric features are at least one of a P wave or a T wave.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a memory for storing a personal identification profile with the stored biometric features associated with the vehicle occupant.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the cardiac signal indicates a photoplethysmogram of cardiac activity.