Adapting vehicle systems based on wearable devices

• US 9,481,326 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2013
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Chatterjee, Dibyendu
• Primary Examiner(s): WONG, YUEN H
• Application Number:
  US14/073,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127215A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00642 Control systems or circuits; Control members or indication devices for heating, cooling or ventilating devices B60H1/3201 - B60H1/3208, B60H1/3225 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00657 Remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Embodiments are described for an in-vehicle computing system, and methods of controlling vehicle settings using the in-vehicle computing system based on input received from a wearable device. Input may also be received from a mobile device. The in-vehicle computing system may automatically adjust one or more vehicle settings based on the received input.

Claims

1. A method for an in-vehicle computing system, comprising:

receiving aggregated input regarding a physical condition and an environment of a user from a mobile device, the aggregated input regarding the physical condition of the user collected by a wearable device communicatively coupled to the mobile device;

automatically selecting by a processor of the in-vehicle computing system, one or more vehicle settings based on the received aggregated input before receiving a user input, the vehicle settings selected for the user based on a change in the physical condition and environment of the user;

transmitting control instructions to one or more components of an in-vehicle infotainment system, including a climate control system, based on the automatically selected vehicle settings;

selectively receiving user input from the user via a user interface of the in-vehicle computing system; and

further adjusting, by the processor, the one or more vehicle settings based on the received user input,

wherein the further adjusting the one or more vehicle settings based on the received user input includes overriding, by the processor, the automatically selected vehicle settings based on an input from the wearable device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearable device is communicatively coupled to the in-vehicle computing system via a network and wherein receiving input from the wearable device includes directly receiving input from the wearable device over the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearable device is communicatively coupled to the mobile device, the mobile device communicatively coupled to the in-vehicle computing system via a network, and wherein receiving input from the wearable device includes indirectly receiving input from the wearable device via the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregated input regarding the physical condition of the user collected by the wearable device further includes input indicative of one or more of a physical activity level of the user and a cognitive load of the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the automatically selecting the one or more vehicle settings includes automatically selecting one or more of a cabin climate control system setting and an audio system setting based on the input from the wearable device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the aggregated input regarding the environment of the user, the includes one or more of ambient temperature, ambient humidity, ambient noise level, and ambient audio setting.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising learning the automatically selected vehicle settings as a function of a user state, the user state based on one or more of the physical activity level of the user and the cognitive load of the user.

8. An in-vehicle infotainment system, comprising:

a processor;

an external device interface communicatively coupled to a mobile device; and

a storage device containing instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive aggregated input regarding a physical condition and an environment of a user from the mobile device, the aggregated input regarding the physical condition of the user collected by a wearable device communicatively coupled to the mobile device;

automatically select settings for one or more components of the in-vehicle infotainment system, before receiving a user input, based on the aggregated input, the settings selected for the user based on a change in the physical condition and environment of the user;

transmit control instructions to the one or more components of the in-vehicle infotainment system, including a climate control system, based on the automatically selected settings;

selectively receive the user input from the user via a user interface of the in-vehicle infotainment system; and

further adjust the settings for the one or more components based on the received user input,

wherein the further adjusting the settings based on the received user input includes overriding the automatically selected settings based on an input from the wearable device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the aggregated input regarding the environment of the user is collected by the mobile device, and wherein the aggregated input regarding the physical condition of the user is transmitted from the wearable device to the mobile device, the aggregated input regarding the environment of the user and the aggregated input regarding the physical condition of the user is aggregated at the mobile device before transmission to the in-vehicle infotainment system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the automatically selecting settings for the one or more components based on the aggregated input includes automatically selecting settings without receiving the user input at the in-vehicle infotainment system, the mobile device, or the wearable device, and wherein the one or more components of the in-vehicle infotainment system include an audio system and the climate control system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the automatically selecting settings further includes:

in response to the received aggregated input indicating an elevated physical activity level of the user, adjusting settings of the climate control system to increase cabin cooling.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the automatically selecting settings further includes:

transmitting control instructions to the mobile device to sample an ambient noise level and an ambient music genre; and

receiving input from the mobile device regarding the sampled ambient noise level and ambient music genre.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the automatically selecting settings further includes:

in response to the ambient noise level being higher than a threshold, adjusting a speaker volume to mask ambient noise; and

changing a playlist of the audio system from a last played playlist to a playlist that matches the ambient music genre.

14. An in-vehicle system, comprising:

an audio system;

a climate control system; and

an in-vehicle computing system, including a processor, communicatively coupled to each of the audio system and the climate control system, the in-vehicle computing system configured to;

receive a first input from a wearable device worn by a vehicle operator, the first input regarding a physical condition of the vehicle operator;

receive a second input from a mobile device of the vehicle operator, the second input regarding an environment of the vehicle operator;

automatically select settings of each of the climate control system and the audio system based on the first and second inputs, before receiving a vehicle operator input;

selectively receive the vehicle operator input from the vehicle operator via a user interface of the in-vehicle computing system; and

further adjust the settings of each of the climate control system and the audio system based on the received vehicle operator input including overriding the automatically selected settings based on the first input from the wearable device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the wearable device includes a wearable sensor and wherein the first input regarding the physical condition of the vehicle operator is indicative of a physical parameter of the vehicle operator, the physical parameter including one or more of a heart rate, a pulse rate, a basal body temperature, a blood pressure, a perspiration level, and an activity level.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second input regarding the environment of the vehicle operator is indicative of an environmental parameter of the vehicle operator, the environmental parameter including one or more of an ambient noise level, an ambient music genre, a geographic location of the vehicle operator, an ambient temperature, an ambient humidity, and telecommunication data.