System and method for determining optimal vehicle component settings

• US 9,707,913 B1
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ochiai, Yuichi, Nagata, Katsumi, Sasaki, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): Butler, Rodney
• Application Number:
  US15/078,476
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0248 with memory of positions
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0268 using sensors or detectors for adapting the seat or seat part, e.g. to the position of an occupant
• 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: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers

Abstract

Described herein is a system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger, such as a vehicle seat or mirror, to increase driver and/or passenger safety. The system includes a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting, such as a recline angle for a seat back. The system also includes a sensor, such as a camera or force sensor, configured to detect body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user. For example, the body measurement data may include a height, a weight or the like. The system also includes an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component and the sensor. The ECU is designed to determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data. The ECU can also control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting.

Claims

1. A system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger comprising:

a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting;

an input device configured to receive user input corresponding to a user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component;

a sensor configured to detect body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user; and

an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component, the input device, and the sensor and configured to;

determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data,

control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting,

determine or retrieve an acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component that is based on the body measurement data,

determine whether a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component from the optimal setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component, and

prevent the setting of the vehicle component from being outside of the acceptable range of settings.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second sensor configured to detect upper body measurement data corresponding to an upper body physical attribute of the user and wherein the first body measurement data includes lower body measurement data corresponding to a lower body physical attribute of the user and the ECU is configured to determine the optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the upper body measurement data and the lower body measurement data.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the body measurement data corresponds to at least one of an arm length, a torso length, a leg length, a height, an eye position, a shoulder-to-shoulder distance or a weight.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second input device configured to receive an identifier of the user and a network access device configured to communicate with a cloud, wherein:

the ECU is further configured to instruct the network access device to transmit the identifier of the user and user-preferred component settings including at least one of the optimal setting of the vehicle component or a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component to the cloud for storage, and

the user-preferred component settings can be retrieved by a second ECU of a second vehicle for setting a second vehicle component of the second vehicle to the user-preferred component settings in response to the second ECU identifying the user.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an output device coupled to the ECU and configured to output data and wherein the ECU is further configured to cause the output device to output data indicating that the new component setting may be unsafe in response to determining that the new component setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings.

6. A system for setting a component of a vehicle for a driver or passenger comprising:

a vehicle component having at least one user-adjustable setting;

at least one input device configured to receive body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of a user and to receive user input corresponding to a user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component; and

an electronic control unit (ECU) coupled to the vehicle component and the input device and configured to;

determine an optimal setting for the vehicle component based on the body measurement data,

control the vehicle component to have the optimal setting,

determine or retrieve an acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component that is based on the body measurement data,

determine whether a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component from the optimal setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component, and

prevent the setting of the vehicle component from being outside of the acceptable range of settings.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the body measurement data includes upper body measurement data corresponding to an upper body physical attribute of the user and lower body measurement data corresponding to a lower body physical attribute of the user.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the body measurement data corresponds to at least one of an arm length, a torso length, a leg length, a height, an eye position, a shoulder-to-shoulder distance or a weight.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising a network access device configured to communicate with a cloud, wherein:

the at least one input device is further configured to receive an identifier of the user,

the ECU is further configured to instruct the network access device to transmit the identifier of the user and user-preferred component settings including at least one of the optimal setting of the vehicle component or a new component setting corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component to the cloud for storage, and

the user-preferred component settings can be retrieved by a second ECU of a second vehicle for setting a second vehicle component of the second vehicle to the user-preferred component settings in response to the second ECU identifying the user.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising an output device coupled to the ECU and configured to output data and wherein the ECU is further configured to cause the output device to output data indicating that the new component setting may be unsafe in response to determining that the new component setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings.

11. A method for setting and storing a user preference for a first component of a first vehicle and for implementing the user preference for a second component of a second vehicle comprising:

receiving, by a first input device of the first vehicle, an identifier of a user of the first vehicle, the first input device including at least one of a key reader configured to detect the identifier from a key, an input/output port configured to receive the identifier from a remote device, or a biometric sensor configured to detect a biometric of the user such that the biometric is the identifier;

receiving, by a first electronic control unit (ECU), body measurement data corresponding to a physical attribute of the user;

determining, by the first ECU, an optimal setting of the first component for the user based on the body measurement data;

transmitting, by a first network access device of the first vehicle, the identifier of the user and the optimal setting of the first component to a cloud;

receiving, by a second input device of the second vehicle, the identifier of the user;

transmitting, by a second network access device of the second vehicle, the identifier of the user to the cloud;

receiving, by the second network access device of the second vehicle, the optimal setting of the vehicle component based on the transmitted identifier of the user; and

controlling, by a second ECU of the second vehicle, a setting of the second component of the second vehicle based on the received optimal setting of the first component of the first vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the body measurement data is received from at least one of a sensor of the first vehicle configured to detect the body measurement data or from an input device of the first vehicle.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving, from a component input device of the first vehicle, a user-requested adjustment of the first component from the optimal setting;

determining, by the first ECU, whether a new setting of the first component corresponding to the user-requested adjustment of the vehicle component from the optimal setting is outside of an acceptable range of settings of the vehicle component based on the body measurement data; and

outputting, by an output device of the first vehicle, data indicating that the new setting of the first component is outside of the acceptable range of settings in response to determining that the new setting is outside of the acceptable range of settings.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

detecting, by a sensor of the second device, identification data corresponding to the user;

comparing, by the second ECU, the identification data corresponding to the user to the identifier of the user transmitted to the cloud to determine whether the identification data matches the identifier; and

outputting, by an output device of the second vehicle, data requesting the user to provide another identifier if the identification data corresponding to the user is different than the identifier of the user.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the first vehicle is a first type of vehicle and the second vehicle is a second type of vehicle and wherein controlling the setting of the second component of the second vehicle based is further based on geometric differences between the first type of vehicle and the second type of vehicle.