Safety control system for apps in vehicles

• US 9,713,994 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2016
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACT-IP LLC
• Original Assignee: ACT-IP LLC
• Inventors: Naboulsi, Mouhamad Ahmad
• Primary Examiner(s): CAMBY, RICHARD M
• Application Number:
  US15/352,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20170182956A1
• Time in Patent Office: 252 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0264 for control means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0232 for measuring vehicle parameters and indicating critical, abnormal or dangerous conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/001 Vehicle control means, e.g. steering-wheel or column
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0227 Cooperation and interconnection of the input arrangement with other functional units of a computer G06F3/023 - G06F3/037 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6083 by interfacing with the vehicle audio system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724631 by limiting the access to the user interface, e.g. locking a touch-screen or a keypad

Abstract

According to one aspect of one embodiment of the present invention, a safety control system for using applications in vehicles, includes, a communication device having at least one of an input accessible from within the vehicle and an output communicated within the vehicle, at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to vehicle operation, and data about distraction features of a running application, to and a controller communicated with the sensor and the communication device to selectively suppress at least one of said input and said output in response to a sensed parameter of said at least one condition being outside of a threshold. When an input is suppressed, the driver is prevented from accessing or inputting information into the communication device. When an output is suppressed, communication between the device and the driver of a vehicle is suppressed to, among other things, avoid distracting the driver during certain driving situations or conditions relating to the driver, vehicle and/or environment.

Claims

1. A safety control system for vehicles comprising:

a telematic device running at least one software application and having at least one input and at least one output;

at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to a driving environment and data providing information indicating at least one distracting feature for at least one software application;

a controller in communication with the sensor and the data and the software application and the telematic device, the controller configured to prevent the at least one application output from being provided to the driver in the original format of the at least one output and to provide the at least one output to the driver in a different format, and

wherein the controller controls when at least one input into the software application and at least one output from the software application are provided to the driver so that prior to permitting the driver to access the input or prior to providing an output from the software application on the telematic device to the driver, the controller determines whether said at least one condition is within a threshold and permits the driver to access said input or provides said output to said driver only when said at least one condition is within the threshold.

2. The safety control system of claim 1 wherein:

the software applications include at least one of a telephone application, a pager application, a vehicle indicator application providing an audible, text to speech, or visual output, a navigation application, an audio application, a video application, a voice recorder application, a wireless communication application permitting access to internet, WAN or LAN network server, an email application, an SMS application, a text messaging application, a media messaging application, digital address book application, book reading application, a digital calendar application, a planner application, a digital assistance application, a navigation application and communication device including at least a pager, a telephone, a global location sensor, a temporal sensor, an optical sensor, a heading sensor, a bearing sensor, and an altitude sensor;

the at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to a driving environment, and to provide data indicating at least one distracting feature for the at least one software application;

and wherein the controller prevents said at least one application output from being provided to the driver in the original format of said at least one output and provides said at least one output to the driver in a different format.

3. The safety control system of claim 1 wherein the controller resides on at least one of portable multifunction telematic device, a built in telematic controller or a remote controller in communication with the vehicle, the driver, the software application, the input and the output to the driver.

4. The safety control system of claim 1 wherein the software application resides on at least one of portable multifunction telematic device, a built in telematic controller or a remote controller in communication with the vehicle, the driver, the software application, the input and the output to the driver.

5. The safety control system of claim 1 wherein the controller resides on at least two or more of a portable multifunction telematic device, a built it telematic controller or a remote controller in communication with the vehicle, the driver, the software application, the input and the output to the driver.

6. The safety control system of claim 1 wherein the software application resides on at least two or more of portable multifunction telematic device, a built in telematic controller or a remote controller in communication with the vehicle, the driver, the software application, the input and the output to the driver whereas such communication is carried out wirelessly via LAN, WAN, Cellular or WIFI.

7. The safety control system of claim 2 wherein the data indicating at least one distracting feature resides on at least one or more of a portable multifunction telematic device, a built in telematic controller or a remote controller in communication with the vehicle, the driver, the software application, the input and the output to the driver, whereas such communication is carried out wirelessly via LAN, WAN, Cellular or WIFI.

8. The safety control system of claim 2 wherein the driving environment data provided to the system includes at least one of a vehicle data, traffic data, driver related data, applications in use data, other vehicles in traffic data, GPS data, location data, heading data, bearing data, navigation data, passengers data, pedestrian data, weather data, infrastructure data, location data and temporal data related to the driving environment.

9. A safety control system for vehicles, including:

a telematic device running at least one software application and having at least one of an input and at least one output;

at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to driving environment and data providing information indicating at least one distracting feature for at least one software application;

a controller in communication with the sensor and the data and the software application and the telematic device, wherein the controller prevents said at least one application output from being provided to the driver in the original format of said at least one output, and provides said at least one output to the driver in a different format, and

wherein the controller controls when at least one input into the software application and at least one output from the software application are provided to the driver so that prior to permitting the driver to access said input or prior to providing an output from the software application on the telematic device to the driver, the controller determines whether said at least one condition is within a threshold and permits the driver to access said input or provides said output to said driver only when said at least one condition is within the threshold.

10. A safety control system for driving residing on a portable communication telematic device, the safety control system comprising:

a portable communication device running at least one software application and having at least one of an input and at least one output;

at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to driving environment and data providing information indicating at least one distracting feature for at least one software application;

a controller in communication with the sensor and the data and the software application and the telematic device, wherein the controller prevents said at least one application output from being provided to the driver in the original format of said at least one output, and provides said at least one output to the driver in a different format, and wherein the controller controls when at least one input into the software application and at least one output from the software application are provided to the driver so that prior to permitting the driver to access said input or prior to providing an output from the software application on the telematic device to the driver, the controller determines whether said at least one condition is within a thresholds and permits the driver to access said input or provides said output to said driver only when said at least one condition is within the threshold.