Systems and methods for detecting steering wheel contact
First Claim
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1. A system for detecting operator contact with a steering wheel of a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a steering wheel;
a drive motor coupled to the steering wheel; and
a drive motor controller that controls the operation of the drive motor;
wherein the drive motor controller;
generates and communicates a drive signal to the drive motor to apply a force to the steering wheel,measures a current generated from a back electromotive force (back-EMF) on the drive motor resulting from the operator'"'"'s reactions to the force applied by the drive motor,compares the current with a predefined current range, andin response to the current being greater than the predefined current range, determines contact between the operator and the steering wheel, andin response to the current being less than or within the predefined current range, determines a lack of contact between the operator and the steering wheel.
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are systems and methods that describe systems and method for detecting operator contact with a steering wheel of a vehicle. The system can include: a steering wheel, a drive motor coupled to the steering wheel, and a drive motor controller that controls the operation of the drive motor. The drive motor controller can detect contact between the operator and the steering wheel. In one aspect, the systems and methods can be used to alert the operator of the vehicle when operator contact with the steering wheel is not detected.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A system for detecting operator contact with a steering wheel of a vehicle, the system comprising:
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a steering wheel; a drive motor coupled to the steering wheel; and a drive motor controller that controls the operation of the drive motor; wherein the drive motor controller; generates and communicates a drive signal to the drive motor to apply a force to the steering wheel, measures a current generated from a back electromotive force (back-EMF) on the drive motor resulting from the operator'"'"'s reactions to the force applied by the drive motor, compares the current with a predefined current range, and in response to the current being greater than the predefined current range, determines contact between the operator and the steering wheel, and in response to the current being less than or within the predefined current range, determines a lack of contact between the operator and the steering wheel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for detecting operator contact with a steering wheel of a vehicle, the method comprising:
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generating and communicating a drive signal, by a drive motor controller, to a drive motor to apply a force to a steering wheel, wherein the drive motor is coupled to the steering wheel, and the drive motor controller controls the operation of the drive motor, measuring a current generated from a back electromotive force (back-EMF) on the drive motor resulting from the operator'"'"'s reactions to the force applied by the drive motor, comparing, by the drive motor controller, the current with a predefined current range, in response to the current being greater than the predefined range, determining contact between the operator and the steering wheel, and in response to the current being less than or within the predefined range, determining a lack of contact between the operator and the steering wheel. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification