Accelerometer-based vehicle wiper blade monitoring

• US 10,308,225 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2017
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wheeler, Joshua, Amman, Scott, Thornburg, Doug B., Bennie, Brian, Ghannam, Mahmoud
• Primary Examiner(s): Duda, Rina
• Assistant Examiner(s): Joseph, Devon
• Application Number:
  US15/683,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20190061697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 651 Days
• Field of Search: 318460
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/08 electrically driven conjoint control of windscreen wiper motor and liquid supply of windscreen washer B60S1/482; conjoint control of windscreen wiper motor and means for cleaning parts o parts other than windscreens or front windows B60S1/56, B60S1/58, B60S1/606
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0822 characterized by the arrangement or type of detection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0859 Other types of detection of rain, e.g. by measuring friction or rain drop impact
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 2001/3844 equipped with means to indicate wear or usage of blade

Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for accelerometer-based windshield wiper monitoring. A vehicle includes an accelerometer affixed to a vehicle window, a windshield wiper to actuate across the vehicle window, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine an acoustic profile corresponding to the windshield wiper based on structure-borne audio data received from the accelerometer, determine whether a bandlimited decibel level of the acoustic profile exceeds a threshold, and responsively provide an alert via a vehicle display.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

an accelerometer affixed to a vehicle window;

a windshield wiper to actuate across the vehicle window; and

a processor configured to;

determine an acoustic profile corresponding to the windshield wiper based on structure-borne audio data received from the accelerometer;

determine whether a bandlimited decibel level of the acoustic profile exceeds a threshold; and

responsively provide an alert via a vehicle display.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure vibrations perpendicular to a glass surface of the vehicle window.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer is affixed to a top-center portion of a front windshield of the vehicle.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

compare the determined acoustic profile to a plurality of stored acoustic profiles, wherein each stored acoustic profile has a corresponding threshold;

determine a closest matching stored acoustic profile; and

select the threshold corresponding to the closest matching stored acoustic profile.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein a first profile of the plurality of stored acoustic profiles corresponds to an aged wiper blade, and wherein a second profile of the plurality of stored acoustic profiles corresponds to a broken wiper blade arm.

6. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein each stored acoustic profile comprises a corresponding alert type, and wherein the processor is further configured to provide the alert based on the closest matching acoustic profile.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the bandlimited decibel level comprises a decibel level of the acoustic profile between 1 to 10 kHz.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive input indicating a characteristic of the windshield wiper; and

modify the threshold based on the received input.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer comprises a first sensor, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive data from a second sensor; and

provide the alert via the vehicle display based on data from the first sensor and data from the second sensor.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the alert to a vehicle service center.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, structure-borne audio data captured by an accelerometer affixed to a vehicle window, wherein the audio data corresponds to noise generated when a windshield wiper is actuated across the vehicle window;

determining an acoustic profile corresponding to the structure-borne audio data;

determining whether a bandlimited decibel level of the acoustic profile exceeds a threshold; and

responsively providing an alert via a vehicle display.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure vibrations perpendicular to a glass surface of the vehicle window.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the vehicle window is a front windshield, and wherein the accelerometer is affixed to a top-center portion of the front windshield.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

comparing the determined acoustic profile to a plurality of stored acoustic profiles, wherein each stored acoustic profile has a corresponding threshold;

determining a closest matching stored acoustic profile; and

selecting the threshold corresponding to the closest matching stored acoustic profile.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first profile of the plurality of stored acoustic profiles corresponds to an aged wiper blade, and wherein a second profile of the plurality of stored acoustic profiles corresponds to a broken wiper blade arm.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein each stored acoustic profile comprises a corresponding alert type, the method further comprising providing the alert based on the closest matching acoustic profile.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the bandlimited decibel level comprises a decibel level of the acoustic profile between 1 to 10 kHz.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving input indicating a characteristic of the windshield wiper; and

modifying the threshold based on the received input.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the accelerometer comprises a first sensor, the method further comprising:

receiving data from a second sensor; and

providing the alert via the vehicle display based on data from the first sensor and data from the second sensor.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting the alert to a vehicle service center.