Determining a driver condition using a vehicle gateway

• US 10,315,662 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Terwilliger, Kevin, Tosh, Andrew, Wirtz, Jefferson Walter, Bryan, Rex
• Primary Examiner(s): Dsouza, Adolf
• Application Number:
  US15/286,534
• Publication Number:
  US 20180093672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Electronic components may be integrated in objects used by the trucking industry, such as truck, tractor trailer, cargo, and loading bay. These objects may then communicate with each other and with a gateway device to transmit or receive data or commands. The gateway may be configured to attach to the truck, such as by securing to the truck frame or securing to an interior of the truck cab. The gateway may couple to one or more input devices, and receive sensor data through the one or more input devices. The gateway may execute steps that allow the gateway to assess a driver'"'"'s condition and provide alerts and suggestions to improve the driver'"'"'s safety and health.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one input device configured to collect information regarding actions of a driver of a vehicle in operating the vehicle;

a gateway configured to attach to the vehicle and to communicate with the at least one input device, wherein the gateway is configured to perform steps comprising;

receiving the information regarding actions of the driver from the at least one input device;

determining a driver'"'"'s habit as a baseline reference based on a first portion of the received information regarding actions of the driver;

determining a condition of the driver based, at least in part, on a second portion of the received information regarding actions of the driver in operating the vehicle by comparing the second portion of the received information with the baseline reference; and

disabling certain vehicle functionality when the condition of the driver indicates the driver is fatigued compared to the baseline reference for the driver.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises a communications radio configured to communicate with a mobile device, wherein the mobile device collects the information regarding actions of the driver, and wherein the gateway receives the information regarding the actions of the driver through the communications radio.

3. The information handling system of claim 2, wherein the communications radio is integrated with the gateway.

4. The information handling system of claim 2, wherein the at least one input device comprises an interface to a biometric sensing device configured to collect at least one of heart rate information, pulse information, head position information, body position information, sleep schedule information, and eye tracking information.

5. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises an interface to an engine computer configured to collect at least one of fuel level, gear shifting efficiency, and speed.

6. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the gateway is further configured to generate an alert for the driver based, at least in part, on the determined condition of the driver and to cause the alert to be presented to the driver.

7. The information handling system of claim 6, wherein the gateway is configured to generate an alert for the driver to take a break based, at least in part, on the determined condition of the driver indicating the driver is fatigued.

8. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises an interface to a lane departure detection system, and wherein the gateway is configured to determine that the condition of the driver is fatigued when the received information collected by the lane departure detection system indicates an increase in detected lane departures compared to an average number of lane departures of the determined habits of the driver.

9. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the at least one input device comprises a communications radio configured to communicate with a smart watch, and wherein the gateway is configured to determine that the condition of the driver is fatigued when the received information collected by the smart watch indicates the driver has slept less than a threshold amount over a recent time period, wherein the threshold amount is based, at least in part, on the determined habits of the driver.

10. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the gateway is configured to perform steps comprising limit a maximum speed of the vehicle when the condition of the driver indicates the driver is fatigued.

11. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the gateway is configured to perform steps comprising:

transmitting an alert that the driver is fatigued to a remote server; and

altering a driver'"'"'s route to enter a nearby rest location.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a vehicle gateway, the information regarding actions of a driver in operating the vehicle;

determining, by the vehicle gateway, a driver'"'"'s habit as a baseline reference based on a first portion of the received information regarding actions of the driver;

determining, by the vehicle gateway, a condition of the driver based, at least in part, on a second portion of the received information regarding actions of the driver in operating the vehicle by comparing the second portion of the received information with the baseline reference; and

disabling, by the vehicle gateway, certain vehicle functionality when the condition of the driver indicates the driver is fatigued compared to the baseline reference for the driver.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the received information comprises biometric sensor data comprising at least one of heart rate information, pulse information, body position information, head position information, sleep schedule information, and eye tracking information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the received information comprises engine data comprising at lead one of fuel level, gear shifting efficiency, and speed.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating an alert for the driver based, at least in part, on the determined condition of the driver;

and causing the alert to be displayed to the driver.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the alert is generated based on the determined condition indicating the driver is fatigued.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of determining the condition comprises determining that the condition of the driver is fatigued when the received information regarding actions of the driver indicates an increase in detected lane departures from the determined habits of the driver.

18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code to execute steps on a vehicle gateway, wherein the steps comprise:

receiving, by a vehicle gateway, the information regarding actions of a driver in operating the vehicle;

determining habits of the driver based, at least in part, on the received information regarding actions of the driver in operating the vehicle;

determining, by the vehicle gateway, a condition of the driver by comparing a recent portion of the received information regarding actions of the driver with the determined habits of the driver, wherein the determined condition indicates whether the driver is fatigued; and

disabling certain vehicle functionality when the determined condition of the driver indicates the driver is fatigued in comparison to the baseline reference.