SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A SAFETY RESTRAINT STATUS BASED ON DRIVER STATUS

• US 20090195376A1
• Filed: 02/06/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Sarkisian, Andrew D., Wojcik, Karl William, Cooprider, Anthony Dwayne, Cepuran, Lawrence Daniel, Brombach, Ronald Patrick, Van Wiemeersch, John Robert, Miller, Thomas Lee, Hille, Kevin Thomas, Cwik, Terry Thomas, Bennie, Brian, Dalebout, Matthew J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,868,750 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/457.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4816 for sensing locking of buckle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4866 Displaying or indicating arrangements thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01546 using belt buckle sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/241 whereby access privileges are related to the identifiers

Abstract

A system and method for notifying primary and second drivers about a status of a safety restraint in a vehicle is provided. A primary and secondary keys are adapted to be associated to the primary and secondary drivers. A key ignition device is positioned on each of the primary key and secondary keys. The key ignition device is adapted to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver the primary driver or the secondary driver. A controller is adapted to determine whether the driver of the vehicle is the primary driver or the secondary driver based on the driver status signals. The controller is further adapted to generate restraint status signals indicative of the status of the safety restraint. The controller is further adapted to selectively control the operation of generating the restraint signals based on whether the driver of the vehicle is the primary or secondary driver.

Claims

1. A system for notifying primary and second drivers about a status of a safety restraint in a vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one primary key adapted to be assigned to the primary driver;

at least one secondary key adapted to be assigned to the secondary driver;

a key ignition device positioned on each of the primary key and the secondary key and adapted to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver; and

a controller operably coupled to the key ignition device and adapted to;

determine whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver in response to the driver status signals;

generate restraint status signals indicative of the status of the safety restraint to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the status of the safety restraint; and

selectively control the operation of generating the restraint signals based on whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller is capable of allowing the driver to enable/disable the operation of generating the restraint status signals in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the primary driver.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller is capable of preventing the driver from disabling the operation of generating the restraint status signal in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller includes at least one of a passive anti-theft (PAT) controller and a passive entry passive start (PEPS) controller to receive the driver status signals from at least one of the primary key and the secondary key.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the controller further includes a seatbelt status controller operably coupled to at least one of the PAT controller and the PEPS controller and configured to generate the restraint status signals which are indicative of whether one or more seatbelts are engaged/disengaged.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the controller further includes at least one of a cluster and a smart display module operably coupled to the seatbelt status controller and at least one of the PAT controller and the PEPS controller.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein at least one of the cluster and the smart display module is configured to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver that the one or more seatbelts in the vehicle is disengaged in response to the restraint signals.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising an occupant classification adapted to determine the position of occupants seated in the vehicle, wherein at least one of the cluster and the smart display module is adapted to notify the secondary driver that one or more seatbelts belonging to the vehicle occupants are disengaged.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the key ignition device includes a radio frequency (RF) based transponder configured to generate the driver status signals as RF based signals.

10. A method for notifying primary and secondary drivers about a status of a safety restraint in a vehicle, the method comprising:

tagging at least one primary key to the primary driver;

tagging at least one secondary key to the secondary driver;

positioning a key ignition device on each of the primary key and the secondary key;

generating driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver with the key ignition device;

determining whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver in response to the driver status signals;

generating restraint status signals indicative of the status of the safety restraint to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the status of the safety restraint; and

selectively controlling the operation of generating the restraint signals based on whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising enabling/disabling the operation of generating the restraint status signals in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the primary driver.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising inhibiting the driver from disabling the operation of generating the restraint status signals in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver.

13. The method of claim 10 generating the driver status signals as radio frequency (RF) based signals with an RF based transponder.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising tagging the primary key to the primary driver and tagging the secondary key to the secondary driver via the RF based signals prior to determining whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

15. A system for notifying primary and second drivers that one or more seatbelts in a vehicle are unbuckled, the system comprising:

a first controller adapted to associate at least one primary key having a first key ignition device to the primary driver and to associate at least one secondary key having a second key ignition device to the secondary driver, wherein the first and second key ignition devices and the first controller are each configured to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver;

a second controller operably coupled to at least one of the first controller, the first ignition device and the second key ignition device and adapted to;

generate restraint status signals indicative of a buckle status of the one or more seatbelts to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the buckle status of the one or more seatbelts; and

selectively control the operation of generating the restraint status signals in response to the driver status signals.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the second controller is capable of allowing the driver to enable/disable the operation of the first controller in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the primary driver.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the second controller is capable of preventing the driver from disabling the operation of the first controller in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the second controller includes a seatbelt status controller and at least one of a cluster and a smart display module (SDM), the seatbelt status controller is configured to generate the restraint status signals and at least one of the cluster and the SDM is configured to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver that the one or more seatbelts in the vehicle is unbuckled.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the second controller further includes an occupant classification system adapted to detect the presence of vehicle occupants in the vehicle and an audio control module (ACM) adapted to enter into a muted state in response to determining that at least one driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver and the one or more vehicle occupants or the secondary driver are in an unbuckled seatbelt state.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the key ignition device includes a radio frequency (RF) based transponder configured to generate the driver status signals as radio frequency (RF) based signals.