SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OBJECT DETECTION BASED ON DRIVER STATUS

• US 20090198445A1
• 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: Wojcik, Karl William, Cooprider, Anthony Dwayne, Brombach, Ronald Patrick, Van Wiemeersch, John Robert, Miller, Thomas Lee, Hille, Kevin Thomas, Bhuva, Shimul, Mills, Aaron Lewis
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system

Abstract

Primary and secondary keys are adapted to be associated to primary and secondary drivers. A key ignition device is positioned on each of the primary and secondary keys and is configured to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver the primary driver or the secondary driver. A controller is operably coupled to the key ignition device. The controller is adapted to determine whether the driver is the primary driver or the secondary driver. The controller is adapted to generate position notification signals indicative of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle. The controller is adapted to notify the primary and secondary drivers of the position of the object. The controller is adapted to selectively control the operation of generating the position notification signals based on whether the driver is the primary driver or the secondary driver.

Claims

1. A system for notifying primary and secondary drivers in a vehicle about a position of an object with respect to the vehicle, the system comprising:

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

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

a key ignition device positioned on each of the primary key and the secondary key and configured 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 based on the driver status signals;

generate position notification signals indicative of the position of an object with respect to the vehicle to notify at least one of the primary and the secondary driver of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle; and

selectively control the operation of generating the position notification 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 position notification 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 position notification signals 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 1 wherein the controller includes a parking aid module (PAM) adapted to generate the position notification signals while the vehicle is being parked.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the controller includes a forward collision warning (FCW) module adapted to generate the position notification signals in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state whereby a collision is imminent with another object.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the controller includes at least one of a cluster controller and a smart display module (SDM) operably coupled to the PAM and the FCW module.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the cluster controller and the SDM is adapted to audibly and visually notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver that the object is positioned the predetermined distance away from the vehicle in response to the position notification signals.

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 in a vehicle about a position of an object with respect to the 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;

determining whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver based on the driver status signals;

generating position notification signals indicative of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle to notify at least one of the primary and the secondary driver of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle; and

selectively controlling the operation of generating the position notification 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 position notification 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 position notification signals in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating the position notification signals with a parking aid module (PAM) while the vehicle is being parked.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating the position notification signals with a forward collision warning (FCW) module in response to determining that the vehicle is in a state whereby a collision is imminent with another object.

15. A system for notifying primary and secondary drivers in a vehicle about a position of an object with respect to the vehicle, 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 controller, the first key ignition device and the second key ignition device 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; and

a second controller operably coupled to the first controller, the first key ignition device and the second key ignition device, the second controller is adapted to;

determine whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver based on the driver status signals;

generate position notification signals indicative of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle;

visually notify at least one of the primary and the secondary driver of the position of the object with respect to the vehicle; and

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

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the second controller is capable of allowing the driver to enable/disable the operation of generating the position notification signals 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 generating the position notification signals in response to determining that the driver of the vehicle is the secondary driver.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the first 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.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the first and second key ignition devices each include a radio frequency (RF) based transponder configured to generate the driver status signals as RF based signals.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the controller is further adapted to associate the primary key to the primary driver and to associate the secondary key to the secondary driver via the RF based signals.