INTEGRATION OF OCCUPANT MONITORING SYSTEMS WITH VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEMS

• US 20180319407A1
• Filed: 05/08/2018
• Published: 11/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joyson Safety Systems Acquisition, LLC
• Original Assignee: TK Holdings Incorporated (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lisseman, Jason Carl, Cech, Len, Dolcetti, Blaine
• Granted Patent: US 11,713,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0224 Non-manual adjustments, e.g. with electrical operation
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/30 including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/00 Input parameters relating to occupants
• 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: B62D 1/181 with power actuated adjustment, e.g. with position memory
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/593 Recognising seat occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• 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

Abstract

The disclosed method is stored as computer readable instructions and carried out by a processor that is part of a disclosed occupant monitoring system (OMS). The method starts with the receipt of an external signal by the processor. The external signal can be the starting of the vehicle engine, an indication of semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode, or an indication that the occupant is seated, is in contact with a steering wheel, and/or is in contact with at least one dashboard control. The receipt of the external signal causes the processor to capture an image, analyze the image to determine if at least one monitoring condition is met, generate an adjustment signal if the monitoring condition is not met, and communicate the adjustment signal to at least one VCS, and repeating the monitoring loop. In some implementations, multiple images are captured and analyzed during the cycling of a monitoring loop.

Claims

1. An occupant monitoring system (OMS) for monitoring at least one vehicle occupant, the OMS comprising:

an imaging unit disposed within a vehicle, the imaging unit having a field of view (FOV), and

a processor in communication with the imaging unit, a memory, and one or more vehicle control systems disposed within the vehicle, wherein the processor executes computer-readable instructions stored on the memory, the instructions cause the processor to initiate cycling of a monitoring loop upon receipt of an external signal, the monitoring loop comprising;

capturing an image in the FOV of the imaging unit,

analyzing the image to determine if at least one monitoring condition is met, and

generating an adjustment signal to at least one vehicle control system if the monitoring condition is not met.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the OMS is in communication with at least one vehicle control system, and wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to communicate the adjustment signal to the at least one vehicle control system.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle control system is a seat positioning system, a steering assembly positioning system, or both.

4. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the adjustment signal comprises information about the seat height, the seat angle, the seat proximity to the imaging unit, or a combination thereof.

5. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the adjustment signal comprises information about the steering column angle, the steering column length, or the steering wheel angle.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the imaging unit is positioned on a steering wheel, on a steering wheel column, or on a dashboard of the vehicle.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to repeat the monitoring loop.

9. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring condition comprises at least one of the following criteria:

presence of the occupant in the FOV, the position of the occupant within the FOV, the proximity of the occupant to the imaging unit, the area of the occupant'"'"'s face, and/or the angle of the occupant'"'"'s face.

14. The monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to:

calculate steering assembly position boundaries based on one or more image analyses acquired during repetition of the monitoring loop, and

restrict the movement of the steering assembly to positions within the steering assembly position boundaries.

22. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the external signal is a request to check at least one monitoring condition for compatibility with semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode.

23. The monitoring system of claim 22, wherein if the monitoring condition is met, the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to:

generate an authorization signal for communicating to a vehicle control system to initiate semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode if the monitoring condition is met.

8. (canceled)

10-13. -13. (canceled)

15-21. -21. (canceled)

24-92. -92. (canceled)

93. A positioning system for updating an occupant position based on a change in a driving mode, the positioning system comprising:

a processor in communication with a memory, a user interface, and/or one or more vehicle control systems disposed within the vehicle, wherein the processor executes computer-readable instructions stored on the memory upon receipt of an external signal indicating that the vehicle is entering either an occupant-controlled driving mode or a semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode, the computer-readable instructions causing the processor to;

generate a position signal for communicating to a seat positioning system and/or the steering assembly positioning system,

wherein the position signal causes the seat positioning system and/or the steering assembly positioning system to adjust the seat and/or steering unit, respectively, to a predetermined occupant preferred position.

94. The positioning system of claim 93, wherein the external signal indicates that the vehicle is entering semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode, the position signal is an occupant-preferred position signal for semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode, and the predetermined occupant-preferred position is the occupant-preferred position for semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode.

95. The positioning system of claim 93, wherein the external signal indicates that the vehicle is entering occupant controlled driving mode, the position signal is an occupant-preferred position signal for occupant-controlled driving mode, and the predetermined occupant preferred position is the occupant-preferred position for occupant-controlled driving mode.

96. The positioning system of claim 93, wherein the external signal is generated by a user input.

97. The positioning system of claim 93, wherein the external signal is generated by the vehicle control system.

98. An occupant monitoring system (OMS) for monitoring at least one vehicle occupant, the OMS comprising:

an imaging unit disposed within a vehicle, the imaging unit having a field of view (FOV), and

a processor in communication with the imaging unit, a memory, and one or more vehicle control systems disposed within the vehicle, wherein the processor executes computer-readable instructions stored on the memory, wherein upon receipt of an external signal by the processor, the instructions cause the processor to;

capture an image in the FOV of the imaging unit,

analyze the image to determine if at least one monitoring condition is met, and

if the monitoring condition is not met, generate an adjustment signal to at least one vehicle control system.

105. The monitoring system of claim 98, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to:

generate an occupant dataset based on the captured image, wherein data of the occupant dataset comprises at least one value pertaining to the presence of the occupant in the FOV, the position of the occupant within the FOV, the proximity of the occupant to the imaging unit, the area of the occupant'"'"'s face, the angle of the occupant'"'"'s face, the position of a bodily component, the area of a bodily component, and/or the angle of a bodily component.

106. The monitoring system of claim 105, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to:

compare the occupant dataset to a monitoring conditions dataset, and

generate the adjustment signal for communicating to the at least one vehicle control system based on deviations from the monitoring conditions dataset.

118. The monitoring system of claim 98, wherein if the monitoring condition is not met, the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to:

generate a prohibition signal for communicating to a vehicle control system to prohibit semi-autonomous or autonomous driving mode.

99-104. -104. (canceled)

107-117. -117. (canceled)

119-172. -172. (canceled)