Driver input analysis and feedback system

• US 7,765,058 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Doering, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMPLE, JONATHAN L
• Application Number:
  US11/561,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20080120175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

A method of driver training to improve fuel economy performance of a vehicle, the method including, receiving selected vehicle and driver operating data indicative of driving conditions and operator inputs captured during previous vehicle operation, processing the received selected vehicle and driver operating data, and generating driving recommendations to improve fuel economy performance based on the processed vehicle and driver operating data.

Claims

1. A method of driver training to improve fuel economy performance of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving selected vehicle operating temperature and humidity data indicative of driving conditions;

processing said received selected vehicle operating temperature and humidity data; and

generating driving recommendations to improve fuel economy performance based on said processed received selected vehicle operating temperature and humidity data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the driving recommendations include information customized to a particular driver based on a driver profile.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising generating a driver history corresponding to the driver profile, the driver history providing updated fuel economy performance information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the received selected vehicle operating temperature and humidity data is captured in response to a driver request to monitor performance.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the driver request includes selected driving conditions in which the received selected vehicle operating temperature and humidity data is captured.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the driving recommendations include rolling up windows when the vehicle travels beyond a predetermined speed.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising recommending reducing pedal excitation business in response to pedal excitation.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising recommending combining shorter vehicle trips into longer vehicle trips when an engine fails to reach a warmed-up condition.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing is performed by a computing device off-board of the vehicle.

10. A method for a driver input analysis system to provide feedback to a vehicle operator to improve fuel economy performance, comprising:

storing selected vehicle acceleration data;

generating driving recommendations to improve fuel economy performance based on said selected vehicle acceleration data while a speed of a vehicle is greater than a threshold; and

presenting the driving recommendations in the vehicle to the vehicle operator.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein presenting includes displaying the driving recommendations on a display screen.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein presenting includes an audio indication of the driving recommendations.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the driving recommendations further include driving recommendations in response to selected data including at least one of engine coolant temperature, engine oil temperature, and transmission fluid temperature.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected vehicle acceleration data includes at least one of peak accelerations and fuel flow rates.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected vehicle acceleration data includes pedal excitation data.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein a sampling rate of said selected vehicle acceleration data is adjusted based on vehicle operating conditions.

17. A method of driver training to improve fuel economy performance of a vehicle, the method comprising:

monitoring selected vehicle operating conditions during engine operation and after engine shutdown; and

generating recommendations to train a driver to improve fuel economy performance based on the monitored selected vehicle operating conditions via a driver input analysis and feedback system.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the recommendations are provided by way of an on-board diagnostic connector.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

providing a maintenance plan for the vehicle that includes providing updated driver training performance history.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the vehicle is configured to display said driver training on a display screen.