DE102010002861B4 - Vehicle with at least one individual seat for a traveling vehicle occupant - Google Patents

Abstract

Vehicle with at least one individual seat (3, 4, 5) for a traveling vehicle occupant, the means (8) for identifying a traveling vehicle occupant in this seat and means (7) for the automatic individual user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions depending on the respective seat occupancy ( 3, 4, 5) identified vehicle occupants and dependent on further defined parameters, the user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions comprising a first configuration scope of information for the driver and a second configuration scope of settings to be made automatically.

Description

The invention relates to a vehicle with at least one individual seat for a traveling vehicle occupant.

Vehicles with individual seats that allow means for individual adjustment of seat components are common.

Furthermore, vehicles with interior surveillance cameras or seat-integrated sensors for seat occupancy detection are known in order to control, in particular, airbag settings.

Assistance systems for the driver relating to the setting of a wide variety of vehicle functions are also known.

From the DE 10 2008 028 844 A1 A device for driver assistance is known, the device comprising means for identifying vehicle occupants traveling with them and their seating position, and means for automatically individual activation of passive safety systems depending on the vehicle occupants identified in each seat and other defined parameters. For further technical background, for example, the DE 103 28 747 A1 , the DE 10 2005 041 376 A1 , the EP 1 116 611 A1 and the WO 2004/071816 A1 pointed out.

It is the object of the invention to further improve vehicles with regard to the individual needs of the vehicle passengers traveling with them.

This object is achieved by the subject matter of claim 1. The dependent claims are advantageous developments of the invention.

In the vehicle according to the invention with at least one individual seat for a vehicle occupant traveling with it, the individual seat has means for identifying a vehicle occupant traveling with it in this seat and means for automatic individual user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions depending on the vehicle occupant identified in each seat and depending on further defined parameters .

A vehicle occupant traveling along can be identified either by manual input or automatically by entering defined data.

Essential to the invention is the establishment of a seat-related assistance for the vehicle occupant, in this case a passenger or a rear passenger in contrast to the driver, wherein both an adaptation to the individual, individually recognized person and to other external situations influencing this person is provided.

The time of day, the season, the outside temperature, the brightness, the driving style of the driver, the physical condition of the identified occupants, the number of identified occupants, the destination and / or the planned route are preferably further defined parameters which reflect the influencing external situations . Known devices and methods can be used to identify these parameters.

Furthermore, the user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions of the invention comprises a first configuration scope of information that is output to the driver optically or acoustically, and a second configuration scope of settings that are to be made automatically.

Furthermore, the first configuration scope can advantageously include information for the driver with regard to the desired driving style.

The second configuration scope can advantageously be made automatically settings of the individual seat (in particular the seat components), the suspension adjustment, the air conditioning, of blackout devices (e.g. controllable window blinds or window tinting as glare and sun protection), the interior lighting, the audio sources and / or existing displays in the With regard to a wide range of information, communication and entertainment offerings. Known devices and methods can be used to control the actuators required for this.

The means for identifying a vehicle occupant traveling can be designed in different ways. For example, existing interior cameras with a person-recognizing evaluation unit or fingerprint recognition units can be present at the individual seats anyway. In a particularly advantageous manner, the means for identifying a vehicle occupant traveling along are designed in such a way that they receive data from a mobile telephone. Mobile phones are usually assigned to a specific person. In this way, a defined person can be identified as a vehicle occupant traveling on a specific individual seat by means of defined, transmitted data from a personal mobile telephone. This defined data can already contain profiles that are individually user-adaptive Activate configurations of vehicle functions in the vehicle, which can, however, be changed via an operating unit in the individual seats.

If several individual seats are available, a priority is assigned to each individual seat if the individual user-adaptive configurations of vehicle functions lead to contradicting specifications. Such a priority can be fixed or variable depending on the requirements.

In the presence of several individual seats, a communication unit is provided for each individual seat in an independent or further development, whereby vehicle occupants of the occupied individual seats can communicate with one another in a particularly comfortable manner.

• Der Fahrer wählt seinen Fahrstil, dem Fahrzweck, der Verkehrssituation und seiner aktuellen persönlichen Konstitution entsprechend aus. Aber insbesondere Fond-Passagieren fehlt zumeist die direkte haptische Rückmeldung, da sie keinen präzisen Bezug zu den Eingaben haben. Dies kann bei empfindlichen Personen zu Unwohlsein führen. Fond-Passagiere, die sehr komfortabel mitreisen oder sogar ausruhen wollen, benötigen keine Rückmeldungen, sondern bevorzugen ruckfreies Fahren bei geringen Längs- und Querbeschleunigungen sowie Vermeidung lästiger Störungen. Sicherheitsbewusste Passagiere wünschen einen Fahrstil, der eher knappe Sicherheitsabstände und anspruchsvolle Oberholmanöver meidet.

The invention is based on the following findings:

• The driver selects his driving style, the driving purpose, the traffic situation and his current personal constitution. But rear passengers in particular are usually lacking direct haptic feedback, since they have no precise reference to the inputs. This can lead to discomfort in sensitive people. Rear passengers who want to travel very comfortably or even rest do not need any feedback, but prefer jerk-free driving with low longitudinal and lateral accelerations and avoiding annoying disturbances. Safety-conscious passengers want a driving style that avoids tighter safety gaps and demanding overtaking maneuvers.

• • Informations-Anzeigen an den Fahrer mit beifahrer- und passagierrelevanten Informationen zum Verkehrsgeschehen und zum aktuellen Fahrstil
• • Bedien- und Spracheingabesystem zur Erfassung fahrstilrelevanter Wünsche der Passagiere
• • Steuergeräte, die gegebenenfalls unterschiedliche Wünsche zu einer optimalen Synthese zusammenfassen und zur Anzeige beim Fahrer und zur Beeinflussung der Agilitätsfunktionen des Fahrzeugs weitergeben.

The entire range of driving situations and passenger preferences can only be grasped today by an understanding driver who responds to the circumstances and wishes of the passengers.
To improve and expand this complex situation, an adaptive co-driver and passenger assistance appropriate to the situation should be proposed, which can consist of a combination and coupling of different functions and subsystems. These include, for example:

• • Information displays to the driver with passenger and passenger-relevant information about traffic and current driving style
• • Operating and voice input system for recording driving style-relevant wishes of the passengers
• • Control units which, if necessary, combine different requests for an optimal synthesis and pass them on to the driver and to influence the agility functions of the vehicle.

For passengers and rear passengers (here, in contrast to the driver, collectively referred to as vehicle occupants), the seat is the decisive interface to the vehicle. For this reason, it is also proposed to adaptively design seating characteristics relevant to driving situations. Examples: For a sporty driving style, e.g. can be determined by a control device in a known manner, the lateral guidance of the upper body of the passengers is tightened, for. B. by the restraint systems, by adjustable internal pressure-influenced elements of the seat back, by the seat inclination and the like. If the driving style is comfortable, the associated components are set accordingly comfortably. Slight tilting movements of the seats to compensate for longitudinal and lateral accelerations or for haptic feedback are also conceivable.

The proposed assistance can also be expanded to include air conditioning and infotainment, which can also take into account special requests from passengers.

• Systeme, die den Fahrer bei der Führung und Stabilisierung des Fahrzeuges unterstützen sind inzwischen weitgehend verbreitet und werden auch zukünftig weiter ausgebaut. Informationssysteme und Unterhaltungssysteme haben sich ebenfalls breit durchgesetzt. Damit steht dem Fahrer ein umfangreiches Informations- und Unterstützungsangebot zur Verfügung. Die weiteren Insassen eines Fahrzeuges haben aber in der heutigen Konzeption weit weniger Möglichkeiten, die von ihnen genutzten Fahrzeugsysteme auf die individuellen Wünsche und Bedürfnisse einzustellen.

The invention is also based on the following further considerations:

• Systems that support the driver in guiding and stabilizing the vehicle are now widely used and will be expanded in the future. Information systems and entertainment systems have also become widely accepted. This provides the driver with a wide range of information and support. In today's concept, however, the other occupants of a vehicle have far fewer options for adjusting the vehicle systems they use to suit their individual wishes and needs.

• • die Insassen werden entweder automatisch als Individuen erkannt
• • die Insassen identifizieren sich selbst

It is proposed to implement an overall concept of occupant-oriented, user-adaptive systems. Two basic solutions are assumed:

• • The occupants are either automatically recognized as individuals
• • The inmates identify themselves

The systems then adapt to so-called personal profiles or adopt individually preferred basic settings as default settings.

• • Sitze
• • Klimatisierung
• • Innenbeleuchtung
• • Information- und Unterhaltungsangebote
• • Blend- oder Sonnenschutz sowie Scheibentönung
• • Kommunikation zwischen den Fahrzeuginsassen
• • Fahrwerkseinstellungen (begrenzt)

Systems to be influenced by this concept:

• • seats
• • air conditioning
• • interior lighting
• • Information and entertainment offers
• • Glare or sun protection as well as window tinting
• • Communication between vehicle occupants
• • Chassis settings (limited)

The concept requires that an individually configurable configuration option is available for each seat, for example including a human-machine interface with an output and input unit (individual seat). In addition to free communication, the communication between the occupants should also include individually assignable communication channels, e.g. via loudspeakers and microphones (communication units) close to the head to minimize mutual interference. For mobile phones, the individual registration of the respective phone is sufficient. However, it should be possible to enable communication without using the onboard microphone or speakers.

• So können der Sitz und die Innenbeleuchtung am Morgen eher zum Lesen optimal eingestellt werden, während abends eher eine Ruhe- und Komfortstellung voreingestellt sein kann. Das Musikangebot am Morgen wählt z. B. eher aktivierende Musik, am Abend eher entspannende Musik. Die Klimatisierung am Morgen wird ebenfalls eher aktivierend gewählt, dagegen abends eher behaglich. Die Kommunikationseinrichtungen erhalten per Zuspielung aus dem Sekretariat Anruflisten oder Rückrufbitten, „to do's“, Geburtstags- und sonstige Glückwunschhinweise. Es kann wahlweise auf individuelle Kommunikation über Handgerät Lautsprecher, Mikrofon oder Headset eingestellt werden. Der Sonnenschutz ist am Morgen und Abend eher schwächer, in der Mittagszeit dagegen hoch.

For configuration, personal profiles are stored for all functions, for example. These profiles can also be addressed differently depending on different parameters. For example, profiles dependent on the time of day, season, outside temperature, destination or route-dependent are conceivable. If the vehicle recognizes an occupant or identifies the occupant, all relevant settings are tailored to his personal profile. An example should explain this:

• For example, the seat and interior lighting can be optimally adjusted for reading in the morning, while a rest and comfort position can be preset in the evening. The music offer in the morning z. B. rather activating music, in the evening rather relaxing music. The air conditioning in the morning is also chosen to be more activating, whereas it is more comfortable in the evening. The communication facilities receive call lists or callback requests, "to do's", birthday and other congratulations notices from the secretariat. It can be set to individual communication via a handheld speaker, microphone or headset. Sun protection is weaker in the morning and evening, but high at lunchtime.

The type of profiles can be set automatically via the i-Drive and the corresponding menus, but can also be changed manually if necessary. There are various methods known from the literature for recognizing and identifying people, from fingerprint recognition to so-called RFIDs.

The concept can also be used to make chassis settings depending on the preference of the occupants (comfort, normal, sport), but should remain controllable by the driver.

In the drawing, an embodiment of the invention is shown. The single figure shows schematically a possible embodiment of an individual seat according to the invention in the form of an individual and situation-adaptive vehicle occupant assistance system.

In the figure is a vehicle according to the invention 1 with a driver's seat 2nd and with three individual seats 3rd , 4th and 5 shown for accompanying vehicle occupants (passengers and / or rear passengers). Every individual seat 3rd , 4th and 5 includes funds 8th for identifying a vehicle occupant and means traveling with them 7 for the automatic, individual, user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions depending on the one in each seat 3rd , 4th or 5 identified vehicle occupants and depending on other defined parameters.

The means 8th cameras, fingerprint scanners or data acquisition devices for receiving data that the respective vehicle occupant carries with them can be used to identify a vehicle passenger traveling with them. Such data acquisition devices can, for example, acquire data from a key card, a radio key or a mobile phone of the respective vehicle occupant.

The means 7 For automatic, individual, user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions, an electronic control unit can be used, for example, in the armrests of the individual seats 3rd , 4th and 5 can be integrated. The control unit can be made using electrical cables 10 , be connected via a data bus or via wireless signal transmission units to other electronic units for data acquisition and for actuator control for setting vehicle functions or for outputting information to the driver. The means 8th are also with the control unit 7 connected.

Opposite the driver's seat 2nd is in the usual way behind a steering wheel 13 an instrument panel 14 with a display 15 Installed. On the display 15 can provide the driver with information from the control units 7 of individual seats 3rd , 4th and 5 be transmitted. This information can either be automatically via a profile depending on the identified vehicle occupant or manually via a human-machine interface 9 at every individual seat 3rd , 4th and 5 be issued. A human-machine interface 9 can be, for example, a so-called “touch screen”, via which data can be entered by each vehicle occupant and from which data can be read by each vehicle occupant.

In a further development of the vehicle according to the invention or also in an independent configuration of a vehicle with individual seats for vehicle occupants, the head parts 6 the individual seating communication units 11 with speakers 12th and microphones 13 intended. Via an operating unit 9 Vehicle occupants can communicate with one another in any desired manner, for example also using cell phones, without disturbing the driver or other vehicle occupants. Here the communication units contain 11 Corresponding control units for switching through the desired communication participants.

Claims (7)

Vehicle with at least one individual seat (3, 4, 5) for a traveling vehicle occupant, the means (8) for identifying a traveling vehicle occupant in this seat and means (7) for the automatic individual user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions depending on the respective seat occupancy ( 3, 4, 5) identified vehicle occupants and dependent on further defined parameters, the user-adaptive configuration of vehicle functions comprising a first configuration scope of information for the driver and a second configuration scope of settings to be made automatically. Vehicle after Claim 1 , characterized in that the time of day, the season, the outside temperature, the brightness, the driving style of the driver, the physical condition of the identified occupants, the number of identified occupants, the destination and / or the planned route are further defined parameters. Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first configuration scope includes information to the driver with regard to the desired driving style. Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second configuration scope includes settings to be made automatically for the individual seat, the chassis adjustment, the air conditioning, the interior lighting, blackout devices, the audio sources and / or existing displays. Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the means for identifying a traveling vehicle occupant receive data from a mobile phone. Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the presence of several individual seats (3, 4, 5), each individual seat (3, 4, 5) is assigned a priority if the individual user-adaptive configurations of vehicle functions lead to contradicting specifications. Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the presence of several individual seats (3, 4, 5) a communication unit (11) is provided for each individual seat, whereby vehicle occupants of the occupied individual seats can communicate with one another.

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