Active dynamic sun visor and method of operation thereof
AssigneeZf Friedrichshafenag
InventorHarish Kumar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method including receiving a first position of a sun visor of a vehicle; receiving a route of the vehicle from a navigation system of the vehicle, the route having at least one waypoint; determining a predicted amount of sunlight in an occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint of the route; determining whether the predicted amount of sunlight in the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint of the route is greater than a predefined threshold amount; and instructing the sun visor to move to a second position in response to the predicted amount of sunlight exceeding the predefined threshold amount to block at least a portion of the predicted amount of sunlight from the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint is disclosed.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- receiving a first position of a sun visor of a vehicle;
- receiving a route of the vehicle from a navigation system of the vehicle, the route having a starting point and at least one waypoint after the starting point;
- determining a predicted amount and angle of sunlight in an occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint of the route based on the route and predicted sun at the waypoint;
- determining that the predicted amount of sunlight in the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint of the route is greater than a predefined threshold amount;
- and
- instructing the sun visor to move to a second position while the vehicle is along the route after the starting position in response to the predicted amount of sunlight exceeding the predefined threshold amount to block at least a portion of the predicted amount of sunlight from the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint.
An active dynamic sun visor system, comprising:
- a sun visor having a motor to automatically adjust the position of the sun visor;
- a driver camera configured to detect the gaze of an occupant of a vehicle;
- a front sensor configured to detect brightness of sunlight on a windshield of the vehicle;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- receive a route of the vehicle from a navigation system of the vehicle, the route having a starting point and at least one waypoint after the starting point;
- receive the gaze and determine a location of an occupant's eyes relative to the sun visor;
- receive the detected brightness from the front sensor;
- determine an amount of sunlight in the occupant's eyes based at least in part on the detected brightness of sunlight from the front sensor and the location of the occupant's eyes;
- instruct the motor of the sun visor to alter the position of the sun visor in response to the amount of sunlight in the occupant's eyes exceeding a predetermined threshold;
- calculate a future amount of sunlight in the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint of the route after a starting position based on the route and future amount of sunlight at the waypoint and determine whether the future amount of sunlight at the waypoint is greater than the predetermined threshold;
- and
- instruct the sun visor to move to a second position while the vehicle is along the route after the starting position in response to the future amount of sunlight exceeding the predefined threshold amount to block at least a portion of the future amount of sunlight from the occupant's eyes at the at least one waypoint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.