The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 25, 2025
Filed:
Apr. 18, 2023
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Benjamin Piya Austin, Saline, WI (US);
John K. Lenneman, Okemos, MI (US);
George M. Evans, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Takeshi Yoshida, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
William Patrick Garrett, Plymouth, MI (US);
Rebecca L. Kirschweng, Whitmore Lake, MI (US);
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US);
TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques for controlling settings (and/or functions) of a vehicle via steering device finger tapping. A method generally includes receiving vibration information from a plurality of vibration sensors associated with a steering device, wherein the plurality of vibration sensors are configured to detect vibration on the steering device caused by a user of the vehicle; in response to receiving the vibration information, determining a user command based on the vibration information, determining a probability that the user intends to employ the user command via the vibration caused by the user, determining whether the probability is equal to or above a threshold, and selectively transmitting or not transmitting, to a controllable device, a control command corresponding to the user command based on whether the probability is determined to be equal to or above the threshold.