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:
Oct. 09, 2012
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2007
Jamison C. Schroeder, Birmingham, MI (US);
Trevor E. Browne, Clinton Township, MI (US);
Jennifer A. Senish, Sterling Heights, MI (US);
Scott J. Failla, Macomb, MI (US);
Jamison C. Schroeder, Birmingham, MI (US);
Trevor E. Browne, Clinton Township, MI (US);
Jennifer A. Senish, Sterling Heights, MI (US);
Scott J. Failla, Macomb, MI (US);
GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A vehicle navigation aid (nav-aid) system and method are provided to un-lock nav-aid functions in a moving vehicle. Sensors within the vehicle provide vehicle speed S and whether a person other the driver is present. For S greater than predetermined threshold speed S≧0, the nav-aid system remains in a locked-out state if a passenger is not present. When a passenger is present, then the system may accept some otherwise locked-out nav-aid requests. A warning and disclaimer message requiring positive acknowledgement thereof is desirable. In a preferred embodiment, the passenger should occupy a front seat and have a weight or size or both exceeding a predetermined (e.g., 'adult') threshold. Desirably, navigation aid access is precluded for S>Sunless the occupied seat belts are latched. In a further embodiment, a user access status display indicates which nav-aid functions can be accessed depending on the vehicle status.