SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING ACTIVATION OF VEHICLE'S CRUISE
CONTROL
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle cruise control technologies. In particular, the present disclosure discloses system and method of controlling the activation of the vehicle cruise control.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Cruise control technology for controlling the speed of a vehicle at a set speed exists in the art. In the cruise control, acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle is prevented so as to maintain the set speed. The cruise control is activated using dedicated switches provided within the vehicle. The dedicated switches comprise a main switch and a set switch, but are not limited thereto. When the cruise control is activated, the vehicle enters into cruise mode and the speed of the vehicle is maintained at the defined set speed. To activate the cruise control, first the main switch is enabled and then the set switch is enabled.
[0003] However, the cruise control may be cancelled due to various reasons or in certain situations where manual driving is preferred. Once the cruise control is activated and it gets disabled due to some conditions, then by pressing the set switch, the cruise may be activated again. This activation of the cruise control can be unintentional for a new driver which can cause accidents etc.
[0004] Thus, there exists a need for techniques which can control the activation of the cruise control based on the driver.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0005] One or more shortcomings discussed above are overcome, and additional advantages are provided by the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the disclosure.
[0006] In one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of controlling activation of a vehicle's cruise control is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining a driver's profile upon ignition of the vehicle; determining a cruise mode activation mechanism for the
vehicle based on the driver's profile; for a predefined time period: detecting an activation of the cruise mode of the vehicle; monitoring behaviour of the driver over a predefined time period; detecting abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active; and incrementing a counter associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents; comparing the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value; and selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value.
[0007] In another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further recites updating the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism; and storing the updated driver's profile in a database.
[0008] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, obtaining the driver's profile comprises: fetching the driver's profile from a database based on a driver's input; automatically determining the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the driver, wherein one or more identifiers of the driver comprise one or more of: voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver.
or a [0009] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises a single switch mechanism double switch mechanism, wherein the single switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a set switch. The double switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a main switch and the set switch. Further, determining the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises: determining that the cruise mode is activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switches mechanism.
[0010] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison comprises: changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value; and changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism when the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value.
[0011] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus to control activation of a vehicle's cruise control is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to: obtain a driver's profile upon ignition of the vehicle; determine a cruise mode activation mechanism for the vehicle based on the driver's profile; for a predefined time period: detect an activation of the cruise mode of the vehicle; monitor behaviour of the driver over a predefined time period; detect abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active; and increment a counter associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents; compare the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value; and selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value.
[0012] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing unit is further configured to: update the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism; and store the updated driver's profile in a database.
[0013] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, to obtain the driver's profile, the processing unit is further configured to: fetch the driver's profile from a database based on a driver's input; and automatically determine the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the driver, wherein one or more identifiers of the driver comprise one or more of: voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver.
[0014] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises a single switch mechanism or a double switch mechanism, wherein the single switch mechanism comprises activate the cruise mode using a set switch, wherein the double switch mechanism comprises activate the cruise mode using a main switch and the set switch, and wherein to determine the cruise mode activation mechanism, the processing unit is further configured to: determine that the cruise mode is activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switches mechanism.
[0015] In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure, to selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison, the processing unit is further configured to: change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value; and change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism when the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value.

[0016] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. Some embodiments of the apparatus and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which:
[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates a system to control the activation of a vehicle's cruise control in accordance with one embodiment.
[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus to control the activation of a vehicle's cruise control in accordance with one embodiment.
[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of controlling the activation of a vehicle's cruise control in accordance with one embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
[0022] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure.
[0023] The terms "comprise(s)", "comprising", "include(s)", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, apparatus, system, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or apparatus or system or method. In other words, one or more elements in a device or system or apparatus proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system.
[0024] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration of specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. In the following description, well known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the description with unnecessary detail.
[0025] To address the above-mentioned challenges, the present disclosure defines a system and method of controlling the activation of vehicle cruise control based on a profile of the driver. The system and method may initially allow activation of the cruise control via certain cruise control activation mechanism based on the profile of the driver. Further, based on driver's behaviour, the disclosed system and method may adapt the cruise control activation mechanisms for activating the cruise control. Such adaption of the activation mechanisms based on the driving behaviour prevents the chances of the unintentional activation of the cruise control which thereby prevents accidents.
[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system 100 to control activation of vehicle cruise control in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The system 100 may comprise an apparatus 102 to control the activation of vehicle cruise control and a cruise controller 106, but not limited thereto. The cruise controller 106 is responsible for maintaining the speed of the vehicle 108 at a set speed. The apparatus 102 is an element of the system 100, which is responsible for controlling the activation of vehicle cruise control by adapting cruise mode activation mechanism based on driving behaviour of a driver of the vehicle 108 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 102 and the cruise controller 106 are communicatively coupled with each other via a communication channel. The communication channel may be a wireless channel or a wired channel, but not limited thereto. The detailed functionality of the apparatus 102 is explained in detail in the upcoming paragraphs in conjunction with Fig. 2.
[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of apparatus 102 for controlling activation of the cruise control of vehicle 108 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 102 may comprise various elements such as a processing unit 202, an I/O interface 204, a database 206, a sensing unit 208, and a counter 210, but not limited thereto. These elements may be communicatively coupled to each other either via wireless communication channel and/or wired communication channel, but not limited thereto. The processing unit 202 may comprise one or more processors and memory (not shown in the figure). Further, the I/O interface 204 may be a user interface which may be used to receive inputs from the user/driver. The sensing unit 208 may comprise various sensors to detect actions performed by the driver of the vehicle. The sensing unit 208 may be used to monitor the driver's behaviour. For example, the sensing unit 208 may comprise sensors to detect pressing of brake pedal and to detect pressing of accelerator pedal, to detect activation of turning indicator, facial expressions of the driver, but not limited thereto.
[0028] The cruise control of the vehicle may be activated or enabled by first enabling a main switch and thereafter by enabling the set switch. When the cruise control is activated, the vehicle enters into cruise mode. However, the cruise mode may be disabled in response to various conditions. Such conditions may comprise one or more of the following, but are not limited to, overtaking of the cruise control, change in speed by the driver and disabling using the set switch. Once the cruise mode is enabled and it gets disabled due to some conditions, then the cruise mode may be enabled again by pressing the set switch. Such re-enablement of the vehicle's cruise control may be unintentional for a new driver which can cause an accident etc.
[0029] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, upon ignition of the vehicle, the processing unit 202 may obtain a profile of the driver of the vehicle. In an embodiment, the driver's profile may be stored in the database 206. The database 206 may store profiles of one or more drivers. In an embodiment, the driver may provide an input to select the profile. The driver may select his profile from a list of profiles. The processing Unit 202 may fetch the driver's profile from the database 206 based on the driver's input. In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 may automatically determine the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the driver. The one or more identifiers of the driver may comprise one or more of the following, but not limited to, voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver. The processing unit 202 may process the voice of the driver to identify the driver and to determine the driver's profile. The processing unit 202 may also scan the facial characteristics of the driver (i.e., perform facial recognition) to identify the driver and to determine the driver's profile. In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 may analyse the fingerprints of the driver to determine the driver's profile.
[0030] The driver's profile comprises various information related to the driver such as name, age, gender, cruise mode activation mechanism suitable for the driver, but not limited thereto. Upon obtaining the driver's profile, the processing unit 202 may determine the cruise mode activation mechanism for the vehicle based on the driver's profile. Generally, the cruise mode activation mechanism may be a single switch mechanism or a double switch mechanism, but not limited thereto. The single switch mechanism may comprise activating the cruise mode using the set switch and the double switch mechanism may comprises activating the cruise mode using a main switch and the set switch. In an embodiment, the processing unit 104 may process the driver's profile to determine whether the cruise mode may be activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switch mechanism.
[0031] The driver may activate cruise control using the cruise mode activation mechanism stored in the driver's profile. When the driver activates the cruise control, the processing unit 202 may detect the activation of the cruise control/cruise mode of the vehicle. Thereafter, the processing unit 104 may monitor the behaviour of the driver for a predefined time period. During the predefined time period, the processing unit 202 may detect abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active. In an embodiment, the abnormal driving incidents may comprise one or more of following, but not limited to, pressing of brake pedal or pressing of accelerator pedal to manually control the speed of the vehicle, application of emergency brakes, but not limited thereto. If such abnormal driving incidents are detected, the processing unit 202 may increment/increase a counter 210 associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents. In an embodiment, the predefined value may be an integer number. In another embodiment, the predefined value may be same for all abnormal driving incidents or may be different for different abnormal driving incidents depending on the severity of the incidents. The counter 210 is increased to keep the count of the number of occurrences of abnormal driving incidents during the predefined time period. In an embodiment, the predefined time period may be any of the following, but not limited to, a number of days, hours, or a time period after ignition of the vehicle 108.
[0032] Further, the processing unit 202 may compare the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value. The pre-defined threshold value indicates a maximum allowable number of abnormal driving incidents. The processing unit 202 may determine whether the number of the abnormal driving incidents is not more than the allowable number of the abnormal driving incidents. Upon comparison, the processing unit 202 may selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value. In an embodiment, to selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value. When the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism.
[0033] In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 may keep the cruise mode activation mechanism unchanged. For example, initially, if the driver's profile indicates the cruise mode activation mechanism as the double switch mechanism and the number of abnormal driving incidents detected during the predefined time period is more than the maximum allowable number of abnormal driving incidents, then there is no meaning of changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism, because such changes may increase the risk of accidents.
[0034] Whereas when the initial cruise mode activation mechanism is the single switch mechanism and the counter's value greater than the pre-defined threshold value indicates that the driver tries to return to manual driving mode more frequently. This means that the activation of the cruise control is unintentional and by mistake. Therefore, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism. The apparatus/system may not allow the single switch mechanism to enable the cruise mode and the cruise may be enabled by the double switch mechanism i.e., pressing the main switch and then set switch.
[0035] Similarly, when the initial cruise mode activation mechanism is the double switch mechanism and the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value indicates that the driver has good driving skills. Therefore, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism. The apparatus/system may allow the single switch mechanism to enable the cruise mode.
[0036] Further, the processing unit 202 may update the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism. The processing unit 202 may store the updated driver's profile in the database 206, so that next time the updated cruise mode activation mechanism may be implemented for the driver.
[0037] In this manner, by adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the behaviour of the driver, the system provides ease of operation to the driver and avoids risk of accidents.
[0038] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 300 of detecting defects in a manufacturing process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The blocks of the flow diagram shown in Fig. 3 have been arranged in a generally sequential manner for ease of explanation; however, it is to be understood that this arrangement is merely exemplary, and it should be recognized that the processing associated with method 300 (and the blocks shown in Fig. 3) may occur in a different order (for example, where at least some of the processing associated with the blocks is performed in parallel and/or in an event-driven manner).
[0039] At step 302, the method recites obtaining a driver's profile upon ignition of the vehicle. In an embodiment, the driver's profile may be stored in the database 206. The database 206 may store profiles of one or more drivers. In an embodiment, the driver may provide an input to select the profile. The processing unit 202 may fetch the driver's profile from the database 206 based on the driver's input. In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 may automatically determine the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the driver. The one or more identifiers of the driver may comprise one or more of following, but not limited to, voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver. The processing unit 202 may process the voice of the driver to identify the driver and to determine the driver's profile. The processing unit 202 may also scan the facial characteristics of the driver (i.e., perform facial recognition) to identify the driver and to determine the driver's profile. In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 may analyse the fingerprints of the driver to determine the driver's profile. The driver's profile comprises various information related to the driver such as name, age, gender, cruise mode activation mechanism suitable for the driver, but not limited thereto.
[0040] At step 304, the method 300 recites determining a cruise mode activation mechanism for the vehicle based on the driver's profile. Generally, the cruise mode activation mechanism may be a single switch mechanism or a double switch mechanism, but not limited thereto. The single switch mechanism may comprise activating the cruise mode using the SET switch and the double switch mechanism may comprise activating the cruise mode using a main switch and the SET switch. In an embodiment, the processing unit 104 may process the driver's profile to determine whether the cruise mode may be activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switch mechanism.
[0041] The driver may activate cruise control using the cruise mode activation mechanism stored in the driver's profile. At step 306, the method 300 detects an activation of the cruise mode of the vehicle. Further, at step 308, the method 300 monitors behaviour of the driver over a predefined time period. At step 310, the method 300 detects abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active. In an embodiment, the abnormal driving incidents may comprise one or more of following, but not limited to, pressing of brake pedal or pressing of accelerator pedal to manually control the speed of the vehicle, application of emergency brakes, and handbrake, but not limited thereto. If such abnormal driving incidents are detected, the method 300 at step 312 may increment a counter associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents. In another embodiment, the predefined value may same for all abnormal driving incidents or may be different for different abnormal driving incidents depending on the severity of the incidents. The counter is increased to keep the count of the number of occurrences of abnormal driving incidents during the predefined time period. In an embodiment, the predefined time period may be any of the following, but not limited to, a number of days, hours, or a time period after ignition of the vehicle 108.
[0042] At step 314, the method 300 compares the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value. The pre-defined threshold value indicates a maximum allowable number of abnormal driving incidents. It may be determined whether the number of the abnormal driving incidents is less or more than the allowable number of the abnormal driving incidents. At step 316, the method 300 recites selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value.

[0043] In an embodiment, selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison comprises changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value, and when the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value, changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism. The method 300 further recites updating the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism and storing the updated driver's profile in the database 206.
[0044] In another embodiment, the cruise mode activation mechanism may be kept unchanged. For example, initially, if the driver's profile indicates the cruise mode activation mechanism as the double switch mechanism and the number of abnormal driving incidents detected during the predefined time period is more than the maximum allowable number of abnormal driving incidents, then there is no meaning of changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism, because such changes may increase the risk of accidents.
[0045] Whereas when the initial cruise mode activation mechanism is the single switch mechanism and the counter's value greater than the pre-defined threshold value indicates that the driver tries to return to manual driving mode more frequently. This means that the activation of the cruise control is unintentional and by mistake. Therefore, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism. The apparatus/system may not allow the single switch mechanism to enable the cruise mode and the cruise may be enabled by the double switch mechanism i.e., pressing main switch and then set switch.
[0046] Similarly, when the initial cruise mode activation mechanism is the double switch mechanism and the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value indicates that the driver has good driving skills. Therefore, the processing unit 202 may change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism. The apparatus/system may allow the single switch mechanism to enable the cruise mode.
[0047] In this manner, by adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the behaviour of the driver, the method provides ease of operation to the driver and avoids risk of accidents.

[0048] The above method 300 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform specific functions or implement specific abstract data types.
[0049] The order in which the various operations of the methods are described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the methods can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.
[0050] It may be noted here that the subject matter of some or all embodiments described with reference to figures 1-3 may be relevant for the methods and the same is not repeated for the sake of brevity.
[0051] The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s) and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in Figures, those operations may be performed by any suitable corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components.
[0052] Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term "computer-readable medium" should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., non-transitory. Examples include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drives, Compact Disc (CD) ROMs, Digital Video Disc (DVDs), flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

[0053] Certain aspects may comprise a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer readable media having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For certain aspects, the computer program product may include packaging material.
[0054] Various components, modules, or units are described in this disclosure to emphasize functional aspects of devices configured to perform the disclosed techniques, but do not necessarily require realization by different hardware units. Rather, as described above, various units may be combined in a hardware unit or provided by a collection of interoperative hardware units, including one or more processors as described above, in conjunction with suitable software and/or firmware.
[0055] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one" or "one or more" of a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of: a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c. The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and variations thereof, when used in a claim, is used in a non-exclusive sense that is not intended to exclude the presence of other elements or steps in a claimed structure or method, unless expressly specified otherwise.
[0056] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the appended claims.
LISTING OF DRAWING ELEMENTS
100 System
102 Apparatus
104, 202 processing unit
106 Cruise controller
108 Vehicle
204 I/O interface
206 Database
208 Sensing unit
210 Counter
300 Method
302-316 Method steps

We Claim:
1. A method of controlling activation of a vehicle's cruise control, the method comprises:
obtaining a driver's profile upon ignition of the vehicle;
profile; determining a cruise mode activation mechanism for the vehicle based on the driver's
for a predefined time period:
detecting an activation of the cruise mode of the vehicle;
monitoring behaviour of the driver over the predefined time period;
detecting abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active; and
incrementing a counter associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents;
comparing the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value; and
selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
updating the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism; and storing the updated driver's profile in a database.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the driver's profile comprises:
fetching the driver's profile from a database based on a driver's input;
automatically determining the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the
driver,
wherein one or more identifiers of the driver comprise one or more of: voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises a single switch mechanism or a double switch mechanism,
switch, wherein the single switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a set
wherein the double switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a main switch and the set switch, and wherein determining the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises:
determining that the cruise mode is activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switches mechanism.
5. The method of claim 1, selectively adapting the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison comprises:
changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value; and
changing the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism when the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value.
6. An apparatus to control activation of a vehicle's cruise control, the apparatus comprising:
a processing unit configured to:
obtain a driver's profile upon ignition of the vehicle;
profile; determine a cruise mode activation mechanism for the vehicle based on the driver's
for a predefined time period:
detect an activation of the cruise mode of the vehicle;
monitor behaviour of the driver over the predefined time period;
detect abnormal driving incidents while the cruise mode is active; and
increment a counter associated with the driver's profile by a predefined value for each of the abnormal driving incidents;
compare the counter's value with a pre-defined threshold value; and
selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison of the counter's value with the pre-defined threshold value.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
update the driver's profile based on the adapted cruise mode activation mechanism; and store the updated driver's profile in a database.
8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein to obtain the driver's profile, the processing unit is further configured to:
fetch the driver's profile from a database based on a driver's input; and
automatically determine the driver's profile based on one or more identifiers of the driver,
wherein one or more identifiers of the driver comprise one or more of: voice of the driver, facial characteristics of the driver, eye prints of the driver, and fingerprints of the driver.
9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the cruise mode activation mechanism comprises a single switch mechanism or a double switch mechanism,
switch, wherein the single switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a set
wherein the double switch mechanism comprises activating the cruise mode using a main switch and the set switch, and
wherein to determine the cruise mode activation mechanism, the processing unit is further configured to:
determine that the cruise mode is activated using the single switch mechanism or the double switches mechanism.
10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein to selectively adapt the cruise mode activation mechanism for the driver based on the comparison, the processing unit is further configured to:
change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the single switch mechanism to the double switch mechanism when the counter's value is greater than the pre-defined threshold value; and change the cruise mode activation mechanism from the double switch mechanism to the single switch mechanism when the counter's value is less than the pre-defined threshold value.