Vehicle Flap Gesture Control With Remote Radar Gesture Setup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control systems for contactless adjustment of vehicle flaps or doors in motor vehicles rely on verified control gestures, but they lack the ability for users to individually configure these gestures without direct physical access to the vehicle.
Innovation Solution
A control system that includes a vehicle-side control arrangement with a radar sensor and an electric motor, coupled with a portable control device for configuring verified control gestures. The system uses a radar sensor to record gestures and evaluates them against stored reference data, allowing users to configure gestures via a portable device, such as a smartphone, without direct access to the vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a radar sensor is used to detect gestures for contactless control, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The portable control device serves as an intermediary between the user and the vehicle control system. It captures gestures via the camera, processes them to generate control commands, and transmits these commands to the vehicle. This mediator approach simplifies the overall system architecture by externalizing the complex gesture recognition and processing functions to a device the user already possesses (smartphone), rather than requiring all functionality to be built into the vehicle itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the camera to capture visual copies of the user's gestures and converts these visual inputs into control commands. The portable control device creates a digital representation of the physical gesture, processes it, and uses this copied information to trigger vehicle functions. This allows the system to interpret complex human movements without requiring direct physical contact or complex onboard sensors.
2Adaptability or versatility
If gesture recognition is implemented for contactless control, then the adaptability is improved, but the measurement precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary configuration of gesture commands before actual use. During the configuration phase, the user defines which gestures correspond to which vehicle functions, and the system stores these mappings. This preliminary setup allows the system to adapt to different user preferences and requirements without requiring complex real-time analysis, as the recognition criteria are pre-established based on user-defined parameters rather than requiring high-precision automated recognition of arbitrary gestures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users to customize control gestures for contactless adjustment of vehicle flaps or doors, enhancing convenience and adaptability, particularly in shared or rental vehicle environments, by allowing gesture configuration without physical access to the vehicle.
Implementation Method 1
The functionality of a control system of the present type is based on the acquisition of sensor data using a radar sensor to detect a gesture performed within a detection range of the radar sensor.
Implementation Method 2
Radar technology uses the idea of emitting electromagnetic waves, then receiving the echo (the reflected waves, also known as the radar response) of the emitted electromagnetic waves
Implementation Method 3
information about the relative movement between the sensor and the reflecting object can be obtained, for example by exploiting the Doppler effect
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a control system (1) for the contactless adjustment of a vehicle flap (2) or a vehicle door (2') of a motor vehicle (3). The control system (1) comprises a vehicle-side control arrangement (4) and a portable control device (5) with an operator interface (5'). The vehicle-side control arrangement (4) includes: - an electric motor (6), - a radar sensor (8), which is arranged, for example, in the bumper (7), - a control unit (12), - a radio communication interface (13). The control unit (12) is designed and configured to evaluate whether a gesture performed by an operator (14), for example in the direction of the arrow (11), and detected by the radar sensor (8) in a detection area (9) that ends on the ground area (10), corresponds to a verified control gesture.The control unit (12) is designed to configure the stored verified control gesture using configuration instructions (15) received from the radio communication interface (13).