Patents by Inventor Heike Sacher

Heike Sacher has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9261988
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling at least one function of a motor vehicle has a touch-sensitive input panel. The touch-sensitive input panel includes a transparent material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Johannes Tovar, Tahar Bouaziz, Heike Sacher
  • Patent number: 9248742
    Abstract: A motor vehicle has a driver assistance device which is designed to guide the motor vehicle independently and can be switched between several assistance modes which differ in a degree of autonomy of the driver assistance device when driving the motor vehicle. An operating device having several operating elements allows the user to adjust respective driving parameters, which determine a driving behavior of the driver assistance device, in at least one of the assistance modes as a function of an activation of the operating elements. The operating device is designed in the form of a palm rest. Some of the operating elements are arranged on a support body. The support body is mounted such that it can be manually rotated about a vertical axis, and the driver assistance device is designed to adjust the currently active assistance mode as a function of a rotary position of the support body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Heike Sacher, Franziska Ehrhart, Fabian Scheiffert
  • Patent number: 9216743
    Abstract: A driver assistance device in a motor vehicle can completely or partially independently guide the motor vehicle. The driver assistance device has an operating device having a grip element which is arranged on a center console of the motor vehicle and on which a plurality of operating elements are arranged. To improve clarity, the grip element can be moved with respect to an interior trim of the motor vehicle by an actuator of the operating device. A control device of the driver assistance device is designed to adjust a position of the grip element with respect to the interior trim by controlling the actuator on the basis of the currently active assistance mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Heike Sacher, Fabian Scheiffert, Berthold Faerber
  • Patent number: 9182759
    Abstract: A driver assistance system for the fully automated driving of a motor vehicle has a control device for generating control signals for actuators of the motor vehicle, which are designed to drive the motor vehicle. The control device forms a slave of a master-slave arrangement. A user interface of the device forms the master. The user interface receives as an input from a user, a selection of a driving maneuver that is to be performed by the slave and/or a driving parameter value for a driving parameter with respect to a driving maneuver which is currently carried out by the slave. After completion of the input, the user interface activates the slave as a function of the input. The user interface has a representation of the motor vehicle, arranged in a field, wherein an edge represents a maximum permissible change in the driving parameter value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Juergen Meurle, Heike Sacher, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Fabian Scheiffert, Franziska Ehrhart
  • Patent number: 9174642
    Abstract: A motor vehicle has a driver assistance device to guide the motor vehicle in an automated manner during travel. The driver assistance device can be switched between a plurality of assistance modes. First, second and third control device differ in the actions the control. The first operating device directly drives the motor vehicle by the driver of the motor vehicle in a manual mode. The second operating device adjusts driving parameters for a partially automated assistance mode, and the third operating device serves as a user interface for the fully automated assistance mode. In a fully automated assistance mode, the driver assistance device provides independent lateral guidance and controls a wheel steering angle. In this case, an actuator adjusts a rotary position of the steering wheel to follow the wheel steering angle set by the driver assistance device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Juergen Meurle, Heike Sacher, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger
  • Publication number: 20150032322
    Abstract: The motor vehicle according to the invention comprises a driver assistance device, which is designed to drive the motor vehicle independently during a journey of the motor vehicle and which in this case is switchable between a plurality of assistance modes. The motor vehicle furthermore comprises a first, a second and a third operating device (12, 14, 16), which differ from one another in operating actions to be performed for their operation. In the case of the driver assistance device, at least independent transverse driving is provided in a fully automatic assistance mode, at least speed control is provided in a partly automatic assistance mode and no driving of the motor vehicle at all is provided by the driver assistance device in a manual assistance mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2013
    Publication date: January 29, 2015
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Juergen Meurle, Heike Sacher, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger
  • Publication number: 20150032321
    Abstract: A motor vehicle has a driver assistance device which is designed to guide the motor vehicle independently and can be switched between several assistance modes which differ in a degree of autonomy of the driver assistance device when driving the motor vehicle. An operating device having several operating elements allows the user to adjust respective driving parameters, which determine a driving behavior of the driver assistance device, in at least one of the assistance modes as a function of an activation of the operating elements. The operating device is designed in the form of a palm rest. Some of the operating elements are arranged on a support body. The support body is mounted such that it can be manually rotated about a vertical axis, and the driver assistance device is designed to adjust the currently active assistance mode as a function of a rotary position of the support body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Publication date: January 29, 2015
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Heike Sacher, Franziska Ehrhart, Fabian Scheiffert
  • Publication number: 20150006013
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to enable clear operation of a driver assistance system for the fully automated driving of a motor vehicle. The device according to the invention has a control unit for generating control signals for actuators of the motor vehicle, said actuators being designed for driving the motor vehicle. In this case, a slave of a master-slave arrangement is formed by the control unit. An associated master is formed by a user interface (28) of the device by virtue of the fact that the user interface (28) is designed to receive an input from a user, said input comprising a selection of a driving maneuver (M1 to M5) to be performed by the slave and/or a driving parameter value for a driving parameter (F1, F2) with respect to a driving maneuver currently being performed by the slave, and, after the input has ended, to activate the slave in a manner dependent on the input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2013
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Juergen Meurle, Heike Sacher, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Fabian Scheiffert, Franziska Ehrhart
  • Publication number: 20150006014
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to ensure clarity when operating a driver assistance device in a motor vehicle having a driver assistance device which can completely or partially independently guide the motor vehicle. In the motor vehicle according to the invention, the driver assistance device has an operating device having a grip element (18) which is arranged on a center console (10) of the motor vehicle and on which a plurality of operating elements (28, 34) are arranged. In this case, the grip element (18) can be moved with respect to an interior trim (22) of the motor vehicle by an actuator of the operating device. A control device of the driver assistance device is designed to adjust a position of the grip element (18) with respect to the interior trim (22) by controlling the actuator on the basis of the currently active assistance mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Martin Wimmer, Karl-Heinz Siedersberger, Heike Sacher, Fabian Scheiffert, Berthold Faerber
  • Publication number: 20130113726
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling at least one function of a motor vehicle has a touch-sensitive input panel. The touch-sensitive input panel includes a transparent material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2010
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Applicants: Audi Electronics Venture GmbH, Audi AG
    Inventors: Johannes Tovar, Tahar Bouaziz, Heike Sacher