GPS CONTROLLED HELMET WINDSHIELD

Abstract

The invention is an apparatus comprising a GPS based electronic device mounted on a helmet. This device can detect the rider's speed at any given time and automatically control the windshield's position (open/close) based on the rider's preferences. In addition, the rider can override the automatic GPS mode by pressing a wireless button mounted on the motorcycle handlebar or an existing button on the helmet apparatus. The apparatus is a self contained unit that can be used in various applications. In the case of the motorcycle, the helmet has a feature enabling independent as well wireless handlebar controlled operation. However, as the helmet apparatus can function independently of the motorcycle, it can therefore be used for other types of vehicles requiring the use of an automatically controlled helmet windshield.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a mechanism that controls the helmet windshield according to the riding speed, detected by a GPS device mounted on the helmet.

The invention is based on a mechanism adjusting the position of the helmet windshield so that it opens up and closes down automatically at certain speeds detected by the GPS device and predetermined by the rider.

Note: the invention is a self contained apparatus attached to the helmet and functions independently of the motorcycle or any other vehicle requiring the use of a helmet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A motorcycle helmet provides safety to the rider. Most helmets are equipped with a windshield. The helmet windshield protects the rider's face against flying debris, wind, rain, insects etc. During stopped periods e.g. traffic lights, a closed helmet can be uncomfortable for the rider, especially under certain weather conditions. Helmets can get extremely warm and suffocating during hot weather and foggy during cold weather. To obtain relief, the rider manually opens the windshield at stopped periods and then manually closes the windshield before resuming his ride or sometime in the course of the ride itself. This sequence which is continually repeated during the ride is a source of considerable inconvenience and possibly also a safety hazard to the rider when removing his hand from steering in order to deal with the windshield.

This invention comes to address the above problem, providing a simple, practical, convenient and safe solution.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the operational mode of the invention as described in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. While the invention will be presenting preferred operational and set-up modes, it will be understood that the invention is not limited solely to these modes. On the contrary, due to the invention's flexibility, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the apparatus components:

• • 1. Power supply—battery of any kind, can be LiPo, NIMH etc.
  • 2. Main Control Unit—this is the brain of the system and contains various components:
    • a. SBEC—DC to DC regulator which provides appropriate voltage and current to system
    • b. Microcontroller chip, e.g. ATMEGA328P
    • c. GPS receiver module, e.g. Copernicus II
    • d. Digital Temperature Sensor
    • e. Wireless transceiver, Bluetooth or RF
  • 3. Push button
  • 4. LED indicator
  • 5. Motor—Servo motor or any other kind
  • 6. Wireless Control Unit—Bluetooth or RF transceiver (optional for installing on the motorcycle handlebar)

Brief Explanation of the Block Diagram

The battery is connected directly to the SBEC which regulates the voltage to a stable 5V—the voltage required for all the apparatus components. The microcontroller is the “brain” of the system and, as such, all the components are connected to it through the existing I/O Ports. The microcontroller also includes EPROM on which the software is stored and a CPU that runs the software.

FIG. 2 describes how the apparatus is incorporated in the helmet. For safety purposes, the helmet should meet with the SNELL and DOT standards.

FIG. 3 illustrates a suggested ‘operation mode’ flow chart. In reference to FIG. 3, we will now describe the available flows in detail.

Note: there is only one button which controls the entire system operation, and all the operation variations are controlled by pressing this very same button both for initializing the relevant mode and for operating within the mode. Therefore, whenever mentioning ‘the button’ we always refer to the same button throughout the following operation description:

• • 1. By pressing the button for the first time for the duration of three seconds, the apparatus is powered up and the windshield will go the initial state i.e. open.
  • 2. At this point the button starts functioning as an operation mode selector. The system will now check whether the button was pressed again and accordingly choose the relevant operation mode out of a total of three available options:
    • a. ‘Default mode’—if ‘no press’ was detected, the system will stay on the default operational mode which is a GPS mode.
    • b. ‘Scratch mode’—if ‘short press’ was detected, the windshield will open at for 5 seconds to enable the rider to scratch his face or sneeze for example.
    • c. ‘Manual mode’—if a ‘3 second press’ was detected, the system will operate manually. Within this mode, each time a short press is detected, the windshield position will be toggled between ‘open’ and ‘closed’. In order to exit this mode and return to the ‘default mode’, a ‘3 second press’ is required.

3. If, in the course of ‘default mode’ operation the satellite reception is lost (e.g. while entering a tunnel), the system will function as ‘manual mode’ until the satellite reception is restored and the ‘default mode’ is resumed.

The detailed operation stages are shown clearly in the flow chart in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 describes the set-up mode function of the apparatus.

The figure is a menu tree that shows how to navigate through the various configurable settings and functions.

In order to access the ‘main menu’, press and hold - while the system is shut down - the button for the duration of 10 seconds. This will initiate a series of green LED blinks which indicate that the user is inside the ‘main menu’ tree. The pause which follows each set of blinks is the window for the user to press the button and access the relevant sub-menu for additional set-up options.

There are 5 set-up options (sub-menus) under the ‘main menu’:

• • 1. Set threshold speed manually
  • 2. Set threshold speed by GPS
  • 3. Select winter or summer mode

WO 2014/057485 PCT/1L2013/050780

4. Set windshield angle for winter mode

5. Exit back to ‘operation mode’

In order to distinguish them from the main menu, the sub-menus will function under a RED colored LED indicator.

Under sub-menu 1, there are three pre-determined speeds which can be selected as threshold, e.g. 30/60/90 km/h.

Under sub-menu 2, there is no pre-determined speed and the system is in a ‘listening mode’. This means that the rider is free to choose his threshold speed while riding. This is done by, pressing the button at whatever speed he chooses. The speed detected by the GPS will be stored in the system memory.

Under sub-menu 3, the user will choose between winter, summer or auto mode. The difference between these modes is the angle at which the windshield opens. In summer mode the windshield will be fully opened, while in the winter mode the windshield opens only partially to keep the rider warm while allowing for fresh air and anti-fog function. The auto mode can distinguish automatically between winter and summer mode based on the Digital Temperature Sensor incorporated in the apparatus.

Under sub menu 4, the user can set the windshield angle for ‘winter mode’ which allows for more flexibility to open the windshield at varying angles in keeping with weather conditions.

FIG. 5 describes the various LED blink combinations for the available functions within the set-up mode.

FIG. 6 describes a “Smart Switch”: an optional wireless control device for the apparatus. The device contains a push button and a LED that function as an extension of the push button and LED mounted on the helmet. The device is attached to the left side handlebar grip using a rubber band as shown in FIG. 6.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a “Black Box” feature is disclosed. As the present invention is a GPS based device, it is possible to log the rider's location and speed at any given time for a predetermined period, at the rider's preference.

The present invention has been described in detail in order to facilitate the understanding of the construction and operation of the invention. As such, references herein to the various features of the invention, its additional embodiment and details thereof, are not intended to limit the scope of the claims hereunder and modifications can be made to these features without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A helmet comprising:

a windshield,

a GPS chip operable to provide speed related data, and

a microcontroller configured to, in a first operational mode, receive speed related data from the GPS chip, and adjust a position of the windshield based at least partly on the received data.

11. The helmet of claim 10 further comprising a temperature sensor for providing temperature related data, and wherein the microcontroller is configured to, in the first operational mode, adjust the position of the windshield based additionally at least partly on the temperature related data.

12. The helmet of claim 10 further comprising a button operatively coupled to the microcontroller.

13. The helmet of claim 10 further comprising a remote control in wireless communication with the microcontroller.

14. The helmet of claim 10 wherein the microcontroller is configured to, in the first operational mode, automatically raise the windshield if the speed related data is informative of a speed decrease below a predefined threshold value, and to lower the windshield if the speed related data is informative of a speed increase above the threshold value.

15. The helmet of claim 10 wherein the threshold value is a selected one of a predetermined list of threshold values, the selection made by a user.

16. The helmet of claim 10 wherein the threshold value is an arbitrary value selected by a user.

17. The helmet of claim 10 wherein the microcontroller is configured to, in a second operational mode, automatically raise the windshield and, after a predetermined delay, automatically lower the windshield.

18. The helmet of claim 12 wherein the microcontroller is further configured to, in a third operational mode, raise and lower the windshield in response to a user activating the button.

19. The helmet of claim 13 wherein the microcontroller is further configured to, in a third operational mode, raise and lower the windshield in response to a user activating the remote control.

20. The helmet of claim 18 wherein the button is operable to select the operational mode of the microcontroller.

21. The helmet of claim 19 wherein the remote control is operable to select the operational mode of the microcontroller.

22. The helmet of claim 11 wherein the microcontroller is configured to, in the first operational mode, automatically raise the windshield if the speed related data is informative of a speed decrease below a predefined threshold value, and to lower the windshield if the speed related data is informative of a speed increase above the threshold value, wherein the degree of raising is determined based at least in part on the temperature related data.

23. The helmet of claim 22 wherein the microcontroller is configured to, in a second operational mode, automatically raise the windshield and, after a predetermined delay, automatically lower the windshield.

24. The helmet of claim 23 wherein the microcontroller is further configured to, in a third operational mode, raise and lower the windshield in response to a user activating a button.

25. The helmet of claim 23 wherein the microcontroller is further configured to, in a third operational mode, raise and lower the windshield in response to a user activating a remote control.

26. In a helmet, a method of automatically adjusting a position of a windshield coupled to the helmet comprising:

calculating, by a GPS chip, an instantaneous speed,

obtaining, by a microcontroller coupled to the GPS chip, the calculated speed,

comparing, by the microcontroller, the calculated speed with a predefined speed as programmed by a user, and

activating, by the microcontroller, a motor to raise or lower the windshield based on the results of the comparison.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising

determining, by a temperature sensor, an outside temperature,

comparing, by the microcontroller, the outside temperature with a predefined temperature, and

if the outside temperature is lower than the predefined temperature and the calculated speed is lower than the predefined speed, activating, by the microcontroller, the motor to partially raise the windshield, and

if the outside temperature is higher than the predefined temperature and the calculated speed is lower than the predefined speed, activating, by the microcontroller, the motor to fully raise the windshield.

28. A helmet windshield control system operable to adjust a position of a windshield comprised in a helmet comprising:

a motor for affixing to the windshield and operable to adjust a position of the windshield

a GPS receiver for affixing to the helmet and operable to provide speed data

a microcontroller for affixing to the helmet and operable to receive speed data from the GPS receiver and operate the motor to automatically adjust a position of the windshield based at least partly on the received speed data.

29. The system of claim 28 further comprising a temperature sensor for affixing to the helmet and operable to provide outside temperature data, wherein the microcontroller is further operable to receive temperature data from the temperature sensor and to operate the motor to automatically adjust a position of the windshield based at least partly on the received temperature data.