CONTROL DEVICE INTENDED TO CONTROL A FUNCTION OF A MOTOR VEHICLE
A control device to control a motor vehicle function, includes a touch screen element having an external surface equipped with one or more control zones assigned to a specific function of the vehicle, the touch screen element supporting one or more elementary sensors positioned in line with one of the control zones. The elementary sensor(s) being capable of generating at least one signal in response to an action performed by the user on at least one of the control zones, - at least one actuator configured to provide a user with haptic feedback through a translational movement of the touch screen element, and in just-one direction of travel, - a control unit configured to receive the signal generated by the elementary sensor(s) and to control the actuator in response to the signal, wherein the control device has components to keep the touch screen element aligned in the vibration plane.
The present disclosure relates to the field of control interfaces of the vehicle passenger compartment functions.
BACKGROUNDDriving a motor vehicle involves interactions between the driver and the vehicle and, as such, a motor vehicle is provided with various control members disseminated in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
The control members traditionally comprise push or rotary buttons, sliders on which the driver or a passenger act to control vehicle functions such as the infotainment system, lighting, central locking, air conditioning, etc.
In recent years, we have witnessed the transformation of essentially electromechanical control members based on buttons, switches, micro-switches, potentiometers, etc. into digital control interfaces in which the driver or passenger control is converted into an electrical signal that a computer processes to act on an actuator which transcribes the instruction given by the driver or passenger.
Multifunction control interfaces are used to control electrical or electronic systems, such as an air conditioning system, an audio system or even a navigation system. The control interfaces can generally be associated with a generally capacitive touch screen and allow navigation in drop-down menus.
However, in the presence of more and more numerous functions, it is necessary to improve the ergonomics of the man-machine interfaces. When a user presses on the touch surface, the location of the position can be determined by sensing the contact or the pressure where the force is exerted. In this case, a pressure of the user is for example associated with the selection of a command. Furthermore, to signal to the user that his command has been taken into account, whether in a normal driving or stopping situation but also in a degraded situation (blind handling, heavy cognitive load), it is important that the user has haptic feedback so as to remain focused on the road by reducing the cognitive force associated with verifying the performance of his action on the touch surface.
For this, so-called haptic feedback control modules are already known including actuators, such as electromagnetic actuators, connected to the interface module to transmit a movement of vibrations, so that the user perceives a haptic feedback informing him that his command has been taken into account.
To make it possible to give the user a haptic feedback in line with his action, it is preferable to detect both the action on the command and the force of the action on the command. On a traditional command, the action is activated by a mechanical movement. On a touch command, it is appropriate to avoid «false detections» to differentiate the intention from the action. The intention can, for example, result in the positioning of a finger of the user near or in contact with the command that he wants to activate. This intention is generally detected by means of capacitive sensors. The action on the contrary consists in an accentuated pressure on the command so as to trigger the command. This action can, for example, be detected by pressure-sensitive sensors.
This notion of intention and action, in addition to avoiding false detections, is very important to give the user appropriate haptic feedback and above all at the right time.
Indeed, if the haptic feedback is sent before the user has produced the action, his finger risks not being in sufficient contact with the control surface for him to perceive the haptic effect.
In the same way, if the haptic feedback is sent after the action has been produced, the user risks interpreting a lack of support for his action, or even analyzing this as a malfunction of his command interface.
To avoid these problems, it is therefore fundamental to propose control devices that make it possible to clearly distinguish between intention and action.
In the control devices currently on the market, this distinction between intention and action turns out to be imperfectly realized.
Thus, the control devices equipped with capacitive sensors only do not make it possible to differentiate the intention from the action, because the capacitive sensor triggers the action as soon as it detects the finger on the command. Moreover, these capacitive sensors do not make it possible to detect the pressing force, and, consequently, do not make it possible to vary the haptic feedback accordingly.
SUMMARYTo overcome this defect, it is currently proposed to combine in the same control device of the capacitive sensors, making it possible to detect the intention, and sensors sensitive to pressure, making it possible to detect the action.
Among the pressure-sensitive sensors, there are in particular micro-switches and strain gauges.
In the control device shown in
The control device represented in
The two aforementioned systems also imply that the slab, in addition to allowing the vibration movement of the haptic feedback (direction substantially perpendicular to the action of the user finger), is also free to move in the direction substantially parallel to the pressing of the user finger. This need to have at least two degrees of freedom runs counter to compliance with clearances and outcrops and therefore to a better quality of appearance of the parts thus equipped with a haptic feedback device.
The present disclosure provides a control device that does not have the aforementioned drawbacks.
To this end, the disclosure concerns a control device intended to control a function of a motor vehicle, the control device comprising:
- a touch screen comprising an outer surface provided with one or more control zones each assigned to a specific function of the motor vehicle, the touch screen supporting one or more elementary sensors each positioned directly above one of said control zones, said elementary sensor(s) being capable of generating at least one signal in response to an action exerted by the user on at least one of said control zones,
- at least one actuator configured to provide a user with a haptic feedback by translational displacement of the touch screen in a plane, called the vibration plane, and in a single displacement direction,
- a control unit configured to receive said at least one signal generated by said elementary sensors and to control said at least one actuator in response to said signal,
Thus configured, the control device of the disclosure will make it possible to generate a haptic effect which is correctly perceptible by the user while ensuring a better quality of appearance of the parts equipped with the control device.
According to other characteristics, the control device of the disclosure may comprise one or more of the following optional characteristics considered alone or in combination;
- at least one of the control zones forms a portion of the outer surface of the touch screen on which a finger of a user can press, said at least one control zone being arranged contiguous to one of the elementary sensors such that pressing said at least one control zone generates a deformation of said elementary sensor which can be detected by the force sensor of said elementary sensor.
- said at least one actuator comprises a fixed part connected to a frame of the device and a movable part in an air gap of the fixed part, the movable part being connected to the touch screen.
- the movable part of said at least one actuator comprises a magnet or an array of magnets and the fixed part of said at least one actuator comprises a coil or an array of coils.
- said at least one actuator comprises a rotary motor provided with a rotary shaft, the rotary shaft constituting the movable part of said at least one actuator.
- said at least one actuator comprises an inertial actuator by translation.
- the support and guide means comprise several fixing clips, each of the fixing clips being secured to a frame of the device, and several fixing lugs, each of the fixing lugs being secured to the touch screen, the fixing lugs being configured to cooperate with the fixing clips to allow clipping between the touch screen and the frame and to prevent the displacement of the touch screen relative to the frame in a direction perpendicular to the plane of vibration while allowing guidance of said touch screen during its displacement in translation vis-à-vis the frame in the direction of displacement.
- the fixing lug has a protrusion at its free end and each fixing clip is provided with two tabs that are elastically deformable in the plane of vibration and in a direction perpendicular to the direction of displacement, said tabs being configured to form a passage opening through which the fixing lug can be inserted, said passage opening not allowing, in an undeformed state of the fixing clip, the passage of the protrusion of the fixing lug.
- the control unit is configured to vary the haptic feedback generated by said at least one actuator as a function of the intensity of pressure exerted by the user on at least one of said control zones.
The disclosure also relates to a motor vehicle comprising a control device as defined above.
The disclosure is described below according to several preferred embodiments, in no way limiting, and with reference to
The drawings are representations in principle and are not representative of the scale of the various elements they represent.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSReferring to
Referring to
In this embodiment, the control device 10 is integrated into a passenger compartment element 100 of a motor vehicle, this passenger compartment element 100 being able for example to be a central console separating the two front seats of the motor vehicle. This control device 10 consists in particular of a slab 12 that is substantially flat and of rectangular shape. The slab 12 is fixed on a frame 14 by means of several fixing clips 161 secured to the frame 14. As shown in
The upper surface of the slab 12 is provided with a control button 18 of circular shape. When the user presses said control button 18, he actuates a sensor (not visible in
An example of an actuator 30 that can be used in the context of the disclosure is shown in particular in
Another possible variant of the actuator 30 could consist of a rotary motor equipped with a rotary shaft, the rotary shaft constituting the movable part of the actuator and the rotary motor being secured to the fixed part of the actuator. This type of actuator is an inertial actuator, the rotating part is not connected to the slab but generates the vibration by a rotating weight.
Another possible variant of the 3D actuator could consist of an inertial weight vibrating by translation in a coil.
Referring to
The insulating substrate 210 is, according to exemplary embodiments, a polymer, for example a polyimide or a PET, or a ceramic.
Said concentric tracks 221, 222 are for example made of copper, ITO (In2O3 -SnO2) to produce a transparent sensor or any other conductive material. They are deposited, for example, by photolithography or by soft lithography.
In the center of the sensor is deposited an assembly of nanoparticles constituting a force sensor.
According to an exemplary embodiment, suitable for producing a transparent sensor, said nanoparticles are ITO nanoparticles in colloidal suspension in an insulating ligand, for example an (aminomethyl) phosphonic acid (CH6NO3P).
According to other embodiments, the nanoparticles are zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles or gold (Au) nanoparticles.
The assembly of nanoparticles 230 is a monolayer or multilayer assembly, deposited on the substrate, for example, by convective capillary deposition or by a so-called «drop evaporation» method as described in document EP 2 877 911, without these examples are neither exhaustive nor limiting.
The assembly of nanoparticles 230 is firmly linked to the substrate 210, for example via a chemical coupler.
For example, the chemical coupler is a silane (SiH4), capable of interacting with OH groups on the surface of the substrate previously activated by UV-Ozone treatment and comprising at the other end of the coupler a carboxylic group (COOH) capable of grafting onto an amine group (NH2) previously grafted to the surface of the nanoparticles.
The assembly of nanoparticles 230 constitutes a strain gauge, the electrical conductivity of which varies according to the relative distance between the nanoparticles of the assembly.
This variation of conductivity or vice versa of electrical resistance is attributed to the conduction by tunnel effect between the nanoparticles, and this effect provides a very high gauge factor, much higher than what is possible to obtain with a piezoresistive film, which makes it possible to measure very small deformations.
For example, the proportional variation of the resistance of such an elementary force sensor, consisting of an assembly of ITO nanoparticles in a ligand based on phosphonic acid, shows an exponential evolution of the response in function of the deformation undergone by said elementary sensor, with a gauge factor reaching the value of 85 over a deformation range of -1%, in compression, to +1% in tension for a resistance in the range of 2000.103 Ohm in the absence of deformation.
Thus, this elementary force sensor is very sensitive and makes it possible to detect a pressing or touching force, even relatively weak, applied to said sensor, which can thus constitute its own test body. In other words, the deformation of the substrate is not necessary to detect an applied force and the arrangement represented in
With reference to
Conductive tracks 240, represented here according to a principle representation, also deposited on the substrate 210, allow the electrical supply and the collection of data from the capacitive sensor and from the force sensor.
According to a first embodiment represented in
According to this first embodiment, the combined elementary sensor has a diameter comprised between 10 mm and 30 mm and a thickness comprised between 50 µm and 300 µm without these values being limiting.
According to a second embodiment represented in
A protective layer 3102 is placed on said capacitive sensor.
According to an example of implementation represented in
Thus, the surface 511 of this substrate 510 is functionalized and makes it possible to detect a touch on this surface and to measure the force of application of this touch.
According to non-limiting embodiment examples, said substrate 510 may consist of a polymer, glass, ceramic, leather or wood. The sensitivity of the force sensor makes it possible to detect a slight deformation, and thus to detect and measure a touch force even if this substrate is relatively rigid.
As illustrated in
This minimum distance 590 is adjustable according to the characteristics of the sensor and a threshold defined on the signal delivered by said capacitive sensor.
By way of example, the minimum distance is selected for any value between 0 and 10 mm depending on the intended application.
To this end, the sensor is connected to an electronic circuit able to perform these functions as well as the steps of the method described below.
Thus, at time t0, as shown in
Returning to
Thus, any drift phenomenon of the information delivered by the force sensor, in particular due to temperature variations, is compensated.
As shown in
When the touch pressure is released at time t1, at a short instant (t1+e) following this release, the object 500 is at a distance from the surface 511, greater than or equal to the minimum distance 590, and, as illustrated in
When the crossing of this threshold C0 is detected on the capacitive sensor, the information delivered by the force sensor is considered equal to 0. Thus, the delayed return to 0 of the information delivered by the force sensor, due to the hysteresis phenomena, is also masked.
Thus, the combined use of the force sensor and the capacitive sensor makes it possible to measure an applied force, and if necessary to trigger actions according to the level of this force, by overcoming the inherent drift and hysteresis phenomena to this type of force sensor and as shown in
With reference to
Said touch surface comprises a substrate 610, made of an electrically insulating material, and comprising a surface exposed to touch.
On the face opposite to this surface exposed to touch of the substrate 610 is added a first layer 620 comprising a grid of capacitive sensors 625, such as the upper layer 402 of
Beneath the layer 620 carrying the grid of capacitive sensors is added a layer 630 comprising a grid of force sensors 635 made up of assemblies of nanoparticles, such as the lower layer 401 of
According to a first embodiment (not shown), the number of force sensors 635 is equal to the number of capacitive sensors 625 and said force sensors are located centered with respect to the capacitive sensors.
Advantageously, the number of force sensors 635 is reduced relative to the number of capacitive sensors 625 and said force sensors are located centered, or not, relative to said capacitive sensors.
This embodiment, using a reduced number of force sensors is more economical.
Indeed, whatever the point of application of the force of touch on the touch surface thus created, the force of touch is evaluated, knowing this point of application, and deduced from the signals delivered by one of the force sensors, for example that closest to the point of application, or by combining the information delivered by several of these sensors, at least 3 force sensors for a flat touch surface, according to implementation variants.
The location of the point of application of the touch on the touch surface is obtained from the grid of capacitive sensors 625.
This principle remains valid in the case of multiple touch points.
This embodiment makes it possible to produce a touch surface comprising a high density of capacitive sensors, more economical to produce than the force sensors, and thus to obtain precise localization of the point(s) of application of the touch, then to evaluate the force applied during these touches by appropriate processing of the information delivered by a reduced number of force sensors 635 of more expensive construction, depending on the location of the point(s) of application of the touch.
The method implemented remains similar, namely that as soon as the proximity of a conductive object is detected at a distance less than or equal to the minimum distance 590 from one of the capacitive sensors, the value V0 delivered by each of the force sensors is measured so as to readjust the information delivered by each of said sensors, the application force is determined by combining the information from said force sensors as a function of the location of the point of application of the force given by the capacitive sensors array, then, when the object moves away from the touch surface by a distance greater than or equal to the minimum distance, the force is reset to 0.
One skilled in the art understands that the use of a reduced number of force sensors compared to the number of capacitive sensors is applicable to a touch surface of a shape other than flat, for example a single or double curvature surface, as soon as that this form is stable.
For a flexible touch surface of variable shape, for example a touch surface applied to clothing, the embodiment comprising a number of force sensors equivalent to that of the capacitive sensors and centered with respect to the latter is preferable.
Thus, the device as described previously offers in its variants very varied application possibilities.
As illustrated in
According to this embodiment, and with reference to
In the case 716 where the signal delivered by the capacitive sensor remains lower than C0, no other action is triggered and the scanning of the signal at the frequency or by given time interval continues.
In the case 717 where the signal delivered by the capacitive sensor crosses the threshold C0 and therefore an object is close to said sensor, during initialization steps of the force sensor, the value delivered by the force sensor is read 720 and during a drift determination step 730 the value V0 thus read is used as a reference value.
The measurement of the force applied is carried out with respect to this reference as long as the object is in contact with the touch surface. To this end, the output signal from the capacitive sensor is compared 735 with the value C0 corresponding to the minimum distance, and as long as 737 the value delivered by this sensor remains greater than the value C0, the signal from the force sensor is measured 740 and, during a recalibration step 750, recalibrated with respect to the value V0 determined during the drift determination step 730 carried out in the same acquisition sequence.
The method described in
As illustrated in
When this threshold is exceeded 817 on one of the sensors, during a location step 820, the position of the activated capacitive sensor is determined.
During a drift determination step 830 the information delivered by each of the force sensors is read and this information is assigned 840 to each of the respective force sensors as an adjustment value.
Throughout the touch 847, the information coming from the force sensors is acquired 850, readjusted 860 for each sensor by the value evaluated during the drift determination step 830.
Then, depending on the point of application of the force, determined during the location step 820, the force applied to the considered point is estimated 870 by combining the information from the force sensors.
Claims
1. A control device intended to control a function of a motor vehicle, the control device comprising:
- a touch screen comprising an outer surface provided with one or more control zones, each of the one or more control zones being assigned to a specific function of the motor vehicle, the touch screen supporting one or more elementary sensors each of the one or more elementary sensors being positioned directly below one of said control zones, said elementary sensor(s) being capable of generating at least one signal in response to an action exerted by a user on at least one of said control zones,
- at least one actuator configured to provide the user with a haptic feedback by translational displacement of the touch screen in a plane, called a vibration plane, and in a single displacement direction,
- a control unit configured to receive said at least one signal generated by said elementary sensor(s) and to control said at least one actuator in response to said signal, the control device includes support and guide means intended to keep the touch screen aligned in the vibration plane and in that each of the elementary sensors comprises at least one insulating substrate on which are deposited conductive tracks forming at least one capacitive sensor and an assembly of conductive or semi-conductive nanoparticles in colloidal suspension in an electrically insulating ligand, said assembly forming at least one force sensor.
2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the control zones forms a portion of the outer surface of the touch screen on which a user finger can press down, said at least one control zone being arranged contiguous to one of the elementary sensors such that pressing on said at least one control zone generates a deformation of said elementary sensor which is configured to be detected by the force sensor of said elementary sensor.
3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said at least one actuator comprises a fixed part connected to a frame of the device and a movable part in an air gap of the fixed part, the movable part being connected to the touch screen.
4. The control device according to claim 3, wherein the movable part of said at least one actuator comprises a magnet or an array of magnets and the fixed part of said at least one actuator comprises a coil or an array of coils.
5. The control device according to claim 3, that wherein said at least one actuator comprises a rotary motor provided with a rotary shaft, the rotary shaft constituting the movable part of said at least one actuator.
6. The control device according to claim 3, that wherein said at least one actuator comprises an inertial actuator by translation.
7. The control device according to claims 1, wherein the support and guide means comprise several fixing clips, each of the fixing clips being secured to a frame of the device, and several fixing lugs, each of the fixing lugs being secured to the touch screen, the fixing lugs being configured to cooperate with the fixing clips to allow clipping of the touch screen on the frame and to prevent the displacement of the touch screen relative to the frame in a direction perpendicular to the vibration plane while ensuring guidance of said touch screen during displacement in translation vis-à-vis the frame in the displacement direction.
8. The control device according to claim 7, wherein the fixing lug has a protrusion at its free end and in that each fixing clip is provided with two tabs elastically deformable in the vibration plane and in a direction perpendicular to the displacement direction, said tabs being configured to form a passage opening through which is configured to be inserted the fixing lug, said passage opening not allowing, in an undeformed state of the fixing clip, the passage of the protrusion of the fixing lug.
9. The control device according to claim 1, that wherein the control unit is configured to vary the haptic feedback generated by said at least one actuator as a function of the intensity of a pressure exerted by the user on at least one of said control zones.
10. A motor vehicle comprising a control device according to claim 1.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 24, 2021
Publication Date: Sep 21, 2023
Inventors: François BOLLIER (Nice), Vincent BARBORINI (NICE), Fabrice SEVERAC (TOULOUSE), Nicolas DUFOUR (VALLEGUE)
Application Number: 17/904,989