Hands on Wheel Interface, a Safe and reliable telematic HMI

Guess what we dreamed up today...

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Hands on Wheel Interface, a reliable telematic HMI Request this Article

Speech recognition failed to deliver on the Sci-Fi promise of computer recognizing and obeying our every command. The Key words here are "Command" and" Recognition" and booth of these are the draw back of the system as you will read from below.

Hands on Wheel Interface^TM (HOWI^TM) is a breakthrough concept that we turned to quickly after failing to achieve a reliable interface and control of the Car computers using speech recognition, but we did benefit from the experience by discovering the applicability of programmable retrieval of stored voice instructions under program control, "Text to Speech/Audible Menu".

The solution was easy and unique. Unlike the horn buttons and the cruise control buttons that were placed on the steering wheel hubs at the that time and since, HOWI^TM uses a single button that triggers a signal to the PC, which in turn drives a visual and an audible menu selection pointer. This means that a single button can in effect replaces a group of switches. to simplify the interaction, two switches are used on each side of the steering wheel to drive the menu left or right, but when both buttons are pressed simultaneously, the selection is made.

Further evolution of HOWI^TM introduced the concept of Hands Monitoring and simplified the Driver Physiology monitoring. Additionally, Thumb Gestures interpretation was introduced to make full benefit from (HOWI^TM), and eliminate the need for a visual menu. With that evolution, and to distinguish our solution, we opted to use this feature to name this device as "Hands On Wheel Interface" to further distinguished it from all others Hands Free solutions.

Based on the DrivingApplication, the Thumb Gesture Interpretation can be as simple as a Thumb Up or a Thumb Down, or it can be a complex strokes, taps and pushes on a sensor that transmits such gestures to a computer for interpretation by a preset table of codes.

As seen from this description, the solution does not require the user to remember a specific syntax or a specific command. The reliability and simplicity of the solution makes the finicky speech recognition process a problem that we can happily live without.

The systems is monitored by a Modular, Dynamic, State Machine logic, that adds, remove, prioritize, enable or block equipments and services by:

STMC safety categories and operation parameters

Frequency of use (as per each driver habit / pattern)

Real time Driving conditions and Vehicle safety status

Driver physiology feed back, Driver Habits, Driver environment

This adds intelligence to the system and reduces the amount of work / time a driver spend selecting the correct option.

In conclusion, if you are sold on this, give us a call and let us show you how you can make millions getting this device into the "hands" of the consumers. Call Mr. Naboulsi directly on 001 248/388-0211 or e-mail him on manaboulsi AT actplace DOT net.

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