Patent ID: 8026798
Filing Date: 2011-09-27
Classification: B60W,G06F

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for presenting a time-variant information element in a vehicle, which has a steering wheel, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of remotely and individually controllable tactile pads, each of which is operable to produce a tactile sensation in response to a respective pad output signal, wherein a plurality of pad output signals are produced by a controller, and wherein the plurality of tactile pads are positioned or adapted to be positioned on the steering wheel or proximate to the steering wheel, the plurality of tactile pads being configured to be touched by at least one hand of a vehicle driver while driving the vehicle; means for determining the time-variant information element to be presented and for applying the determined time-variant information element to the controller; and means for encoding the determined time-variant information element by the controller into temporal variations of the plurality of pad output signals, wherein the encoding comprises encoding the time-variant information element to a simultaneous set of states of the plurality of tactile pads; whereby the apparatus is configured to present the time-variant information element to the vehicle driver via the tactile sensation.