Patent ID: 8631893

Claim:
A steering wheel system for detecting and verifying drowsiness in a driver, the wheel comprising: at least one stimulus annunciator configured to present, upon activation, at least a first stimulus to the driver; a sensor array to generate a touch signal to indicate a first grip pressure the driver exerts on the wheel at a first grip location on the wheel; and an electronic module including: a stimulus annunciator driver to generate a stimulus signal indicative of a stimulus annunciator onset time indicating the moment the stimulus annunciator provided the first stimulus to the driver; a touch sensor interface to receive the touch signal from the sensor array and, in response thereto to generate a response signal indicative of a response onset time; a processor to determine: a time interval between the stimulus annunciator onset time and the response onset time; and a solenoid driver to generate a solenoid signal to selectively cause at least one solenoid to vibrate the steering wheel in response to the solenoid signal, the vibrating of the steering wheel being configured to focus the driver's attention on a steering task, the selective vibration being based upon a magnitude of the interval.