Two-stage event-driven mobile device tracking for vehicles

• US 10,009,427 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2017
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Livio, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Livio, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Grover, Joey Ray, Dickow, Justin, Smereka, Scott, Maylone, Corey
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Danh
• Application Number:
  US15/398,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20170195423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 4554566, 455418, 4555561, 34042624
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A vehicle may include wireless signal sensors surrounding the doors of the vehicle. A processor of the vehicle may be programmed to capture, from the sensors, a first data snapshot when one of the doors is opened and a second data snapshot when the one of the door is closed, and assign a mobile device to a seating zone associated with the one of the doors when the first and second snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

wireless signal sensors surrounding vehicle doors; and

a processor programmed to

capture, from the sensors, a first data snapshot when one of the doors is opened and a second data snapshot when the one of the door is closed, and

assign a mobile device to a seating zone associated with the one of the doors when the first and second snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is opened, the second snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is closed, and the mobile device is identified by a unique identifier included in the attribute information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the seating zone is a driver seating zone, and the processor is further programmed to associate the mobile device with the vehicle as being located within the driver seating zone.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

capture, from the sensors, a third data snapshot when the one of the doors is again opened and a fourth data snapshot when the one of the door is again closed; and

remove assignment of the mobile device from the seating zone when the third and fourth snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless sensors of the vehicle advertise as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) peripherals, and the mobile device is programmed to scan for BLE peripherals as a BLE central to identify the wireless sensors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless sensors are connected to the vehicle computing system over wired universal serial bus (USB) connections, and the processor is programmed to query the sensors for the first data snapshot and the second data snapshot over the wired USB connections.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

receive information including vehicle side and front-to-back ordering of the wireless sensors from the wireless sensors; and

identify monitor pairs of the wireless sensors as adjacent wireless sensors on a same vehicle side according to the information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless sensors include a first wireless sensor located on a driver side of the vehicle in front of a first driver-side door, a second wireless sensor located on the driver side of the vehicle between the first driver-side door and a second driver-side, a third wireless sensor located on the driver side of the vehicle behind the second driver-side door, a fourth wireless sensor located on a passenger side of the vehicle in front of a first passenger-side door, a fifth wireless sensor located on the passenger side of the vehicle between the first passenger-side door and a second passenger-side, and a sixth wireless sensor located on the passenger side of the vehicle behind the second passenger-side door.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device is further programmed to identify a first monitor pair as the first and second of the wireless sensors, identify a second monitor pair as the second and third of the wireless sensors, identify a third monitor pair as the fourth and fifth of the wireless sensors, and identify a fourth monitor pair as the fifth and a sixth of the wireless sensors.

10. A method comprising:

capturing, from wireless signal sensors surrounding vehicle doors, a first data snapshot when one of the doors is opened and a second data snapshot when the door is closed;

assigning a mobile device to a seating zone associated with the door when the first and second snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door; and

applying settings associated with the mobile device to the seating zone.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is opened, the second snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is closed, and further comprising identifying the mobile device by a unique identifier included in the attribute information.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the seating zone is a driver seating zone, and further comprising associating the mobile device with the vehicle as being located within the driver seating zone.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

capturing, from the sensors, a third data snapshot when the one of the doors is again opened and a fourth data snapshot when the one of the door is again closed; and

removing assignment of the mobile device from the seating zone when the third and fourth snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

advertising, by the wireless sensors, as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) peripherals; and

scanning, by the mobile device, for BLE peripherals as a BLE central to identify the wireless sensors.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

capturing the first data snapshot responsive to receipt of an indication from a body controller that the one of the doors is opened; and

capturing the second data snapshot responsive to receipt of an indication from the body controller that the one of the doors is closed.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processor of a vehicle in communication with wireless signal sensors surrounding doors of the vehicle, cause the vehicle to:

capture, from the sensors, a first data snapshot responsive to receipt of an indication from a body controller that one of the doors is opened;

capture, from the sensors, a second data snapshot responsive to receipt of an indication from the body controller that the one of the doors is closed;

assign a mobile device to a seating zone associated with the door when the first and second snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door; and

apply settings associated with the mobile device to the seating zone.

17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the first snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is opened, the second snapshot includes signal strength and attribute information for mobile devices in vicinity of the vehicle when the one of the doors is closed, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle to identify the mobile device by a unique identifier included in the attribute information.

18. The medium of claim 16, wherein the seating zone is a driver seating zone, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle to associate the mobile device with the vehicle as located within the driver seating zone.

19. The medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle to:

capture, from the sensors, a third data snapshot when the one of the doors is again opened and a fourth data snapshot when the one of the door is again closed; and

remove assignment of the mobile device from the seating zone when the third and fourth snapshots both indicate the mobile device is closest to the door.