Trainable transceiver and camera systems and methods

• US 10,115,302 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2018
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Inventors: Geerlings, Steven L., Witkowski, Todd R., Wright, Thomas S., Smeyers, Marc A., Dorst, Jonathan E., Papay, Douglas C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, An T
• Application Number:
  US15/924,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20180211515A1
• Time in Patent Office: 225 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/21 Programming remote control devices via third means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system for installation in a vehicle and for controlling a remote device including a trainable transceiver, a camera, an output device, and a control circuit coupled to the trainable transceiver and the camera. The control circuit is configured to use data received from the camera to determine if the vehicle is well positioned within a garage, and the control circuit is configured to provide an indication that the vehicle is well positioned using the output device in response to determining that the vehicle is well positioned within a garage.

Claims

1. A system for controlling remote devices, comprising:

a camera in a vehicle;

an output device; and

a control circuit of a trainable transceiver configured to;

use data from the camera to determine a position of the vehicle within a garage;

use the data from the camera to determine a distance between the vehicle and a wall of the garage;

determine, based on the position of the vehicle within the garage, whether a garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation of the garage door;

determine, based on the distance between the vehicle and the wall of the garage, whether the vehicle is well-positioned in the garage such that the garage door will not contact the vehicle upon activation;

provide an indication via the output device indicating whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation; and

automatically transmit an activation signal to a garage door opener communicatively coupled to the garage door formatted based on the determination that the garage door will not contact the vehicle upon activation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

use the data from the camera to determine whether the garage door is closed and to determine whether the vehicle is approaching the garage door; and

provide a warning indication via the output device based on the determination that the garage door is closed and that the vehicle is approaching the garage door.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine, based on vehicle size information and garage information, whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation of the garage door.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote start interface coupled to the control circuit configured to receive a wireless remote start indication from at least one of a portable electronic device and a system of the vehicle;

and

wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation, responsive to the receipt of the wireless remote start indication.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of cameras including the camera, and

wherein the control circuit is further configured to apply a stereo camera detection technique on the data received from the plurality of cameras to determine the position of the vehicle within the garage.

6. A method of controlling remote devices, comprising:

using image data from a camera in a vehicle to determine a position of the vehicle within a garage;

analyzing the image data from the camera to recognize a garage door track;

determining a distance between the vehicle and the garage door track based on identifying the garage door track from the image data;

determining, based on the position of the vehicle within the garage, whether a garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation of the garage door, wherein determining whether the garage door will contact the vehicle further comprises determining, based on the distance between the vehicle and the garage door track, whether the vehicle is well-positioned in the garage such that the garage door will not contact the vehicle upon activation;

providing an indication via the output device indicating whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation;

formatting, based on the determination of whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation, an activation signal to transmit to a garage door opener communicatively coupled to the garage door; and

automatically transmitting an activation signal to a garage door opener communicatively coupled to the garage door formatted based on the determination that the garage door will not contact the vehicle upon activation.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a wireless remote start indication from at least one of a portable electronic device and a system of the vehicle; and

wherein determining whether the garage door will contact the vehicle further comprises determining whether the garage door will contact the vehicle, responsive to receiving the wireless start indication.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein using the image data further comprises applying a stereo camera detection technique on the image data received from a plurality of cameras to determine the position of the vehicle within the garage.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether the garage door will contact the vehicle further comprises determining whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation based on vehicle size information and garage information.

10. A trainable transceiver for controlling remote devices, comprising:

a camera interface configured to receive image data;

an output device;

a transceiver circuit; and

a control circuit coupled to the camera interface, the output device, and the transceiver circuit, the control circuit configured to;

analyze the image data received via the camera interface to recognize markings on a wall of the garage;

determine a position of the vehicle within a garage based on the image data received via the camera interface;

use the markings on the wall of the garage to determine a distance between the vehicle and the wall of the garage;

determine, based on the distance between the vehicle and the wall of the garage, whether the vehicle is well-positioned in the garage such that the garage door will not contact the vehicle upon activation;

determine whether a garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation of the garage door based on the position of the vehicle within the garage;

provide an indication using the output device indicating whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation;

format, based on the determination of whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation, an activation signal to transmit to a garage door opener communicatively coupled to the garage door; and

transmit, via the transceiver circuit, the activation signal to the garage door opener for operating the garage door.

11. The trainable transceiver of claim 10, wherein the control circuit is further configured to

use the data from the camera to determine whether the garage door is closed and to determine whether the vehicle is approaching the garage door;

and

provide a warning indication via the output device based on the determination that the garage door is closed and that the vehicle is approaching the garage door.

12. The trainable transceiver of claim 10, wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine, based on vehicle size information and garage information, whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation of the garage door.

13. The trainable transceiver of claim 10, wherein the camera interface is further configured to receive the image data from a plurality of cameras;

and

wherein the control circuit is further configured to apply a stereo camera detection technique on the image data from the plurality of cameras to determine the position of the vehicle within the garage and to determine whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation.

14. The trainable transceiver of claim 10, further comprising a remote start interface coupled to the control circuit configured to receive a wireless remote start indication;

and

wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine whether the garage door will contact the vehicle upon activation, responsive to the receipt of the wireless remote start indication.