Method and apparatus for vehicular device-function control

• US 10,117,062 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2017
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Macneille, Perry Robinson, Lei, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Mehmood B.
• Application Number:
  US15/437,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20180242113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0273 using multipath or indirect path propagation signals in position determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

A system includes a processor configured to transmit a series of impulses into a vehicle interior. The processor is also configured to receive data from a wearable-device receiver receiving the impulses, the data indicating arrival times and magnitudes of the impulses. The processor is further configured to analyze the arrival times and magnitudes to determine a likely wearable device location and control a functionality aspect of a mobile device associated with the wearable device, based on the likely wearable device location.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor configured to;

transmit a series of impulses into a vehicle interior;

receive data from a wearable-device receiver receiving the impulses, the data indicating arrival times and magnitudes of the impulses;

analyze the arrival times and magnitudes to determine a likely wearable device location; and

control a functionality aspect of a mobile device associated with the wearable device, based on the likely wearable device location;

wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more voxels in which the wearable device is likely located, the voxels having predefined associations to seating locations within the vehicle, and the determination based on a look-up of predefined expected signal values in a table predetermined for a vehicle model.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data indicates a plurality of arrival times and magnitudes of received impulses for each impulse of the series of impulses.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to analyze one of the plurality of arrival times and magnitudes relative to other of the plurality of arrival times and magnitudes.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to treat a first of the plurality of arrival times as a starting time and a first of the plurality of magnitudes as a full magnitude for purposes of relative comparison to others of the plurality of arrival times and magnitudes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine likely seating location for a preidentified wearable device possessor, based on the one or more voxels.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to determine the likely seating location based on a voxel or plurality of the one or more voxels having a highest aggregate likelihood of containing the wearable device.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to determine the likely seating location based on a voxel having any likelihood of containing the wearable device, when a mobile device function is controlled for a pre-designated safety reason.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is associated with the wearable device based on a predefined association between the mobile device and a user and the wearable device and the same user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device includes a cellular phone.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the wearable device includes a smart watch.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the functionality aspect includes enablement of a function native to the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the functionality aspect includes disablement of a function native to the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the functionality aspect includes access to control over a vehicle system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the vehicle system includes a predefined relationship to a seating location associated with the wearable device location.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

controlling functionality of a cellular phone based on user-location identification resulting from analysis of observed relative timing and strength values of signals received by a wearable device, the wearable device having a predefined association to the cellular phone, the signals including a plurality of received signals for each of a series of impulses transmitted by a vehicle transceiver included in a vehicle also containing both the wearable device and cellular phone;

wherein the method further includes;

determining a location of the wearable device base on the analysis, including obtaining a likely device location via a lookup, based on observed signal values, in a table designated as corresponding to a vehicle model;

determining a location of the cellular phone based on the location of the wearable device; and

controlling functionality based on the determined location of the cellular phone.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the controlling the functionality includes controlling the functionality of a native mobile device feature.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the controlling the functionality includes providing access to a vehicular control feature.

18. A non-transitory storage medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

transmitting a series of impulses from a vehicle transceiver;

analyzing arrival data, including relative strength and timing, of a plurality of received signals for each of the series of impulses, received by and reported from a wearable device, to determine a wearable device location;

determining a user location based on the wearable device location, the user having a predefined association with the wearable device; and

controlling mobile device functionality, the mobile device having a predefined association with the wearable device or user, the control based on mobile device location;

determining a location of the wearable device base on the analysis, including obtaining a likely device location via a lookup, based on observed signal values, in a table designated as corresponding to a vehicle model;

determining a location of the cellular phone based on the location of the wearable device; and

controlling functionality based on the determined location of the cellular phone.