Parking event detection and location estimation

• US 10,121,374 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Kazemi, Pejman Lotfali, Cao, Lili, Chow, Sunny Kai Pang, Dervisoglu, Gunes, Phan, Anh, Shelby, Ryan David, Huang, Ronald K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Samson, Sara
• Application Number:
  US15/273,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20170358208A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems, methods, devices and computer-readable mediums are disclosed for parking event detection and location estimation. In some implementations, a method comprises: determining, by a processor of a mobile device, a first activity state indicative of a possible parking event; obtaining, by the processor, a speed of the mobile device from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) of the mobile device; obtaining, by the processor, pedometer data from a digital pedometer of the mobile device; determining, by the processor, a second activity state indicative of a possible parking event based at least in part on the GNSS speed and pedometer data; and responsive to the second activity state, estimating, by the processor, a location of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor of a mobile device, a first activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with a vehicle, the first activity state based on a combination of a wireless communication disconnect event between the mobile device and the vehicle and an activity estimate from an activity classifier;

determining, by the processor, a first confidence level associated with the first activity state;

responsive to the first confidence level being a low confidence level based on the first activity state;

obtaining, by the processor, a speed of the mobile device from at least one of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver or wireless access point (AP) signals;

obtaining, by the processor, pedometer data from a digital pedometer of the mobile device;

determining, by the processor, a second activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with the vehicle, the second activity state based at least in part on the speed obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or wireless AP signals, the activity estimate and the pedometer data;

determining, by the processor, a second confidence level associated with the second activity state; and

responsive to the second confidence level being higher than the first confidence level, estimating, by the processor, a location of the vehicle using position data obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or the wireless AP signals.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first activity state further comprises:

detecting, by the processor, a change in state of a communication link between the mobile device and the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle; and

using the quality level to select a notification from a plurality of notifications related to a vehicle parking event to present on the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining a quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle further comprises:

comparing, by the processor, a probability distribution of estimated vehicle location uncertainties over a time period with a plurality of reference probability distributions of estimated vehicle location uncertainties associated with different levels of quality; and

determining, by the processor, a reference distribution from the plurality of reference probability distributions that most closely matches the probability distribution of the estimated vehicle location uncertainties over time; and

determining, by the processor, the quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle to be the quality level associated with the reference probability distribution that most closely matches the probability distribution of the estimated vehicle location uncertainties over time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, that the location of the vehicle is not a designated parking location associated with the mobile device or a user of the mobile device; and

presenting, by the mobile device, a notification including a description of the estimated vehicle location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to first input, displaying a graphical user interface including a map and a marker on the map showing the estimated location of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the marker is located in a designated area on the map, the designated area determined by a horizontal position uncertainty of the estimated vehicle location.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to second input, animating the map or the marker to move in the graphical user interface to change the location of the vehicle on the map.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to first input, generating directions from a current location of the mobile device to the estimated vehicle location.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to second input, hiding the estimated location of the vehicle so that it cannot be perceived through visual, audio or tactile means.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the location of the vehicle further comprises:

obtaining, by the processor, GNSS data over a fixed time-interval; and

filtering, by the processor, the GNSS data using a fixed-interval smoother.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein estimating the location of the vehicle further comprises:

comparing, by the processor, horizontal position uncertainty of the estimated location of the vehicle with a second horizontal position uncertainty corresponding to a second estimated location of the vehicle based on wireless access point signals; and

selecting, by the processor, one of the estimated vehicle location or the second estimated vehicle location based on the comparing.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

prior to comparing, modifying the horizontal position uncertainty and the second horizontal position uncertainty by determining time differences between a start of the possible parking event and respective timestamps of the estimated location and second estimated location, calculating products of the time differences and an average walking speed, and adding the products to the horizontal position uncertainty and second horizontal position uncertainty.

14. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining a first activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with a vehicle, the first activity state based on a combination of a wireless communication disconnect event between the apparatus and the vehicle and an activity estimate from an activity classifier;

determining a first confidence level associated with the first activity state;

responsive to the first confidence level being a low confidence level based on the first activity state;

obtaining a speed of the apparatus from at least one of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver or wireless access point (AP) signals;

obtaining pedometer data from a digital pedometer of the apparatus;

determining a second activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with the vehicle, the second activity state based at least in part on the speed obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or wireless AP signals, the activity estimate and the pedometer data;

determining a second confidence level associated with the second activity state; and

responsive to the second confidence level being higher than the first confidence level, estimating, by the processor, a location of the vehicle using position data obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or the wireless AP signals.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein determining the first activity state further comprises:

detecting a change in state of a communication link between the apparatus and the vehicle.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining a quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle; and

using the quality level to select a notification from a plurality of notifications related to a vehicle parking event to present on the apparatus.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein determining a quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle further comprises:

comparing a probability distribution of estimated vehicle location uncertainties over a time period with a plurality of reference probability distributions of estimated vehicle location uncertainties associated with different levels of quality; and

determining a reference distribution from the plurality of reference probability distributions that most closely matches the probability distribution of the estimated vehicle location uncertainties over time; and

determining the quality level for the estimated location of the vehicle to be the quality level associated with the reference probability distribution that most closely matches the probability distribution of the estimated vehicle location uncertainties over time.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining that the location of the vehicle is not a designated parking location associated with the apparatus or a user of the apparatus; and

presenting, by the apparatus, a notification including a description of the estimated vehicle location.

19. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining a first activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with a vehicle, the first activity state based on a combination of a wireless communication disconnect event between a mobile device and the vehicle and an activity estimate from an activity classifier;

determining a first confidence level associated with the first activity state;

responsive to the first confidence level being a low confidence level based on the first activity state;

obtaining a speed of the mobile device from at least one of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver or wireless access point (AP) signals;

obtaining pedometer data from a digital pedometer of the mobile device;

determining a second activity state indicative of a possible parking event associated with the vehicle, the second activity state based at least in part on the speed obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or wireless AP signals, the activity estimate and the pedometer data;

determining a second confidence level associated with the second activity state; and

responsive to the second confidence level being higher than the first confidence level, estimating, by the processor, a location of the vehicle using position data obtained from at least one of the GNSS receiver or the wireless AP signals.