Position-based limited-response mode operation in a vehicle communication system

• US 10,212,557 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Limited (TATA Motors Limited)
• Original Assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Limited (TATA Motors Limited)
• Inventors: Siswick, Howard, Khan, Mohammed
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean A
• Application Number:
  US15/684,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20170353838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/00 Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/0038 whereby the wake-up circuit is situated in the keyless data carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/63 Comprising locating means for detecting the position of the data carrier, i.e. within the vehicle or within a certain distance from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• 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: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• 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 52/0235 where the received signal is a power saving command
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A communication system for facilitating control over a function of a vehicle (102) comprises a base station (104) positioned in the vehicle (102) and a mobile communication unit (122). The base station (104) comprises a first transmitter for transmitting a signal to the mobile communication unit (122) and a first receiver for receiving a signal from the mobile communication unit (122). The base station (104) is configured to determine a location of the mobile communication unit (122) relative to the vehicle (102) and to cause the mobile communication unit (122) to operate in accordance with a limited-response mode when the location of the communication unit relative to the vehicle (102) remains substantially unchanged for a predetermined period of time.

Claims

1. A communication system for facilitating control over a function of a vehicle, the communication system comprising:

a base station positioned in the vehicle; and

a mobile communication unit;

wherein the base station comprises a first transmitter for transmitting a signal to the mobile communication unit and a first receiver for receiving a signal from the mobile communication unit;

wherein the base station is configured to determine a location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle and to transmit a command to the mobile communication unit to cause the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with a limited-response duty cycle when the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle remains within an authorization zone for a predetermined period of time and remains substantially unchanged for the predetermined period of time;

wherein the limited-response duty cycle comprises a period of inactivity, during which the mobile communication unit is unable to receive a transmission from the base station, and a period of activity, during which the mobile communication unit is capable of receiving a transmission from the base station; and

wherein the authorization zone is exterior to the vehicle and comprises a zone in which the communication system is configured to authorize operation of one or more vehicle functions.

2. The communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base station is configured to cause the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with the limited-response duty cycle when the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle is within the authorization zone and the vehicle remains free from interruption for the predetermined period of time.

3. The communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile communication unit comprises a motion sensor configured for detecting a movement of the mobile communication unit and for outputting a signal indicative of the movement.

4. The communication system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the base station is configured to receive said signal indicative of the movement of the mobile communication unit and to cause the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with the limited-response duty cycle when said signal is indicative of said movement satisfying a predetermined limited-response criteria.

5. The communication system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said predetermined limited-response criteria comprises freedom from movements exceeding a threshold level of at least one of a frequency, a distance/magnitude, a velocity, or an acceleration threshold magnitude.

6. The communication system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the base station is configured to receive said signal indicative of the movement of the mobile communication unit and to cause the mobile communication unit to resume operating in accordance with a high-response duty cycle when said signal is indicative of said movement satisfying a predetermined high-response criteria.

7. The communication system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the predetermined high-response criteria is based on a frequency of said movement or on a magnitude of said movement.

8. The communication system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the base station is configured to cause a sensitivity of the motion sensor to be adjusted.

9. The communication system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the base station is configured to cause the sensitivity of the motion sensor to be adjusted when at least one of:

i) the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle remains substantially unchanged for the predetermined period of time;

ii) the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle remains within the authorization zone for the predetermined period of time; and

iii) the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle is within the authorization zone and remains relatively unchanged for the predetermined period of time.

10. The communication system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the base station is configured to cause the sensitivity of the motion sensor to be adjusted when said signal is indicative of said movement satisfying a predetermined limited-response criteria.

11. The communication system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said predetermined limited-response criteria comprises freedom from movements exceeding a threshold acceleration magnitude and/or is based on at least one of:

a frequency of said movement, on a magnitude of said movement, and on a duration of said movement.

12. The communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base station is configured for determining the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle based on a time of flight of communications between the mobile communication unit and three or more transceivers positioned in the vehicle.

13. The communication system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the base station is configured for determining the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle based on a time of flight of an ultra-wide band communication between the mobile communication unit and the three or more transceivers positioned in the vehicle.

14. A vehicle comprising the communication system of claim 1.

15. A method of facilitating control over a function of a vehicle, the method comprising:

providing a base station positioned in the vehicle and a mobile communication unit, the base station comprising a first transmitter and a first receiver;

transmitting a signal from the first transmitter to the mobile communication unit;

receiving a signal from the mobile communication unit;

determining a location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle; and

when the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle remains within an authorization zone for a predetermined period of time and remains substantially unchanged for the predetermined period of time, transmit a command to the mobile communication unit to cause the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with a limited-response duty cycle;

wherein the limited-response duty cycle comprises a period of inactivity, during which the mobile communication unit is unable to receive a transmission from the base station, and a period of activity, during which the mobile communication unit is capable of receiving a transmission from the base station; and

wherein the authorization zone is exterior to the vehicle and comprises a zone in which the communication system is configured to authorize operation of one or more vehicle functions.

16. The method of facilitating control over a function of a vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein said causing the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with the limited-response duty cycle is performed when the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle is within the authorization zone and remains relatively unchanged for the predetermined period of time or when the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle is within the authorization zone and the vehicle remains free from interruption for the predetermined period of time.

17. The method of facilitating control over a function of a vehicle as claimed in claim 15, further comprising detecting a movement of the mobile communication unit and outputting a signal indicative of the movement, optionally further comprising receiving said signal indicative of the movement of the mobile communication unit;

wherein said causing the mobile communication unit to operate in accordance with the limited-response duty cycle is performed when said signal is indicative of said movement satisfying a predetermined limited-response criteria or when said signal is indicative of said movement satisfying a predetermined high-response criteria, causing the mobile communication unit to resume operating in accordance with a high-response duty cycle.

18. The method of facilitating control over a function of a vehicle as claimed in claim 16, wherein said determining the location of the mobile communication unit relative to the vehicle is performed based on a time of flight of communications between the mobile communication unit and three or more transceivers positioned in the vehicle.

19. A vehicle configured to perform the method of claim 15.