Alert for left-behind mobile device

• US 10,390,177 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2015
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Chen, Yifan, Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Tonshal, Basavaraj, Kolisetty, Aiswarya, Yang, Hsin-Hsiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US16/060,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20180359604A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 455450, 455509, 455551, 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/06 using intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0054 of actual mobile position, i.e. position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0269 Inferred or constrained positioning, e.g. employing knowledge of the physical or electromagnetic environment, state of motion or other contextual information to infer or constrain a position
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0225 using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a communication device programmed to pair with a mobile device and a processing device programmed to periodically transmit, to the mobile device, a present location signal representing a present location of the mobile device. The processing device is further programmed to detect a vehicle shutdown and transmit a final location signal to the mobile device, the final location signal representing a final location of the mobile device and a shutdown flag.

Claims

1. A vehicle system comprising:

a communication device programmed to pair with a mobile device; and

a processing device programmed to periodically transmit, to the mobile device, a present location signal representing a present location of the mobile device,

wherein the processing device is programmed to detect a vehicle shutdown and transmit a final location signal to the mobile device, the final location signal representing a final location of the mobile device and a shutdown flag;

wherein the processing device is programmed to detect the present location and the final location of the mobile device inside the vehicle, based at least in part on a signal strength indicator, the final location including one of a vehicle passenger compartment front or rear, a pocket in a vehicle door, or a vehicle passenger compartment console.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the shutdown flag indicates that a host vehicle is powering down.

3. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is programmed to detect the present location and the final location of the mobile device in the vehicle.

4. The vehicle system of claim 3, wherein the processing device is programmed to detect the present location and the final location of the mobile device based at least in part on a signal strength indicator.

5. The vehicle system of claim 4, wherein the signal strength indicator is based on a signal strength of a signal transmitted from the mobile device and received by the communication device.

6. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is programmed to transmit the final location and the shutdown flag to a wearable device.

7. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is programmed to transmit battery information to a wearable device.

8. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is programmed to transmit the final location of the mobile device and the shutdown flag to a wearable device.

9. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is programmed to receive battery information from the mobile device and transmit the battery information to a wearable device.

10. A method comprising:

pairing a wearable device to a mobile device;

receiving, via the wearable device, location information representing a location of the mobile device relative to a host vehicle, wherein the location is a location of the mobile device inside the vehicle, based at least in part on a signal strength indicator, the location including one of a vehicle passenger compartment front or rear, a pocket in a vehicle door, or a vehicle passenger compartment console;

determining whether the mobile device is still paired with wearable device;

generating, via the wearable device, an alert if the mobile device is no longer paired with the wearable device; and

displaying, via the wearable device, the location of the mobile device relative to the host vehicle in response to the generating the alert.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining whether the mobile device is still paired with the wearable device based at least in part on a signal strength of a signal transmitted from the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining whether a distance between the mobile device and the wearable device is increasing based at least in part on a change in signal strength of a signal transmitted from the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining that the distance is increasing if the signal strength decreases.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, via the wearable device, battery information associated with the mobile device; and

determining that the distance is increasing if the battery information indicates that a battery of the mobile device is charged above a predetermined level.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a software program, the software program being executable by a processor of a computing device to provide operations comprising:

pairing a wearable device to a mobile device;

receiving, via the wearable device, location information representing a location of the mobile device relative to a host vehicle, wherein the location is a location of the mobile device inside the vehicle, based at least in part on a signal strength indicator, the location including one of a vehicle passenger compartment front or rear, a pocket in a vehicle door, or a vehicle passenger compartment console;

determining whether the mobile device is still paired with wearable device;

generating, via the wearable device, an alert if the mobile device is no longer paired with the wearable device; and

displaying, via the wearable device, the location of the mobile device relative to the host vehicle in response to the generating the alert.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising determining whether the mobile device is still paired with the wearable device based at least in part on a signal strength of a signal transmitted from the mobile device.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising determining whether a distance between the mobile device and the wearable device is increasing based at least in part on a change in signal strength of a signal transmitted from the mobile device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising determining that the distance is increasing if the signal strength decreases.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

receiving, via the wearable device, battery information associated with the mobile device; and

determining that the distance is increasing if the battery information indicates that a battery of the mobile device is charged above a predetermined level.