Methods and systems to customize a vehicle computing system based on an electronic calendar

• US 10,391,958 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2015
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Nelson, Thomas, Hatton, David Anthony, Nasrallah, Hussein F., Apczynski, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jelani A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Kelly D
• Application Number:
  US14/813,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20170028949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,489 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a processor in communication with a nomadic device and programmed to receive calendar information from the nomadic device, parse the calendar information for a calendar entry based on a predefined time window, and adjust, by the processor, a vehicle setting for a vehicle feature associated with one or more categorized items correlated with the calendar entry.

Claims

1. A vehicle system comprising:

a processor in communication with a first nomadic device and programmed to;

receive calendar information from the first nomadic device;

parse the calendar information for a calendar entry based on a predefined time window;

adjust, by the processor, a vehicle setting for a vehicle feature associated with one or more categorized items correlated with the calendar entry;

communicate with a second nomadic device based on a unique user identification retrieved from the one or more categorized items; and

parse calendar information of the second nomadic device for the vehicle setting.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1, Wherein the one or more categorized items include at least one of an attendee, location, and subject of the calendar entry.

3. The vehicle system of claim 2, wherein the attendee is at least one of a recognized occupant, a recognized email address, a recognized nomadic device paired to the vehicle system, and a recognized user profile.

4. The vehicle system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

transmit a request for information related to the one or more categorized items; and

adjust radio presets as the vehicle setting based on the information associated with the recognized occupant.

5. The vehicle system of claim 2, wherein the location is at least one of a business name, URL, and address.

6. The vehicle system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further programmed to configure a destination input for a navigation system as the vehicle setting based on the at least one of the business name, URL, and address.

7. The vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle setting comprises vehicle ambient lighting and the processor is programmed to adjust the vehicle ambient lighting based on the calendar entry.

8. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle setting is at least one of climate control settings, seat settings, navigation system settings, radio settings, and ambient lighting settings.

9. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the predefined time window is based on a current time.

10. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to, in response to the calendar information, transmit a request for additional information related to the one or more categorized items and output a message at a vehicle display to provide an accept or decline option for adjusting the vehicle setting.