Vehicle cabin mobile device detection system

• US 10,476,967 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2017
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Mueller, Paul, Gorovets, Boris, Farrey, Gregory, Locke, John, Hazebrouck, Laura
• Primary Examiner(s): Bilgrami, Asghar H
• Application Number:
  US15/812,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20190149611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0244 with logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0272 using sensors or detectors for detecting the position of seat parts
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/3275 mounted on a horizontal surface of the vehicle, e.g. on roof, hood, trunk
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 13/20 Non-resonant leaky-waveguide or transmission-line antennas; Equivalent structures causing radiation along the transmission path of a guided wave
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass

Abstract

A vehicle includes at least one and/or one or more in-vehicle and/or onboard controller(s) that is/are coupled to spaced apart sensor groups that are arrayed within a headliner and/or seats of the vehicle cabin. Each sensor group generally corresponds to and/or with a plurality of and/or one or more seat positions, each having a single seat, and which include a driver zone seat position that has a driver seat. Each sensor group in the array includes at least one signal processor, and a plurality of transceivers, antennas, and/or sensors configured for and tuned to different electromagnetic frequencies and/or powers. Also included are electromagnetically active, directional waveguides that adjust, amplify, and/or attenuate the sensitivity of each of the respective antennas, to electromagnetic energy detected and received from mobile devices located in the vehicle cabin, such that the sensitivity is limited to electromagnetic emissions within a limited effective range for each antenna.

Claims

1. A vehicle, comprising:

a controller coupled to in-cabin sensor groups each for a different seating location and including antennas each tuned to a different radio access technology (RAT) frequency of a mobile device, the controller configured to detect first and second RAT frequencies from a mobile device using one of the sensor groups, generate mobile device and vehicle commands based on the detected RAT frequencies and the seating location for the one sensor group, and identify, in the seating location for each sensor group, whether a Bluetooth protocol, a WiFi protocol, and a cellular protocol is being used by a mobile device in the seating location using the sensor group for the seating location.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensor groups are integrated into a headliner of the cabin, each sensor group is positioned to correspond to the seating location for the sensor group and has an effective range substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group, and the controller is configured to:

determine a seating location of the mobile device based on the seating location for the one sensor group that detects the first and second RAT frequencies from the mobile device;

determine a connection status of first and second RATs of the mobile device based on the detected first and second RAT frequencies; and

generate the mobile device and vehicle commands based on the determined seating location of the mobile device and the connection status of the first and second RATs of the mobile device.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each sensor group comprises at least one waveguide configured to establish an effective range for the sensor group, the effective range being substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the at least one waveguide and the antennas of each sensor group are integrated with a seat of the seating location for the sensor group and have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group upwards from the seat of the seating location for the sensor group.

5. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the at least one waveguide and the antennas of each sensor group are integrated into a headliner of the cabin above the seating location for the sensor group, and the at least one waveguide of each sensor group includes a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group downward towards the seating location of the sensor group.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sensor groups each includes a respective signal processor coupled to each of the antennas of the sensor group, and each antenna of each sensor group includes a respective waveguide tuned to the RAT frequency of the antenna.

7. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are integrated into a headliner of the cabin above the seating location for the sensor group, the waveguides of each sensor group are configured to establish an effective range for the sensor group that is substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group, and the waveguides of each sensor group have a directional orientation configurated to project the effective range of the sensor group downwards towards the seating location of the sensor group.

8. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are integrated with a seat of the seating location for the sensor group, the waveguides of each sensor group are configured to establish an effective range substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group, and the waveguides of each sensor group have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group upwards from the seat of the seating location for the sensor group.

19. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first RAT frequency is a cellular frequency, and the second RAT frequency is a Bluetooth frequency.

9. A system comprising:

sensor groups each corresponding to a different vehicle seating location and including antennas each tuned to a different mobile device RAT frequency; and

a controller coupled to the sensor groups and configured to detect first and second mobile device RAT frequencies using one of the sensor groups, generate a vehicle and/or mobile device command based on the detected RAT frequencies and the seating location for the one sensor group, and identify, in the seating location for each sensor group, whether a Bluetooth protocol, a WiFi protocol, and a cellular protocol is being used by a mobile device in the seating location using the sensor group for the seating location.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein each sensor group includes a waveguide for each antenna of the sensor group, the waveguide for each antenna configured to establish an effective range for the antenna that is substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein each antenna of each sensor group is coupled to a different signal processor that is tuned to the RAT frequency of the antenna.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are configured to be integrated into a headliner of a cabin of the vehicle above the seating location for the sensor group and have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group downward towards the seating location of the sensor group.

13. The system according to claim 10, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are configured to be integrated as part of a seat of the seating location for the sensor group and have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range upwards from the seat of the seating location for the sensor group.

14. A method comprising:

by a vehicle controller coupled to in-cabin sensor groups each for a different seating location in the cabin and including antennas each tuned to a different RAT frequency of a mobile device detecting first and second RAT frequencies from a mobile device using one of the sensor groups; and

generating vehicle and mobile device commands based on the detected RAT frequencies and the seating location for the one sensor group; and

identifying, in the seating location for each sensor group, whether a Bluetooth protocol, a WiFi protocol, and a cellular protocol is being used by a mobile device in the seating location using the sensor group for the seating location.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein each antenna of each sensor group comprises a waveguide tuned to the RAT frequency of the antenna and configured to establish an effective range substantially limited to the seating location for the sensor group.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein each antenna of each sensor group is coupled to a different signal processor tuned to the RAT frequency of the antenna.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are integrated into a headliner of the cabin above a seat of the seating location for the sensor group and have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group downwards towards the seat of the seating location for the sensor group.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the antennas and waveguides of each sensor group are integrated with a seat of the seating location for the sensor group and have a directional orientation configured to project the effective range of the sensor group upwards from the seat of the seating location for the sensor group.