Vehicle monitoring of mobile device state-of-charge

• US 10,578,676 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Neubecker, Cynthia M., Van Wiemeersch, John Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Yun, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US15/824,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20190162792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 455573
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/387 Determining ampere-hour charge capacity or SoC
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for vehicle monitoring of mobile device state-of-charge. An example vehicle includes a communication node, a charging station, and a controller. The controller is to receive, via the communication node, a state-of-charge (SOC) of a mobile device and determine a predicted SOC at a destination based on the SOC, a rate-of-change of the SOC, and a travel time to the destination. The controller also is to emit, responsive to the predicted SOC being less than a threshold, an instruction to couple the mobile device to the charging station.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a mobile device including;

a sensor to measure a state of charge (SOC);

a communication module to send the SOC; and

a processor; and

a vehicle including;

a communication node to receive the SOC;

a charging station; and

a controller to;

determine a predicted SOC based on the SOC, a rate-of-change, and a travel time to a destination; and

instruct to utilize the charging station when the predicted SOC is less than a threshold,

wherein the processor of the mobile device is configured to;

identify when the mobile device is communicatively decoupled from the vehicle, and

when the mobile device and the vehicle are communicatively decoupled, emit at least one of an audio alert, a visual alert, and a haptic alert in response to determining that the SOC is less than a second threshold,

wherein, when the mobile device and the vehicle are communicatively decoupled, the processor is configured to;

identify, in response to determining that the SOC is less than the second threshold, an open public charging station from an external network; and

provide directions to the open public charging station.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device further includes a navigation system that receives the destination from a user and determines the travel time between the destination and a current location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, when the mobile device and the vehicle are communicatively decoupled, the processor turns off the mobile device in response to determining that the SOC is less than a third threshold.

4. A system comprising:

a mobile device including;

a sensor to measure a state of charge (SOC);

a communication module to send the SOC; and

a processor; and

a vehicle including;

a communication node to receive the SOC;

a charging station; and

a controller to;

determine a predicted SOC based on the SOC, a rate-of-change, and a travel time to a destination; and

instruct to utilize the charging station when the predicted SOC is less than a threshold,

wherein the processor of the mobile device is configured to;

identify when the mobile device is communicatively decoupled from the vehicle, and

when the mobile device and the vehicle are communicatively decoupled, emit at least one of an audio alert, a visual alert, and a haptic alert in response to determining that the SOC is less than a second threshold,

wherein, when the mobile device and the vehicle are communicatively decoupled, the processor turns off the mobile device in response to determining that the SOC is less than a third threshold.