VEHICULAR OCCUPANCY ASSESSMENT

• US 20140297220A1
• Filed: 03/26/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Chieh-Yih Wan, David L. Graumann, Giuseppe Raffa, Lama Nachman, Sangita R. Sharma
• Inventors: RAFFA, GIUSEPPE, WAN, CHIEH-YIH, GRAUMANN, DAVID L., SHARMA, SANGITA R., NACHMAN, LAMA
• Granted Patent: US 10,052,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/150
• 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: 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: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

Systems, devices, and techniques are provided for occupancy assessment of a vehicle. For one or more occupants of the vehicle, the occupancy assessment establishes position and/or identity for some or all of the occupant(s).

Claims

1. An apparatus for occupancy assessment, comprising:

at least one memory having computer-executable instructions and information objects stored thereon; and

at least one processor functionally coupled to the memory and configured, by the computer-executable instructions and the information objects,

to determine a number of occupants in a plurality of occupants of an enclosure;

to generate a plurality of occupant locations within the enclosure, each of the plurality of occupant locations is associated with an occupant in the plurality of occupants;

to generate a plurality of device locations within the enclosure, each of a plurality of device locations is associated with a device in a plurality of devices respectively associated with the plurality of occupants;

to map each of the plurality of occupant locations to a respective device location in the plurality of device locations, and, in response,

to associate each of the plurality of devices to a respective occupant of the plurality of occupants; and

to assign an identity to each occupant of the plurality of occupants based at least on identification information indicative of an identity of at least one end-user respectively associated with at least one device of the plurality of devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive at least a portion of the identification information from each device in the plurality of devices, information comprising data indicative of an identity of an end-user associated with the device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate a data structure indicative of at least one of a specific arrangement of the plurality of occupants within the enclosure or identities of the plurality of occupants within the enclosure.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to register each of the plurality of devices prior to determining the number of occupants in the plurality of occupants in the enclosure, wherein the registering permits communicating wirelessly between the computing platform and each device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive, from each of the plurality of devices, a device location and at least one positioning metric, wherein each positioning metric of the at least one positioning metric is indicative of a position likelihood that a device associated with the positioning metric is positioned at a specific occupant location.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit information indicative of each of the plurality of occupant locations to each of the plurality of devices.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to validate an identity and a location of an occupant of the plurality of occupants.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to ascertain a number of seats within the enclosure that are occupied based at least in part on pressure sensor information indicative of at least one seat within the enclosure being occupied.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to access imaging information indicative of at least two seats within the enclosure being occupied.

10. A device to estimate device location, comprising:

at least one memory having computer-executable instructions and information objects stored thereon; and

at least one processor functionally coupled to the memory and configured, by the computer-executable instructions and the information objects,

to acquire inertial sensor information indicative of a first position within an enclosure;

to acquire pilot information indicative of a second position within the enclosure; and

to generate a device location estimate for the computing device based at least in part on at least a portion of the inertial sensor information and at least a portion of the pilot information, the device location estimate is indicative of a position within the enclosure.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate at least one positioning metric based at least in part on at least the portion of the inertial sensor information and at least the portion of the pilot information, wherein each positioning metric of the at least one positioning metric is indicative of a likelihood that the computing device is at a specific position within the enclosure.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit at least a portion of the inertial sensor information to another device.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to register the device with a computing platform prior to acquisition of pilot information, wherein registration with the computing platform permits wireless communication between the computing platform and the device.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to communicate the device location estimate to the computing platform.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to communicate, to the computing platform, identification information indicative of an identity of an end-user associated with a device in a plurality of devices within the enclosure.

16. At least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions for assessing occupancy encoded thereon that, in response to execution, cause at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

determining a number of occupants in a plurality of occupants of an enclosure;

generating a plurality of occupant locations, each of the plurality of occupant locations is associated with an occupant in the plurality of occupants;

generating a plurality of device locations, each of the plurality of device locations is associated with a device in a plurality of devices within the enclosure;

mapping each of the plurality of occupant locations to a respective device location of the plurality of device locations, the mapping comprises associating each of the plurality of devices to a respective occupant of the plurality of occupants; and

assigning an identity to each occupant of the plurality of occupants based at least on identification information indicative of an identity of at least one end-user respectively associated with at least one device of the plurality of devices.

17. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the assigning comprises receiving at least a portion of the identification information from each device in the plurality of devices, at least the portion of the identification information comprises data indicative of an identity of an end-user associated with the device.

18. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising generating a data structure indicative of at least one of a specific arrangement of the plurality of occupants within the enclosure or identities of the plurality of occupants within the enclosure.

19. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising registering each of the plurality of devices prior to generating the plurality of device locations, wherein the registering permits communicating wirelessly between the computing platform and each device.

20. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising receiving from each of the plurality of devices, a device location and at least one positioning metric, wherein each positioning metric of the at least one positioning metric is indicative of a likelihood that a device associated with the positioning metric is positioned at a specific occupant location.

21. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 19, wherein generating the plurality of device locations comprises transmitting information indicative of each of the plurality of occupant locations to each of the plurality of devices.

22. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising validating an identity and an occupant location of an occupant of the plurality of occupants.

23. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the validating comprises receiving confirmation information from a device associated with the occupant, the confirmation information comprises data indicative of the accuracy of the identity and the occupant location.

24. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the validating comprises receiving rectification information from a device associated with the occupant, the rectification information comprises data indicative of an adjustment to at least one of the identity or the occupant location.

25. The at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining the number of occupants in the plurality of occupants of the enclosure comprises ascertaining a number of seats within the enclosure that are occupied.