DETECTING THE LOCATION OF A PHONE USING RF WIRELESS AND ULTRASONIC SIGNALS

• US 20170019525A1
• Filed: 07/14/2016
• Published: 01/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Driving Management Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Driving Management Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Qu, Peter Qiang, Allison, James W., Cesane, Cristian, Hannon, Marwan
• Granted Patent: US 10,205,819 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/75 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/752 Collocated with electrical equipment other than beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/16 using difference in transit time between electrical and acoustic signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/18 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/28 by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/30 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6008 in the transmitter circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system and method for determining a presence of a mobile device located in a predetermined detection zone within a vehicle may include a plurality of transmitters located within the vehicle, in which each of the plurality of transmitters is configured to transmit an acoustic signal into an acoustic environment within the vehicle, and in which each of the acoustic signals comprises at least one ultrasonic pulse, a mobile device configured to periodically record sounds in the acoustic environment, and a processor configured to determine that a periodically recorded sound by the mobile device comprises each of the acoustic signals transmitted by the plurality of transmitters, determine a location of the mobile device within the vehicle based on the acoustic signals recorded by the mobile device, and determine that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone.

Claims

1. A method for determining a presence of a mobile device located in a predetermined detection zone within a vehicle, the method comprising:

periodically recording, by the mobile device comprising a processor, a plurality of sounds comprising an acoustic environment;

determining, by the processor, that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded first acoustic signal comprising a first ultrasonic pulse and a second acoustic signal comprising a second ultrasonic pulse;

calculating, by the processor from the periodically recorded sounds, a first time of arrival of the first acoustic signal and a second time of arrival of the second acoustic signal;

determining, by the processor, a location of the mobile device within the vehicle based on the first time of arrival and the second time of arrival; and

determining, by the processor, that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to inhibit at least one function of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to alter the activity of at least one function of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to issue a notification to a user of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded first acoustic signal comprising a first ultrasonic pulse having first acoustic characteristic; and

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded second acoustic signal comprising a second ultrasonic pulse having second acoustic characteristic.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded first acoustic signal comprising a first ultrasonic pulse having a frequency in the range of 15 kHz to 60 kHz; and

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded second acoustic signal comprising a second ultrasonic pulse having a frequency in the range 15 kHz to 60 kHz.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded first acoustic signal comprising a first ultrasonic pulse having a frequency in the range of 10 kHz to 21 kHz; and

determining that the periodically recorded sounds comprise a periodically recorded second acoustic signal comprising a second ultrasonic pulse having a frequency in the range 10 kHz to 21 kHz.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, from the periodically recorded sounds, a power of the first acoustic signal and a power of the second acoustic signal; and

determining a location of the mobile device within the vehicle based on the power of the first acoustic signal and the power of the second acoustic signal.

9. A method for determining a presence of a mobile device located in a predetermined detection zone within a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, a wireless synchronization signal;

recording, by the mobile comprising a processor, a plurality of sounds comprising an acoustic environment upon receiving the wireless synchronization signal;

determining, by the processor, that the recording of the plurality of sounds comprise a recorded first acoustic signal comprising a first ultrasonic pulse and a second acoustic signal comprising a second ultrasonic pulse;

calculating, by the processor, from the recorded sounds, a first time of arrival of the first acoustic signal and a second time of arrival of the second acoustic signal;

determining, by the processor, a location of the mobile device within the vehicle based on the first time of arrival and the second time of arrival; and

determining, by the processor, that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to inhibit at least one function of the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to alter the activity of at least one function of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, upon determining that the location of the mobile device matches the predetermined detection zone, causing, by the processor, the mobile device to issue a notification to a user of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving, by a mobile device, a wireless synchronization signal comprises receiving, by the mobile device, a Bluetooth broadcast message comprising the synchronization signal.

14. A method of providing a location of at least one mobile device within a vehicle to recipient, the method comprising:

receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from a mobile device, wherein the data from the mobile device comprises a location of the mobile device within a vehicle;

storing, by the server processor, the data from the mobile device in the server memory; and

providing, by the server processor, the data from the mobile device to the recipient via a communication interface.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from a mobile device further comprises receiving, by a server, identification data from the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein storing the mobile device data by the server processor in the server memory comprises storing, by the server processor, the mobile device data in a database stored in the server memory.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein providing, by the server processor, the data from the mobile device to the recipient via a communication interface comprises:

receiving, by the server processor, a security token from the recipient via the communication interface;

determining, by the server processor, that the security token is a valid security token; and

providing, by the server processor, the data from the mobile device to the recipient via a communication interface.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from a mobile device comprises receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from the mobile device via a wireless communications protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from a mobile device comprises receiving, by a server comprising a processor and a memory, data from the mobile device via a cellular phone communication protocol.