FEATURE DESCRIPTION DATA FOR VEHICLE ZONE CONFIGURATION

• US 20170203634A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 07/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Livio, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Myine Electronics, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Makke, Omar, Byrne, John, Dickow, Justin, Grover, Joey Ray
• Granted Patent: US 10,052,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968

Abstract

Wireless sensors are included within zones of a physical space. A memory stores feature description data. A processor, in communication with the memory and the wireless sensors, is programmed to send, to a mobile device connected to one of the wireless sensors, a subset of the feature description data applicable to one of the zones in which the mobile device is located. The processor also is programmed to receive a request to update a feature of the one of the zones based on the feature description data, and apply the setting update when the mobile device has permission. The zones of a physical space may be seating zones of a vehicle, and the wireless sensors may be included within doors to the seating zones of the vehicle. The mobile device may determine a seating zone of the vehicle in which the mobile device is located using the wireless sensors.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a mobile device including

a wireless transceiver; and

a processor programmed to

determine a seating zone of a vehicle in which a user of the mobile device is located using the wireless transceiver and wireless sensors of the vehicle,

receive feature description data having features applicable to the seating zone from one of the wireless sensors located in the seating zone, and

adjust the applicable features in accordance with user settings.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

compare the user settings with the feature description data to determine which user settings include preferences for features that are available within the seating zone; and

for the user settings that relate to features that are available within the seating zone, adjust the features of the seating zone in accordance with the preferences.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user settings are stored to a memory of the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the features include climate controls, the user settings include a preferred temperature, and to adjust the features in accordance with the user settings includes setting the climate controls to the preferred temperature.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the feature description data enumerates types of the features and affected seating zones for the features.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the affected seating zones for the features are specified as a (i) base location tuple specifying distances for each dimension away from a fixed origin seating zone, and (ii) an extent for each dimension away from the fixed origin seating zone.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the fixed origin seating zone is a driver seating zone.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the feature description data further specifies seating zones of the vehicle in which controls for the features are located.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine a second seating zone of the vehicle to which the mobile device is moved using the wireless sensors of the vehicle;

receive feature description data of features applicable to the second seating zone from one of the wireless sensors located in the second seating zone; and

adjust the features applicable to the second seating zone in accordance with the user settings.

10. A system comprising:

wireless sensors included within zones of a physical space;

memory storing feature description data; and

a processor, in communication with the memory and the wireless sensors, programmed to

send, to a mobile device connected to one of the wireless sensors, a subset of the feature description data applicable to one of the zones in which the mobile device is located,

receive a request to update a feature of the one of the zones based on the feature description data, and

apply the update to the feature if the mobile device has permission to update the features.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine that the mobile device has permission by receiving confirmation through a human-machine interface to update the features.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the zones of a physical space are seating zones of a vehicle, the wireless sensors are included within doors of the vehicle, and each door is associated with one of the seating zones.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the zones of a physical space are rooms of a structure.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the feature description data includes types of the features and affected zones for the features, and the affected seating zones for the features are specified as a (i) base location tuple specifying distances for each dimension away from a fixed origin zone, and (ii) an extent for each dimension away from the fixed origin zone.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the base location tuple is a three-dimensional coordinate and the extent for each dimension is a three-dimensional extent.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the feature description data stored by the memory describes a plurality of climate control features, and the subset of the feature description data applicable to the one of the zones includes one of the plurality of climate control features controlling climate settings in the one of the zones.

17. A method comprising:

determining a seating zone of a vehicle in which a mobile device is located using signal strength data received from wireless sensors of the vehicle;

receiving, from one of the wireless sensors located in the seating zone, feature description data enumerating vehicle features of the seating zone; and

adjusting the features in accordance with user settings stored to the mobile device specifying feature preferences.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the feature description data enumerates types of the features and affected zones for the features, the affected zones specified as a base location distance tuple from a fixed origin seating zone and an extent for each distance tuple dimension away from the fixed origin seating zone.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the base location distance tuple is a three-dimensional coordinate and the extent for each distance tuple dimension is a three-dimensional extent.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the features include climate controls, the user settings include a preferred temperature, and further comprising adjusting the features in accordance with the user settings by setting the climate controls to the preferred temperature.