System and method for charge notice or charge mode in a vehicle

• US 9,048,674 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2012
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Gregg, Christopher, Ito, Hisanori, Kusumi, Hidetoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Sun
• Application Number:
  US13/631,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20130271076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 976 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/109
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging

Abstract

A charge notification system or user-selectable charge configuration for a vehicle. The system includes a battery, a charging connector, a charging cable, a charge location, a processor and a memory. The processor of the vehicle determines, based upon logic steps or parameters stored in the memory, when to send messages to a remote device based upon a charging characteristic of the vehicle. Different messages may be generated by the processor and transmitted for different charging characteristics of the vehicle. The charge notification system may also include an indicator local to the vehicle and configured to illuminate in varying configurations or at varying frequencies based upon a state of charge of the battery. A user may select between charging modes for the vehicle in order to extend a useable life of the battery by allowing the battery to charge up to predetermined or modifiable battery charge levels.

Claims

1. A charging notification system for use in a vehicle comprising:

a battery;

a conductor coupled with the battery and configured to receive power for charging the battery when the conductor is electrically connected with a charging cable;

a processor coupled with the battery and configured to generate a signal if the battery is not charging when the conductor is electrically connected with the charging cable; and

an antenna coupled with the processor and configured to wirelessly transmit the signal to a remote device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the signal wirelessly transmitted from the antenna is a short message service (SMS) message for transmittal to a phone using a cellular network.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the signal wirelessly transmitted from the antenna is an email message.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a memory coupled with the processor and wherein the processor is configured to generate a second signal if the battery is charging via the charging cable from a charging location not recognized in the memory.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an engine coupled with the processor and wherein the processor is configured to delay the generating of the signal by a delay time after the engine is turned off.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the delay time is substantially 10 minutes.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to delay charging of the battery until a predetermined time of day based on a price of electricity.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising an LED electrically connected with the processor and configured to flash at a first frequency corresponding to a first level of charge of the battery and a second frequency corresponding to a second level of charge of the battery.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user-input element electrically connected with the processor for selecting a normal charge mode or an extended charge mode, the extended charge mode configured to allow charging of the battery up to a first threshold and the normal charge mode configured to allow charging of the battery up to a second threshold less than the first threshold.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the first threshold is a maximum charge capacity of the battery of the vehicle and the second threshold is substantially 80% of the maximum charge capacity of the battery of the vehicle.

11. A method for notifying a user of a vehicle, via a processor of the vehicle, of a charging characteristic of the vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:

delaying, using the processor, for a predetermined amount of time;

determining, using the processor, whether a charging cable is electrically connected to the vehicle;

generating, using the processor, a first message if the charging cable is not electrically connected to the vehicle;

determining, using the processor, whether the charging cable is electrically connected to a charge location for receiving power from the charge location;

generating, using the processor, a second message if the charging cable is electrically connected to the vehicle but is not electrically connected to the charge location;

determining, using the processor, whether a battery of the vehicle is charging; and

generating, using the processor, a third message if the charging cable is electrically connected to the vehicle and to the charge location but the battery of the vehicle is not charging.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the following steps:

determining, using the processor, whether the battery of the vehicle has a state of charge above a predetermined threshold; and

generating, using the processor, a fourth message if the charging cable is electrically connected to the vehicle and to the charge location, the battery of the vehicle is not charging and the battery of the vehicle has a state of charge above the predetermined threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising a step of wirelessly transmitting the first message, the second message, the third message or the fourth message, using an antenna electrically connected with the processor, to a remote device.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the first message, the second message, the third message or the fourth message is chosen from a group consisting of a text message, an email message and a voice recording.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the remote device is a cellular phone.

16. A method for notifying a user of a vehicle, via a processor of the vehicle, of a charging characteristic of the vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:

waiting, using the processor, for a predetermined period of time;

determining, using the processor, whether a charging cable is electrically conductive between a battery of the vehicle and a charge location;

sending, using the processor, a first message to a remote device if the charging cable is not electrically conductive between the battery of the vehicle and the charge location;

determining, using the processor, whether the charge location is a recognized location in a memory electrically connected with the processor; and

sending, using the processor, a second message to the remote device if the charge location is not a recognized location.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the second message to the remote device includes location information corresponding to the charge location.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the location information corresponding to the charge location is a coordinate based on a geographic positioning system electrically connected with the processor.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising the following steps:

receiving a signal at the processor from the remote device; and

disabling operation of an engine of the vehicle based on reception of the signal at the processor.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the sending of the first message or the second message to the remote device includes wirelessly transmitting a message with text via a cellular network.