System and method of determining occupant location using connected devices

• US 9,224,289 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Demeniuk, Christopher Joseph, Hatton, David Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): HEINLE, COURTNEY D
• Application Number:
  US13/839,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20140163774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/34 Context aware guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A vehicle computing system enabling one or more processors to establish a communication connection with at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices within a vehicle while enabling and determining infotainment control based on the location of the handheld device in the vehicle. The system may determine if the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a driver or non-driver handheld computing device based on a detected location of the communication connection. The system may determine that the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a non-driver handheld computing device based on the detected location, therefore enabling infotainment control from the non-driver handheld device. The system may determine that the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a driver handheld computing device based on the detected location, therefore limiting infotainment control from the driver handheld device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, program the processor to:

establish through a single infotainment system a communication connection with at least one of a plurality of computing devices within a vehicle;

determine if the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a driver or non-driver computing device;

if it is determined that the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a non-driver computing device, enable control to adjust current infotainment settings for the vehicle from the non-driver computing device; and

if it is determined that the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a driver computing device, enable a reduced amount of control as compared to the non-driver computing device to adjust current infotainment settings for the vehicle from the driver computing device.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the detected location of the communication connection is established at a seat.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the seat includes at least one vehicle seat sensor.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the seat includes a physical connection port.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the seat includes a wireless transceiver.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the wireless transceiver is BLUETOOTH technology.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 wherein the seat includes communication with an in-vehicle camera system.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 additionally storing instructions to receive driver input limiting the control to adjust settings for the vehicle from the non-driver computing device.

9. A vehicle computing system comprising:

one or more processors programmed to;

establish through a single infotainment system a communication connection with at least one of a plurality of computing devices within a vehicle;

determine if the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a driver or non-driver computing device based on the communication connection;

if it is determined that the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a non-driver computing device, enable control to adjust current infotainment settings for the vehicle from the non-driver computing device; and

if it is determined that the at least one of a plurality of computing devices is a driver computing device, enable a reduced amount of control as compared to the non-driver computing device to adjust current infotainment settings for the vehicle from the driver computing device.

10. The vehicle computing system of claim 9 wherein the detected location of the communication connection is established at a seat.

11. The vehicle computing system of claim 10 wherein the seat includes a physical connection port.

12. The vehicle computing system of claim 10 wherein the seat includes a vehicle seat wireless transceiver.

13. The vehicle computing system of claim 12 wherein the wireless transceiver is BLUETOOTH technology.

14. The vehicle computing system of claim 10 wherein the seat includes at least one vehicle seat sensor.

15. The vehicle computing system of claim 9 wherein the one or more processors are additionally programmed to allow a driver to limit infotainment control from the non-driver computing device.

16. A method comprising:

establishing through a single infotainment system a communication connection with at least one of a plurality of computing devices within a vehicle;

enabling control to adjust infotainment settings for the vehicle in response to a determination that a detected location of the communication connection is a non-driver location; and

restricting control as compared to a non-driver location to adjust infotainment settings based on the detected location being a driver location.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the location of the communication connection is detected using one or more seat inputs.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the one or more seat inputs include a wireless transceiver.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the one or more seat inputs include at least one passenger detection sensor.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the one or more seat inputs include a physical connection port address.