Association of an identification stored in a mobile terminal with a location

• US 9,439,065 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: Cho, Young-Jae
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Mehmood B
• Application Number:
  US14/587,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20150111542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method for associating an identification stored in a mobile terminal with a location, particularly a seat, includes receiving a piece of information indicating a first time at which a previously unoccupied location is occupied by a person, the occupancy of the location being acquired by a sensor associated with the location. A piece of information indicating a second time at which the movement of the mobile terminal is received which implies that, if the mobile terminal were carried along by a person, the person carrying the terminal would occupy a location, the movement being acquired by a sensor in the mobile terminal. A relationship is determined between the first time and the second time. Therefore, the identification is received and associated with the determined location.

Claims

1. A method for identifying an occupant of a location, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving a first time data from an occupancy sensor associated with the location, the first time data indicating a first time at which the location becomes occupied;

receiving a second time data from a mobile device associated with a user, the second time data indicating a second time at which a motion sensor of the mobile device senses a movement of the mobile device that implies occupancy of the location by the user;

determining from the first time data and the second time data whether a correlation exists between the occupancy sensor sensing the occupancy of the location and the motion sensor sensing the movement;

receiving an identification data of the user from the mobile device if the correlation is determined to exist; and

associating the user as the occupant of the location using the identification data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location is a seat in a motor vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the act of receiving authentication data from the mobile device.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the act of associating access rights with the location based on the received authentication data.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the act of prompting of the adjustment of the seat corresponding to an adjustment stored for the mobile device.

6. A location occupancy determining device, comprising:

a wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to a mobile device of a user;

an occupancy sensor configured to sense when a location becomes occupied and to generate a first time data based thereon;

an electronic control unit configured to;

receive the first time data from the occupancy sensor;

receive a second time data from the mobile device, via the wireless transceiver, the second time data indicating when a motion sensor of the mobile device senses a movement of the mobile device that implies occupancy of the location by the user;

determine from the first time data and the second time data whether a correlation exists between the occupancy sensor sensing the occupancy of the location and the motion sensor sensing the movement;

receive an identification data of the user from the mobile device if the correlation is determined to exist; and

associate the user as occupying the location via the identification data.

13. The device of claim 6, wherein the location is a seat in a motor vehicle.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to adjust one or more parameters of the passenger vehicle based on the association.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to:

receive authentication data from the mobile device, and

associate access rights to a vehicle feature with the seat based on the received authentication data.

16. The device of claim 6, wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to receive authentication data from the mobile device.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein the adjustments are according to stored parameters associated with the user.

18. The device of claim 14, wherein the adjusted parameters include seat position, including one or more of:

height, depth and inclination.

19. The device of claim 6, wherein the seating movement comprises a prolonged stop after a decrease in elevation.

7. A method for personalizing a driving experience, the method comprising:

receiving a first time data from an occupancy sensor associated with a passenger vehicle seat, the first time data indicating a first time at which the seat becomes occupied;

receiving a second time data from a mobile device associated with a user, the second time data indicating a second time at which a motion sensor of the mobile device senses a seating movement of the mobile device;

determining from the first time data and the second time data whether a correlation exists between the occupancy sensor sensing the seat is occupied and the motion sensor sensing the seating movement;

receiving an identification data of the user from the mobile device if the correlation is determined to exist;

associating the user as the occupant of the seat via the identification data; and

adjusting one or more parameters of the passenger vehicle based on the association.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of receiving authentication data from the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of adjusting includes associating access rights to a vehicle feature with the seat based on the received authentication data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of adjusting includes adjustments according to stored parameters associated with the user.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusted parameters include seat position, including one or more of:

height, depth and inclination.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the seating movement comprises at least one of:

a prolonged stop after a decrease in elevation.