Friendly maintenance and recall notifications

• US 9,478,073 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Knight, Cynthia Ann
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH-STEWART, DEMETRA R
• Application Number:
  US14/448,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20160035146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/00 Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor for lighting vehicle interior B60Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 11/005 for lighting devices, e.g. indicating if lamps are burning or not
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance

Abstract

Disclosed herein are devices, systems, and methods for providing friendly maintenance and recall notifications. Drivers can have personalized online driver profiles that indicate preferences for one or more notification classes, each notification class having a consistent theme or style. When a maintenance or recall condition arises, the driver can be presented with a notification that is both specific to the particular maintenance condition and associated with the notification class for which the driver has indicated a preference. Maintenance conditions can be detected by one or more sensors. Notifications for recall conditions can be sent from a remote server and received at the vehicle. A plurality of notifications related to a particular condition can be stored in a notification database, and the driver can be presented with a random notification, consistent with the driver'"'"'s preferences, from the plurality of available notifications.

Claims

1. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors for controlling operations of the computing device; and

a memory storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in the memory to;

select, from a plurality of notifications that are all specific to one current maintenance condition relating to the vehicle but that are each associated with one of a plurality of different notification classes, based at least in part on random selection, one notification consistent with a preference of an occupant of the vehicle for the one notification'"'"'s associated notification class; and

notify the occupant of the current maintenance condition using the selected one notification.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the preference of the occupant is learned from information received from a social networking profile associated with the occupant.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one notification is selected from the plurality of notifications based at least in part on feedback previously provided by the occupant.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the selected one notification comprises an audio notification delivered audibly.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the selected one notification comprises a visual notification.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of different notification classes is associated with a media element.

7. A system, comprising:

a vehicle;

at least one of an audio speaker and a display associated with the vehicle; and

the computing device of claim 1, wherein the selected one notification is delivered using the at least one of the audio speaker and the display.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in the memory to:

identify an occupant of the vehicle, wherein the selected one notification is consistent with a preference of the identified occupant for its associated notification class.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of different notification classes is predefined as having a light-hearted or humorous theme.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the occupant is identified based at least in part on biometric data received from one or more sensors.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the occupant is identified based at least in part on a unique signal received from an electronic device associated with the occupant.

12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the preference of the occupant is stored in an occupant profile.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

sending, by a remote server to a vehicle, a recall notification containing technical information specific to a recall condition associated with the vehicle;

receiving, by a computing device associated with the vehicle, the recall notification;

modifying the recall notification, by the computing device, to contain content in addition to the technical information specific to the recall condition associated with one of a plurality of different content classes, based at least in part on a random selection of the content and at least in part on a preference of an occupant of the vehicle for the content'"'"'s associated content class; and

notifying the occupant of the recall condition, by the computing device, using the modified recall notification.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying, by the computing device, an occupant of the vehicle, wherein the content is consistent with a preference of the identified occupant for the content'"'"'s associated content class.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the occupant is identified based at least in part on biometric data received from one or more sensors.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the occupant is identified based at least in part on a unique signal received from an electronic device associated with the occupant.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the preference of the occupant is stored in an occupant profile.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the modification to the recall notification is based at least in part on feedback previously provided by the occupant.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the modified recall notification comprises at least one of an audio notification delivered over an audio speaker, and a visual notification displayed on a display in communication with the computing device.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of different content classes is predefined as having a light hearted or humorous theme.