Systems and methods for warning a third party about a temperature condition for a forgotten occupant based on estimated temperature

• US 9,604,571 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2016
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kurtovic, Kenan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai
• Application Number:
  US15/090,975
• Time in Patent Office: 357 Days
• Field of Search: 340/449, 340/457, 340/573.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0202 Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms

Abstract

A system and method for warning a third party about a temperature condition for a forgotten occupant based upon an estimated temperature. The system and method include retrieving a weather forecast for an area in which the vehicle is located and estimating a future temperature of the passenger compartment in response to determining that the drive system of the vehicle has been shut off and that the driver has exited the vehicle, the method determines whether an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The future temperature of the passenger compartment is a temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle after a lapse of a predetermined time period. In response to determining that the estimated future temperature is outside of the predetermined temperature range send a warning to the computing device.

Claims

1. A system for warning a third party about a temperature condition for a forgotten occupant based on estimated temperature, comprising:

a main sensor that determines that a drive system of a vehicle has been shut off;

a driver sensor that determines that a driver has exited a passenger compartment of the vehicle;

a forgotten occupant sensor that determines that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle after the main sensor determines that the drive system has been shut off and the driver sensor determines that the driver has exited the passenger compartment of the vehicle;

a transceiver that retrieves a weather forecast for an area in which the vehicle is located;

a computing device; and

an electronic control unit including a processor and a memory unit that is coupled to the processor, the memory unit stores logic that, when executed by the processor, causes the electronic control unit to;

estimate a future temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the future temperature of the passenger compartment is a temperature of the passenger compartment after a lapse of a predetermined time period;

determine whether the estimated future temperature is outside of a predetermined temperature range; and

in response to determining that the estimated future temperature is outside of the predetermined temperature range, send a warning to the computing device, the warning indicating that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle and that the temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle will be outside of the predetermined temperature range after the lapse of the predetermined time period.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver retrieves the weather forecast from a weather data service in response to the main sensor determining that the drive system of the vehicle has been shut off, the driver sensor determining that the driver has exited the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and the forgotten occupant sensor determining that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a global positioning system in communication with the electronic control unit,

wherein the electronic control unit determines the area that the vehicle is located based on an output of the global positioning system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein temperature maps are pre-stored in the memory unit, and wherein the future temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle is determines based on the retrieved weather forecast and the temperature maps.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined range includes an upper temperature threshold and a lower temperature threshold, and wherein the estimated future temperature is determined to be outside of the predetermined range when the estimated temperature is less than the lower temperature threshold or higher than the upper temperature threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, the predetermined time period includes a plurality of predetermined time periods, and wherein a future temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle is estimated after the lapse of each of the plurality of predetermined time periods.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the warning to the computing device is sent in response to the future temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle after the lapse of any of the plurality of predetermined time periods being outside of the predetermined temperature range.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the warning to the computing device includes an option to execute countermeasures to control the temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising an environmental condition sensor that detects an environmental condition of the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to correct the estimated future temperature based on an output of the environmental condition sensor and the retrieved weather forecast.

11. A method for warning a third party about a temperature condition for a forgotten occupant based on estimated temperature comprising:

determining whether a drive system of a vehicle has been shut off and whether a driver has exited a passenger compartment of the vehicle;

in response to determining that the drive system of the vehicle has been shut off and that the driver has exited the vehicle, determining whether an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle;

in response to determining that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, retrieving a weather forecast for an area in which the vehicle is located and estimating a future temperature of the passenger compartment based on the retrieved weather forecast for the area in which the vehicle is located, the future temperature of the passenger compartment is a temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle after a lapse of a predetermined time period;

determining whether the estimated future temperature is outside of a predetermined temperature range; and

in response to determining that the estimated future temperature is outside of the predetermined temperature range, sending a warning to the third party, the warning indicating that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle and the temperature of the passenger compartment of the vehicle will be outside of the predetermined temperature range after the lapse of the predetermined time period.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

providing an electronic control unit including a processor and a memory unit that is coupled to the processor, the memory unit stores logic that, when executed by the processor, causes the electronic control unit to;

estimate the future temperature of the passenger compartment based on the retrieved weather forecast for the area in which the vehicle is located; and

send the warning to the third party.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising a transceiver that retrieves the weather forecast from a weather data service in response to the determining that the drive system of the vehicle has been shut off, that the driver has exited the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and determining that an occupant remains in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

providing a global positioning system connected to the electronic control unit, wherein the area that the vehicle is located in is determined by an output from the global positioning system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the estimated future temperature is estimated based on pre-stored maps stored in the memory unit.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing an environmental condition sensor that detects an environmental condition of the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to correct the estimated future temperature based on an output of the environmental condition sensor and the retrieved weather forecast.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the warning sent to the third party is a message displayed on a computing device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined range includes an upper temperature threshold and a lower temperature threshold, and wherein the estimated future temperature is determined to be outside of the predetermined range when the estimated temperature is or less than the lower temperature threshold or higher than the upper temperature threshold.

20. The method of claim 19, the predetermined time period includes a plurality of predetermined time periods, and wherein a future temperature is estimated for of each of the plurality of predetermined time period.