Determining the number of people in a vehicle

• US 9,840,166 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2015
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Thomas Steven, Barfield, Jr., James Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, ABBY YEE
• Application Number:
  US14/684,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20160297324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 974 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00757 by the input of sound, e.g. by using a voice synthesizer
• 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: B60N 2/0025 by using weight measurement
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2210/10 Field detection presence sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2210/24 Cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2220/20 using a deterministic algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2220/30 using a neural network
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2230/20 Wireless data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/08 Learning methods

Abstract

A computer device may include logic configured to detect a wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode, wherein the wake up event indicates that a user is getting ready to use a vehicle; obtain accelerometer data from an accelerometer, associated with the vehicle, during a time period that includes the wake up event; determine a number of door slam events during the time period based on the obtained accelerometer data; and determine a number of people in the vehicle based on the determined number of door slam events.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computer device, the method comprising:

detecting, by the computer device, a wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode, wherein the wake up event indicates that a user is getting ready to use a vehicle;

obtaining, by the computer device, accelerometer data from an accelerometer, associated with the vehicle, during a time period that includes the wake up event;

determining, by the computer device, a number of door slam events during the time period based on the obtained accelerometer data using a classifier trained using training data that includes accelerometer data for door slam events and accelerometer data for response events that do not correspond to door slam events to filter out accelerometer response events that do not correspond to door slam events; and

determining, by the computer device, a number of people in the vehicle based on the determined number of door slam events.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode includes:

detecting an unlocking of the vehicle;

detecting an opening of a door of the vehicle;

or

detecting a short range wireless signal associated with a mobile communication device associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining audio data from a microphone during the time period that includes the wake up event; and

wherein determining the number of people in the vehicle is further based on the obtained audio data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining data relating to mobile communication devices in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event; and

wherein determining the number of people in the vehicle is further based on the obtained data relating to the mobile communication devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data relating to the mobile communication devices in the vehicle includes data relating to at least one of:

detected short range wireless signals associated with the mobile communication devices, or

location data associated with the mobile communication devices received from a base station.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining data from one or more additional sensors in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event; and

wherein determining the number of people in the vehicle is further based on the obtained data from the one or more sensors in the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more additional sensors in the vehicle include at least one of:

a door sensor, a proximity sensor, a dashboard camera, or a weight sensor.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing information identifying the number of people in the vehicle to a device configured to collect usage-based insurance information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the number of people in the vehicle exceeds a passenger threshold; and

sending an alert to a mobile communication device, in response to determining that the number of people in the vehicle exceeds the passenger threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting one or more vehicle settings, based on the determined number of people in the vehicle.

11. A computer device comprising:

logic configured to;

detect a wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode, wherein the wake up event indicates that a user is getting ready to use a vehicle;

obtain accelerometer data from an accelerometer, associated with the vehicle, during a time period that includes the wake up event;

determine a number of door slam events during the time period based on the obtained accelerometer data using a classifier trained using training data that includes accelerometer data for door slam events and accelerometer data for response events that do not correspond to door slam events to filter out accelerometer response events that do not correspond to door slam events; and

determine a number of people in the vehicle based on the determined number of door slam events.

12. The computer device of claim 11, wherein the computer device includes an on-board diagnostics device.

13. The computer device of claim 11, wherein the computer device includes:

a server device communicating with an on-board diagnostics device;

an embedded vehicle computer device;

or

a mobile communication device located within the vehicle.

14. The computer device of claim 11, wherein, when detecting the wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode, the logic is further configured to at least one of:

detect an unlocking of the vehicle;

detect an opening of a door of the vehicle;

or

detect a short range wireless signal associated with a mobile communication device associated with the user.

15. The computer device of claim 11, wherein the logic is further configured to at least one of:

obtain audio data from a microphone during the time period that includes the wake up event;

obtain data relating to mobile communication devices in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event;

or

obtain data from one or more additional sensors in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event; and

wherein the logic is further configured to;

determine the number of people in the vehicle based on at least one of the obtained audio data, the obtained data relating to the mobile communication devices in the vehicle, or the obtained data from the one or more sensors in the vehicle.

16. The computer device of claim 11, wherein the logic is further configured to at least one of:

provide information identifying the number of people in the vehicle to a device configured to collect usage-based insurance information;

sending an alert to a mobile communication device when the number of people in the vehicle exceeds a passenger threshold;

or

adjust one or more vehicle settings, based on the determined number of people in the vehicle.

17. An on-board diagnostics device comprising:

logic configured to;

detect a wake up event that wakes the on-board diagnostics device from an idle mode, wherein the wake up event indicates that a user is getting ready to use a vehicle;

obtain accelerometer data from an accelerometer, associated with the vehicle, during a time period that includes the wake up event;

obtain data that includes one or more of;

audio data from a microphone during the time period that includes the wake up event;

data relating to mobile communication devices in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event;

or

data from one or more additional sensors in the vehicle during the time period that includes the wake up event;

determine a number of door slam events during the time period based on the obtained accelerometer data using a classifier trained using training data that includes accelerometer data for door slam events and accelerometer data for response events that do not correspond to door slam events to filter out accelerometer response events that do not correspond to door slam events; and

determine a number of people in the vehicle using the classifier based on the determined number of door slam events and the obtained data.

18. The on-board diagnostics device of claim 17, wherein the classifier includes at least one of:

a neural network classifier;

a support vector machine classifier;

or

a logistic regression classifier.

19. The on-board diagnostics device of claim 17, wherein the response events that do not correspond to door slam events include at least one of:

a trunk closing event;

a hood closing event;

a passing vehicle event;

or

a heavy object being placed in the trunk event.

20. The on-board diagnostics device of claim 17, wherein the logic is further configured to at least one of:

provide information identifying the number of people in the vehicle to a device configured to collect usage-based insurance information;

send an alert to a mobile communication device when the number of people in the vehicle exceeds a passenger threshold;

or

adjust one or more vehicle settings, based on the determined number of people in the vehicle.