Personalizing vehicular comfort settings for a specific user

• US 9,963,012 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2015
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Stevanovic, Miroslav, Elnajjar, Hassan, Gautama, Neeraj R., Adesina, Opeyemi, Abdelzad, Vahdat
• Primary Examiner(s): Antonucci, Anne M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malhotra, Sanjeev
• Application Number:
  US14/961,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20170158023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 701 99, 704201, 706 46, 477107, 3703952, 340439
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00771 the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00785 by the detection of humidity or frost
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00971 Control systems or circuits characterised by including features for locking or memorising of control modes

Abstract

An application is launched in response to identifying a specific user in the vehicle. Upon launching the application, a historical comfort setting profile is automatically downloaded for the user. The historical profile includes individual comfort setting records. The historical profile is updated with comfort setting record(s) corresponding to each instance of an automatic climate control setting, a manual climate control setting, or an alternate climate control setting while the specific user is in the vehicle. An in-vehicle setting is dynamically predicted within respective predetermined time increments while the specific user is in the vehicle or in response to a user request. The predicted in-vehicle setting is dependent upon geographic location data points and a set of climate control related settings retrieved from the individual comfort setting records. A most recently predicted in-vehicle setting is caused to be displayed on a vehicle display while the specific user is in the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for personalizing vehicular comfort settings for a specific user, the method comprising:

in response to identifying the specific user in a vehicle, autonomously launching an adaptation application in the vehicle;

upon launching the adaptation application, automatically downloading a historical comfort setting profile for the specific user, the historical comfort setting profile including individual comfort setting records;

autonomously updating the historical comfort setting profile with a comfort setting record corresponding to each instance of an automatic climate control setting, a manual climate control setting, or an alternate climate control setting while the specific user is in the vehicle;

dynamically predicting an in-vehicle setting within respective predetermined time increments while the specific user is in the vehicle or in response to a user request, the predicted in-vehicle setting and the respective predetermined time increments based upon geographic location data points and a set of climate control related settings retrieved from the individual comfort setting records corresponding to the specific user, wherein a time period for the respective predetermined time increments is inversely proportional to a frequency of implementations of a comfort setting initiated by the specific user; and

causing a most recently predicted in-vehicle setting corresponding to the specific user to be displayed on a vehicle display while the specific user is in the vehicle.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the set of climate control related settings retrieved from each of the individual comfort setting records includes at least one of:

an outside air temperature data point;

an outside humidity data point;

an air conditioner indication;

a humidity glass temperature data point;

an interior air temperature data point;

an interior roof temperature data point;

an interior dash temperature data point;

a wiper indication;

a sun intensity data point;

a sun elevation data point;

a sun azimuth data point;

an ambient light status indication;

a window indication;

a blower mode;

a fan speed;

a thermal seat setting;

a zone control indication;

an air inlet mode;

a front or rear defog indication;

or a driver temperature setting.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an input to accept the most recently predicted in-vehicle setting; and

in response to the input, autonomously changing a then-current setting to the predicted in-vehicle setting.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the dynamically predicting of the in-vehicle setting includes:

determining a first predicted in-vehicle setting for a first of the respective predetermined time increments; and

while the specific user is in the vehicle, determining a second predicted in-vehicle setting within a next of the respective predetermined time increments upon an expiration of the first of the respective predetermined time increments, the next of the respective predetermined time increments based upon a plurality of implementations of a comfort setting, each implementation of the plurality of implementations initiated by the specific user.

5. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the geographic location data points is selected from the group consisting of a latitude data point, a longitude data point, and an elevation data point.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the alternate climate control setting includes a change in a window status or a change in a sunroof status.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the dynamically predicting of the in-vehicle setting includes dynamically predicting at least one of a window setting, a front blower mode, a front fan speed, a thermal seat setting, a zone control setting, an air inlet mode, a rear defog setting, or a driver temperature setting.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the specific user within the vehicle based upon a mobile device associated with the specific user.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein identifying the specific user further comprises identifying the specific user within the vehicle based upon a mobile device associated with the specific user, wherein a vehicle communications platform retrieves the specific user based upon a mobile device identifier corresponding to the mobile device.

10. A vehicle comfort setting personalization method, comprising:

at a first time, recognizing that a specific user is in a first vehicle containing an adaptation application;

monitoring climate control settings every half second while the specific user is in the first vehicle;

upon recognizing, by the monitoring, an instance of an automatic climate control setting, a manual climate control setting, or an alternate climate control setting;

collecting a first vehicle location data point, a time/date data point, and at least one climate control related setting associated with the first vehicle; and

generating a first comfort setting record including the data points and the at least one climate control related setting;

at a second time, recognizing that the specific user is in a second vehicle containing the adaptation application, the second vehicle being different from the first vehicle;

monitoring climate control settings every second while the specific user is in the second vehicle;

upon recognizing, by the monitoring, another instance of an automatic climate control setting, a manual climate control setting, or an alternate climate control setting;

collecting a second vehicle location data point, a time/date data point, and at least one climate control related setting associated with the second vehicle; and

generating a second comfort setting record including the data points and the at least one climate control related setting;

consolidating the first and second comfort setting records into a historical comfort setting profile for the specific user; and

at a third time, using the historical comfort setting profile to dynamically predict an in-vehicle setting within respective predetermined time increments while the specific user is in the first vehicle, the second vehicle, or a third vehicle or in response to a request while the specific user is in the first vehicle, the second vehicle, or the third vehicle, wherein a time period for the respective predetermined time increments is inversely proportional to a frequency of implementations of a comfort setting initiated by the specific user.

11. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10 wherein:

the first vehicle location data point is selected from the group consisting of a latitude data point for the first vehicle, a longitude data point for the first vehicle, and an elevation data point for the first vehicle; and

the second vehicle location data point is selected from the group consisting of a latitude data point for the second vehicle, a longitude data point for the second vehicle, and an elevation data point for the second vehicle.

12. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10 wherein:

the collecting of the time/date data point associated with the first vehicle includes collecting a calendar day and a time of day at which the instance is recognized; and

the collecting of the time/date data point associated with the second vehicle includes collecting a calendar day and a time of day at which the other instance is recognized.

13. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10 wherein prior to using the historical comfort setting profile to dynamically predict the in-vehicle setting, the method further comprises retrieving geographic location data points, time/date data points, and a set of climate control related settings from individual comfort setting records, and wherein the predicted in-vehicle setting is dependent upon geographic location data points and a set of climate control related settings retrieved from the individual comfort setting records.

14. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 13 wherein the set of climate control related settings retrieved from each of the individual comfort setting records includes at least one of:

an outside air temperature data point;

an outside humidity data point;

an air conditioner indication;

a humidity glass temperature data point;

an interior air temperature data point;

an interior roof temperature data point;

an interior dash temperature data point;

a wiper indication;

a sun intensity data point;

a sun elevation data point;

a sun azimuth data point;

an ambient light status indication;

a window indication;

a blower mode;

a fan speed;

a thermal seat setting;

a zone control indication;

an air inlet mode;

a front or rear defog indication;

or a driver temperature setting.

15. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10, further comprising causing a most recently predicted in-vehicle setting to be displayed on a vehicle display of the first vehicle, the second vehicle, or the third vehicle while the specific user is in the first vehicle, the second vehicle, or the third vehicle.

16. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10 wherein the dynamically predicting of the in-vehicle setting includes dynamically predicting any of a window setting, a front blower mode, a front fan speed, a thermal seat setting, a zone control setting, an air inlet mode, a rear defog setting, a driver temperature setting, or combinations thereof.

17. The vehicle comfort setting personalization method as defined in claim 10, wherein the recognizing that the specific user is in at least one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle further comprises recognizing that the specific users is in at least one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle based upon a mobile device associated with the specific user.

18. A vehicle comfort setting personalization system, comprising:

a server; and

a vehicle that is remote from the server, the vehicle including;

a recognition system to recognize a specific user;

a display;

a vehicle communications platform including a microprocessor and a memory; and

an adaptation application stored on the memory and executed by the microprocessor to cause the microprocessor to;

autonomously launch in response to the recognition system identifying the specific user;

automatically download, from the server, a historical comfort setting profile for the specific user, the historical comfort setting profile including individual comfort setting records;

autonomously update the historical comfort setting profile with a comfort setting record corresponding to each instance of an automatic climate control setting, a manual climate control setting, or an alternate climate control setting while the specific user is in the vehicle;

dynamically predict an in-vehicle setting within respective predetermined time increments while the specific user is in the vehicle or in response to a user request, the predicted in-vehicle setting and the respective predetermined time increments based upon geographic location data points and a set of climate control related settings retrieved from the individual comfort setting records corresponding to the specific user, wherein a time period for the respective predetermined time increments is inversely proportional to a frequency of implementations of a comfort setting initiated by the specific user; and

cause a most recently predicted in-vehicle setting corresponding to the specific user to be displayed on the display while the specific user is in the vehicle.

19. The vehicle comfort setting personalization system as defined in claim 18, wherein the recognition system recognizes the specific user based upon a mobile device associated with the mobile device.

20. The vehicle comfort setting personalization system as defined in claim 18, wherein the recognition system recognizes the specific user based upon a mobile device identifier corresponding to the mobile device.