Method and system for determining last position of a vehicle and method for reporting the same

• US 9,984,576 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2017
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kwang Yang Motor Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Kwang Yang Motor Company Limited
• Inventors: Lin, Chen-Sheng, Tsai, Yi-Yang, Wang, John C., Huang, Ming-San, Hsu, Chih-Feng, Hsu, Chi-Hui, Liu, Te-Chuan, Chen, Li-Hui, Su, Ping-Chen
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Kerri
• Application Number:
  US15/730,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20180108259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 229 Days
• Field of Search: 340988, 340989
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/205 Mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method includes steps of: establishing a wireless connection between a dashboard device of a vehicle and a mobile device; recording a position of the mobile device as an entry of recorded position data at predetermined time intervals; transmitting a notification signal to the mobile device via the wireless connection to enable the mobile device to make a determination as to whether the mobile device is currently able to receive a positioning signal; and determining the position of the mobile device based on the positioning signal to serve as the last position of the vehicle in the affirmative, and determining the last position of the vehicle based on a latest entry of the recorded position data when otherwise.

Claims

1. A method for determining a last position of a vehicle, the vehicle including a dashboard device and a power device, the method to be implemented by a mobile device that receives a positioning signal and that keeps on determining a position of the mobile device based on the positioning signal thus received, and the dashboard device that is communicable with the mobile device, the power device including a power switch that is operable to switch between a Key ON state where the dashboard device is powered by the power device and a Key OFF state where the dashboard device is temporarily powered by the power device, the method comprising:

establishing, by the dashboard device when it is determined by the dashboard device that the power switch is switched to the Key ON state, a wireless connection between the dashboard device and the mobile device;

recording, by the mobile device, the position of the mobile device thus determined as an entry of recorded position data at predetermined time intervals;

transmitting, by the dashboard device when it is determined by the dashboard device that the power switch is switched to the Key OFF state, a notification signal to the mobile device via the wireless connection so as to enable the mobile device to determine whether the mobile device is currently able to receive the positioning signal;

determining, by the mobile device when it is determined that the mobile device is currently able to receive the positioning signal, the position of the mobile device based on the positioning signal currently received and making the position of the mobile device thus determined serve as the last position of the vehicle; and

determining, by the mobile device when it is determined that the mobile device is currently unable to receive the positioning signal, a latest entry of the recorded position data, and making the position of the mobile device that corresponds to the latest entry of the recorded position data serve as the last position of the vehicle.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the establishing a wireless connection, the wireless connection is established based on Bluetooth technology.

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

presenting, by the mobile device, the last position of the vehicle in a predetermined form of presentation.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the predetermined form of presentation includes at least one of a map for navigation or a compass for navigation, and an indicator to indicate a direction of the last position of the vehicle with respect to a current position of the mobile device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the presenting the last position of the vehicle includes presenting, by the mobile device, a last time of appearance which is associated with a time point when the vehicle appears at the last position thereof, and a distance between a current position of the mobile device and the last position of the vehicle.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the recording the position of the mobile device includes recording a time point at which the position of the mobile device is determined based on the positioning signal, the last time of appearance being presented based on the time point thus recorded.

7. A system for determining a last position of a vehicle, the vehicle including a power switch that is operable to switch between a Key ON state and a Key OFF state, said system comprising:

a mobile device that receives a positioning signal, and that determines a position of said mobile device based on the positioning signal thus received, and records the position of said mobile device thus determined as an entry of recorded position data at predetermined time intervals; and

a dashboard device of the vehicle that is communicable with said mobile device, that is powered when the power switch is switched to the Key ON state, that is temporarily powered when the power switch is switched to the Key OFF state, and that includes

a wireless communication module, and

a processing module connected with said wireless communication module, and configured to

control said wireless communication module to establish a wireless connection between said dashboard device and said mobile device when it is determined by said processing module that the power switch is switched to the Key ON state, and

transmit a notification signal to said mobile device via the wireless connection so as to enable said mobile device to determine whether said mobile device is currently able to receive the positioning signal when it is determined by said processing module that the power switch is switched to the Key OFF state,

wherein said mobile device is configured to

when it is determined that said mobile device is currently able to receive the positioning signal, determine the position of said mobile device based on the positioning signal currently received, and make the position thus determined serve as the last position of the vehicle, and

when it is determined that said mobile device is currently unable to receive the positioning signal, determine a latest entry of the recorded position data, and make the position of said mobile device that corresponds to the latest entry of the recorded position data serve as the last position of the vehicle.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the wireless connection is established based on Bluetooth technology.

9. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said mobile device includes a display configured to present the last position of the vehicle in a predetermined form of presentation.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the predetermined form of presentation includes a map for navigation.

11. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the predetermined form of presentation includes a compass for navigation and an indicator that indicates a direction of the last position of the vehicle with respect to a current position of said mobile device.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the compass is circular in shape, and is configured to indicate the current orientation of said mobile device, to indicate the direction of the last position of the vehicle with respect to the current position of said mobile device by a midpoint of an arc, and a length of which indicates a distance between the current position of said mobile device and the last position of the vehicle.

13. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said mobile device is further configured to present a last time of appearance which is associated with the time when the vehicle appears at the last position thereof in the predetermined form of presentation.

14. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said mobile device is further configured to present a distance between a current position of said mobile device and the last position of the vehicle in the predetermined form of presentation.

15. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said mobile device is further configured to present, in the predetermined form of presentation, a last time of appearance which is associated with the time when the vehicle appears at the last position thereof and a distance between a current position of said mobile device and the last position of the vehicle.

16. The system as claimed in claim 7, the vehicle further including a power device, the power device including the power switch and a battery, wherein:

said processing module is configured to control the power device to power said dashboard device with the battery when the power switch is switched to the Key ON state, and to control the power device to power said dashboard device with the battery only for a preset duration when the power switch is switched to the Key OFF state, so as to maintain the wireless connection for the preset duration.

17. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the power switch is a main switch of the vehicle.

18. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said mobile device includes:

a storage unit that is configured to store the entries of recorded position data associated with respective positions of the vehicle recorded at the predetermined time intervals; and

a network communication unit that is communicable with a cloud server, and that is configured to transmit the entries of recorded position data thus stored to the cloud server synchronously with respect to storage of the entries of recorded position data.

19. A method for reporting a last position of a vehicle, the vehicle including a dashboard device and a power device, the method to be implemented by a mobile device that receives a positioning signal and that keeps on determining a position of the mobile device based on the positioning signal thus received, and the dashboard device that is communicable with the mobile device, the power device including a power switch that is operable to switch between a Key ON state where the dashboard device is powered by the power device and a Key OFF state where the dashboard device is temporarily powered by the power device, the method comprising:

establishing, by the dashboard device when it is determined by the dashboard device that the power switch is switched to the Key ON state, a wireless connection between the dashboard device and the mobile device;

recording, by the mobile device, the position of the mobile device thus determined and the time at which the position of the mobile device is determined based on the positioning signal as an entry of recorded position data at predetermined time intervals;

determining, by the mobile device when it is determined by the mobile device that the wireless connection between the dashboard device and the mobile device is interrupted, a latest entry of the recorded position data, the position of the mobile device that corresponds to the latest entry of the recorded position data serving as the last position of the vehicle; and

transmitting, by the mobile device, the position of the mobile device that corresponds to the latest entry of the recorded position data and that serves as the last position of the vehicle to a cloud server.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising presenting, by the mobile device in a predetermined form of presentation, the last position of the vehicle, a last time of appearance which is associated with the time when the vehicle appears at the last position thereof, and a distance between a current position of the mobile device and the last position of the vehicle;

wherein the predetermined form of presentation includes a compass for navigation that is circular in shape, that is configured to indicate a current orientation of said mobile device, and that includes an arc, a midpoint of which indicates a direction of the last position of the vehicle with respect to the current position of the mobile device, and a length of which indicates a distance between the current position of the mobile device and the last position of the vehicle.