Intelligent floor mat

• US 20070018877A1
• Filed: 08/02/2004
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ada Bailey
• Original Assignee: Ada Bailey
• Inventors: Bailey, Ada
• Granted Patent: US 7,436,325 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/176
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 3/04 of floor mats or carpets
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0264 for control means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 13/083 for fire walls or floors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0029 Floor, e.g. side sills, fire wall
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00182 operated with unidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/94 characterised by the way in which the control signals are generated
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/94089 Wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/958 involving transponders

Abstract

A floor mat suitable for a vehicle is shown in FIG. 1 includes a circuit (1) for operating remotely controllable devices (20) both inside a vehicle or outside a vehicle. In another embodiment, a floor mat is equipped with a transponder that will respond to interrogation systems such as those commonly used at two booths on highways, bridges and tunnels. In another embodiment, a GPS receiver is incorporated into the floor mat along with a transmitter that will transmit the location of the motor vehicle to a remote tracking station.

Claims

1. A floor mat for controlling a remotely controllable device comprising:

a mat portion;

a switch adjacent to the mat portion, the switch being positioned in the mat portion and configured to be operable by a user'"'"'s foot;

a control unit connected to a first terminal of the switch, the control unit being configured to sense operation of the switch by the user'"'"'s foot and generate a control signal for controlling the remotely controllable device in response thereto; and

a transmitter connected to the control unit and configured to transmit the control signal generated by the control unit to a remotely controllable device.

2. The floor mat of claim 1, further comprising an antenna connected to the transmitter.

3. The floor mat of claim 1, further comprising a power source connected to a second terminal of the switch.

4. The floor mat of claim 3, wherein the power source is a long life battery.

5. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein a second terminal of the switch is connected to an electrical system of a vehicle in which the mat is located.

6. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the signal contains a code.

7. The floor mat of claim 6, wherein the code corresponds to a garage door opener.

8. The floor mat of claim 6, wherein the code corresponds to a power module that controls a supply of power to a remotely located device.

9. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the signal to remotely controllable device located outside of a vehicle in which the floor mat is installed.

10. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the signal to remotely controllable device located inside of a vehicle in which the floor mat is installed.

11. The floor mat of claim 10, wherein the transmitter is a bluetooth transmitter.

12. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the transmitter and control unit form part of a single integrated circuit on a single chip.

13. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the transmitter and control unit form separate integrated circuits on separate chips.

14. The floor mat of claim 1, wherein the transmitter and control unit form separate integrated circuits present on a single segmented chip.

15. A floor mat for controlling a remotely controllable device comprising:

a mat portion;

a microphone adjacent the mat portion and configured to generate an analog signal representative of a user'"'"'s voice;

an analog-to-digital converter connected to the microphone and configured to generate a digital signal representative of the analog signal;

a control unit connected to receive the digital signal from the analog-to-digital converter, the control unit being configured to implement a voice recognition process and generate a control signal for controlling the remotely controllable device when a corresponding command is detected in the digital signal; and

a transmitter connected to the control unit and configured to transmit the control signal generated by the control unit to a remotely controllable device.

16. The floor mat of claim 15, further comprising an antenna connected to the transmitter.

17. The floor mat of claim 15, wherein the signal contains a code.

18. The floor mat of claim 17, wherein the code corresponds to a garage door opener.

19. The floor mat of claim 17, wherein the code corresponds to a power module that controls a supply of power to a remotely located device.

20. A floor mat comprising:

a mat portion;

a positioning system adjacent the mat portion, the positioning system being configured to calculate and output a first position signal indicative of a position;

a control unit connected to the positioning system, the control unit being configured to receive the first position signal and output a second position signal based on the first position signal; and

a transmitter connected to receive the second position signal from the control unit, the transmitter being configured to transmit the second position signal to a monitoring station.

21. The floor mat of claim 20, wherein the control unit performs an error check on the first signal.

22. The floor mat of claim 20, wherein the control unit calculates the second position signal by filtering a plurality of first position signals.

23. The floor mat of claim 20, wherein the positioning system is a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

24. A floor mat comprising:

a mat portion;

a motor connected to the mat portion by a connecting element such that the mat portion will vibrate and be sensed by a user'"'"'s foot when the motor is activated; and

a control unit connected to the motor, the control unit being configured to activate the motor periodically, thereby keeping the user awake and alert.

25. The floor mat of claim 24, wherein the connecting element comprises a cam attached to a shaft of the motor.

26. A system comprising:

a collision avoidance system mounted on a vehicle, the collision avoidance system being positioned and configured to detect an object located behind the vehicle, the collision avoidance system being configured to activate and deactivate under the control of an activation signal; and

a floor mat having a switch adjacent thereto, the switch having a first terminal connected to the collision avoidance system, the switch being operable by a user'"'"'s foot to control activation of the collision avoidance system.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the collision avoidance system is a back up sensor system.

28. A floor mat comprising:

a mat portion; and

a transponder circuit adjacent to the mat portion, the transponder circuit being configured to transmit a identification upon receipt of an interrogation signal from a remote device.

29. A floor mat comprising:

a mat portion; and

a circuit adjacent to the mat portion, the circuit comprising a transceiver, the transceiver being configured to communicate with wireless email device, a control unit connected to the transceiver, a memory connected to the control unit, a sound card connected to the control unit, and a speaker connected to the sound card, the control unit being configured to perform a text-to-voice conversion process on an email received from the wireless email device and output a signal representative of contents of the email to the soundcard to produce an audible, spoken representation of the contents of the email via the speaker.

30. The floor mat of claim 29, wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.