SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING EARLY LOW FUEL WARNING BASED ON DRIVER STATUS

• US 20090198410A1
• Filed: 02/06/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Sarkisian, Andrew D., Wojcik, Karl William, Cooprider, Anthony Dwayne, Brombach, Ronald Patrick, Van Wiemeersch, John Robert, Miller, Thomas Lee, Hille, Kevin Thomas, Cwik, Terry Thomas, Bennie, Brian, Dalebout, Matthew J., Watkins, Scott Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,106,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 15/061 with level control
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2015/03217 Fuel level sensors

Abstract

A system and method is provided for controlling the operation of notifying drivers of the fluid level. Primary and secondary keys are adapted to be associated to primary and secondary drivers. A key ignition device is positioned on the primary and secondary keys and generate driver status signals. A fluid level sensing device is operable to generate a fluid level signal indicative of the fluid level. A controller is coupled to the fluid level sensing device and the key ignition device. The controller determines whether the driver of the vehicle is the primary or secondary driver in response to the driver status signals. The controller notifies the primary or secondary driver of the fluid level in response to the fluid level signal. The controller selectively controls the operation of notifying the primary or the secondary driver based on whether the driver is the primary or secondary driver.

Claims

1. A system for controlling the operation of notifying primary and secondary drivers about a fluid level for a fluid in a vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one primary key adapted to be associated to the primary driver;

at least one secondary key adapted to be associated to the secondary driver;

a key ignition device positioned on each of the primary key and the secondary key and configured to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver; and

a controller operably coupled to the key ignition device and to a fluid level sensing device that is adapted to measure an amount of fluid in the vehicle and to generate a fluid level signal indicative of the fluid level of the fluid in the vehicle, the controller is adapted to;

determine whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver in response to the driver status signals;

notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the fluid level in response to the fluid level signal; and

selectively control the operation of notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver based on whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to notify the primary driver that the fluid is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is less than or equal to a first distance to empty value.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the controller is adapted to notify the secondary driver that the fluid is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is a less than or equal to a second distance to empty value.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the first predetermined value is less than the second distance to empty value.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the fluid level sensing device is a fuel level sensor adapted to measure the amount of fuel in the vehicle and to generate the fluid level signal.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the controller is adapted to notify the primary driver that the fuel is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is less than or equal to a first distance to empty value.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the controller is adapted to notify the secondary driver that the fuel is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is less than or equal to a second distance to empty value.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the first distance to empty value corresponds to a range of between one to sixty miles.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the second distance to empty value corresponds to a range of sixty-one to one hundred miles.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the key ignition device includes a radio frequency (RF) based transponder configured to generate the driver status signals as RF based signals.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller is further adapted to associate the primary key to the primary driver and to associate the secondary key to the secondary driver via the RF based signals prior to determining whether the driver of the vehicle is at least primary driver and the secondary driver.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller includes:

at least one of a passive anti-theft (PAT) controller and a passive entry passive start (PEPS) controller adapted to receive the RF based signals; and

at least one of a cluster controller and a smart display module (SDM) operably coupled to at least one of PAT controller and the PEPS controller and adapted to generate visual signals to notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the fluid level in response to the fluid level signal.

13. A method for controlling the operation of notifying a primary driver and a secondary driver about a fluid level for a fluid in a vehicle, the method comprising:

tagging at least one primary key to the primary driver;

tagging at least one secondary key to the secondary driver;

positioning a key ignition device on each of the primary key and the secondary key;

generating driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver with the key ignition device;

generating a fluid level signal indicative of the fluid level of the fluid in the vehicle;

determining whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver in response to the driver status signals;

notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the fluid level in response to the fluid level signal; and

selectively controlling the operation of notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver of the fluid level based on whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver further comprises notifying the primary driver that the fluid is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is less than or equal to a first distance to empty value.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver further comprises notifying the secondary driver that the fluid is at a low level in response to determining that the fluid level signal is less than or equal to a second distance to empty value, wherein the first distance to empty value is less than the second distance to empty value.

16. A system for controlling the operation of notifying primary and secondary drivers about a fluid level for fuel in a vehicle:

a first controller adapted to associate at least one primary key having a first key ignition device to the primary driver and to associate at least one secondary key having a second key ignition device to the secondary driver, wherein the first controller and the first and second key ignition devices are each configured to generate driver status signals indicative of whether the driver is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver; and

a second controller operably coupled to a fuel level sensing device that is operable to measure an amount of fuel in the vehicle and to generate a fuel level signal indicative of the fuel level of the fuel in the vehicle, the second controller is further coupled to at least one of the first controller, the first key ignition device and the second key ignition device;

the second controller is adapted to;

determine whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver in response to the driver status signals;

notify at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver when the fuel level of the fuel is at a low level in response to the fuel level signal; and

selectively control the operation of notifying at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver based on whether the driver of the vehicle is at least one of the primary driver and the secondary driver.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the second controller is adapted to notify the primary driver that the fuel is at a low level in response to determining that the fuel level signal is less than or equal to a first distance to empty value.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the second controller is adapted to notify the secondary driver that the vehicle is in a low level fuel state in response to determining that the fuel level signal is less than or equal to a second distance to empty value, wherein the first distance to empty value is less than the second distance to empty value.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the first distance to empty value corresponds to a range of between one to sixty miles.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the second distance to empty value corresponds to a range of sixty-one to one hundred miles.