Accessory control with geo-fencing

• US 8,868,254 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2012
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Louboutin, Sylvain
• Primary Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US13/492,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/36, 340/539.13, 340/426.19, 455/456.2, 455/456.6
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00793 by Hertzian waves
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/63 Comprising locating means for detecting the position of the data carrier, i.e. within the vehicle or within a certain distance from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724098 Interfacing with an on-board device of a vehicle for hands-free speaking in vehicles H04M1/6075
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

A vehicle accessory can transmit a first signal to a mobile device, the first signal including a location of a vehicle. The mobile device can monitor its own location. The mobile device can assess whether one or more location-based criteria have been satisfied based on the location of the mobile device and the location of the vehicle. Upon determining that a location-based criterion has been satisfied, the mobile device can transmit a second signal to the vehicle accessory indicating that a function of the vehicle is to be controlled. Thus, for example, the mobile device can activate or de-activate vehicle features (e.g., door locking, vehicle defrosting, etc.) in a manner that capitalizes on efficient signal transmission.

Claims

1. A method for communicating between mobile devices and vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device, a first signal from a vehicle, the first signal identifying a location of the vehicle;

subsequently determining, by the mobile device, a current location of the mobile device;

determining, by the mobile device, whether a location criterion is met, the determination being based on the current location of the mobile device and the location of the vehicle; and

in the event that the location criterion is met, transmitting, by the mobile device, a second signal to the vehicle, wherein the second signal includes an instruction to control a function of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether the location criterion is met includes determining whether the mobile device has crossed a threshold, the threshold identifying a distance from the location of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining whether the location criterion is met further includes determining a direction of movement of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first signal comprises a vCard.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first signal identifies the location of the vehicle at a time that the first signal was sent from the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle comprises a vehicle accessory and the first signal is sent from the vehicle accessory.

7. A mobile device for communicating with a vehicle, the mobile device comprising:

a vehicle locator configured to identify a location of the vehicle based at least in part on a signal received from the vehicle;

a device locator configured to identify a location of the mobile device;

a data store including one or more location-based rules, each location-based rule including a location-based criterion;

a rule assessor configured to determine, for each rule of the one or more rules, whether the associated location-based criterion is satisfied, the determination being based at least in part on the location of the vehicle and the location of the mobile device;

a signal generator configured to generate a signal to control a function of the vehicle; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the generated signal,

wherein the transmission of the signal is conditioned upon the determination, by the rule assessor, that the location-based criterion for at least one of the rules is satisfied, and

wherein the function of the vehicle is associated with a rule for which the location-based has been satisfied.

8. The mobile device of claim 7 wherein the device comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

9. The mobile device of claim 7 wherein the rule assessor comprises a motion detector that detects a direction of movement of the mobile device.

10. The mobile device of claim 7 wherein at least one rule includes a criterion specifying a threshold distance from the vehicle.

11. The mobile device of claim 7 wherein the one or more rules comprise a plurality of rules, each rule being associated with a different location-based criterion.

12. The mobile device of claim 7 wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

13. A method for controlling vehicle functions, the method comprising:

detecting, by a vehicle accessory, a location of a vehicle;

generating, by the vehicle accessory, a first signal, the signal indicating the detected location;

transmitting, by the vehicle accessory, the first signal to a mobile device;

subsequently, by the vehicle accessory, receiving a second signal from the mobile device, wherein the second signal is indicative that a determination has been made, using the location of the vehicle and a location of the mobile device, that a location-based criterion has been satisfied;

identifying, by the vehicle accessory a vehicle component based at least in part on the second signal;

identifying, by the vehicle accessory, a control to be implemented by the vehicle component;

generating, by the vehicle accessory, a third signal including an instruction that the vehicle component implement the control; and

transmitting, by the vehicle accessory, the third signal.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising inferring whether the vehicle is parked, wherein the first signal is transmitted in response to inferring the vehicle is parked.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving, subsequent to the transmission of the first signal, a fourth signal from the mobile device;

identifying a second vehicle component based at least in part on the fourth signal; and

identifying a control to be implemented by the second vehicle component.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the implementation of the control comprises unlocking one or more doors of the vehicle.

17. A device for controlling vehicle functions, the device comprising:

a vehicle locator configured to identify a location of a vehicle;

a signal generator configured to generate a first signal that includes the location of the vehicle;

a transmitter configured to transmit the first signal to a mobile device;

a receiver configured to receive a second signal from the mobile device, wherein the second signal is indicative that a determination has been made, using the location of the vehicle and a location of the mobile device, that a location-based criterion has been satisfied;

a function identifier configured to identify a vehicle function to be controlled based on the second signal; and

a control identifier configured to identify how the vehicle function is to be controlled based on the second signal.

18. The device of claim 17 wherein the device is located inside an exterior surface of the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising a motion detector that detects whether the vehicle is moving, wherein the first signal is transmitted subsequent to a detection that the vehicle is not moving.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the vehicle locator comprises a GPS receiver to receive a signal from each of one or more GPS satellites, the location of the vehicle including a location estimate based on an analysis of the received signals.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions, which when executed by a processor of a mobile device cause the processor to execute a method of communicating location information, the method comprising:

accessing stored data identifying a location of a vehicle;

accessing data identifying a current location of a mobile device;

determining a relative location of the mobile device, the relative location being relative to the location of the vehicle;

accessing one or more location-based criteria;

determining whether each location-based criterion is satisfied based on the relative location of the mobile device; and

upon determining that at least one location-based criterion is satisfied, initiating transmission of a signal to the vehicle, wherein the signal includes an instruction to control a function of the vehicle.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the relative location of the mobile device comprises a distance between the mobile device and the vehicle.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the signal identifies a function to be controlled at the vehicle.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 further comprising generating one or more location-based criteria based on accessed user input.