Method and apparatus for finding a lost vehicle

• US 8,918,272 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2013
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: DeMerchant, Marvin, Young, David Andrew, Takaya, Norifumi, Thiele, David, Friedlander, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US13/893,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20140343834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 701/31.4, 701/300, 701/482, 701/484, 701/522, 340/438, 340/439
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3688 Systems comprising multiple parts or multiple output devices (not client-server), e.g. detachable faceplates, key fobs or multiple output screens
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services

Abstract

When a driver leaves a vehicle as indicated by a separation event such as the driver'"'"'s portable wireless communication device (WCD) losing Bluetooth connectivity with the vehicle, the WCD uploads to a cloud server its GPS location before the driver has been able to walk away from the vehicle an appreciable distance. The location is recorded and the driver subsequently can use its WCD to communicate with the server to obtain map information showing the current location of the WCD and the location recorded at the separation event, so that the driver knows the location of her vehicle relative to her current location.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

at least one computer readable storage medium that is not a carrier wave and that is accessible to a client processor of a client device and bearing instructions which when executed by the client processor configure the processor to execute logic to execute a method comprising;

establishing communication with a vehicle processor different from the client processor;

recording a location representative of a location of the vehicle responsive to a separation event between the client processor and vehicle processor;

responsive to a user command to present location information of the vehicle, presenting on the client device associated with the client processor a map and/or instructions indicating a location of the vehicle relative to a location of the client device based on the location of the vehicle that was recorded responsive to the separation event.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the separation event is loss of communication with the vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the separation event is loss of WiFi communication with the vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the separation event is loss of Bluetooth communication with the vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the separation event is motion of the client device satisfying a motion threshold for a time period satisfying a time threshold.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location of the vehicle that was recorded responsive to the separation event is a global positioning satellite (GPS) location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location of the client device that is presented on the map and/or instructions indicating a location of the vehicle relative is derived from a GPS sensor in the client device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location of the client device that is presented on the map and/or instructions indicating a location of the vehicle relative is derived from a non-GPS motion sensor in the client device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location of the client device that is presented on the map and/or instructions indicating a location of the vehicle relative is derived from WiFi location information.

10. Apparatus comprising:

at least one computer readable storage medium that is not a carrier wave and that is accessible to a client processor of a client device and bearing instructions which when executed by the client processor configure the processor to execute a method comprising;

automatically detecting a separation event of the client device from a vehicle;

responsive to automatically detecting the separation event, recording a location of the vehicle and/or a location of the client device to establish a recorded location; and

presenting on the client device a user interface (UI) presenting a map showing a current location of the client device and the recorded location indicating a location of a vehicle.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the recorded location is a location of the client and is used as a proxy for the location of the vehicle.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the recorded location is a location of the vehicle as obtained from a vehicle GPS receiver.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the method executed by the client processor when accessing the instructions further includes, prior to recording the location of the vehicle and/or location of the client to establish the recorded location and responsive to automatically detecting the separation event, asking a user whether to record the location of the vehicle and/or location of the client.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the method executed by the client processor when accessing the instructions further includes immediately recording the location of the vehicle and/or location of the client to establish the recorded location responsive to automatically detecting the separation event without asking a user to record the location of the vehicle and/or location of the client.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the method executed by the client processor when accessing the instructions further includes asking a user of the client device whether to send the recorded location to a server.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the method executed by the client processor when accessing the instructions further includes immediately sending the recorded location to a server responsive to automatically detecting the separation event without asking a user to send the recorded location to the server.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the method executed by the client processor when accessing the instructions further includes presenting a selector on the client device selectable to command a server to which the recorded location is sent by the client device to send the recorded location and current location of the client device to a help address for assistance.

18. Method comprising:

responsive to a determination that a wireless communication device (WCD) has left a vehicle, automatically recording a location as a location of the vehicle;

subsequently upon command input by a user of the WCD, showing on the WCD a current location of the WCD and the location of the vehicle, so that the driver knows the location of her vehicle relative to her current location.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the location recorded as a location of the vehicle is a location of the WCD.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the WCD is automatically determined to have left the vehicle responsive to a loss of communication connectivity between the WCD and the vehicle.