Customizable vehicle charge status tones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10124725-B2
Application number	US-201615057177-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2016
Priority date	Mar 1, 2016
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes an audio transducer and a controller. The controller is configured to, in response to a state of charge (SOC) of a battery crossing a charge level threshold (CLT) set by a user of the vehicle, activate the audio transducer to generate an indication that the SOC has crossed the CLT and that is defined by data provided by the user and linked with the CLT according to a rule specified by the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a controller configured to, responsive to a charge for a vehicle battery exceeding a first threshold, activate a transducer to produce a first user-specified sound to indicate exceeding the first threshold, and responsive to the charge exceeding a second threshold, activate the transducer to produce a second user-specified sound different than the first to indicate exceeding the second threshold, wherein the first threshold is less than the second threshold.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the charge exceeding a user-specified threshold, activate the transducer to produce a third user-specified sound to indicate that the charge has exceeded the user-specified threshold.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the charge falling below the user-specified threshold, activate the transducer to produce another user-specified sound to indicate that the charge has fallen below the user-specified threshold.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the charge falling below the second threshold, activate the transducer to produce another user-specified sound to indicate that the charge has fallen below the second threshold.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the charge falling below the first threshold, activate the transducer to produce another user-specified sound to indicate that the charge has fallen below the first threshold.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the battery indicating an error during charge, activate the transducer to produce a user-specified sound indicative of the error.

7. A vehicle comprising:
an audio transducer; and
a controller configured to, in response to a state of charge (SOC) of a battery crossing a charge level threshold (CLT) set by a user of the vehicle, activate the audio transducer to generate an indication that the SOC has crossed the CLT defined by data provided by the user and linked with the CLT according to a rule specified by the user, wherein the CLT is defined by a range of intervals that increase until the battery is completely charged.

8. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to communicate the CLT to an external device paired with the controller via a network.

9. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to upload the data from a device paired with the controller.

10. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to download the data from an external server.

11. A control method for a vehicle comprising:
in response to a state of charge (SOC) of a battery crossing a charge level threshold (CLT) set by a user of the vehicle being indicative of battery charging, operating a controller to generate an indication that the SOC has crossed the CLT that is defined by data provided by the user and linked with the CLT according to a rule specified by the user.

12. The control method of claim 11 further comprising uploading by the controller the data to an internal storage from a paired device.

13. The control method of claim 11 further comprising downloading by the controller the data to an internal storage from an external server.

14. The control method of claim 11 further comprising, in response an indication that the battery is experiencing an error state, operating the controller to generate an indication that the battery is experiencing an error state and that is defined by additional data provided by the user and linked with the error state according to an additional rule specified by the user.

15. The control method of claim 11 , wherein the indication is an audio tone.

16. The control method of claim 11 , wherein the indication is light from a light source.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lovett Karin
• Bolger Bryan Michael
• Hancasky Robert David

Classifications

• H02J7/61

  against overcharge · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60Q9/00 Primary

  Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 {, e.g. haptic signalling} · CPC title

• B60L53/14

  Conductive energy transfer · CPC title