Vehicle remote park-assist communication counters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10793144-B2
Application number	US-201815948622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2018
Priority date	Apr 9, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for vehicle remote park-assist communication counters. An example vehicle includes an autonomy unit for remote parking, a communication module, and a controller. The controller is to implement a counter into remote parking communication between the communication module and a mobile device and, when the counter exceeds a threshold, monitor for a reset vehicle event and a reset mobile event. The controller also is to reset the counter responsive to detecting at least one of the reset vehicle event and the reset mobile event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
an autonomy unit for remote parking;
a communication module; and
a controller configured to:
send a first signal including a first counter from the communication module to a mobile device;
determine, based on the first counter, a communication latency between the communication module of the vehicle and a mobile device;
determine that a current value of the first counter exceeds a threshold;
monitor, based on the determination that a current value of the first counter exceeds a threshold, for at least one of: a reset vehicle event and a reset mobile event; and
reset the first counter responsive to detecting at least one of the reset vehicle event and the reset mobile event.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
send a second signal including a second counter from the communication module to the mobile device;
receive a response to the first signal and a response to the second signal at the communication mobile and from the mobile device, wherein the response to the first signal includes the first counter and the response to the second signal includes the second counter;
determine that the first counter and second counter are received by the communication module in a same order in which they were sent to the mobile device; and
send an instruction to the autonomy unit to perform the parking based on the determination that the first counter and second counter are received by the communication module in the same order in which they were sent to the mobile device.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the autonomy unit does not perform the remote parking in response to the controller determining that the counter of the remote parking communication received by the communication module does not increment sequentially.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to reset the counter to zero.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the threshold corresponds with a counter value that is less than a maximum value of the counter.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to identify the reset mobile event based upon information included in a communication signal received by the communication module from the mobile device.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset mobile event includes activation of a remote parking app on the mobile device.

8. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the reset mobile event includes user interaction with another app of the mobile device while the remote parking is active.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset mobile event includes the mobile device conducting at least one of a call, a text session, and a messaging session while the remote parking is active.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset mobile event includes a user dropping the mobile device while the remote parking is active.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset mobile event includes the mobile device being located beyond a tethering range for the remote parking.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset mobile event includes the mobile device not receiving an input from a user for a threshold period of time while the remote parking is active.

13. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset vehicle event includes the autonomy unit identifying an available parking spot while the remote parking is active.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset vehicle event includes the autonomy unit detecting an obstacle or another stop event while the remote parking is active.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset vehicle event includes the autonomy unit detecting that the vehicle has been stationary for a threshold period of time while the remote parking is active.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the reset vehicle event includes the controller detecting whether the communication module is transitioning from a remote parking state to a phone-as-a-key state.

17. A method comprising:
sending, via a processor of a vehicle, a first signal including a first counter from a communication module of the vehicle to a mobile device;
determining, based on the first counter, a communication latency between the communication module of the vehicle and a mobile device;
determining that a current value of the first counter exceeds a threshold;
monitoring, via the processor and based on the determination that a current value of the first counter exceeds a threshold, for a reset vehicle event and a reset mobile event; and
resetting, via the processor, the counter responsive to detecting at least one of the reset vehicle event and the reset mobile event.

18. The method of claim 17 , further including performing, via an autonomy unit, the remote parking when the counter of the remote parking communication received by the communication module decrements sequentially.

19. The method of claim 18 , further including not performing the remote parking when the counter of the remote parking communication received by the communication module does not decrement sequentially.

20. The method of claim 17 , further including identifying the reset mobile event based upon information included in a communication signal received by the communication module from the mobile device.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lavoie Erick Michael
• Chatten Alyssa
• Elangovan Vivekanandh
• Jester Joby

Classifications

• B60W2556/55

  using telemetry · CPC title

• B60W2050/0075

  Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means · CPC title

• B60W30/06 Primary

  Automatic manoeuvring for parking · CPC title

• B60W2556/45

  External transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title