Method and apparatus for detecting a left-behind phone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9070276-B2
Application number	US-201213540983-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 3, 2012
Priority date	Jul 3, 2012
Publication date	Jun 30, 2015
Grant date	Jun 30, 2015

Abstract

A system includes a vehicle computing processor. The processor is configured to, through wireless communication with a phone, and after determining that a vehicle engine is not running, request and receive motion sensor data from the phone. The processor is further configured to determine if a phone is moving with a driver based on the motion sensor data. Also, the processor is configured to alert the driver if the phone is not moving with the driver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a vehicle computing processor configured to:
communicate wirelessly with a mobile phone;
determine that a vehicle engine is not running;
determine if a vehicle door has opened;
request and receive three-axis acceleration data from the phone, if a vehicle door has opened;
determine if a phone is moving with a driver based on an equation m=a x 2 +a y 2 +a z 2 , wherein m is close to 1 if the phone is not moving with the driver, after the driver leaves the vehicle, wherein a x , a y and a z , are phone three axis acceleration values, and where m deviating from 1 by more than a predetermined amount indicates that a phone is moving with the driver; and
alert the driver if the phone is not moving with the driver.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine if the driver has left a vehicle prior to determining if the phone is moving with the driver.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to activate at least one of horns or lights to alert the driver.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination if the phone is moving is based on one or more observed brief periods of time after the vehicle engine has stopped running.

5. A computer implemented method comprising:
determining that a vehicle engine is not running;
determine if a vehicle door has opened;
if the engine is not running and a vehicle door has opened, wirelessly requesting and receiving phone three-axis-acceleration data;
determining, at a vehicle computing system, if a phone is moving with a driver based on an equation m=a x 2 +a y 2 +a z 2 , wherein m is close to 1 if the phone is not moving with the driver, after the driver leaves the vehicle, wherein a x , a y and a z , are phone three axis acceleration values, and where m deviating from 1 by more than a predetermined amount indicates that a phone is moving with the driver; and
alerting the driver if the phone is not moving with the driver.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the alerting includes activating at least one of horns or lights to alert the driver.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determination if the phone is moving is based on one or more observed brief periods of time after the vehicle engine has stopped running.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a vehicle computing system, cause the processor to perform the method comprising:
determining, via a vehicle computing system (VCS), that a vehicle engine is not running;
determine if a vehicle door has opened;
subsequent to the determining that the engine is not running, and if a vehicle door has opened, wirelessly requesting and receiving three-axis-acceleration data from a phone to the VCS;
determining, at the VCS, if a phone is moving with a driver based on an equation m=a x 2 +a y 2 +a z 2 , wherein m is close to 1 if the phone is not moving with the driver, after the driver leaves the vehicle, wherein a x , a y and a z , are phone three axis acceleration values, and where m deviating from 1 by more than a predetermined amount indicates that a phone is moving with the driver; and
alerting the driver if the phone is not moving with the driver.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to activate at least one of horns or lights to alert the driver.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the determination if the phone is moving is based on one or more observed brief periods of time after the vehicle engine has stopped running.

Assignees

• Le Jialiang
• Rao Manoharprasad K
• Prakah-Asante Kwaku O
• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Le Jialiang
• Rao Manoharprasad K
• Prakah-Asante Kwaku O

Classifications

• G08B21/24 Primary

  Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms · CPC title

• H04W4/027 Primary

  using movement velocity, acceleration information · CPC title

• H04W4/046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G08B19/00

  Alarms responsive to two or more different undesired or abnormal conditions, e.g. burglary and fire, abnormal temperature and abnormal rate of flow · CPC title

• H04W12/126 Primary

  Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning · CPC title