In-vehicle control location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9914418-B2
Application number	US-201514842025-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2015
Priority date	Sep 1, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

Zones may be associated with respective seating positions of a vehicle. In-vehicle components may also be associated with at least one of the zones of the vehicle. A processor may locate a personal device as being within one of the zones; identify notification settings of the personal device; and invoke notification devices of the in-vehicle components associated with the zone when the notification settings indicate that the personal device has not been previously located in the zone. Invoking the notification devices may include invoking at least one of backlights of the in-vehicle components or existing lighting elements of the in-vehicle component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
in-vehicle components, each associated with at least one zone associated with a respective seating position of a vehicle, wherein the in-vehicle components include at least one vehicle interior light or vehicle interior speaker; and
a processor programmed to
locate a personal device as being within one of the zones;
identify notification settings of the personal device; and
invoke notification devices of the in-vehicle components associated with the zone when the notification settings indicate that the personal device has not been previously located in the zone, wherein the notification device of the light or speaker is configured to activate lighting of the light or audible elements of the speaker to facilitate identification of a physical location of the light or speaker within the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification devices of the in-vehicle components include at least one of backlights of the in-vehicle components, lighting elements of the in-vehicle components, haptic feedback devices of the in-vehicle components or audio feedback devices of the in-vehicle components.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is a processor of the personal device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is a processor of one of the in-vehicle components.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:
receive a notify request for all modules within the zone; and
invoke the notification devices of the in-vehicle components of the zone responsive to the notify request.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to discontinue notification from the notification devices in accordance with a time period specified by the notification settings.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:
receive a notify request for a specific in-vehicle component within the zone; and
invoke notification for the specific in-vehicle component of the zone responsive to the notify request while discontinuing notification for all other in-vehicle components of the zone.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:
locating a personal device within one of a plurality of zones defined as respective seating positions of a vehicle, each zone including at least one in-vehicle component;
displaying a user interface to the personal device describing the in-vehicle components of the zone;
receiving a notify request from the user interface;
invoking notification devices of at least one of the in-vehicle components of the zone responsive to the notify request;
receiving a second notify request from the user interface to invoke notification devices of at least one in-vehicle component of a second zone other than the zone; and
invoking the notification devices of the at least one in-vehicle component of the second zone responsive to the second notify request.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the notify request is a request to locate all in-vehicle components included within the zone, and further comprising invoking the notification devices for all the in-vehicle components included within the zone responsive to the notify request.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the notify request is a request to locate a specific in-vehicle component included within the zone, and further comprising invoking notification for the specific in-vehicle component of the zone responsive to the notify request while discontinuing notification for all other in-vehicle components of the zone.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising discontinuing notification from the notification devices in accordance with a time period specified by notification settings of the personal device.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising displaying the user interface to the display of the personal device responsive to locating the personal device as being within the one of the plurality of zones.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein invoking notification devices includes invoking at least one of backlights or lighting elements of the at least one of the in-vehicle components of the zone.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein invoking notification devices includes invoking at least one of haptic feedback devices or audio feedback devices of the at least one of the in-vehicle components of the zone.

15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, responsive to locating the personal device as being within the one of the plurality of zones, invoking the notification devices when notification settings indicate that the personal device has not been previously located in the zone.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
locate a personal device within one of a plurality of zones defined as respective seating positions of a vehicle, each zone including at least one in-vehicle component, wherein the in-vehicle components include at least one vehicle interior light or vehicle interior speaker;
identify notification settings of the personal device; and
invoke notification devices of the in-vehicle components associated with the zone when the notification settings indicate that the personal device has not been previously located in the zone, wherein the notification device of the light or speaker is configured to activate lighting of the light or audible elements of the speaker to facilitate identification of a physical location of the light or speaker within the vehicle.

17. The medium of claim 16 , further including instructions that cause the processor to:
receive a notify request for all modules within the zone; and
invoke the notification devices of the in-vehicle components of the zone responsive to the notify request.

18. The medium of claim 16 , further including instructions that cause the processor to discontinue notification from the notification devices in accordance with a time period specified by notification settings.

19. The medium of claim 16 , further including instructions that cause the processor to:
receive a notify request for a specific in-vehicle component within the zone; and
invoke notification for the specific in-vehicle component of the zone responsive to the notify request while discontinuing notification for all other in-vehicle components of the zone.

20. A method comprising:
locating a personal device as within one of a plurality of seating zones of a vehicle; arid
invoking notification devices of in-vehicle components included within the zone by activating lighting elements of lights in the zone or audible elements of speakers in the zone when notification settings of the personal device indicate that the personal device has not been previously located in the zone.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Buttolo Pietro
• Salter Stuart C
• Rankin Ii James Stewart
• Tokish Stephen Ronald
• Strumolo Gary Steven

Classifications

• B60R16/037 Primary

  for occupant comfort {, e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel} · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• B60R16/023

  for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems · CPC title