Passenger reminder systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9965940-B1
Application number	US-201715695543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 5, 2017
Priority date	Sep 5, 2017
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes a body controller having a plurality of sensors that detect a state of a driver door and a rear passenger door and detect an ignition state of the vehicle. The vehicle includes a processor that activates an alert flag in response to receiving a first signal from the body controller indicating an ignition of the vehicle has been started and receiving a second signal from the body controller indicating the rear passenger door of the vehicle has been closed within an activation threshold time. The processor determines that the vehicle has made a temporary stop and maintains the activated alert flag upon detecting that the vehicle has been started in response to determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop. The processor generates a notification in response to detecting that the vehicle has been parked a second time. The notification may include a camera feed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring a rear passenger area of a vehicle comprising:
activating an alert flag in response to detecting that an ignition of the vehicle has been started and a rear passenger door of the vehicle has been closed within an activation threshold time;
detecting that the vehicle has been parked a first time and that a driver door has been opened;
determining that the vehicle has made a temporary stop;
detecting that the ignition of the vehicle has been started;
maintaining the activated alert flag upon detecting that the ignition of the vehicle has been started in response to determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop; and
generating a notification in response to detecting that the vehicle has been parked a second time and the alert flag being activated.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop comprises detecting opening of a fuel door on the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop comprises:
determining a resting time between detecting stopping of the vehicle the first time and the vehicle being started; and
determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop when the resting time is less than a resting threshold time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the resting threshold time is greater than or equal to the activation threshold time.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the resting threshold time is between 10 minutes and 20 minutes.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising sending a signal to a meter indicating that the alert flag is active.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the notification comprises displaying a camera image and displaying a message.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the notification comprises one or more of: sounding a notification chime; sounding a voice reminder; transmitting the notification to a mobile device associated with a driver; flashing vehicle lights; or providing haptic feedback.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle being parked comprises at least one of the vehicle being in a park gear or the ignition of the vehicle being off.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
detecting that a rear door remains open when the vehicle is placed in a drive gear;
generating an alarm in response to the rear door remaining open; and
detecting that the rear door has been closed, wherein activating the alert flag is in response to detecting that the rear door has been closed following the alarm.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising generating a notification in response to detecting that the vehicle has been stopped the first time.

12. A vehicle comprising:
a body controller including a plurality of sensors detecting a state of at least a driver door and a rear passenger door and detecting a state of an ignition of the vehicle; and
a processor that:
activates an alert flag in response to receiving a first signal from the body controller indicating the ignition of the vehicle has been started and receiving a second signal from the body controller indicating the rear passenger door the vehicle has been closed within an activation threshold time;
receives a third signal from the body controller indicating that the vehicle has been parked a first time;
determines that the vehicle has made a temporary stop;
receives a fourth signal from the body controller indicating the ignition of the vehicle has been started;
maintains the activated alert flag upon receiving the fourth signal in response to determining that the vehicle has made the temporary stop; and
generates a notification in response to receiving a fifth signal from the body controller indicating that the vehicle has been parked a second time.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the processor determines that the vehicle has made the temporary stop in response to a signal from the body controller indicating that a fuel door has been opened.

14. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the processor:
determines a resting time between detecting that the ignition of the vehicle has been stopped the first time and the vehicle being started; and
determines that the vehicle has made the temporary stop when the resting time is less than a resting threshold time.

15. The vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the resting threshold time is greater than or equal to the activation threshold time.

16. The vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the resting threshold time is between 10 minutes and 20 minutes.

17. The vehicle of claim 14 , further comprising a meter, wherein the processor sends a signal to the meter indicating that the alert flag is active.

18. The vehicle of claim 14 , comprising:
a cabin camera configured to capture an image feed of a rear passenger area; and
a display, wherein the processor presents the image feed of the rear passenger area on the display to generate the notification.

19. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the processor generates the notification by one or more of: sounding a notification chime; sounding a voice reminder; transmitting a notification to a mobile device associated with a driver; flashing vehicle lights; or providing haptic feedback.

20. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the processor generates a notification in response to the third signal.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Voss Thaddaeus
• Yamamoto Stuart Masakazu

Classifications

• G08B21/24

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

• G08B21/22 Primary

  responsive to presence or absence of persons · CPC title

• G06K9/00838

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06V20/593

  Recognising seat occupancy · CPC title