Efficient tracking of personal device locations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9967717-B2
Application number	US-201514842082-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2015
Priority date	Sep 1, 2015
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A system may include zones associated with respective seating positions of a vehicle and in-vehicle components each associated with at least one of the zones. An in-vehicle component may identify a personal device associated with the zone of the in-vehicle component by identifying a personal device associated with the zone of the in-vehicle component by determining average signal strength between the personal device and the in-vehicle components of each zone, and identifying for which zone the average signal strength is highest, and sending a notification to the personal device responsive to a detected user interaction. A method may include detecting user interaction to an in-vehicle component of a zone; acquiring signal strength intensity information of personal devices from other in-vehicle components of the zone; calculating average signal strengths of the personal devices to the in-vehicle components; associating one of the personal devices to the zone as having a highest average signal strength to the in-vehicle components of the zone; and sending a notification to the one of the personal devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
vehicle seating having zones associated with seating positions; and
in-vehicle components, each associated with at least one of the zones, each zone including a plurality of in-vehicle components, one of the in-vehicle components programmed to
identify a personal device associated with the zone of the in-vehicle component by determining average signal strength between the personal device and the plurality of in-vehicle components of each zone, and identifying for which zone the average signal strength of the respective plurality of in-vehicle components is highest, and
send a notification to the personal device responsive to a detected user interaction.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification is configured to cause the personal device to invoke a vehicle component interface application to display a user interface for the in-vehicle component using the personal device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the zones include a first zone associated with a driver seating position, a second zone associated with a front passenger seating position, a third zone associated with a driver-side rear seating position, and a fourth zone associated with a passenger-side rear seating position.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the zones further include a fifth zone associated with a driver-side third-row seating position, and a sixth zone associated with a passenger-side third-row seating position.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the personal device includes one or more of a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, a smart watch, a laptop computer, a portable music player, a smartwatch, smart glasses, a fitness band, and a control ring.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the detected user interaction includes receipt of user input to a set of user interface controls of the in-vehicle component.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the in-vehicle component includes a wireless transceiver, and the detected user interaction includes identifying an increasing wireless signal intensity of a personal device to the wireless transceiver.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one of the in-vehicle components is further programmed to:
acquire wireless signal strength intensity information for personal devices from other of the in-vehicle components of the vehicle;
identify zones of the in-vehicle components;
calculate an average signal strength of the personal device to the in-vehicle components in each of the zones; and
associate the personal device with the zone having a highest average signal strength to the personal device.

9. A system comprising:
an in-vehicle component, associated with a zone seating position of a vehicle, programmed to
acquire wireless signal strength intensity information of a personal device from other in-vehicle components;
identify zones of the other in-vehicle components, each zone including a plurality of in-vehicle components;
for each of the zones, calculate an average signal strength of the personal device to the in-vehicle components in the zone; and
associate the personal device with the zone having a highest average signal strength to the personal device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the zones is associated with a respective seating position of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the zones include a first zone associated with a driver seating position, a second zone associated with a front passenger seating position, a third zone associated with a driver-side rear seating position, and a fourth zone associated with a passenger-side rear seating position.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the personal device is a cellular telephone.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the in-vehicle component is further programmed to query other of in-vehicle components for the wireless signal strength intensity information of the personal device responsive to a detected user interaction.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the detected user interaction includes receipt of user input to a set of user interface controls of the in-vehicle component.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:
detecting user interaction to an in-vehicle component of a zone;
acquiring signal strength intensity information of personal devices from other in-vehicle components of the zone;
calculating average signal strengths of the personal devices to the in-vehicle components;
associating one of the personal devices to the zone as having a highest average signal strength to the in-vehicle components of the zone; and
sending a notification to the one of the personal devices.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising associating each of respective seating position of the vehicle with a respective zone.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the notification includes information requesting a vehicle component interface application to display a user interface for the in-vehicle component using the personal device.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the personal device includes one or more of a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, a smart watch, a laptop computer, a portable music player, a smartwatch, smart glasses, a fitness band, and a control ring.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the user interaction includes receiving user input to a set of user interface controls of the in-vehicle component.

20. A system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor programmed to:
for each seating zone of a vehicle, identify a plurality of in-vehicle components associated with the zone and average signal strength between the personal device and the plurality of in-vehicle components of the zone,
identify for which zone the average signal strength is highest, and
receive a notification responsive to a user interaction detected by one of the in-vehicle components of the zone.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• B60R16/037

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

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• H04W68/005

  Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication · CPC title

• H04W4/48

  for in-vehicle communication · CPC title

• H04W4/025 Primary

  using location based information parameters · CPC title