PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application claims priority to and the benefit of United States provisional patent application Serial No. 62/273,608, filed December 31, 2015, with the same title as above, and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Child restraint systems (CRSs) are seats for moving vehicles, such as automobiles, that are designed to protect infants or other children in the case of a collision involving the vehicle. Such CRSs can be rear-facing or forward-facing depending on the size of the child, and are typically fastened to a car seat in the vehicle through use of one of the vehicle' s adult seat belts. For safety reasons, it is important to install a CRS properly. One important child safety consideration is that the CRS be installed at the proper recline angle relative to the seat of the vehicle in which it is installed.

SUMMARY CRSs with automatic leveling systems are known. For example, U.S. Patent

Application No. 14/884,933 (filed October 16, 2015), U.S. Patent Application No.

14/718,738 (filed May 21, 2015), U.S. published Patent Application Pub. No. 2015/0091348, and U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62/103,896 (filed Jan. 15, 2015), all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entireties, describe CRSs with self-actuated systems for leveling a CRS in a vehicle.

Such leveling systems assume that the vehicle is on level ground and, therefore, may provide better results when the vehicle is on relatively level ground (since there is a fixed relationship between the level of the car seat in the car to which the CRS is connected and the level of the car). The assumption that the car is on level ground, however, is not always a good one. Vehicle child restraints should to be installed at a specific seat back angle as measured to the length of the vehicle. To facilitate correct installation angle, child restraint manufacturers often include gravity referencing devices like spirit levels, ball bearing levels or accelerometers, which are usually permanently attached to their restraints. These devices assume that the directional vector of gravity is perpendicular to the length of the vehicle, and the user of the child restraint adjusts the restraint until the level indicator is in the acceptable range of measurement.

However, when a vehicle is placed on a nonlevel surface like a hill or steep driveway, the fixed gravity measuring referencing devices are easily fooled. They are positioned to always assume the directional vector of gravity is positioned perpendicularly to the length of the vehicle. In the event of a slope, this is not the case and can greatly affect safe installation of the CRS. To achieve proper installation when not on level ground, the child restraint requires an angle reference that is not affixed to the child restraint. The usage of a remote mobile device, like a smartphone, that can measure the directional vector of gravity can provide this information. Placing the mobile device either inside or outside the vehicle gathers this information. Combining the angle information from the remote mobile device and angle information captured by the child restraint, the proper angle adjustment for the child restraint can be determined for any angled surface the vehicle is parked on.

One example comprises a system that determines an orientation (e.g., incline angle) of a vehicle in which a CRS is to be installed. That way, the CRS can be installed in a way that accounts for the fact that the vehicle may not be parked on a flat surface. In at least one form, the system comprises a mobile device, an application running on a mobile device (app), and a smart, self-leveling vehicle CRS. In various embodiments, the mobile device app instructs the user to place the mobile device in the footwell or other suitable location of the vehicle that is generally parallel to the surface on which the vehicle is parked. The mobile device app then determines rotation matrices and quaternions of the mobile device, and instructs the user to rotate the mobile device's yaw angle 180 degrees for example, so that the rotation matrices and quaternions of the mobile device can be determined for an equal, but opposite, orientation of the mobile device. The two measurements can be compared to determine the pitch of the vehicle, which is then transmitted to the smart, self-leveling vehicle CRS so that the CRS can level itself to the proper target angle, compensating for the pitch of the vehicle.

In one general aspect, therefor, at least one embodiment disclosed herein is directed to a system that includes a CRS with a self-actuating leveling system and a mobile app that determines the incline angle of the vehicle. The mobile app communicates the vehicle's incline angle to the CRS, which then automatically adjusts the CRS to the proper recline angle in a way that accounts for the incline angle of the vehicle. In other embodiments, the CRS or a remote computer could compute the incline angle based on sensor data from the mobile app. FIGURES

Various embodiments are described herein by way of example in connection with the following figures, wherein:

Figure 1 is diagram of a system embodiment including, among other things, a mobile device and a vehicle CRS;

Figure 2 illustrates an example process that may be performed by the system of Figure

1; and

Figures 3 through 8 are sample screen shots that can be provided by the mobile app.

DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 is simplified block diagram of a system 10 according to various

embodiments disclosed herein. The illustrated system 10 shows a mobile device 12 in communication with a CRS 14 via a wireless communication link 16. The mobile device 12 may be a smartphone, tablet computer, a wearable computer, or any other suitable mobile computing device. Figure 1 illustrates some of the components that in at least one example may be employed by the mobile device 12. It includes at least one processor 20, memory 22, and a user interface 24. The description to follow assumes that there is only one mobile device processor 20, although as just mentioned there could be more than one depending on the mobile device 12. The memory 22 may include internal Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM) and/or flash memory, as well as optional removable storage. The RAM may be, for example, LPDDR2 DRAM; the ROM may include one or more memory chips; the flash memory may include a SSD or emmc flash memory; and the optional removable storage may include a form of microSD card. One or more of these memory units may store an incline angle determination app 30, which is a software application that when executed by the processor 20 causes the processor 20 to compute the incline angle of the car according to techniques described herein and communicate it to the CRS 14 via the wireless communication link 16. The user interface 24 may include a display (such as a LCD or LED display), a touch interface, and/or haptic systems that are common in today's mobile devices for allowing users to view and input information.

The mobile device 12 may also include various sensors 32 that are in communication with the processor 20, including an accelerometer system 34 and a gyroscope 36. The accelerometer system 34 may include a three-axis accelerometer and the gyroscope 36 detects 3 -axis angular acceleration around the X, Y and Z axes, enabling precise calculation of its roll, pitch and yaw angles. The combined data from the accelerometer 34 and the gyroscope 36 provide detailed and precise information about the device's 6-axis movement in space. The 3 axes of the gyroscope 36 combined with the 3 axes of the accelerometer 34 enable the device 12 to recognize approximately how far, fast, and in which direction it has moved in space. The mobile device 12 may also include a camera 38, such as a CCD/CMOS camera.

As shown in Figure 1, the illustrated mobile device 12 also includes a wireless connectivity module 40, which may include any or all of a WiFi (IEEE 802.11) module 42, a Bluetooth module 44, a Near-Field Communication (NFC) module 46, and/or any other suitable wireless interface. The CRS 14 is in wireless communication with the mobile device 12 via one of these means (at least). Thus, the wireless communication link 16 may be a WiFi communication link, a Bluetooth communication link, a NFC communication link, or any other suitable wireless communication link.

For the sake of simplicity, other conventional components of the wireless device 12 are not shown in Figure 1, such as the power management system, the battery, level translators, the audio system, codecs, the cellular network interface (e.g., 3G or 4G, etc.), USB ports, etc.

A block diagram of the CRS 14 is also shown in Figure 1. For the sake of simplicity, the portion of the CRS 14 where the child sits and the restraint system are not shown in Figure 1, although it should be recognized that the CRS 14 includes such components.

Example components are shown in U.S. published Patent Application Pub. No.

2015/0091348 and U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62/103,896, both of which were incorporated herein above. As shown in Figure 1, the CRS 14 may also comprise a processor SO, a power system 52 (e.g. a battery), an actuation system 54, and a leveling system 56. Also, the CRS 14 includes wireless communication circuitry (not shown) for communicating with the mobile device 12 via the wireless communication link 14 (e.g., a wireless connectivity module like the one of the mobile computing device 12). As described herein, in various embodiments, when CRS 12 receives the angle of the vehicle from the mobile device 12 via the wireless communication link 14, the processor 50 instructs the actuation system 54 to actuate the leveling system 56 to level the CRS 14 properly, accounting for the incline of the vehicle. For example, the CRS can include an adjustable foot, which rests on a seat in a vehicle when the CRS is installed in the vehicle. The foot can be integrated into the base portion of the CRS. In various instances, the foot can be extended and retracted to adjust the angle of the CRS relative to the vehicle seat. The foot can be extended and/or retracted with a leveling system that includes a rotational adjustment mechanism, such as a motor-driven cam, and/or a linear adjustment mechanism, such as a scissor lift mechanism. The adjustment mechanism can move at least one leg extending to the adjustable foot to change the position of the adjustable foot relative to the body of the CRS base portion.

Additionally or alternatively, the leveling system can include a screw jack mechanism, a rack and pinion mechanism, a cable and pulley system, a chain, and/or a hydraulic and/or pneumatic piston. In other instances, the CRS can include a base portion that is installed in the vehicle and a seat portion for receiving an infant or child. The seat portion can be moveably supported by the base portion. To level the CRS, the body of the base portion can remain stationary relative to the vehicle seat, and the seat portion of the CRS can move relative to the base portion. For example, the base portion can include moveable mounts, such as mounting rods, which are guided by guide tracks in the base portion. The seat portion can include corresponding hooks for releasably coupling to the mounting rods, for example. Such mounting rods can be driven by a motor-driven gear train that drives a central drive screw. For example, a nut can translate along the central drive screw to move the mounting rod(s) of the base portion. The power system 52 electrically powers the various components of the CRS 14.

Also as shown in Figure 1, the illustrated mobile device 12 is in communication with a remote server system 60 that includes one or more servers. The mobile device 12 may be in communication with the remote server system 60 via a computer data network 62, such as the Internet. The mobile device 12 may connect to the computer data network 62 via a WiFi network or the mobile device's cellular network interface or any other suitable means.

As mentioned above, in various embodiments the mobile device 12 determines the vehicle's present incline and reports it wirelessly to the CRS 14 so that the CRS can be properly installed in the vehicle, accounting for the vehicle's present resting angle. Figure 2 is a diagram of the process flow of the system 10 of Figure 1 according to various

embodiments of the present invention. However, before the process of Figure 2 is executed, the CRS seat placement recommendations for the vehicle are determined. In one

embodiment, to do this, assuming it is the first time the user is using the app 30 to install the CRS in the vehicle, the user of the mobile device 12 opens the app 30, which instructs the user to take a picture of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle with the mobile device's camera 38. The app 30 includes software that, when executed by the processor 20, causes the processor 20 to parse the image of the VIN in order to detect the VIN. The mobile device 12 then transmits the VIN to the remote server system 60 via the computer data network 62. The remote server system 60 stores the CRS seat placement recommendations for various makes and models of vehicles. The remote server system 60 can include (and execute) software to decipher the vehicle's make and model from the VIN. Once the make and model is determined, the remote server system 60 can use a look-up table to look up the CRS seat placement recommendations for the particular vehicle, which are then transmitted back to the mobile device 12 via the data network 62. The mobile device 12 can store the CRS seat placement recommendations for the particular vehicle so that the remote server system 60 does not need to be queried each subsequent time that the user uses the mobile app to level the CRS 14. The VIN can also reveal more information about the vehicle than just make and model. For example, the VIN can reveal the vehicle's trim style or package, its engine type, and country of manufacture. The proper CRS installation angle may be affected by these parameters. Also, instead of taking a picture of the VIN, in various embodiments the user could enter it through the mobile device's keyboard or a voice command.

Returning to Figure 2, when the user of the app 30 initiates the process of determining the vehicle's incline angle, at step 100 the app can display on the mobile device's user interface an instruction for the user to place the illustrated mobile device 12 in a footwell of the vehicle or other location on the vehicle that is generally parallel to the surface on which the vehicle is resting. The mobile device's pitch at this location can be used as a proxy for the incline angle of the surface on which the vehicle is resting. At step 102, the mobile device's processer 20 (executing the incline angle determination app 30) waits for the accelerometers and gyroscope to steady following the user's placement of the mobile device 12 in the footwell or other suitable location (e.g., no more fluctuations above a threshold level). At step 104, the processor 20 waits for the mobile device 12 to be steady (i.e., no above-threshold fluctuations from the accelerometers and gyroscope) for a sufficiently long period of time (e.g., a number of seconds). If the mobile device 12 is not steady for the required time, the mobile device 12 continues to wait at step 102. The app might also display a message to the user stating that the mobile device should be held steady.

Once the illustrated mobile device 12 has been steady for the required time period, the process advances to step 106, where the mobile device processor 20 (executing the incline angle determination app 30) records the mobile device's rotation matrices and calculates its quaternions. In three dimensions there preferably are three rotation matrices, each one for rotation about one of the axes of a coordinate system. Quaternions provide a way to encode an axis-angle representation in four numbers, and can be used to apply the corresponding rotation to a position vector, representing a point relative to the origin in a three-dimensional coordinate space (R ³ ). Once the rotation matrices and quaternions are recorded, the app can instruct the user to rotate the mobile device's yaw angle 180 degrees so that the process (step 106) can be repeated for a different orientation of the mobile device (e.g., opposite direction).

If two valid measurements are not taken as described above at step 108, the process returns to step 102. On the other hand, once two valid measurements have been taken at step 108, the process advances to step 110, where the processor 20 compares the pitch and roll measurements for the mobile device 12 for the two different measurements. At step 112, the processor 20 determines whether the two measurements have been taken correctly based on the comparison at step 110. The second measurement provides a comparison pitch value, which should be opposite in sign and equal in magnitude to the first measurement. The purpose of this comparison is to eliminate user errors in which the mobile device is placed on an obstruction, which would throw off the ground level measurement. The second validation check is to use the roll position value, found given the same rotation matrix used for determining the pitch, to determine whether the mobile device was correctly rotated 180°. If the mobile device is on a non-zero angle and has not been rotated 180°, roll angles of non- equal magnitudes are produced by the processor 20. Preferably all of the calculations for pitch and roll use the computed quaternions (calculated from the rotation matrix) to compensate for gimbal lock.

If the measurements were not taken correctly, the process returns to step 102. On the other hand, if the measurements were take correctly, the illustrated mobile device 12 transmits the vehicle current incline angle to the CRS 14 via the wireless communication link 16 (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, or NFC) at step 114. Next, at step 116, the CRS's processor 50 determines whether the vehicle's incline angle is within a valid range for installing the CRS. For example, the CRS may have a CRS-model-specific threshold ground plane incline where, if the vehicle' s incline angle is above that threshold, the vehicle' s incline is too steep to install the CRS. If the vehicle's incline is outside the valid range, at step 118 a display device on the CRS can display a message to the user that the vehicle's angle is too steep to properly install the CRS. The CRS 14 can also transmit a message back to the mobile device 12 via the communication link 16 so that the app 30 can display a similar message for the user on the mobile device's user interface 24.

On the other hand, if the vehicle's incline angle is acceptable, at step 120, the CRS's processor SO (by executing appropriately installed software) calculates the target installation angle for the CRS, compensating for the vehicle's incline angle. For example, assume that the CRS final seat back angle should be 45°, relative to the car, rather than gravity. Most car seats use a bubble level to determine whether they have been installed at the correct angle, which requires that the vehicle be parked on level ground. Calculating the angle of ground lets the car seat compensate for any hills the vehicle may be parked on so that when the CRS seat back is leveled to an angle of 45°, that measurement is determined relative to the car rather than relative to gravity.

Next, with the target angle computed relative to the vehicle's orientation, at step 122 the leveling system 56 (upon actuation from the actuation system 54) can level the CRS to the target angle, based on commands from the processor 50. The processor 50 can continually monitor whether the target angle is reached based on feedback from the leveling system 56 at step 124, and when the target angle is reached the leveling process can be stopped and the user can effectuate the remainder of the CRS installation process at step 126.

The accelerometers in conjunction with the gyroscopes provide more stable angle measurement. Mobile devices that only have accelerometers (and no gyroscope) can still provide a suitable ground angle, but a low pass filter is preferably added in such

circumstances to help stabilize the readings (to isolate the force of gravity in an accelerometer reading).

Figures 3 through 8 show sample screen shots from the app 30 that may be displayed for the user on the user interface 24 of the illustrated mobile device 12. Figure 3 shows the screen instructing the user to capture an image of the vehicle's VIN. As shown in Figure 3, the user could also choose to enter the VIN manually using a virtual keyboard of the illustrated mobile device 12. Figure 4 is an example screen shot of the app after the remote server system 60 resolved the vehicle's make and model (in this example, a 2009 Hyundai Genesis) from the uploaded VIN image and transmitted it to the mobile device 12. Figure 5 is an example screen shot shown to the user after the user places the mobile device 12 on the vehicle' s footwell and the mobile device is waiting for the accelerometer fluctuations to subside (see step 102 of Figure 2). Figure 6 is an example screen shot where the mobile device is taking the first measurement of the vehicle's pitch and Figure 7 shows the results from the completion of the first measurement (see step 106 of Figure 2). Figure 8 shows an example screen shot following both measurements and final calculation of the vehicle's pitch (see step 114 of Figure 2).

In other embodiments, the mobile device 12 transmits the measurements from its motion sensors (e.g., its accelerometer and/or gyroscope) to the CRS 14 so that the processor 50 of the CRS 14 can compute the incline angle of the vehicle and accordingly adjust the level of the CRS. As such, in such an embodiment, the processor 50 of the CRS 14 executes a software program to compute the incline angle as described above. In yet another embodiment, the mobile device 12 transmits the measurements from its motion sensors to the remote computer system 60; the remote computer system 60 computes the incline angle and transmits it to the mobile computing device 12; and the mobile computing device 12 transmits it to the CRS 14. In yet another embodiment, the remote computer system 60 computes the incline angle and transmits it to the CRS 14 directly, bypassing the mobile computing device 12. In such an embodiment, the remote computer system 60 stores and executes a software program to compute the incline angle as described above. Also, the remote computer system 60 pre-stores an address for the CRS 14 so that the remote computer system 60 can transmit the calculated incline angle to the CRS 14.

In one general aspect, therefore, the present invention is directed to a system that comprises: a child restraint system (CRS) 14 that is configured for installation on a seat of a parked vehicle; at least one motion sensor; means for calculating an incline angle of the parked vehicle based motion data from the at least one motion sensor; and means for adjusting the CRS based on the calculated incline angle.

In various implementations, the means for adjusting the CRS comprises an automatic leveling system 56 of the CRS 14 that levels the CRS 14 based on the calculated incline angle. Also, the means for calculating the incline angle can comprises computing a quarternion. In addition, the system may further comprise a mobile computing device 12 that comprises the at least one motion sensor, which can comprises a multi-axis accelerometer 34 and/or a gyroscope 36.

The means for calculating the incline angle may comprise a processor 20 and a memory 22 of a mobile computing device 12, such as a smartphone or tablet computer or wearable computer, where the memory 22 stores a software program 30 that when executed by the processor 20 causes the processor 20 to calculate the incline angle of the vehicle based on the motion data from the at least one motion sensor. In that connection, the mobile computing device may further comprise a wireless connectivity module 40 that transmits wirelessly data indicative of the calculated incline angle to the CRS 14.

In another variation, the means for calculating the incline angle of the parked vehicle comprises a remote computer 60 that is in communication with the mobile computing device 12. As such, the mobile computing device 12 transmits the motion data to the remote computer 60; and the remote computer 60 calculates the incline angle of the vehicle and transmits data indicative of the calculated incline angle to the CRS 14 or to the mobile computing device 12 (in which case the mobile computing device 12 can transmit the incline angle to the CRS 14). In another variation, the means for calculating the incline angle of the parked vehicle based on inputs from the at least one motion sensor comprises a processor SO of the CRS 14 that is in communication with the mobile computing device 12. In such an embodiment, the mobile computing device 12 can transmit the motion data to the CRS and the processor SO of the CRS 14 calculates the incline angle of the vehicle.

In another general aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of leveling a child restraint system (CRS) in a parked vehicle. The method can comprise the step of positioning a motion sensing device (e.g., the mobile computing device 12) on a surface of the vehicle that is parallel to a surface on which the vehicle is parked and collecting motion data from at least one motion sensor 34, 36 of the motion sensing device. The method can further comprise the step of calculating, by a processor, an incline angle of the parked vehicle based the motion data from the at least one motion sensor and adjusting a position of the CRS on a seat of the vehicle based on the calculating incline angle.

According to various implementations, the step of positioning the motion sensing device comprises: positioning the motion sensor device a first time, at a first orientation, on the surface of the vehicle; waiting a sufficient period of time for the motion data to be collected for the first orientation; positioning the motion sensor device a second time, at a second orientation, on the surface of the vehicle, where the first orientation is different from the second orientation (e.g., 180-degree rotation of yaw angle; and waiting a sufficient period of time for the motion data to be collected for the second orientation. The CRS 14 may comprise an automatic leveling system 56, in which case the step of adjusting the position of the CRS 14 on the seat of the vehicle can comprise the leveling system 56 automatically adjusting the position of the CRS 14 based on the calculated incline angle. The step of automatically adjusting the position of the CRS based on the calculated incline angle can comprise: a processor SO of the CRS 14 determining whether the incline angle of the vehicle is within a suitability range for adjusting the CRS 14; upon a determination of the incline angle of the vehicle is within the suitability range for adjusting the CRS, the processor SO determining a target angle for the CRS based on the incline angle; and the leveling system adjusting to the CRS to the target angle.

In various implementations, the motion sensing device comprises a mobile computing device that comprises that at least one motion sensor and the mobile computing device is for communicating the calculated incline angle to the CRS. In another implementation, the processor that computes the incline angle comprises a processor SO of the mobile computing device The software for the computer systems and processor-based devices described herein may be stored on any type of suitable computer-readable medium or media, such as, for example, a magnetic or optical storage medium, and in any suitable type of storage device, such as, for example, a computer system (nonvolatile) memory, an optical disk, magnetic tape, HDD, or SSD. Furthermore, at least some of the processes may be programmed when the computer system is manufactured or stored on various types of computer-readable media.

Some of the figures may include a flow diagram. Although such figures may include a particular logic flow, it can be appreciated that the logic flow merely provides an exemplary implementation of the general functionality. Further, the logic flow does not necessarily have to be executed in the order presented unless otherwise indicated. In addition, the logic flow may be implemented by a hardware element, a software element executed by a computer, a firmware element embedded in hardware, or any combination thereof.

While various embodiments have been described herein, it should be apparent that various modifications, alterations, and adaptations to those embodiments might occur to persons skilled in the art with attainment of at least some of the advantages. The disclosed embodiments are therefore intended to include all such modifications, alterations, and adaptations without departing from the scope of the embodiments as set forth herein.