VEHICLE ACTION ESCALATION STRATEGY

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to vehicles with systems to protect canine occupants and, more specifically, a passive integrated canine safety system with a vehicle escalation strategy.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Police and other law enforcement entities often use dogs ("K-9 units") in day-to-day operation. A K-9 unit may commonly be used as an attack dog, for detection (such as of explosives, drugs, or other contraband), and for tracking (such as of missing people or escaped prisoners). Even small municipal police departments often have at least one K-9 unit. Due to the prevalence of K-9 units in law enforcement, police departments often use special vehicles for transporting dogs.

[0003] A normal police car or SUV is generally modified from the vehicle's base model in order to render the vehicle more suitable for law enforcement use. For example, a police vehicle may have an upgraded engine and be fitted with sirens, reinforced bumpers, and a secure area to hold suspects, etc. K-9 unit vehicles are further modified to hold a dog, generally in the back of the vehicle.

SUMMARY

[0004] The appended claims define this application. The present disclosure summarizes aspects of the embodiments and should not be used to limit the claims. Other implementations are contemplated in accordance with the techniques described herein, as will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description, and these implementations are intended to be within the scope of this application.

[0005] A vehicle includes a plurality of sensors that monitor the environmental conditions of the vehicle and the status of a dog in the vehicle. The vehicle includes a communication interface for communicating with a user. The vehicle also includes a processor and memory with a canine monitor. The canine monitor performs an escalation sequence based on the environmental conditions of the vehicle and the status of the dog.

[0006] A method includes determining whether there is a dog in the vehicle; if there is a dog in the vehicle, monitoring the vehicle for a failure condition; and, if there is a failure condition, entering an escalation sequence.

[0007] Another method includes determining whether there is a dog in the vehicle; if there is a dog in the vehicle, monitoring the vehicle for a failure condition; if there is a failure condition, entering the first level of an escalation sequence; if the failure condition is not resolved after the first level, entering the second level of the escalation sequence; and, if the failure condition is not resolved after the second level, entering the third level of the escalation sequence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to embodiments shown in the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale and related elements may be omitted, or in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated, so as to emphasize and clearly illustrate the novel features described herein. In addition, system components can be variously arranged, as known in the art. Further, in the

1 drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

[0009] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a vehicle 100 that includes an example monitoring and escalation system.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of electronic components 200 of the vehicle of FIG. 1.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method 300 to implement the escalation sequence.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0012] While the invention may be embodied in various forms, there are shown in the drawings, and will hereinafter be described, some exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.

[0013] Particularly in the context of law enforcement, dogs often occupy vehicles for extended periods of time. Especially when left unattended, the temperature of the vehicle may become extreme creating an inhospitable environment which may lead the dog to experience various ailments such as heat exhaustion. These temperature extremes may be due to not running systems to keep the temperature safe for the animal, such as heating or air conditioning, when leaving the vehicle unattended or due to failure of these systems (e.g. the air conditioning fails because the vehicle runs out of fuel).

[0014] An example system disclosed in more detail below provides a passive monitoring and escalation system. The system being passive means that no user action beyond otherwise normal use of the vehicle is required for the system to function. Since the system is passive, the risk that would otherwise be posed by the user forgetting to activate the system upon exiting the vehicle is

2 reduced. The system uses a variety of sensors to monitor a dog and vehicle statuses. For example, one or more sensors may be used to determine the presence of a dog in the vehicle and other sensors may be used to monitor the temperature of the vehicle, the status of the vehicle systems, and biometric information of the dog. Upon detecting an unsuitable condition (e.g. a temperature greater than 40 degrees Celsius) the system enters the first escalation level and communicates an alert with a user such as a police officer or dispatch. This communication may be, for example, via call, text, or a telematics interface. The system waits for external input (e.g. from the officer or dispatch) to attempt to resolve the situation. For example, the user may give a command to remotely re-activate the vehicle's air conditioning. In some examples, the system also activates a vent fan to attempt to resolve the situation. If the system does not receive an external input or the condition is not resolved, the system enters the second escalation level after a threshold time period (e.g. one minute). At the second escalation level, the system restarts the vehicle's engine. In some examples, if the first engine restart fails to resolve the condition, such as by reactivating the vehicle's climate control, the system may restart the engine additional times. For example, the system may restart the engine a second time automatically and a third time given user acknowledgement. If the condition is not resolved by engine restarts, the system enters the third escalation level. This level of escalation includes outgoing communication to the user and a vehicle action. For example, at the third escalation level the vehicle may alert the user and drop the windows to give the dog means to escape.

[0015] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a vehicle 100 that includes an example monitoring and escalation system. The vehicle 100 may be a standard gasoline powered vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and/ or any other mobility implement type of vehicle. The vehicle 100 includes parts related to mobility, such as a powertrain with an engine, a transmission, a

3 suspension, a driveshaft, and/or wheels, etc. The vehicle 100 may be non- autonomous, semi-autonomous (e.g., some routine motive functions controlled by the vehicle 100), or autonomous (e.g., motive functions are controlled by the vehicle 100 without direct driver input). In the illustrated example the vehicle 100 includes: a driver area 102; a dog compartment 106; sensors 111; an onboard communications platform 118; a body control module 124; and a canine monitor 126.

[0016] The driver area 102 includes the forward cabin area of the vehicle 100 (e.g. the driver's seat, the passenger's seat, etc.). The driver area 102 includes an infotainment head unit 104. The infotainment head unit 104 provides an interface between the vehicle 100 and a user (e.g. a police officer). The infotainment head unit 104 includes digital and/or analog interfaces (e.g., input devices and output devices) to receive input from the user(s) and display information. The input devices may include, for example, a control knob, an instrument panel, a digital camera for image capture and/or visual command recognition, a touch screen, an audio input device (e.g., cabin microphone), buttons, or a touchpad. The output devices may include instrument cluster outputs (e.g., dials, lighting devices), actuators, a heads-up display, a center console display (e.g., a liquid crystal display ("LCD"), an organic light emitting diode ("OLED") display, a flat panel display, a solid state display, etc.), and/or speakers. In the illustrated example, the infotainment head unit 104 includes hardware (e.g., a processor or controller, memory, storage, etc.) and software (e.g., an operating system, etc.) for an infotainment system (such as SYNC® and MyFord Touch® by Ford®, Entune® by Toyota®, IntelliLink® by GMC®, etc.). Additionally, the infotainment head unit 104 displays the infotainment system on, for example, the center console display. In some examples, the infotainment head unit 104 is used to adjust settings of the passive integrated canine protection system. In some examples, settings include temperature

4 thresholds, contact information, and/or engine restart thresholds, etc.

[0017] The dog compartment 106 is an area of the vehicle 100 configured to hold a dog 107. In the illustrated example, the dog compartment 106 is located in the rear of the vehicle 100 and separated from the driver area 102. However, in some examples, the dog compartment 106 and the driver area 102 are not separated by a physical barrier. The dog compartment 106 includes temperature sensors 108 for measuring the temperature of the dog compartment 106 and a speaker 110. In some examples, multiple temperature sensors 108 are used for redundancy and/ or to monitor the temperature of different areas of the dog compartment 106. The speaker 110 may be used, for example, to issue spoken commands to the dog 107. In some examples, the vehicle's 100 climate control system is routed into the dog compartment 106 via a vent.

[0018] The sensors 111 may be arranged in and around the vehicle 100 in any suitable fashion. The sensors 111 may be mounted to measure properties around the exterior of the vehicle 100. Additionally, some sensors 111 may be mounted inside the cabin of the vehicle 100 or in the body of the vehicle 100 (such as, the engine compartment, the wheel wells, etc.) to measure properties in the interior of the vehicle 100. For example, such sensors 111 may include accelero meters, odometers, tachometers, pitch and yaw sensors, wheel speed sensors, microphones, tire pressure sensors, and biometric sensors, etc. In the illustrated example, the sensors 111 include a battery sensor 112, a fuel sensor 114, and a sun load sensor 116. The battery sensor 112 monitors battery status, such as charge level, to determine the time that the vehicle's 100 electrical systems can operate before running out of power. The fuel sensor 114 monitors fuel level to determine the time that the vehicle's 100 engine 101 can operate before running out of fuel. The sun load sensor 116 monitors the vehicle's 100 exposure to the sun to determine the level of cooling needed and to predict temperature increases in the cabin (e.g. the driver area 102 and the dog

5 compartment 106) of the vehicle 100.

[0019] The on-board communications platform 118 includes wired or wireless network interfaces to enable communication with external networks. The on-board communications platform 118 also includes hardware (e.g., processors, memory, storage, antenna, etc.) and software to control the wired or wireless network interfaces. In the illustrated example, the on-board communications platform 118 includes a wide-area communication interface 120 and a vehicle-area communication interface 122. The wide-area communication interface may implement wide-area data communication protocols such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m), a local area wireless network (including IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac or others), and/or Wireless Gigabit (IEEE 802. Had), etc. The vehicle-area communication interface 122 may implement local or personal-area communication protocols such as a local area wireless network (including IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac or others), Bluetooth® (as defined by the Bluetooth specification and subsequent revisions maintained by the Bluetooth® Special Interest Group), and/or ZigBEE® (IEEE 802.15.4), etc. In such examples, the vehicle 100 may communicate with the external network(s) via the communications platform 118. The external network(s) may be a public network, such as the Internet; a private network, such as an intranet; or combinations thereof, and may use a variety of networking protocols now available or later developed including, but not limited to, TCP/IP-based networking protocols.

[0020] In the illustrated example the wide-area communication interface 120 and the vehicle-area communication interface 122 are shown separately, but they could also be contained in a single device. The wide-area communication interface 120 allows the vehicle to communicate with a

6 potentially distant user, for example via telephone or text. In the illustrated example, users include a police officer 121 associated with the vehicle and the police dispatch communication system 123. The vehicle-area communication interface 122 provides for short-range communication in and about the vehicle 100.

[0021] In the illustrated example, the vehicle-area communication interface 122 communicates with the dog's 107 collar 125 to collect status information of the dog 107. The collar 125 includes, for example, proximity sensors to determine the presence of the dog 107 in the vehicle 100. In some examples, the collar 125 additionally includes biometric sensors to measure the health of the dog 107. For example, the proximity sensor may use a device such as an radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to detect when the dog 107 enters and exits the vehicle 100. The biometric sensors may measure vital signs of the dog 107 such as respiration, heart rate, and/or body temperature.

[0022] The body control module 124 controls various subsystems of the vehicle 100. For example, the body control module 124 may control power windows 132, lamps 134, the horn 136, a vent fan 137, etc. The body control module 124 includes circuits to, for example, drive relays (e.g., to control wiper fluid, etc.), drive brushed direct current (DC) motors (e.g., to control power seats, power locks, power windows, wipers, etc.), drive stepper motors, and/ or drive LEDs, etc. In the illustrated example, the body control module 124 includes a canine monitor 126. The canine monitor 126 is in communication with the speaker 110 and vehicle components 130, in the illustrated example including windows 132, lamps 134, the horn 136, and the vent fan 137. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 is in communication with the wide- area communication interface 120, the vehicle-area communication interface 122, and the temperature sensors 108 in order to monitor the status of the dog 107 and the temperature of the dog compartment 106. In some examples, the

7 canine monitor 126 is in communication with various other sensors 111 relevant to maintaining a tolerable condition for the dog 107 in the vehicle 100. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 is in communication with the sun load sensor 116 to determine when the vehicle 100 is in direct sunlight and to project the future temperature. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 is also in communication with the fuel sensor 114 and battery sensor 112 to determine whether the vehicle 100 will be able to continue to power its climate control. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 is further in communication with a powertrain control module (PCM) 103, which controls the engine 101.

[0023] When the canine monitor 126 detects an unsafe condition it enters an escalation sequence. The escalation sequence is a series of steps taken to resolve the unsafe condition. In some examples, an unsafe condition is an inhospitable temperature in the dog compartment (e.g. greater than 40 or less than 0 degrees Celsius). In further examples, an unsafe condition is a biometric reading outside of acceptable parameters, thus indicating a health problem with the dog 107. Example biometric readings outside of normal parameters may include: a body temperature reading greater or less than (e.g. by 1 degree Celsius) the dog's 107 normal body temperature, a heart rate greater or less than (e.g. by 20 beats per minute) the dog's 107 resting heart rate, and/or a respiration rate that indicates physical pain, etc.

[0024] The example escalation sequence includes three escalation levels. At the first level the canine monitor 126 sends an alert soliciting action from the user 121. At the second level the canine monitor 126 restarts the engine 101. At the third level the canine monitor 126 facilitates the dog 107 escaping the vehicle 100. At the first escalation level the canine monitor 126 sends an alert (e.g. a text message) to the user 121 via the wide-area communication interface 120. The user 121 then sends a message that instructs the body control module

8 124 to take remedial action (e.g. activating the air conditioning, slightly opening the window(s) 132, activating the vent fan 137, etc.). In some examples, the canine monitor attempts to resolve the situation without user input, such as by activating the vent fan 137.

[0025] When (a) the user 121 does not respond to the alert by a threshold period of time (e.g. one minute) or (b) the user's 121 action does not resolve the dangerous condition, then the canine monitor 126 enters the second escalation level. At the second escalation level the canine monitor 126 restarts the engine 101. Restarting the engine 101 may, for example, restore power to the air conditioning. In some examples, the second stage of the escalation sequence includes again sending an alert to the user 121. In some examples, the canine monitor 126 restarts the engine 101 multiple times. This may be necessary if the engine 101 has turned off. This may occur up to some threshold number of times. In further examples, the canine monitor 126 might request permission from the user 121 to restart the engine 101 additional times until a second threshold is reached.

[0026] If, after restarting the engine 101 the number of times set by the threshold, the dangerous condition is not resolved, then the canine monitor 126 enters the third escalation level. At the third escalation level the canine monitor 126 takes a vehicle action. For example, the vehicle action may be rolling down the windows 132 to facilitate the dog 107 escaping the vehicle 100. In some examples, the third escalation level includes sending an alert to the user 121 and/ or dispatch 123. In the illustrated example, the vehicle actions include: (a) the canine monitor 126 dropping the windows 132 in the dog compartment 106 to facilitate the dog 107 escaping; (b) the canine monitor 126 playing a command over the speaker 110 instructing the dog 107 to leave the vehicle 100; and/ or (c) the canine monitor 126 visually and audibly indicating a problem by flashing the lamps 134 and sounding the horn 136.

9 [0027] In some examples, however, the escalation sequence may not reach the third level, even where it otherwise would, because the dog 107 escaping the vehicle 100 would not resolve the situation. For example, in a situation where the inside of the dog compartment 106 is dangerously cold, but the temperature outside is even lower, the escalation sequence may not reach the third level even if it has passed the second level. In such a situation, the canine monitor 126 may contact the user 121 and/or dispatch 123.

[0028] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of electronic components 200 of the vehicle of FIG. 1. The example electronic components include a vehicle data bus 202, temperature sensors 108, a speaker 110, other sensors 111, an on-board communications platform 118, a body control module 124, a dog collar 125, a user mobile device 204, and a dispatch communication system 206.

[0029] The vehicle data bus 202 communicatively couples the body control module 124, the powertrain control module 103, the infotainment head unit 104, the temperature sensors 108, the other sensors 111, and the on-board communications platform 118. In some examples, the vehicle data bus 202 includes one or more data buses. The vehicle data bus 202 may be implemented in accordance with a controller area network (CAN) bus protocol as defined by International Standards Organization (ISO) 11898-1, a Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) bus protocol, a CAN flexible data (CAN-FD) bus protocol (ISO 11898-7) and/a K-line bus protocol (ISO 9141 and ISO 14230-1), and/or an Ethernet™ bus protocol IEEE 802.3 (2002 onwards), etc.

[0030] In the illustrated example, the collar 125 includes a collar communication interface 207, a biometric sensor 208, and a proximity sensor 210. The collar communication interface 207 is in communication with the vehicle-area communication interface 122 to send data from the biometric sensor 208 and proximity sensor 210 to the canine monitor 126.

[0031] The body control module 124 includes a processor or

10 controller 214 and memory 216. In the illustrated example, the body control module 124 is structured to include the canine monitor 126. Alternatively, in some examples, the canine monitor 126 may be incorporated into another electronic control unit (ECU) with its own processor 214 and memory 216. The processor or controller 214 may be any suitable processing device or set of processing devices such as, but not limited to: a microprocessor, a microcontroller-based platform, a suitable integrated circuit, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The memory 216 may be volatile memory (e.g., RAM, which can include non-volatile RAM, magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, and any other suitable forms); non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASH memory, EPROMs, EEPROMs, memristor-based non-volatile solid- state memory, etc.), unalterable memory (e.g., EPROMs), read-only memory, and/or high-capacity storage devices (e.g., hard drives, solid state drives, etc). In some examples, the memory 216 includes multiple kinds of memory, particularly volatile memory and non-volatile memory.

[0032] The memory 216 is computer readable media on which one or more sets of instructions, such as the software for operating the methods of the present disclosure can be embedded. The instructions may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions may reside completely, or at least partially, within any one or more of the memory 216, the computer readable medium, and/or within the processor 214 during execution of the instructions.

[0033] The terms "non-transitory computer-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" should be understood to include a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The terms "non-transitory computer-readable medium" and "computer-readable

11 medium" also include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein. As used herein, the term "computer readable medium" is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals.

[0034] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method 300 to implement the escalation sequence. Initially, at block 302, the canine monitor 126 scans for a signal indicating the presence of a dog 107 in the vehicle 100. In the illustrated example, the signal comes from the collar's 125 proximity sensor 206 via the vehicle-area communication interface 122.

[0035] At block 304, the canine monitor 126 determines whether to continue scanning or to begin monitoring. If the canine monitor 126 has not received a signal indicating the presence of a dog 107 in the vehicle 100, the method 300 returns to block 302. If the canine monitor has received a signal indicating the presence of a dog 107 in the vehicle 100, the method 300 proceeds to block 306.

[0036] At block 306, the canine monitor 126 monitors vehicle 100 and dog 107 conditions. In the illustrated example, the conditions include the temperature of the dog compartment 106 and biometric information of the dog 107. The temperature of the dog compartment 106 is measured with the temperature sensors 108. The biometric information of the dog 107 is measured via the biometric sensor 208 of the collar 125 and communicated via the communication interface 207 of the collar 125 and the vehicle-area communication interface 122.

[0037] At block 308, the canine monitor 126 determines whether to continue monitoring or to enter the escalation sequence. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 enters the escalation sequence if it detects a

12 failure condition. A failure condition includes temperature or biometric readings outside of acceptable parameters. If the canine monitor 126 has not detected a failure condition, then the method 300 returns to block 306. If the canine monitor 126 has detected a failure condition, then the method 300 proceeds to block 310.

[0038] At block 310, the method 300 enters the first escalation level. At the first escalation level, the canine monitor 126 sends an alert to the user 121.

[0039] At block 312, the canine monitor 126 determines whether the condition has been resolved. In the illustrated example, the condition is resolved when the temperature in the dog compartment 106 and the dog's 107 biometric information are within acceptable parameters. If the condition has been resolved, the method 300 returns to block 304. If the condition has not been resolved, the method 300 proceeds to block 314.

[0040] At block 314 the canine monitor 126 determines whether to enter the second escalation level. If the engine restart counter has not reached a second threshold, then the method 300 proceeds to block 316. If the engine restart counter has reached the second threshold, then the method 300 proceeds to block 324.

[0041] At block 316 the canine monitor 126 enters the second escalation level and determines whether to restart the engine 101. If the engine restart counter has reached a first threshold, then the method 300 proceeds to block 320. If the engine restart counter has not reached first threshold, then the method 300 proceeds to block 318.

[0042] At block 318 the canine monitor 126 restarts the engine 101 and the method 300 returns to block 312.

[0043] At block 320 the canine monitor 126 requests acknowledgment from a user 121 to restart the engine 101 until the second threshold is reached.

13 [0044] At blocks 322 and 324 the canine monitor 126 determines whether to enter the third escalation level. In the illustrated example, the canine monitor 126 enters the third escalation level if (a) the second threshold for engine 101 restarts has been reached and the failure condition is not resolved or (b) the first threshold for engine 101 has been reached and no user 121 acknowledgment for more restarts is received. At block 322, if the canine monitor 126 receives user 121 acknowledgment to restart the engine 101 until the second threshold is reached, then the method 300 proceeds to step 318. If the canine monitor 126 does not receive user 121 acknowledgment to restart the engine 101 until the second threshold is reached, then the method 300 proceeds to block 326. At block 324, if the failure condition has been resolved, then the method 300 returns to block 304. If the failure condition has not been resolved, then the method 300 proceeds to block 326.

[0045] At block 326 the canine monitor 126 enters the third escalation level. At the third escalation level, the canine monitor 126 takes a vehicle action to facilitate the dog 107 escaping the vehicle 100. In the illustrated example, the vehicle action includes dropping the windows 132 in the dog compartment 106 and using the speaker 110 to issue a command for the dog 107 to exit the vehicle 100.

[0046] In this application, the use of the disjunctive is intended to include the conjunctive. The use of definite or indefinite articles is not intended to indicate cardinality. In particular, a reference to "the" object or "a" and "an" object is intended to denote also one of a possible plurality of such objects. Further, the conjunction "or" may be used to convey features that are simultaneously present instead of mutually exclusive alternatives. In other words, the conjunction "or" should be understood to include "and/or". The terms "includes," "including," and "include" are inclusive and have the same scope as "comprises," "comprising," and "comprise" respectively.

14 [0047] The above-described embodiments, and particularly any "preferred" embodiments, are possible examples of implementations and merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without substantially departing from the spirit and principles of the techniques described herein. All modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

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