US 12,222,432 B2
Method and apparatus for vehicle occupant location detection
Mark A. Cuddihy, New Boston, MI (US); Eric L. Reed, Livonia, MI (US); Manoharprasad K Rao, Novi, MI (US); and Thomas Lee Miller, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Oct. 3, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/479,925.
Application 17/851,154 is a division of application No. 15/253,216, filed on Aug. 31, 2016, granted, now 11,391,810, issued on Jul. 19, 2022.
Application 18/479,925 is a continuation of application No. 17/851,154, filed on Jun. 28, 2022, granted, now 11,815,614.
Prior Publication US 2024/0027568 A1, Jan. 25, 2024
Int. Cl. G01S 5/02 (2010.01); G01S 5/14 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 5/02525 (2020.05) [G01S 5/0226 (2013.01); G01S 5/0252 (2013.01); G01S 5/0257 (2013.01); G01S 5/0284 (2013.01); G01S 5/14 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving vehicle GPS coordinates, at a mobile device, indicating a location of a vehicle;
determining that mobile GPS coordinates of the mobile device correlate to the vehicle GPS coordinates, indicating that the mobile device is located within the vehicle;
responsive to the mobile device being located within the vehicle, detecting signals from a plurality of vehicle-deployed antennas at a mobile device processor;
determining, at the mobile device processor, respective signal strengths for each detected signal;
determining a distance from each antenna, based on the signal strength of the signal received from each respective antenna;
determining a location of the mobile device, at the mobile device processor, within a vehicle cabin, based on the distance from each antenna;
transmitting the device location from a mobile device including the processor to a vehicle computing system; and
transmitting a predetermined user identity along with the device location.