Garage door open alert
AssigneeContinental Automotive Systems, Inc.
InventorsPeter Saladin, Michael Daleki, Thomas Brey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A garage door can be detected as being open by sensing various physical conditions the existence of which indicate the garage door as being open. When a door is determined to be open, a notification message is wirelessly transmitted to a predetermined entity or person notifying them that the door is open. Corrective action can then be taken to close the door to keep the vehicle and contents of the garage secure.
Claims12
An apparatus for determining whether a vehicle is in a garage and determining whether an overhead garage door is open or closed, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- a first parking sensor coupled to the processor, configured to determine a distance between a first end of the vehicle and a first object;
- a second parking sensor coupled to the processor, configured to determine a distance between a second end of the vehicle and a second object;
- a wireless transmitter coupled to the processor, configured to wirelessly transmit a message responsive to a signal received from the processor;
- a non-transitory memory device coupled to the processor and storing program instructions for the processor, which when executed cause the processor to:
- determine a first distance between a first end of the vehicle and a garage wall when the vehicle is parked in the garage;
- determine a second distance between a second end of the vehicle and the garage door when the overhead garage door is known to be closed;
- at a first pre-determined time after determining the second distance, determine a third distance between the first end of the vehicle and the garage wall;
- after determining the third distance, determining a fourth distance between the second end of the vehicle and the garage door when the door is known to be closed
- if the third distance is substantially equal to the first distance and if the fourth distance is substantially greater than the second distance, said program instructions cause the processor to control the wireless transmitter to transmit a garage door open message.
A method of detecting an overhead garage door being open, the method comprising:
- determining whether a vehicle is inside a garage having an overhead garage door using front and rear parking sensors attached to the vehicle and a wheel sensor;
- after the vehicle is determined to be inside the garage, detecting whether the garage door is open or closed using at least one of the front and rear parking sensors;
- wirelessly transmitting an alert message, indicating that the garage door is open, responsive to detecting the garage door to be open.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.