Telematics-based system for protecting against vehicle battery drain
View Patent ↗Systems and methods are provided for detecting low vehicle battery charge and responding appropriately to prevent complete vehicle battery drainage. One method includes: monitoring the charge of the vehicle battery; determining, by a telematics unit, that the charge of the vehicle battery has reached a low battery charge threshold while the vehicle engine is off; and providing, by the telematics unit, a notification to a telematics subscriber that the vehicle battery has low charge. Another method includes: monitoring the charge of the vehicle battery; determining, by a telematics unit, that the charge of the vehicle battery has reached a low battery charge threshold while the vehicle engine is off; and in response to determining that the low battery charge threshold has been reached, disabling at least one load draining the vehicle battery.
1. A method for preventing discharge of a vehicle battery of a telematics-equipped vehicle, the method comprising:
monitoring the charge of the vehicle battery;
first determining, by a telematics unit while a vehicle engine is off, that charge of the vehicle battery has reached a first low battery charge threshold;
first disabling, by the telematics unit in response to the first determining, at least a first load draining the vehicle battery;
second determining, by the telematics unit while the vehicle engine is off, after the first determining, that the charge of the vehicle battery has reached a second low battery charge threshold; and
second disabling, by the telematics unit in response to the second determining, at least a second load draining the vehicle battery wherein the first load is of lower priority than the second load.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the telematics unit in response to the first determining, a notification that the vehicle battery has low charge;
wherein the notification is issued by the telematics unit via a cellular network to a telematics subscriber.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the telematics unit in response to the first determining, a notification that the vehicle battery has low charge;
wherein the notification is presented to a vehicle occupant via a human-machine interface (HMI) of the telematics-equipped vehicle.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, in response to the first determining or the second determining, an option to a telematics subscriber to turn on the vehicle engine;
receiving a direction from the telematics subscriber to turn on the vehicle engine; and
turning the vehicle engine on.
5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for preventing discharge of a vehicle battery of a telematics-equipped vehicle, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, facilitate: monitoring the charge of the vehicle battery;
first determining, while a vehicle engine is off, that charge of the vehicle battery has reached a first low battery charge threshold;
first disabling, in response to the first determining, at least a first load draining the vehicle battery;
second determining, while the vehicle engine is off, after the first determining, that the charge of the vehicle battery has reached a second low batter,/charge threshold; and
second disabling, in response to the second determining, at least a second load draining the vehicle batter;
wherein the first load is of lower priority than the second load.
6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, further facilitate:
providing, in response to the first determining, a notification that the vehicle battery has low charge;
wherein the notification is issued by a telematics unit of the telematics-equipped vehicle provided via a cellular network to a telematics subscriber.
7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, further facilitate:
providing, in response to the first determining, a notification to that the vehicle battery has low charge;
wherein the notification is presented to a vehicle occupant via a human- machine interface (HMI) of the telematics-equipped vehicle.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, further facilitate:
providing, in response to the first determining or the second determining, an option to the-a telematics subscriber to turn on the vehicle engine;
receiving a direction from the telematics subscriber to turn on the vehicle engine; and
turning the vehicle engine on.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
third determining, by the telematics unit after the second determining, that the vehicle engine is turned on; and
enabling, by the telematics unit in response to the third determining, both the first load and the second load.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first load includes at least one of the group consisting of: an infotainment service an in-vehicle display, and a navigation unit; and
wherein the second load includes an emergency-related service.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the steps further comprise:
third determining, after the second determining, that the vehicle engine is turned on; and
enabling, in response to the third determining, both the first load and the second load.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the first load includes at least one of the group consisting of: an infotainment service an in-vehicle display, and a navigation unit; and
wherein the at least one relatively higher priority load includes an emergency-related service.