Method for determining recirculation mode in vehicles

1. A method for determining and communicating recirculation mode in a vehicle for improving cabin air quality in the vehicle, the method comprising acts of:

determining a number of occupants inside the vehicle;

capturing an image or video of traffic ahead of the vehicle;

analyzing the image or video of the traffic to detect a presence of vehicles;

determining traffic condition as a weighted sum of the sizes of the vehicles detected in the traffic;

acquiring a vehicle speed of the vehicle;

determining outside air acceptability state based on the traffic condition and the vehicle speed;

determining carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels in a vehicle cabin space based on the number of occupants present;

determining a final recirculation mode based on the outside air acceptability state and the CO 2 levels in the vehicle cabin space; and

communicating the final recirculation mode to a vehicle controller or at least one occupant of the occupants.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of determining the number of occupants inside the vehicle comprises of manually entering the number of occupants into a smartphone app.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of determining the number of occupants inside the vehicle comprises of using a front camera of a dashboard or windshield mounted smartphone to capture the number of occupants present in the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of determining the number of occupants inside the vehicle comprises of the vehicle detecting the number of vehicle occupants present using pressure sensors located under each seat of the vehicle and sending detected values from the pressure sensors to the vehicle controller.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle comprises of using a back camera of a smartphone mounted on a dashboard or a windshield of the vehicle that is capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle comprises of using a camera or cameras of the vehicle that is capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle comprises of using a webcam mounted on a dashboard or a windshield of the vehicle that is capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of analyzing the image or video of the traffic to detect the presence of vehicles comprises of a machine learning model employed real-time conducting an analysis of the image or the video.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of determining the traffic condition as the weighted sum of the sizes of the vehicles detected in the traffic comprises of assigning weights to the sizes of the vehicles, where the nearest vehicle is assigned the most weight and the farthest vehicle is assigned the least weight.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the act of assigning weights to the sizes of the vehicles comprises of assigning a weight of 1 to the size of the vehicle immediately ahead of the vehicle that is capturing the image or video of the traffic ahead of the vehicle.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of acquiring the vehicle speed comprises of using a smartphone app determining the vehicle speed by using a smartphone location feature.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of acquiring the vehicle speed comprises of using the vehicle controller.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of communicating the final recirculation mode to the vehicle controller or the at least one occupant comprises of communicating the final recirculation mode using a smartphone via Bluetooth.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of communicating the final recirculation mode to the at least one occupant comprises of communicating the final recirculation mode with an audio announcement of the recirculation mode using a smartphone.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of communicating the final recirculation mode to the occupant comprises of communicating the final recirculation mode by displaying the recirculation mode on a screen of the smartphone.

16. A product comprising a non-transitory medium storing a smartphone app for determining and communicating recirculation mode in a vehicle for improving cabin air quality in the vehicle, where a smartphone is mounted to a dashboard or a windshield of the vehicle, where a back camera of the smartphone faces traffic ahead of the vehicle, wherein when executed by the smartphone, the smartphone app performing acts of:

acquiring a number of occupants inside the vehicle, wherein at least one occupant of the occupants manually enters the number of occupants into the smartphone app;

capturing an image or video of traffic ahead of the vehicle using the back camera of the smartphone;

analyzing the image or video of the traffic to detect a presence of vehicles;

determining traffic condition as a weighted sum of the sizes of the vehicles detected in the traffic;

acquiring a vehicle speed of the vehicle using a smartphone location feature;

determining outside air acceptability state based on the traffic condition and the vehicle speed;

determining carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels in a vehicle cabin space based on the number of the occupants present;

determining a final recirculation mode based on the outside air acceptability state and the CO 2 levels in the vehicle cabin space; and

communicating the final recirculation mode to a vehicle controller or at least one occupant of the occupants.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the act of analyzing the image or video of the traffic to detect the presence of vehicles comprises of a machine learning model employed real-time conducting the analysis of the image or the video.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the act of determining the traffic condition as the weighted sum of the sizes of the vehicles detected in the traffic comprises of assigning a weight of 1 to the size of the vehicle immediately ahead of the vehicle that is capturing the image or video of the traffic.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the act of communicating the final recirculation mode to the vehicle controller or the at least one occupant comprises of communicating the final recirculation mode using Bluetooth communication.

20. A controller for determining and communicating recirculation mode in a vehicle for improving cabin air quality in the vehicle, the controller is configured to perform acts of:

determining a number of occupants inside the vehicle;

capturing an image or video of traffic ahead of the vehicle;

analyzing the image or video of the traffic to detect a presence of vehicles;

determining traffic condition as a weighted sum of the sizes of the vehicles detected in the traffic;

acquiring a vehicle speed of the vehicle;

determining outside air acceptability state based on the traffic condition and the vehicle speed;

determining carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels in a vehicle cabin space based on the number of occupants present;

determining a final recirculation mode based on the outside air acceptability state and the CO 2 levels in the vehicle cabin space; and

communicating the final recirculation mode to the vehicle or at least one occupant of the occupants.