The present disclosure provides a method including determining an operational mode of a vehicle based on data accumulated from at least one vehicle information system associated with the vehicle; selecting one of a plurality of power consumption profiles for the vehicle based on the determined operational mode; and applying the selected one of the power consumption profiles to the vehicle.

Methods and apparatus for vehicle climate control using distributed sensors are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving data from sensors distributed within a vehicle at a first controller, processing the data at the first controller to identify an event associated with the interior of the vehicle and sending an instruction based on the event from the first controller to a second controller of the vehicle to affect an operation of a climate control system of the vehicle.

Systems and methods are disclosed for supporting and executing automated control of climate comfort settings based on user classification within a group identity database. Methods of generating and employing the group identity database are also disclosed.

The present disclosure provides a method including determining an operational mode of a vehicle based on data accumulated from at least one vehicle information system associated with the vehicle; selecting one of a plurality of power consumption profiles for the vehicle based on the determined operational mode; and applying the selected one of the power consumption profiles to the vehicle.

A system, for controlling socially one or more climate-affecting vehicle devices, such as for use with an autonomous vehicle. The system includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage component comprising an interface module that, when executed by a hardware-based processing unit, obtains a ride-sharer passenger profile for each of multiple passengers of an autonomous vehicle. The hardware-based processing unit is part of the system in various embodiments. The storage component includes a social vehicle-climate-manager module that, when executed by the hardware-based processing unit, determines group climate parameters for the autonomous vehicle based on the ride-sharer profiles. And the storage component includes an output module that, when executed by the hardware-based processing unit, controls the autonomous-vehicle climate-affecting devices based on the group climate parameters determined.

A programmable controller stores operational data for a number of embedded functions in multiple vehicles from a known manufacturer and is programmable to operation in a selected vehicle among the multiple vehicles.

An improved climate control, safety, and communications system and method for a vehicle having a detecting means for detecting and transmitting the climate conditions inside a vehicle's passenger cabin as temperature data, and for detecting and transmitting the presence of an occupant inside the vehicle as occupancy data; a data collecting means for monitoring and evaluating the temperature data against a temperature threshold and the occupancy data against an occupant threshold, for notifying an operator of the temperature data and the occupancy data, and for sending a command to a controlling means to adjust the climate conditions, a controlling means for selectively activating a cooling mechanism or a heating mechanism to adjust the temperature inside the vehicle; and a charging means for charging the system when the vehicle engine is running and for powering the system when the engine is off. The system further includes a means for warming the undercarriage of the vehicle.

Methods, and systems including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for automated climate control. In one aspect, a monitoring system includes an indoor climate control device that is configured to adjust an indoor climate setting of a property, a sensor that is located at the property and configured to generate sensor data that reflects an attribute of the property, and a monitor control unit. The monitor control unit is configured to receive the sensor data, and receive, from an onboard control unit for a first vehicle associated with the property, data that reflects a status of the first vehicle. Based on the data that reflects the status of the first vehicle and the sensor data, the monitor control unit determines the indoor climate setting for the indoor climate control device, and provides instructions to adjust the indoor climate control device to the indoor climate setting.

A glass panel apparatus is provided. The glass panel apparatus includes an outer glass pane comprising a low-e coating on a side facing the inner glass pane, an inner glass pane comprising a low-e coating on a side facing the outer glass pane, a gap between the inner glass pane and the outer glass pane, the gap comprising a vacuum, and a heating element configured to heat the inner glass pane.

A method of controlling an automotive air conditioning system includes: a mode checking step of checking whether the air conditioning system is in an auto-mode; an operation recognizing step of recognizing whether the air conditioning system is manually operated in the auto-mode; and a learning step of setting and storing at least one manual operation value, when the air conditioning system is manually operated, and then operating the air conditioning system in accordance with the at least one stored manual operation value in a next auto-mode.