Ford smells

Thought I would break these patents out into their own thread for discussion.

@lukewarmtin recently shared an article in the brainchip discussion thread:


https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32010208/ford-smell-detecting-car-patent/

Ford Patents App to Check Ride-Share Cars for Bad Smells before You Get In

How exactly does Ford intend to detect these smells? The patent doesn't go into detail, only describing a multitude of different sensors including a spectrometer, a chromatograph, an optical sensor, and a metal-oxide semiconductor sensor.

---

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US73215293

US20110089255 - IN-VEHICLE SMELL NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

Abstract
An in-vehicle smell notification system including a vehicle operating computer. A detector is operably connected with the vehicle operating computer and adapted to identify multiple external stimuli. A scent emitter includes multiple scent reservoirs. A controller is operably connected with the detector and the scent emitter and adapted to identify each of the multiple external stimuli and release a predetermined scent from the scent emitter upon identification of a predetermined stimulus.

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US292563838

US20200111189 - TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM USING ODOR PREFERENCES

Abstract
A system includes a computer remote from a vehicle. The computer is programmed to store a label of an odor associated with a user, instruct the vehicle to pick up the user, receive data from an environmental sensor in the vehicle, and output a message upon determining that the data indicate that a level of the odor exceeds a threshold.

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2019074526

WO2019074526 - IDENTIFYING AND MITIGATING VEHICLE ODORS

Abstract
A method for mitigating odor includes detecting a known smell using on one or more odor sensors in a vehicle. The method includes determining whether the known smell is agreeable to one or more passengers of the vehicle. The method includes mitigating the known smell using one or more odor control devices if the known smell is not agreeable to the one or more passengers of the vehicle.

---

As you can read in the last patent related to 'IDENTIFYING AND MITIGATING VEHICLE ODORS', it specifically mentions neural processing units:

[0037] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating some components of an odor mitigation system 102, according to one embodiment. The odor mitigation system 102 includes one or more processors 402, an odor detection component 404, an agreeableness component 406, and a mitigation component 408. The components 402-408 are given by way of illustration only and may not all be included in all embodiments. In fact, some embodiments may include only one or any combination of two or more of the components 402-408. For example, some of the components 402-408 may be located outside or separate from the odor mitigation system 102. Furthermore, the components 402-408 may include hardware, processors, computer readable instructions, or a combination of both to perform the functionality and provide the structures discussed herein.[0038] The processors 402 may include any type of processors or processing circuits. In one embodiment, the processors 402 may include a conventional desktop, laptop, or server central processing unit (CPU). In one embodiment, the processors 402 may include multiple parallel processors such as those found in a graphics processing unit (GPU), accelerated processing unit (APU), or neural processing unit ( PU). Parallel processing may be helpful for performing the computations required by a neural network.