Patent ID: 11897313
Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 4:
5. A method for defogging a window of a vehicle, comprising:
during or after a cold engine lock-out phase of operation of a vehicle heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, by a processor comprised in a vehicle climate control module (CCM) receiving a first user input provided by actuating one or more of a windshield wiper system, a heated windshield system, and a heated backlight system;
by the processor or another processor, interpreting the first user input as an indicator of imminent or actual window fogging and increasing an HVAC blower speed to increase airflow and directing or redirecting the airflow against one or more vehicle windows based on the indicator of imminent or actual window fogging;
during a subsequent automatic HVAC mode determination phase, by the processor or the another processor, receiving one or more sensor inputs and automatically selecting an HVAC operating mode according to a predetermined required passenger comfort level from one of an outside air mode, an air-conditioning mode, and a defrost mode;
by the processor or the another processor, receiving a second user input provided by actuating one or more of the windshield wiper system, the heated windshield system, and the heated backlight system;
by the processor or the another processor, interpreting the second user input as an indicator of imminent or actual window fogging and in response increasing the HVAC blower speed to increase airflow provided by the automatically selected HVAC operating mode and directing or redirecting the airflow against the one or more vehicle windows;
by the processor or the different processor, redetermining the imminent risk or actual occurrence or window fogging and further transitioning the HVAC operating mode sequentially through the outside air mode, the air-conditioning mode, and the defrost mode according to the redetermined risk of window fogging; and
providing intervening steps of, by the processor of the different processor according to the redetermined imminent risk or actual occurrence of window fogging, further increasing the HVAC blower speed to increase airflow and directing or redirecting the airflow against the one or more vehicle windows.