Vehicle communication system for vehicle boarding area

• US 10,089,872 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2017
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Beaurepaire, Jerome
• Primary Examiner(s): Alizada, Omeed
• Application Number:
  US15/592,442
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/00 Estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters for road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub unit, e.g. by using mathematical models
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

Embodiments include apparatus and methods for defining vehicle boarding areas. Data indicative of boarding a first vehicle is received. A boarding area requirement associated with the first vehicle is calculated. A boarding area message in response to the boarding area requirement is generated. The boarding area message for the boarding area of the first vehicle is provided to a second vehicle or to a user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving data indicative of boarding a first vehicle;

calculating, by a processor, a boarding area requirement associated with the first vehicle, the boarding area requirement indicative of a boarding area adjacent to the first vehicle for boarding the first vehicle, wherein the boarding area requirement includes one or more dimensions for the boarding area and the one or more dimensions for the boarding area include a spatial boundary spaced from a perimeter of the first vehicle or another portion of the first vehicle;

generating, by the processor, a boarding area message in response to the boarding area requirement; and

providing the boarding area message for the boarding area of the first vehicle to a second vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the boarding area requirement includes a time period for boarding the first vehicle, the boarding area message including the time period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the time period is a time period that the boarding area is applied.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the boarding area requirement includes first data for at least one door and second data for at least one cargo area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of boarding includes location tracking of a user for the first vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of boarding includes sensor data collected by one or more sensors associated with the first vehicle or the second vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of boarding is collected by a mobile device associated with one or more user activities.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a driving instruction for the second vehicle in response to the boarding area message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the boarding area message includes a warning level or a critical level.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a parking location for the first vehicle in response to the boarding area requirement.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the second vehicle based on a traffic level associated with the first vehicle.

12. An apparatus comprising:

at least one sensor configured to collect data indicative of boarding a first vehicle;

a controller configured to calculate a boarding area requirement associated with the first vehicle and generate a boarding area message in response to the boarding area requirement, wherein the boarding area requirement includes one or more dimensions and the one or more dimensions include a spatial boundary spaced from a perimeter of the first vehicle or another portion of the first vehicle; and

an interface configured to provide the boarding area message for the boarding area of the first vehicle to a second vehicle.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the boarding area requirement includes a time period for boarding the first vehicle.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data indicative of boarding includes sensor data collected by one or more sensors associated with the first vehicle or the second vehicle.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to generate a driving instruction for the second vehicle in response to the boarding area message or a driver warning in response to the boarding area message.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the boarding area message includes a time period for validity of the boarding area.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions for at least one processor to perform:

receiving data indicative of boarding a vehicle, wherein the vehicle is located in a parking spot or predicted to be located in the parking spot;

calculating an access area adjacent to the vehicle, the access area defined based on a spatial area requirement for boarding the vehicle, wherein the spatial area requirement includes one or more dimensions for the boarding area spaced from a perimeter of the vehicle or another portion of the vehicle;

generating a boarding area message in response to the access area; and

providing the boarding area message for the access area to a nearby vehicle.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the boarding area message is a warning including a location of the access area or a driving command for avoiding the location of the access area.