Communication method for a plurality of vehicles, vehicle and server

• US 10,320,912 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2017
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Mobike Technology Co.Ltd. (Beijing Sankuai Technology Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Beijing Mobike Technology Co.Ltd. (Beijing Sankuai Technology Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Depi
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban, Edward F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Justus, Ralph H
• Application Number:
  US15/717,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20180316763A1
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411, 455 412, 455517
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• 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: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

The present invention discloses A communication method for a plurality of vehicles, a vehicle and a server are disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: selecting a first vehicle from the plurality of vehicles as a master device that communicates with a server, wherein the first vehicle communicates with other vehicles among the plurality of vehicles in a first communication mode, and the master device communicates with the server in a second communication mode; and using the first vehicle as a node by which at least one of the other vehicles communicates with the server. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the problem of inability of reporting in case of a fault when any of the other vehicles directly communicates with the server is avoided. The server only needs to distribute update software to the first vehicle, rather than each vehicle one by one, and then the update software is forwarded by the first vehicle to each vehicle, thereby reducing the number of operations of the server and occupying less resources of the server.

Claims

1. A communication method for a plurality of nodes each associated with a vehicle, said method comprising the following steps:

selecting a first node from the plurality of nodes as a master device that communicates with a server, wherein the first node communicates with other nodes among the plurality of nodes in a first communication mode, and wherein the master device communicates with the server in a second communication mode; and

using the first node for at least one of the other nodes to communicate with the server,

wherein;

the first node is selected according to the communication states in which the plurality of nodes communicates with the server,

the communication state between the first node and the server is optimal among the plurality of nodes, and

after the step of selecting the first node as the master device;

acquiring information on a distance between the first node and any of the other nodes;

when the distance between the first node and any of the other nodes is smaller than a preset distance, maintaining the first node as the master device that communicates with the server, and

when the communication state of the selected first node and the server is optimal but the distance between the first node and at least one of the other nodes is greater than the preset distance, reselecting a node other than the first node from the plurality of nodes as the master device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the step of selecting the first node, the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring information on a battery level of the first node;

when the battery level of the first node is greater than a preset battery level, maintaining the first node as the master node, and

when the communication state between the first node and the server is optimal but the battery level of the first node is less than the preset battery level, reselecting a node other than the first node from the plurality of nodes as the master device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of using the first node for the at least one of the other vehicles to communicate with the server comprises:

receiving first data, by the first node, from a second node among the plurality of nodes in the first communication mode; and

forwarding the first data, by the first node, to the server in the second communication mode.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a direct communication between the second node and the server has a fault.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first data includes an identifier and a fault type of the second node.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of using the first node for the at least one of the other vehicles to communicate with the server comprises:

receiving second data, by the first node, from the server in the second communication mode; and

forwarding the second data, by the first node, to at least one of the other nodes in the first communication mode.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the second data includes update software.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first communication mode includes at least one of a Bluetooth communication or a Near Field Communication.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second communication mode includes at least one of a mobile communication, a WiFi communication or a remote Bluetooth communication.

10. A server, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used for storing instructions, the instructions being used for controlling the processor to operate to execute the method according to claim 1.

11. A vehicle with a node associated with the vehicle, the vehicle comprising:

memory and a processor, the memory storing instructions, the instructions being configured for controlling the processor to execute the method according to claim 1;

a first communication unit; and

a second communication unit,

wherein;

the first communication unit receives first data from a second node in the first communication mode, and

the second communication unit forwards the first data to a server in the second communication mode.

12. The vehicle according to claim 11, wherein direct communication between the second node and the server has a fault.

13. The vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the first data includes an identifier and a fault type of the second node.

14. The vehicle according claim 11, wherein:

the second communication unit is configured for receiving second data from the server in the second communication mode; and

the first communication unit is configured for forwarding the second data to at least one of the other nodes in the first communication mode.

15. The vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the second data includes update software.

16. The vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the first communication mode includes at least one of a Bluetooth communication or a Near Field Communication.

17. The vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the second communication mode includes at least one of a mobile communication, a WiFi communication or a remote Bluetooth communication.