Method and system for providing vehicle data of a motor vehicle

• US 10,347,054 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2016
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Hobel, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Butler, Rodney A
• Application Number:
  US15/229,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20170039783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

The present disclosure concerns a system and method with the steps: detecting of the signal strength of a mobile radio connection between the motor vehicle and a mobile radio network at detected positions of the motor vehicle after determining from the detected signal strength that the mobile radio connection has been interrupted and the motor vehicle has been parked as of this time within a predetermined duration: storing of the position of the motor vehicle in which the motor vehicle was situated at the time of the interruption as a dead spot; relaying of vehicle data to a vehicle-external server device as soon as it is determined, after the storing of the dead spot, that the motor vehicle has approached within a given distance of the stored dead spot; providing of the relayed vehicle data by the vehicle-external server device.

Claims

1. A method for providing vehicle data of a motor vehicle comprising:

detecting a signal strength of a mobile radio connection between the motor vehicle and a mobile radio network at a detected position of the motor vehicle;

after determining that the mobile radio connection has been interrupted based on the signal strength and that the motor vehicle has been parked within a predetermined duration of time after the interruption of the mobile radio connection, storing the detected position of the motor vehicle as a dead spot in a memory; and

after storing the dead spot in the memory, relaying the vehicle data to a vehicle-external server via the mobile radio network responsive to the motor vehicle approaching within a given distance of the dead spot, wherein the vehicle data comprises a position of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle approaches within the given distance of the dead spot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related data is transmitted to a mobile communication device by the vehicle-external server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the detected position of the motor vehicle using a satellite-signal and an odometer of the motor vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

erasing the dead spot from the memory after connecting to the mobile radio network at the dead spot.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

erasing the dead spot from the memory based on the motor vehicle having not been driven to the dead spot within a predetermined number of trips with the motor vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the motor vehicle has been parked within the predetermined duration of time after the interruption of the mobile radio connection based on whether an ignition of the motor vehicle is deactivated.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the given distance of the dead spot based on a size of the vehicle data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data includes a fill level of a gas tank of the motor vehicle or a charge state of a battery of the motor vehicle.

9. A system for providing vehicle data of a motor vehicle comprising:

a control device configured to communicate with a vehicle-external server; and

at least one motor vehicle configured to;

detect a signal strength of a mobile radio connection between the motor vehicle and a mobile radio network at a detected position of the motor vehicle;

after determining that the mobile radio connection has been interrupted based on the signal strength and that the motor vehicle has been parked within a predetermined duration of time after the interruption of the mobile radio connection, store the detected position of the motor vehicle as a dead spot in a memory; and

after storing the dead spot in the memory, relay the vehicle data to the vehicle-external server via the mobile radio network responsive to the motor vehicle approaching within a given distance of the dead spot, wherein the vehicle data includes a position of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle approaches within the given distance of the dead spot.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related data is transmitted to a mobile communication device by the vehicle-external server.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one motor vehicle is further configured to:

determine the detected position of the motor vehicle using a satellite-signal and an odometer of the motor vehicle.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one motor vehicle is further configured to:

erase the dead spot from the memory after connecting to the mobile radio network at the dead spot.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one motor vehicle is further configured to:

erase the dead spot from the memory based on the motor vehicle having not been driven to the dead spot within a predetermined number of trips with the motor vehicle.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one motor vehicle is further configured to:

determine that the motor vehicle has been parked within the predetermined duration of time after the interruption of the mobile radio connection based on whether an ignition of the motor vehicle is deactivated.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one motor vehicle is further configured to:

determine the given distance of the dead spot based on a size of the vehicle data.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle data includes a fill level of a gas tank of the motor vehicle or a charge state of a battery of the motor vehicle.

17. A method for providing vehicle data of a motor vehicle comprising:

detecting an interruption of a mobile radio connection between the motor vehicle and a mobile radio network based on a signal strength of the mobile radio connection at a detected position of the motor vehicle;

storing the detected position of the motor vehicle as a dead spot based on detecting that the motor vehicle has been parked within a predetermined duration of time after the interruption of the mobile radio connection; and

after storing the dead spot, relaying the vehicle data to a vehicle-external server via the mobile radio network responsive to the motor vehicle approaching within a given distance of the dead spot, wherein the vehicle data includes a position of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle approaches within the given distance of the dead spot.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the vehicle-related data is transmitted to a mobile communication device by the vehicle-external server.