Dynamic vehicle disaster relief

• US 10,499,233 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2018
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Shah, Ayush, Gusikhin, Oleg Yurievitch, Makke, Omar, Sasidharan, Sandeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie B
• Application Number:
  US15/971,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20190342739A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamic vehicle disaster relief include a vehicle that, responsive to entering a geofenced area including a disaster, communicates the vehicle is within the geofenced area to a server. The vehicle installs a user interface received from the server responsive to the communication. The user interface is for a geofenced application associated with the geofenced area and executing on the server. The vehicle then communicates a volunteer commit message from the user interface to the geofenced application on the server.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a vehicle configured to, responsive to entering a geofenced area including a disaster

communicate the vehicle is within the geofenced area to a server;

install a user interface received from the server responsive to the communication, the user interface being for a geofenced application associated with the geofenced area and executing on the server; and

communicate a volunteer commit message from the user interface to the geofenced application on the server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is configured to, responsive to entering the geofenced area

communicate an equipment message to the geofenced application on the server indicating an equipment item available to the vehicle;

and

update the user interface to display a plurality of tasks received from the geofenced application on the server responsive to the equipment message, each of the tasks being generated by the geofenced application on the server based on the equipment item,

wherein the volunteer commit message indicates one of the tasks.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the equipment item comprises a container for transporting a type of supply, and the one task is delivering the supply at a location within the geofenced area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises a plurality of sensors, and is configured to, responsive to entering the geofenced area

communicate environmental data generated by the sensors within the geofenced area to the geofenced application on the server;

and

update the user interface to display a plurality of tasks received from the geofenced application on the server responsive to the environmental data communication, the tasks being generated by the geofenced application on the server based on the environmental data,

wherein the volunteer commit message indicates one of the tasks.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the sensors include a camera, and the environmental data on which generation of the tasks is based includes an image of the geofenced area captured by the camera and a geographical location corresponding to the image.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the environmental data is periodically communicated to the geofenced application on the server responsive to a user selection of a share option included in the user interface.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the tasks are further based on environmental data received from a plurality of other vehicles within the geofenced area by the geofenced application on the server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is in another vehicle within the geofenced area, and the vehicle is configured to communicate with the another vehicle via a vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communications protocol.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is configured to, responsive to exiting the geofenced area, remove the user interface from the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is further configured to, responsive to entering the geofenced area, and to receiving travel infrastructure data from the geofenced application on the server indicative of a blocked road, illustrate, on a navigation system of the vehicle, the blocked road as stopped traffic.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the volunteer commit message indicates a task including a location selected via the user interface, and the vehicle is configured to, responsive to the task being selected, provide route guidance to the location of the task via an embedded navigation system of the vehicle.

12. A system comprising:

a server for a geofenced area including a disaster, the server configured to

responsive to a first vehicle entering the geofenced area, transmit a user interface to the first vehicle;

responsive to receiving sensed environmental data from a second vehicle within the geofenced area that hosts the user interface, generate tasks based on the environmental data; and

transmit the tasks to the first and second vehicles for inclusion on the user interface.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to, responsive to receiving a volunteer commit message from the first vehicle including one of the tasks selected via the user interface of the first vehicle, transmit a message to the second vehicle that removes the selected task from the user interface.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is included within a third vehicle configured to communicate with the first vehicle and the second vehicle via a vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communications protocol.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to:

responsive to receiving an equipment message from the first vehicle indicating an equipment item available to the first vehicle, generate second tasks based on the equipment message; and

transmit the second tasks to the first vehicle and not the second vehicle for inclusion in the user interface of the first vehicle.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the sensed environmental data indicates that a road within the geofenced area includes a hazardous condition caused by the disaster, and the server is further configured to, responsive to receiving the sensed environmental data, transmit navigation data to the first vehicle that causes the first vehicle to illustrate stopped traffic on the road at the hazardous condition on an embedded navigation system of the first vehicle.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to, responsive to receiving a supply request from the first vehicle via the user interface, transmit supply data to the first vehicle for illustration on the user interface of the first vehicle that indicates a time and a location of an upcoming supply delivery.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the sensed environmental data indicates a road within the geofenced area includes a hazardous condition caused by the disaster, and the server is further configured to, responsive to receiving an evacuation route request from the first vehicle that includes a vehicle identifier,

identify a capability of the first vehicle based on the vehicle identifier,

identify an evacuation route for the first vehicle that includes the hazardous condition based on the capability, and

transmit the evacuation route to the first vehicle for display by the user interface of the first vehicle.

19. A method comprising:

by a server vehicle for a geofenced area including a disaster

responsive to entering a first area with access to a cloud server, receiving, from the cloud server, a user interface and task data for the geofenced area; and

responsive to entering a second area within the geofenced area without access to the cloud server, transmitting the user interface and task data to a volunteer vehicle in the geofenced area.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, responsive to receiving geofenced area data indicating a condition of the geofenced area from the volunteer vehicle while at the second area

traveling to the first area;

transmitting the geofenced area data to the cloud server; and

receiving additional task data from the cloud server, the additional task data being generated by the cloud server based on the geofenced area data.