Vehicle fuel informational system

• US 20070150171A1
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Technical Center North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Heft, Ronald, Tengler, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers

Abstract

A vehicle fuel informational system is provided with a fuel level determination component, an onboard vehicle positioning component, an onboard vehicle navigation component and a low fuel notification component. The fuel level determination component determines a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system. The onboard vehicle positioning component determines a host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle equipped with the vehicle positioning component. The onboard vehicle navigation component provides vehicle route information for a desired vehicle route of the host vehicle. The low fuel notification component provides a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and automatically recommends a suggested fuel provider at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle and the desired vehicle route.

Claims

1. A vehicle fuel informational system comprising:

a fuel level determination component configured to determine a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system;

an onboard vehicle positioning component configured to determine a host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle equipped with the vehicle positioning component;

an onboard vehicle navigation component configured to provide vehicle route information for a desired vehicle route of the host vehicle; and

a low fuel notification component configured to provide a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and to recommend a suggested fuel provider at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle and the desired vehicle route.

2. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, further comprising

a host vehicle two way communication device configured to conduct direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle and obtain information related to fuel providers.

3. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 2, wherein

the host vehicle two way communication device includes a wireless communication device.

4. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 2, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on the information relating to the fuel providers.

5. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 4, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information relating to the fuel providers.

6. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 4, wherein

the onboard vehicle navigation component includes a display configured to view the suggested fuel provider and provide options to a user as to accept the suggested fuel provider and to ignore the suggested fuel provider.

7. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 5, wherein

the onboard vehicle navigation component includes a display configured to view the suggested fuel provider, and

the onboard vehicle navigation component is configured to recommend a route to the suggested fuel provider.

8. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the onboard vehicle navigation component includes a display configured to view the suggested fuel provider, and

the onboard vehicle navigation component is configured to recommend a route to the suggested fuel provider.

9. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching a moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position for information relating to the fuel providers within a prescribed distance of the host vehicle'"'"'s position.

10. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 9, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to limit the moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position to a forward vehicle motion direction and eliminate searching in a direction opposite to the forward vehicle motion direction.

11. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 10, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to use an average trajectory angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the host vehicle to define the moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position.

12. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 9, further comprising

a host vehicle two way communication device configured to conduct direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle and obtain information relating to participating fuel providers.

13. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching within a prescribed distance of the desired vehicle route of the host vehicle when the desired vehicle route has been specified, and to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching a moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position for information relating to the fuel providers within a prescribed distance of the host vehicle'"'"'s position when the desired vehicle route has been specified.

14. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 13, further comprising

a host vehicle two way communication device configured to conduct direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle and obtain information relating to participating fuel providers, with the low fuel notification component being further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

15. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 14, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a closest fuel provider as the suggested fuel provider and to provide fuel pricing information relating to the closest fuel provider.

16. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 14, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a low cost fuel provider as the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

17. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 16, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a closest fuel provider among the participating fuel providers having identical fuel prices when at least two of the participating fuel have identical fuel prices.

18. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 16, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a priority fuel provider among the participating fuel providers having identical fuel prices when at least two of the participating fuel have identical fuel prices, where the priority fuel provider has been ranked as a preferred provider among the participating fuel providers.

19. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 14, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured with a low cost fuel provider mode in which a low cost fuel provider is recommended as the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information from the participating fuel providers and to provide traveling distance information, and a closest fuel provider mode in which a closest fuel provider is recommended as the suggested fuel provider and to provide fuel pricing information received from the closest fuel provider.

20. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 19, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to provide a low cost fuel provider selectable list that ranks the participating fuel providers by pricing information when in the low cost fuel provider mode, and to provide a closest cost fuel provider selectable list that ranks the participating fuel providers when in the closest fuel provider mode.