Method and apparatus for obtaining weather information from road-going vehicles

• US 20080030370A1
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnitracs LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Doyle, Marquis D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,999,702 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• 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

Abstract

In one embodiment taught herein, a plurality of road-going vehicles report weather-related data to a weather-determining system. For example, trucks and/or cars having in-vehicle information systems wirelessly transmit one or more items of weather-related data, such that the weather-determining system directly or indirectly receives the transmitted data. In turn, the weather-determining system jointly processes the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road-going vehicles. In one embodiment, the in-vehicle information systems comprise GPS-based position reporting systems installed in on-highway trucks and other fleet vehicles, and the weather-determining system comprises a modified position-tracking system, e.g., a modified network fleet management system. Weather-related data may be collected and processed for large numbers of vehicles across many geographic areas of interest, and the resulting weather information can be fed back to the road-going vehicles and/or provided to other consumers of weather information.

Claims

1. A method of determining weather information for a given geographic area comprising:

collecting weather-related measurements for the given geographic area from a plurality of road-going vehicles having on-board information systems configured to report such weather-related measurements; and

processing the weather-related measurements to determine weather information for the given geographic area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather-related measurements to determine weather information for the given geographic area comprises statistically processing the weather-related measurements to determine statistically reliable weather information for the given geographic area.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the weather information to targeted road-going vehicles.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the weather information to targeted road-going vehicles comprises providing the weather information to road-going vehicles for which the weather information is determined to be relevant.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining relevancy of the weather information with respect to a particular road-going vehicle based on one or more of known route information and known position or direction information for the particular road-going vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the weather information to one or more third-party providers of weather information for redistribution by the third-party providers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting weather-related measurements for the given geographic area from a plurality of road-going vehicles having on-board information systems configured to report such weather-related measurements comprises receiving position reports from the on-board information systems in the road-going vehicles, wherein the position reports include, or are accompanied, by real-time or near real-time weather related measurements.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein processing the weather-related measurements to determine weather information for the given geographic area comprises jointly processing the weather-related measurements from some or all of the road-going vehicles in the given geographic area to determine statistically reliable weather information for the given geographic area.

9. A method of determining weather information comprising:

receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles; and

processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the plurality of road-going vehicles comprises jointly processing the weather-related data received from two or more road-going vehicles for a given geographic area to determine statistically reliable weather information for that given geographic area.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles comprises statistically processing one or more like items of weather-related data collected for a same geographic area by two or more of the plurality of road-going vehicles, to thereby determine statistically reliable weather information for that geographic area.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises receiving the weather-related data at a network management center having persistent or non-persistent communication links with the plurality of road-going vehicles.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises receiving reports from the plurality of road-going vehicles that include position-related data and corresponding weather-related data.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises generally receiving periodic mobile initiated position reports (MIPRs) from each road-going vehicle, wherein the MIPRs include one or more items of weather-related data in addition to position-related data.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises, for a given one of the road-going vehicles, receiving one or more of temperature-related data and precipitation-related data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving one or more of temperature-related data and precipitation-related data comprises receiving ambient temperature readings obtained from a vehicle-based information system.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving one or more of temperature-related data and precipitation-related data comprises receiving wiper speed information obtained from a vehicle-based information system, and inferring a precipitation condition from the wiper speed information.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises receiving wiper speed data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles comprises inferring precipitation conditions for the given geographic area based on the wiper speed data.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises receiving ambient temperature data and wiper speed data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles comprises inferring freezing precipitation conditions, or a risk thereof, for the given geographic area based on the ambient temperature data and the wiper speed data.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles comprises receiving ambient temperature data, wiper speed data, and Antilock Braking System (ABS) data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles comprises inferring freezing precipitation conditions, or a risk thereof, for the given geographic area based on the ambient temperature data, the ABS data, and the wiper speed data.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles includes receiving Antilock Braking System (ABS) related data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and wherein processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles comprises inferring hazardous road conditions for the given geographic area based at least in part on the ABS related data.

22. A weather-determining system comprising one or more processing systems configured to:

receive weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles; and

process the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road going vehicles.

23. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system comprises all or part of a network management center having persistent or non-persistent communication links with the plurality of road-going vehicles.

24. The weather-determining system of claim 23, wherein the network management center comprises one or more communication interfaces configured to receive the weather-related data and one or more processing systems configured to process the weather-related data.

25. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to jointly process the weather-related data received from two or more road-going vehicles for a given geographic area to determine statistically reliable weather information for that given geographic area.

26. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to statistically process one or more like items of weather-related data collected for a same geographic area by two or more of the plurality of road-going vehicles, to thereby determine statistically reliable weather information for that geographic area.

27. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive reports from the plurality of road-going vehicles that include position-related data and corresponding weather-related data.

28. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive periodic mobile initiated position reports (MIPRs) from each road-going vehicle, wherein the MIPRs include one or more items of weather-related data in addition to position-related data.

29. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured, for a given one of the road-going vehicles, to receive one or more of temperature-related data and precipitation-related data.

30. The weather-determining system of claim 29, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive ambient temperature readings obtained from a vehicle-based information system as the temperature-related data.

31. The weather-determining system of claim 29, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive wiper speed information obtained from a vehicle-based information system as the precipitation-related data, and is further configured to infer a precipitation condition from the wiper speed information.

32. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather determining system is configured to receive wiper speed data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and to infer precipitation conditions for the given geographic area based on the wiper speed data.

33. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive ambient temperature data and wiper speed data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and to infer freezing precipitation conditions, or a risk thereof, for the given geographic area based on the ambient temperature data and the wiper speed data.

34. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive ambient temperature data, wiper speed data, and Antilock Braking System (ABS) data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and to infer freezing precipitation conditions, or a risk thereof, for the given geographic area based on the ambient temperature data, the ABS data, and the wiper speed data.

35. The weather-determining system of claim 22, wherein the weather-determining system is configured to receive Antilock Braking System (ABS) related data from one or more road-going vehicles in a given geographic area, and to infer hazardous road conditions for the given geographic area based at least in part on the ABS related data.

36. A vehicle information system for use in road-going vehicles comprising:

a processing system configured to determine weather-related data; and

one or more wireless communication interfaces operatively associated with the processing system and configured to transmit the weather-related data to a remote weather-determining system.

37. The vehicle information system of claim 36, wherein the vehicle information system is configured to determine position-related data in addition to, or in conjunction with, the weather-related data.

38. The vehicle information system of claim 36, further comprising a vehicle data bus interface configured to receive one or more vehicle data bus messages that include or otherwise indicate one or more items of the weather-related data.

39. The vehicle information system of claim 38, wherein the processing system obtains at least one of temperature-related data, precipitation-related data, and Antilock Braking System (ABS) related data via vehicle data bus messages received through the vehicle data bus interface.

40. The vehicle information system of claim 36, further comprising a discrete signal interface operatively associated with the processing system, and wherein the processing system is configured to infer precipitation data as all or part of the weather-related data, based on a wiper-speed input signal provide to the discrete signal interface.

41. The vehicle information system of claim 36, further comprising a discrete signal interface operatively associated with the processing system, and wherein the processing system is configured to receive at least one of ambient temperature data, wiper speed data, and Antilock Braking System (ABS) data via the discrete signal interface.

42. The vehicle information system of claim 36, wherein the vehicle information system comprises a position-tracking system configured to report vehicle positions to a remote vehicle tracking system, which may comprise or be associated with the remote weather-determining system.

43. The vehicle information system of claim 36, wherein the position-tracking system is configured to periodically determine and report vehicle position data, and is further configured to correspondingly report weather-related data.

44. A method of reporting weather data from a road-going vehicle comprising:

determining weather-related data in conjunction with determining geographic positions of the road-going vehicle; and

reporting the weather-related data for the determined geographic positions to a remote weather-determining system.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein determining weather-related data in conjunction with determining geographic positions of the road-going vehicle comprises receiving one or more items of weather-related data via vehicle data bus messages from a vehicle data bus of the road-going vehicle.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein receiving one or more items of weather-related data via vehicle data bus messages from a vehicle data bus of the road-going vehicle comprises receiving at least one of temperature-related data and precipitation-related data via the vehicle data bus.

47. The method of claim 44, further comprising receiving a vehicle wiper speed signal and deriving precipitation-related data from the wiper speed signal as all or part of the weather-related data.