Collaborative Environmental Reporting

• US 20090072997A1
• Filed: 09/18/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shrum, Edgar JR.
• Granted Patent: US 7,825,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for the reporting of an environmental condition to vehicles prior to encountering the environmental condition. According to various embodiments described herein, local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition is collected from sensors on a vehicle. The local environment data is used to determine that the environmental condition exists at the current location of the vehicle. A notification that includes the geographic location of the environmental condition is created and provided to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the environmental condition.

Claims

1. A method for providing notification of an environmental condition, comprising:

collecting local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from a plurality of sensors associated with a first vehicle;

determining from the local environment data that the environmental condition exists at a geographic location associated with the first vehicle;

creating the notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition; and

providing the notification to at least a second vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a vehicle sensor operative to monitor a vehicle system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors further comprises an environment sensor operative to measure an atmospheric characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the local environment data that an environmental condition exists comprises comparing current local environment data to stored environment data and detecting an anomaly with the current local environment data as compared to the stored environment data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein creating the notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition comprises:

determining whether the anomaly satisfies a threshold for creating the notification, and

creating the notification only if the anomaly satisfies the threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the threshold comprises a pre-determined minimum number of similar anomalies within a pre-determined distance from the geographic location of the first vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental condition comprises a driving hazard.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from the plurality of sensors associated with the first vehicle comprises receiving the local environment data from the first vehicle via a wireless network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular telecommunications network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from the plurality of sensors associated with the first vehicle comprises receiving the local environment data at a local environmental analysis engine residing within the first vehicle, and wherein providing the notification to at least the second vehicle comprises broadcasting the notification over a short-range wireless network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification to at least the second vehicle comprises transmitting the notification to a plurality of vehicles within a pre-determined distance from the geographic location of the first vehicle.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein causing the computer to collect local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from the plurality of sensors associated with the first vehicle comprises causing the computer to receive the local environment data at a local environmental analysis engine residing within the first vehicle, and wherein causing the computer to provide the notification to at least the second vehicle comprises causing the computer to broadcast the notification over a short-range wireless network.

12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

collect local environment data corresponding to an environmental condition from a plurality of sensors associated with a first vehicle;

determine from the local environment data that the environmental condition exists at a geographic location associated with the first vehicle;

create a notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition; and

provide the notification to at least a second vehicle.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a vehicle sensor operative to monitor a vehicle system and an environment sensor operative to measure an atmospheric characteristic.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein causing the computer to determine from the local environment data that an environmental condition exists comprises causing the computer to compare current local environment data to stored environment data and detect an anomaly with the current local environment data as compared to the stored environment data.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein causing the computer to create the notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition comprises causing the computer to:

determine whether the anomaly satisfies a threshold for creating the notification; and

create the notification only if the anomaly satisfies the threshold.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the threshold comprises a pre-determined minimum number of similar anomalies within a pre-determined distance from the geographic location of the first vehicle.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein causing the computer to collect local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from the plurality of sensors associated with the first vehicle comprises causing the computer to receive the local environment data from the first vehicle via a cellular telecommunications network.

19. A system for providing notification of an environmental condition, comprising:

means for collecting local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from a plurality of sensors associated with a first vehicle;

means for determining from the local environment data that the environmental condition exists at a geographic location associated with the first vehicle;

means for creating the notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition; and

means for providing the notification to at least a second vehicle.

20. The system of claim 19,

wherein the means for collecting the local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition from the plurality of sensors associated with the first vehicle comprises a network environmental analysis engine operative to receive the local environment data from a local environmental analysis engine associated with the first vehicle via a wireless network,

wherein the means for determining from the local environment data that the environmental condition exists at the geographic location associated with the first vehicle comprises the network environmental analysis engine further operative to compare the local environment data to stored environment data, and detect an anomaly with the local environment data as compared to the stored environment data, and

wherein the means for creating the notification comprising the geographic location of the environmental condition comprises the network environmental analysis engine further operative to determine whether the anomaly satisfies a threshold for creating the notification and to create the notification only if the anomaly satisfies the threshold.