FUEL EQUIVALENCY FOR DATA SERVICES

• US 20110015856A1
• Filed: 07/19/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation), XM Satellite Radio Incorporated (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Arnold, John C.
• Application Number:
  US12/839,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20110015856A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3611 using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs character input methods in general G06F3/0233

Abstract

A fuel information data service system is presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a fuel information data service can include a controller operable to receive information regarding costs of various types of fuel, and to correlate such costs of fuel information to actual operating costs for a given vehicle, based on a known consumption efficiency for a plurality of types of fuel for that vehicle, to calculate a FuelEQ or fuel equivalency for each fuel offering. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention an exemplary system can further include a presentation device coupled to the controller where the controller is further operable to present such FuelEQ information expressed as a cost per distance traveled. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a location finding module can be provided, and in addition to displaying various fuel costs and corresponding FuelEQ values, a fuel data system can also display distance and direction data for each available fueling station to a user. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention such a location finding system can send navigational directions to a selected fuel station based on a user selection. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention an exemplary system can alert a user when the vehicle is low on gas and has passed within a predetermined distance to a refueling station with a price lower than a threshold Fuel EQ value (value of cost per distance for fuel) set by the user. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a navigation system can be used as a location finding module, to both determine distances and direction to a variety of local fueling or energy stations, as well as to calculate and display navigational directions to a selected fuel station in response to a user selection.

Claims

1. A method of presenting fuel data, comprising:

retrieving fuel cost information for at least two fuel options;

using the fuel cost information and a known consumption efficiency for a plurality of types of fuel for a given vehicle to calculate a fuel equivalence value for each fuel option; and

presenting the fuel equivalence value as a cost per distance traveled.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fuel cost information comprises octane levels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cost per distance traveled is expressed as at least one of a cost per mile, a cost per kilometer and a cost per unit distance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done automatically by visual recognition of fuel pricing at a fueling station.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done by manually inputting fuel cost information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done by receiving a broadcast of fuel data information in a digital stream.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the fuel data information is filtered by location using location finding technology selected among GPS, time of arrival, time-distance of arrival and triangulation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done by receiving a broadcast of fuel data information from a satellite digital audio radio system (SDARS) transmission.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done by receiving a broadcast of fuel data information from a terrestrial digital FM transmission.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the fuel cost information is done by receiving a broadcast of fuel data information from at least of a cellular transmission source, a WiFI transmission source, and a WiMax transmission source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method sends navigational directions to a selected fuel station based on a user selection.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method alerts a user in a vehicle when the vehicle is low on gas and passed within a predetermined distance to a refueling station with a price lower than a threshold value for cost per distance for fuel set by the user.

13. A fuel information service system, comprising:

a server arranged to gather fuel information;

a satellite transmission system arranged to broadcast fuel data information in a digital stream to a plurality of subscriber units; and

a user interface in which a user can selectively enter preferences and choose fueling station locations based on cost per distance for a given fuel type and on further criteria selected from current location, track, fuel type, and preferred brand.

14. The fuel information service system of claim 13, wherein the satellite transmission system broadcasts baseline information and updates.

15. The fuel information service system of claim 13, wherein the system further includes a voice control system and a text to speech response system.

16. The fuel information service system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of subscriber units are satellite digital audio radio system receivers capable of receiving both audio and data.

17. A fuel information service system, comprising:

a controller operable to;

receive fuel cost information;

use the fuel cost information and a known consumption efficiency for a plurality of types of fuel for a given vehicle to calculate a fuel equivalence value for each fuel option; and

a presentation device coupled to the controller,

wherein the controller is further operable to present the fuel equivalence information as a cost per distance traveled.

18. The fuel information service system of claim 17, wherein the system comprises a satellite digital audio radio system radio combined with a navigation system used to provide directions to a selected fuel station.

19. The fuel information service system of claim 17, wherein the system comprises a satellite digital audio radio system radio.

20. The fuel information service system of claim 17, wherein the system comprises at least one among a satellite digital audio radio system radio, a cellular receiver, a WiFI receiver, and a WiMax receiver.

21. The fuel information service system of claim 17, wherein the system is part of a portable cellular phone, a smartphone, an MP3 device, or a podcast device.