SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING VEHICLE DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC ANALYSIS

• US 20160112216A1
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telogis Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Jelinek, Howard, Sargent, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,780,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A black-box gateway device implemented in a vehicle and configured to interface with an engine computer and a plurality of wireless sensors installed in the vehicle, the gateway device can include a transceiver including input ports in communication with conductors that interface with the engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle, radio frequency communications components comprising dual wireless functionality, including a first functionality for communicating wirelessly within the vehicle and a second functionality for communicating wirelessly over a cellular network disposed outside the vehicle, and one or more antennae that receive wireless signals from the radio frequency components. The transceiver can be configured to wirelessly receive sensor data from the wireless sensors disposed within the vehicle, the sensor data providing information associated with functionality of components of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A black-box gateway device implemented in a vehicle and configured to interface with an engine computer and a plurality of wireless sensors installed in the vehicle, the gateway device comprising:

a transceiver comprising;

input ports in communication with conductors that interface with the engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle;

radio frequency communications components comprising dual wireless functionality, including a first functionality for communicating wirelessly within the vehicle and a second functionality for communicating wirelessly over a cellular network disposed outside the vehicle; and

one or more antennae that receive wireless signals from the radio frequency components;

the transceiver configured to wirelessly receive sensor data from the wireless sensors disposed within the vehicle, the sensor data providing information associated with functionality of components of the vehicle;

digital logic circuitry programmed with executable instructions that configure the digital logic circuitry to;

identify one of the wireless sensors associated with the received sensor data;

determine whether to transfer the sensor data over the cellular network to a remote vehicle management system based, at least in part, on a comparison of the sensor data to a threshold associated with the identified sensor; and

based on a determination that the sensor data satisfies the threshold, transmit at least a portion of the data to a vehicle management system.

2. The gateway device of claim 1 wherein identification of the sensor is based, at least in part, on header information received with the sensor data

3. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of a sensor identity, a location of the sensor, or a type of sensor data.

4. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to determine whether to transfer the sensor data by comparing the received sensor data to previous sensor data.

5. The gateway device of claim 4, wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to determine whether to transfer the sensor data to a vehicle management system based, at least in part, on a determination that a difference between the on a comparison between the received sensor data to the previous sensor data satisfies a change threshold.

6. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to determine whether to transfer the sensor data to the vehicle management system based, at least in part, a defined period of time has elapsed since transmission of previous sensor data.

7. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive the sensor data at periodic intervals.

8. The gateway device of claim 7, wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to filter the sensor data received from the sensor to remove entries where a designated portion of the sensor data is the same.

9. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors disposed within the vehicle.

10. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the gateway module is configured to receive vehicle data from a vehicle bus and transmit at least a portion of the vehicle data to the vehicle management system.

11. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein the vehicle bus Controller Area Network (CAN) bus.

12. A computer system implemented in a vehicle and configured to interface with an engine computer and a plurality of wireless sensors installed in the vehicle, the computer system comprising:

digital logic circuitry programmed with executable instructions that configure the digital logic circuitry to;

receive a plurality of transmissions comprising sensor data from a sensor disposed within a vehicle;

filter the plurality of transmissions of sensor data to remove transmissions where at least a portion of the sensor data received from the plurality of transmissions is the same;

compare the filtered sensor data to previous sensor data received from the sensor; and

based on a determination that a difference between the sensor data and the previous sensor data exceeds a determined threshold associated with the sensor data, transmit at least a portion of the data to a vehicle management system.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to receive the sensor data includes receiving a plurality of transmissions from the sensor comprising the same sensor data.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the sensor data comprises identification information identifying the sensor within the vehicle.

15. The computer system of claim 12 wherein the digital logic circuitry is further configured to receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors disposed within the vehicle.

16. A method for interfacing with an engine computer and a plurality of wireless sensors installed in a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving wirelessly, by a hub device, sensor data from a wireless sensor disposed within a vehicle, wherein the sensor data provides information associated with a component of the vehicle;

filtering the plurality of transmissions of sensor data to remove transmissions where at least a portion of the sensor data received from the plurality of transmissions is the same;

processing, by the hub device, the sensor data to determine whether to transfer the sensor data to a vehicle management system; and

based on a determination to transfer the sensor data to the vehicle management system, transmitting at least a portion of the sensor data to the vehicle management system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the processing includes comparing the sensor data to previous sensor data to determine whether the previous sensor data is different from the sensor data.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the sensor data includes receiving a plurality of transmissions from the sensor comprising the same sensor data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein processing includes filtering the plurality of sensor data received from the sensor to remove entries where a designated portion of the sensor data is the same.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the sensor data comprises identification information identifying the sensor within the vehicle.