VEHICULAR ASSISTANCE DEVICE, PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND ASSISTANCE INFORMATION RECEPTION METHOD

• US 20160247388A1
• Filed: 10/17/2014
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: SOGABE, Haruhiko
• Granted Patent: US 9,959,749 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0479 Communicating with external units being not part of the vehicle, e.g. tools for diagnostic, mobile phones, electronic keys or service stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A vehicular assistance device, which is equipped to a vehicle and performs a wireless communication with a facility-side device to receive assistance information useful to a user from the facility-side device, includes a facility ID reception portion receiving a facility ID used for identifying a facility from the facility-side device, an area information acquisition portion acquiring area information related to a position of the facility, a position information acquisition portion acquiring position information of the vehicle, a determination portion determining whether the received facility ID is valid based on the position information of the vehicle and the area information related to the facility corresponding to the received facility ID, and a user ID transmission portion, when the facility ID is valid, transmitting, to the facility-side device, a user ID used for identifying the user as a request for transmitting the assistance information.

Claims

1. A vehicular assistance device equipped to a vehicle, wherein the vehicular assistance device performs a wireless communication with a facility-side device that transmits assistance information useful to a user and the vehicular assistance device receives the assistance information from the facility-side device, the vehicular assistance device comprising:

a facility ID reception portion receiving a facility ID from the facility-side device, the facility ID being used for identifying a facility to which the facility-side device is installed;

an area information acquisition portion acquiring area information related to a position of the facility;

a position information acquisition portion acquiring position information of the vehicle;

a determination portion, when the facility ID reception portion receives the facility ID from the facility-side device, determining whether the received facility ID is valid or not based on the position information of the vehicle and the area information that is related to the position of the facility corresponding to the received facility ID; and

a user ID transmission portion, under a condition that the determination portion determines that the received facility ID is valid, transmitting, to the facility-side device, a user ID as a request for transmitting the assistance information, the user ID being used for identifying the user.

2. The vehicular assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the area information indicates a setup range including the position of the facility, and

the determination portion determines that the facility ID is valid when the vehicle is positioned within the setup range.

3. The vehicular assistance device according to claim 2, wherein

the setup range is predetermined for the facility,

the area information is stored in a server provided on an internet, and

the area information acquisition portion acquires the area information which is updated in the server.

4. The vehicular assistance device according to claim 2, wherein

the determination portion determines that the facility ID is invalid when a reception strength of a wireless signal transmitted from the facility-side device is weaker than a setup intensity.

5. The vehicular assistance device according to claim 4, wherein

the setup intensity is predetermined corresponding to the facility,

the area information indicates the setup range and the setup intensity which are stored in a server provided on an internet, and

the area information acquisition portion acquires the area information which is updated in the server.

6. The vehicular assistance device according to any claim 1, further comprising:

a tire air pressure information transmission portion transmitting, to the facility-side device, tire air pressure information as a request for transmitting the facility ID, the tire air pressure information including a pressure of a tire of the vehicle.

7. A program product stored in a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising instructions performed by a computer for controlling the computer to function as the facility ID reception portion, the area information acquisition portion, the position information acquisition portion, the determination portion, and the user ID transmission portion according to claim 1.

8. An assistance information reception method which enables a vehicular assistance device equipped to a vehicle to perform a wireless communication with a facility-side device, wherein the facility-side device transmits assistance information useful to a user and the vehicular assistance device receives the assistance information from the facility-side device, the assistance information reception method comprising:

receiving a facility ID from the facility-side device, the facility ID being used for identifying a facility to which the facility-side device is installed;

acquiring area information related to a position of the facility;

acquiring position information of the vehicle;

when the facility ID is received from the facility-side device, determining whether the received facility ID is valid or not based on the position information of the vehicle and the area information that is related to the position of the facility corresponding to the received facility ID; and

under a condition that the received facility ID is determined to be valid, transmitting, to the facility-side device, a user ID as a request for transmitting the assistance information, the user ID being used for identifying the user.