ASSESSMENT OF ELECTRONIC SENSOR DATA TO REMOTELY IDENTIFY A MOTOR VEHICLE AND MONITOR DRIVER BEHAVIOR

• US 20160321844A1
• Filed: 07/07/2016
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karma Automotive LLC (Wanxiang Group Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Airbiquity Incorporated
• Inventors: Garrett, Darrin L., Mann, Darren
• Granted Patent: US 11,004,277 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2270/0421 Controlled or regulated
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2205/02 using a vehicle scan tool
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• 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 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• 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 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A computing device is connected to a motor vehicle'"'"'s diagnostic port or communication port to acquire vehicle sensor data, for example from various pressure, temperature, oxygen, fuel and other sensors typically installed on a motor vehicle for other reasons. Acquired sensor data is wirelessly transmitted to a remote server where the acquired sensor data can be compared to a database of stored sensor data to identify the motor vehicle. Additional functionality is described that leverages uploaded sensor data. Sensor data may be uploaded to the server in near-real time, and/or buffered locally and uploaded by periodic or episodic, push or pull communication protocols.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a central server, provisioning a database to store electronic sensor data acquired during operation of a given motor vehicle;

at the central server, associating the electronic sensor data with an identifier of a driver who was operating the motor vehicle when the electronic sensor data was acquired;

at the central server, analyzing the stored electronic sensor data so as to form a driver profile associated with the identified driver in combination with the motor vehicle, and storing the driver profile in a datastore coupled to the central server;

acquiring new electronic sensor data from the motor vehicle during operation by the identified driver;

at the central server, comparing the new electronic sensor data to the stored driver profile to detect a deviation from the profile that may indicate driver impairment; and

generating a message at the central server about the driver impairment based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic sensor data is transmitted wirelessly from the motor vehicle to the central server.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the electronic sensor data is acquired over an on-board network of the motor vehicle for transmission to the central server.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the electronic sensor data is acquired through a connection to an on-board diagnostics (OBD) port of the motor vehicle for transmission over a wireless telecommunication link to the central server.

5. The method of claim 4 including acquiring the data in a mobile device coupled to the OBD port of the motor vehicle and substantially immediately transmitting the acquired data from the mobile device to a central server in the wireless telecommunication link.

6. The method of claim 1 including transmitting the electronic sensor data to a central server in substantially real time.

7. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

comparing the new electronic sensor data to the central server database of plural driver profiles to identify a current driver of a vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7 and further comprising, based on the comparison, generating a message reporting the identity of the current driver.

9. The method of claim 1 and further wherein the driver profile includes, for a selected vehicle, data acquired from at least three sensors selected from the group consisting of the following sensors—

engine coolant temperature

engine air temperature

fuel rail pressure

engine oil temperature

absolute throttle position limit

engine RPM at idle

Lambda exhaust oxygen sensor voltage.

10. The method of claim 1 and further comprising comparing the new electronic sensor data to previously stored sensor data in the database to detect a maintenance issue of the corresponding vehicle.

11. A method in a motor vehicle comprising:

acquiring sensor data from an on-board network during operation of the motor vehicle, the sensor data comprising a plurality of engine operating parameters;

determining an identifier of an driver of the motor vehicle during the said operation of the motor vehicle;

transmitting data over a wireless connection from the motor vehicle to a central server, the data including the identifier of the driver and the sensor data; and

repeating said transmitting step to transmit additional sensor data to the central server, to enable forming a driver profile at the central server based on the sensor data.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the electronic sensor data is acquired through a connection to an OBD port of the motor vehicle for transmission over the wireless connection to the central server.

13. The method of claim 11 including acquiring the data in a mobile device coupled to the OBD port of the motor vehicle and substantially immediately transmitting the acquired data from the mobile device to a central server in the wireless connection.

14. The method of claim 11 including transmitting the electronic sensor data to a central server in substantially real time.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the sensor data is acquired from at least three sensors selected from the group consisting of the following sensors—

engine coolant temperature

engine air temperature

fuel rail pressure

engine oil temperature

absolute throttle position limit

engine RPM at idle

Lambda exhaust oxygen sensor voltage.