ADVANCED V2X EVENT DISSEMINATION

• US 20180225970A1
• Filed: 02/03/2017
• Published: 08/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Mitra, Pramita, Neubecker, Cynthia M., Rao, Jayanthi
• Granted Patent: US 10,127,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/091 Traffic information broadcasting broadcasting communication H04H
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• 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 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Disclosed is a host vehicle including: motor(s), sensors, processor(s) configured to: (i) package sensed data into a first unit; (ii) determine whether a vehicle-to-infrastructure connection is (a) active or (b) inactive; (iii) if (a), append a TRUE flag to the unit and if (b) append a FALSE flag to the unit; (iv) transmit the first appended unit over a vehicle-to-vehicle connection; (v) determine whether a second appended unit, received over a vehicle-to-vehicle connection, includes (c) a TRUE flag or (d) a FALSE flag; (vi) if (d), transmit the second appended unit over the vehicle-to-infrastructure connection; (vii) if (c), not transmit the second appended unit over the vehicle-to-infrastructure connection.

Claims

1. A host vehicle comprising:

a sensor to detect a traffic event; and

processor(s) to;

package the traffic event into a unit;

determine whether a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) connection is active or inactive;

if active, append a TRUE flag to the unit and transmit the unit via the V2I connection and a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection; and

if inactive, append a FALSE flag to the unit and transmit the unit via the V2V connection.

2. The host vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

receive a second unit from another vehicle via the V2V connection;

determine whether the second unit includes a TRUE flag or a FALSE flag;

if the second unit includes a FALSE flag, transmit the second unit to a server via the V2I connection; and

if the second unit includes a TRUE flag, not transmit the second unit to the server via the V2I connection.

3. The host vehicle of claim 2, wherein the processor(s) are configured to compare a unit timestamp of the second unit to a map timestamp of a virtual map of the host vehicle prior to determining whether the second unit includes a FALSE flag or a TRUE flag.

4. The host vehicle of claim 3, wherein the processor(s) are configured to discard at least a portion of the second unit if the unit timestamp precedes the map timestamp.

5. The host vehicle of claim 4, wherein the processor(s) are configured to forward the second unit via the V2V connection.

6. The host vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

unpack a received message into subunits, each subunit including attributes of a single object and a timestamp; and

match each subunit with a previously stored object resident in the memory.

8. The host vehicle of claim 6, wherein each previously stored object includes a timestamp and the processor(s) are configured to:

compare the timestamps of the previously stored objects with the timestamps of the subunits;

mark each subunit as fresh or stale based on the comparison;

discard stale subunits; and

update attributes of the previously stored objects based on the attributes of fresh subunits.

10. The host vehicle of claim 1, wherein:

the traffic event includes a dynamic object and attributes of the dynamic object; and

the processor(s) are configured to include a unit ID and a timestamp in the unit.

12. The host vehicle of claim 10, wherein the unit includes a request to perform a sensor scan of the dynamic object.

13. The host vehicle of claim 12, wherein the processor(s) are configured to:

select an external vehicle from a plurality of external vehicles within vehicle-to-vehicle broadcast range of the host vehicle; and

direct the request to the selected external vehicle.

21. The host vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor(s) are configured to update a virtual map of the host vehicle with the traffic event.

22. The host vehicle of claim 21, wherein the processor(s) are configured to autonomously drive the host vehicle based on the virtual map.

23. The host vehicle of claim 21, wherein the processor(s) are configured to enable a server to update the virtual map via the V2I connection.

24. The host vehicle of claim 1, wherein the TRUE flag instructs another vehicle not to transmit the unit to a server and the FALSE flag the other vehicle to transmit the unit to the server.

7. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

15. A method of controlling a host vehicle, which comprises memory, sensor(s), processor(s), the method comprising:

detecting a traffic event via the sensor(s);

updating, via the processor(s), a virtual map that is stored in the memory with the traffic event;

packaging the traffic event into a first unit;

determining whether a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) connection is active or inactive;

if active, appending a TRUE flag to the first unit and transmitting the first unit via the V2I connection and a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection; and

if inactive, appending a FALSE flag to the first unit and transmitting the first unit via the V2V connection.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a second unit from another vehicle via the V2V connection;

determining whether the second unit, includes a TRUE flag or a FALSE flag;

if the second unit includes a FALSE flag, transmitting the second unit to a server via the V2I connection; and

if the second unit includes a TRUE flag, not transmitting the second unit to the server via the V2I connection.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising comparing a unit timestamp of the second unit with a map timestamp of the virtual map stored on the host vehicle prior to determining whether the second unit includes a FALSE flag or a TRUE flag.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising discarding at least a portion of the second unit if the unit timestamp precedes the map timestamp.

19. The host vehicle of claim 18, further comprising forwarding the second unit via the V2V connection.

25. The method of claim 15, further including autonomously driving the host vehicle, via the processor(s), based on the virtual map.

20. (canceled)