Vehicle telemetric system
First Claim
1. A vehicle telemetric system, comprising:
- a central host connected to a communications network;
one or more gateways connected to the communications network, the communications network enabling the transfer of packet data between the gateways and the central host;
a vehicle interface unit (VIU) within a vehicle having access to sensors in the vehicle for collecting vehicle related data, the VIU having means for communication over a wireless link of any of said gateways when the vehicle is within a transmission range of one of said gateways;
the VIU further comprising means for aggregating and formatting the vehicle related data into a data point record (DPR) including a unique sequence number and a vehicle identification number;
the VIU having a memory for storing a list of DPRs, and a VIU means for forwarding the DPRs to the one of said gateways over the wireless link;
each gateway having another memory for storing the DPRs received from the VIU, and a gateway means for forwarding the DPRs to the central host; and
the central host having means for storing DPRs generated by the VIU and received from all gateways, and means for notifying each gateway regarding the sequence numbers and the vehicle identification numbers of the DPRs that have been already received at the central host.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle telemetric system comprises vehicle interface units (VIUs), wireless gateways, and a central host. The VIU in a vehicle collects data over the OBD-II bus and stores the data in the form of Data Point Records (DPRs) in an on-board flash memory. When the VIU is within wireless range of a gateway, it establishes a WiFi (802.11b) connection with the gateway, and submits stored DPRs to the gateway, to be stored in permanent storage at the gateway. The gateways communicate with the central host over a wide area network (WAN). When a gateway has gathered new DPRs from a VIU, it submits these to the central host. Databases in the gateways as well as in the central host are maintained and synchronized to track received DPRs by sequence number and originating VIU. In conjunction with specific protocols, all DPRs are thus collected reliably, even though communication with a vehicle may be intermittent. Efficient use of WiFi bandwidth is made by avoiding the unnecessary collection of duplicate DPRs.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A vehicle telemetric system, comprising:
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a central host connected to a communications network; one or more gateways connected to the communications network, the communications network enabling the transfer of packet data between the gateways and the central host; a vehicle interface unit (VIU) within a vehicle having access to sensors in the vehicle for collecting vehicle related data, the VIU having means for communication over a wireless link of any of said gateways when the vehicle is within a transmission range of one of said gateways; the VIU further comprising means for aggregating and formatting the vehicle related data into a data point record (DPR) including a unique sequence number and a vehicle identification number; the VIU having a memory for storing a list of DPRs, and a VIU means for forwarding the DPRs to the one of said gateways over the wireless link; each gateway having another memory for storing the DPRs received from the VIU, and a gateway means for forwarding the DPRs to the central host; and the central host having means for storing DPRs generated by the VIU and received from all gateways, and means for notifying each gateway regarding the sequence numbers and the vehicle identification numbers of the DPRs that have been already received at the central host. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A vehicle interface unit (VIU) for a vehicle telemetric system, comprising a central host connected to a communications network and one or more gateways connected to the communications network, which enables the transfer of packet data between the gateways and the central host, the VIU being located in a vehicle and having access to sensors in the vehicle for collecting vehicle related data, the VIU having means for communication over a wireless link with any of said gateways, the wireless link being activated when the vehicle is within a transmission range of the one of said gateways, and another wireless link being activated when the vehicle is within a transmission range of another one of said gateways;
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the VIU further comprising a means for aggregating and formatting the vehicle related data into a list of data point records (DPRs), each DPR including a unique sequence number and a vehicle identification number; the VIU having a memory for storing the DPRs, and a VIU means for forwarding a first set of the DPRs to the one of said gateways over the wireless link when the wireless link is activated, and for forwarding a second set of the DPRs to said another of said gateways over the another wireless link when the another wireless link is activated, so that the first and second sets of DPRs form the complete said list of DPRs. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. An access system for use in a vehicle telemetric system, the telemetric system comprising a central host connected to a communications network, the access system comprising:
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one or more vehicle interface units (VIUs) and a gateway, the gateway being connected to the communications network, each VIU being located in a different vehicle and having access to sensors in the vehicle for collecting vehicle related data, each VIU having means for communication over a wireless link with the gateway, the wireless link being activated when the vehicle is within a transmission range of the gateway; the VIU further comprising a means for aggregating and formatting the vehicle related data into a data point record (DPR) including a unique sequence number and a vehicle identification number; each VIU having a memory for storing the DPRs in a list, and a VIU means for forwarding the DPRs to the gateway over the wireless link; the gateway having another memory for storing the DPRs received from the VIU and a gateway means for forwarding the DPRs to the central host; and the gateway having means for requesting missing DPRs from each VIU, where the missing DPRs are those that have not been received by the central host. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method for monitoring a vehicle'"'"'s performance in a vehicle telemetric system comprising a central host connected to a communications network, one or more gateways connected to the communications network, each gateway having a wireless transmission range, a vehicle interface unit (VIU) within a vehicle having access to sensors in the vehicle for collecting vehicle related data, the VIU having means for wireless communication with any of said gateways, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) in the VIU, collecting, aggregating and formatting the vehicle related data into data point records (DPR), each DPR including a unique sequence number and a vehicle identification number, and storing the DPRs as a list in a VIU memory; (b) determining if the VIU is within the wireless transmission range of one of the gateways; (c) forwarding a set of the DPRs from the VIU to the one of said gateways over a wireless link; (d) forwarding some or all of the set of the DPRs received by the one of said gateways from the one of said gateways to the central host over the communications network; and (e) notifying each gateway by the central host regarding the sequence numbers and the vehicle identification numbers of the DPRs that have been already received at the central host. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification