Maintenance assistance for a vehicle
First Claim
1. A method to provide navigational maintenance assistance for a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
- triggering a maintenance warning using a sensor on the vehicle;
in response to the maintenance warning, estimating a range a vehicle can travel before a required maintenance will disable the vehicle;
establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;
defining a search zone for searching for service stations, the search zone defined by at least (i) an axis along the direction of travel of the vehicle, (ii) the range from the estimating step, and (iii) an expandable angular range to either side of the axis, wherein the angular range is initially such that the search zone is limited to an area substantially ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle;
searching a database including service-station locations for any service stations located within the search zone;
if one or more service stations are found in the searching step, presenting the one or more service stations to a driver of the vehicle; and
if no service station is found in the searching step, expanding the angular range of the search zone and returning to the searching step,wherein, if no service station is found in the searching step after expanding the angular range such that the search zone covers a substantially circular area around the location of the vehicle, further carrying out the steps of;
expanding a radius of the substantially circular area corresponding to the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein the steps of expanding the radius and searching are carried out until at least one service station is found in the searching step.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method to provide navigational maintenance assistance for a vehicle includes a first step of estimating when the vehicle will require maintenance. A next step includes establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle. A next step includes searching a database for any service stations within a range of the vehicle and ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle before the vehicle becomes disabled. This step can be provided by a remote service provider. A next step includes presenting the found service stations from the searching step to a driver of the vehicle via a user interface.
103 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method to provide navigational maintenance assistance for a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
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triggering a maintenance warning using a sensor on the vehicle; in response to the maintenance warning, estimating a range a vehicle can travel before a required maintenance will disable the vehicle; establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle; defining a search zone for searching for service stations, the search zone defined by at least (i) an axis along the direction of travel of the vehicle, (ii) the range from the estimating step, and (iii) an expandable angular range to either side of the axis, wherein the angular range is initially such that the search zone is limited to an area substantially ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle; searching a database including service-station locations for any service stations located within the search zone; if one or more service stations are found in the searching step, presenting the one or more service stations to a driver of the vehicle; and if no service station is found in the searching step, expanding the angular range of the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein, if no service station is found in the searching step after expanding the angular range such that the search zone covers a substantially circular area around the location of the vehicle, further carrying out the steps of; expanding a radius of the substantially circular area corresponding to the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein the steps of expanding the radius and searching are carried out until at least one service station is found in the searching step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method to provide navigational refueling assistance for a vehicle with a communication device in contact with a network of a service provider, the method comprising the steps of:
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triggering a low fuel warning using a fuel level sensor; in response to the low fuel warning, estimating a remaining-fuel range of the vehicle using an existing amount of fuel and a mileage rate of the vehicle; establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle; defining a search zone for searching for refueling stations, the search zone defined by at least (i) an axis along the direction of travel of the vehicle, (ii) the range from the estimating step, and (iii) an expandable angular range to either side of the axis, wherein the angular range is initially such that the search zone is limited to an area substantially ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle; searching a refueling station database including refueling-station locations for any refueling stations located within the search zone, wherein the refueling station database is located on the service provider network; if one or more refueling stations are found in the searching step, downloading content related to the one or more refueling stations from the service provider network to the communication device and presenting the downloaded content to a driver of the vehicle via a user interface; if no refueling station is found in the searching step, expanding the angular range of the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein, if no refueling station is found in the searching step after expanding the angular range such that the search zone covers a substantially circular area around the location of the vehicle, further carrying out the steps of; expanding a radius of the substantially circular area corresponding to the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein the steps of expanding the radius and searching are carried out until at least one refueling station is found in the searching step. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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Specification