Collaborative environmental reporting

• US 8,063,793 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shrum, Edgar Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/889,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20110012753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: 340902-903, 340/933, 340/501, 340/506, 340/941, 340/540, 340/601, 340/603, 340/605, 340905-907, 340/910
• US Class Current: 340/902
• 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 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for the reporting of an environmental condition to vehicles prior to encountering the environmental condition. According to various embodiments described herein, local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition is collected from sensors on a vehicle. The local environment data is used to determine that the environmental condition exists at the current location of the vehicle. A notification that includes the geographic location of the environmental condition is created and provided to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the environmental condition.

Claims

1. A method for providing a notification of an environmental condition, comprising:

receiving local environment data from a first vehicle, the local environment data comprising a combination of vehicle data corresponding to the first vehicle from a vehicle sensor of the first vehicle operative to monitor a system of the first vehicle and environment data from an environment sensor of the first vehicle operative to measure an atmospheric characteristic;

aggregating the local environment data from the first vehicle with similar local environment data from another vehicle to create aggregated local environment data;

determining if the aggregated local environment data meets a threshold; and

in response to the aggregated local environment data meeting the threshold, providing the notification to a second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at a geographic location of the first vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and being used when the geographic location corresponds to a road associated with a high volume of traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and wherein the method further comprises:

determining that a subscription level associated with the second vehicle allows notifications after a low threshold amount of the aggregate local environment data; and

providing the notification to the second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle upon determining that the aggregated local environment data meets the second threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold comprises at least two vehicles providing the local environment data and the similar local environment data aggregated to create the aggregated local environment data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising after aggregating the local environment data with the similar local environment data to create the aggregated local environment data, analyzing the aggregated local environment data to determine whether an anomaly exists in the aggregated local environment data indicating that the environmental condition exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided to the second vehicle via an electronic sign in the vicinity of the geographic location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the local environment data from the first vehicle further comprises driver data from a driver sensor of the first vehicle operative to monitor a physiological characteristic of a driver of the first vehicle.

8. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive local environment data from a first vehicle, the local environment data comprising a combination of vehicle data corresponding to the first vehicle from a vehicle sensor of the first vehicle operative to monitor a system of the first vehicle and environment data from an environment sensor of the first vehicle operative to measure an atmospheric characteristic;

aggregate the local environment data from the first vehicle with similar local environment data from another vehicle to create aggregated local environment data;

determine if the aggregated local environment data meets a threshold; and

in response to the aggregated local environment data meeting the threshold, provide a notification to a second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at a geographic location of the first vehicle.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and being used when the geographic location corresponds to a road associated with a high volume of traffic.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and wherein the computer-readable medium has further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which cause the computer to:

determine that a subscription level associated with the second vehicle allows notifications after a low threshold amount of the aggregate local environment data; and

provide the notification to the second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle upon determining that the aggregated local environment data meets the second threshold.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the threshold comprises at least two vehicles providing the local environment data and the similar local environment data aggregated to create the aggregated local environment data.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which cause the computer to after aggregating the local environment data with the similar local environment data to create the aggregated local environment data, analyze the aggregated local environment data to determine whether an anomaly exists in the aggregated local environment data indicating that the environmental condition exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the notification is provided to the second vehicle via an electronic sign in the vicinity of the geographic location.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the local environment data from the first vehicle further comprises driver data from a driver sensor of the first vehicle operative to monitor a physiological characteristic of a driver of the first vehicle.

15. A system for providing a notification of an environmental condition, comprising:

memory for storing a program containing code for providing the notification of the environmental condition; and

a processor functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program and configured to;

receive local environment data from a first vehicle, the local environment data comprising a combination of vehicle data corresponding to the first vehicle from a vehicle sensor of the first vehicle operative to monitor a system of the first vehicle and environment data from an environment sensor of the first vehicle operative to measure an atmospheric characteristic,

aggregate the local environment data from the first vehicle with similar local environment data from another vehicle to create aggregated local environment data,

determine if the aggregated local environment data meets a threshold, and

in response to the aggregated local environment data meeting the threshold, provide the notification to a second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at a geographic location of the first vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and being used when the geographic location corresponds to a road associated with a high volume of traffic.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, the first threshold comprising a higher value than the second threshold and wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that a subscription level associated with the second vehicle allows notifications after a low threshold amount of the aggregate local environment data; and

provide the notification to the second vehicle of the environmental condition that exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle upon determining that the aggregated local environment data meets the second threshold.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the threshold comprises at least two vehicles providing the local environment data and the similar local environment data aggregated to create the aggregated local environment data.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to after aggregating the local environment data with the similar local environment data to create the aggregated local environment data, analyze the aggregated local environment data to determine whether an anomaly exists in the aggregated local environment data indicating that the environmental condition exists at the geographic location of the first vehicle.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification is provided to the second vehicle via an electronic sign in the vicinity of the geographic location.