Data communication system for vehicle, on-vehicle terminal device, and center

• US 8,356,082 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2009
• Issued: 01/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Furuta, Seiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Bengzon, Greg C
• Application Number:
  US12/574,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/02 electric constitutive elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/00 Network topologies

Abstract

A controller of a navigation device judges whether or not there are data for which reception has been interrupted, based on data stored in a memory. When there are data for which reception has been interrupted, a distribution request of remaining data of the interrupted reception is transmitted to a center (50) through a data updating unit (310). A memory (55) of the center (50) stores the distribution request of the remaining data for which reception has been interrupted, which is transmitted from the navigation device (110). A controller (57) extracts the remaining data from the memory (55) based on the distribution request stored in the memory (55), and transmits the remaining data to the navigation device (110) through the data updating unit (310). After energy such as fuel is refilled, the user does not need to wait until the completion of the data communication.

Claims

1. A data communication system for a vehicle, which executes data communication between the vehicle and a center apparatus through a data updating unit of an energy refilling device when energy is refilled from the energy refilling device to the vehicle, wherein

the vehicle comprises an on-vehicle terminal device comprising:

a communication possibility detecting unit which detects that communication with the data updating unit of the energy refilling device is possible when the energy refilling device is connected to the vehicle;

a receiving unit which receives, when the communication possibility detecting unit detects that communication is possible, data from the center apparatus through the data updating unit of the energy refilling device;

a memory which stores data received by the receiving unit;

an interruption judging unit which judges whether or not there are data for which reception has been interrupted, based on data stored in the memory; and

a transmitting unit which transmits, when the interruption judging unit judges that there are data for which reception has been interrupted and the communication possibility detecting unit detects that communication is possible, a distribution request of remaining data of the interrupted reception to the center apparatus, and

the center apparatus comprises;

a receiving unit which receives the distribution request;

a memory which stores the distribution request received by the receiving unit of the center apparatus; and

a transmitting unit which transmits the remaining data of the interrupted reception to the on-vehicle terminal device based on the distribution request stored in the memory of the center apparatus, wherein

the communication possibility detecting unit of the on-vehicle device detects that communication with the data updating unit of the energy refilling device is possible when the energy refilling device is connected to the vehicle by the energy refilling device activating a switch provided near an injection inlet of the vehicle such that the switch is physically activated by inserting the energy refilling device into the injection inlet,

when the switch is physically activated, the transmitting unit of the on-vehicle device transmits the distribution request when the interruption judging unit judges that there are data for which reception has been interrupted, and

the data received by the receiving unit includes sound data, image data, or sound and image data.

3. The data communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the energy refilling device is a fuel refilling device.

5. The data communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the center apparatus divides data to be transmitted into units of a fixed length and transmits the data, and, during the transmission, the center apparatus also transmits index information regarding a number of divisions.

6. The data communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the activating of the switch by the energy refilling device is a determinative factor, by the communication possibility detecting unit, to detect whether the communication with the data updating unit of the energy refilling device is possible.

7. The data communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the data received by the receiving unit includes image data that forms an image in map data.

2. An on-vehicle terminal device which executes data communication with a center apparatus through a data updating unit of an energy refilling device when energy is refilled from the energy refilling device to a vehicle, the on-vehicle terminal device comprising:

a communication possibility detecting unit which detects that communication with the data updating unit of the energy refilling device is possible when the energy refilling device is connected to the vehicle;

a receiving unit which receives, when the communication possibility detecting unit detects that communication is possible, data from the center apparatus through the energy refilling device;

a memory which stores data received by the receiving unit;

an interruption judging unit which judges whether or not there are data for which reception has been interrupted, based on data stored in the memory; and

a transmitting unit which transmits to the center apparatus, when the interruption judging unit judges that there are data for which reception has been interrupted and the communication possibility detecting unit detects that communication is possible, a distribution request of remaining data of the interrupted reception, wherein

the communication possibility detecting unit of the on-vehicle device detects that communication with the data updating unit of the energy refilling device is possible when the energy refilling device is connected to the vehicle by the energy refilling device activating a switch provided near an injection inlet of the vehicle such that the switch is physically activated by inserting the energy refilling device into the injection inlet,

when the switch is physically activated, the transmitting unit of the on-vehicle device transmits the distribution request when the interruption judging unit judges that there are data for which reception has been interrupted, and

the data received by the receiving unit includes sound data, image data, or sound and image data.

4. The on-vehicle terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the energy refilling device is a fuel refilling device.

8. The on-vehicle terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the data received by the receiving unit includes image data that forms an image in map data.