Method and system for facilitating the exchange of information between a vehicle and a remote location

• US 8,495,179 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Habaguchi, Masayuki, Yuhara, Hiromitsu, Ohno, Tsuneo, Tamura, Kazuya, Clough, Jamie, Shannon, Rich, Okino, Jon, Gusiff, John, Appa, Daya
• Primary Examiner(s): GOODCHILD, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US13/217,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20110307143A1
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• 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 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system and method that includes a vehicle that exchanges information with the remote location by way of a communication network. A remote server transmits vehicle-related information to the vehicle by way of a communication system. Information may also be broadcast to and received by the vehicle by way of a broadcast communication system. A receiver of the vehicle provides user access to only a subset of the broadcast information based on user preferences of a user profile. The user may update the user profile by accessing and updating it at either the vehicle or by accessing a database. The user may access the database through a network, such as the Internet. The vehicle also selectively transmits vehicle-related information to the remote location when a predetermined event occurs. The vehicle-related information is compiled and analyzed at the remote location, and the analyzed information is transmitted back to the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for providing vehicle-related information from a vehicle including a transmitter and a memory to a remote location, the method comprising:

storing at least a portion of a user profile in a memory onboard the vehicle, the user profile including a plurality of predetermined events and user preferences;

monitoring a condition associated with a plurality of vehicle parts using one or more vehicle detection devices in communication with the plurality of vehicle parts;

selecting at least one predetermined event from the plurality of predetermined events in the user profile as an identified predetermined event;

comparing the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts with an associated threshold level;

determining whether the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts is above or below the associated threshold level;

selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location when at least the identified predetermined event occurs, wherein the identified predetermined event is included in the user profile stored in the memory onboard the vehicle;

wherein selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises the steps of;

accessing the user preferences associated with the user profile stored in the memory onboard the vehicle;

determining whether the user preferences include information associated with transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location; and

selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location based on the user preferences such that whether or not the vehicle-related information is transmitted to the remote location is determined from the information included in the user preferences;

wherein the vehicle-related information contains information associated with the occurrence of the identified predetermined event, including at least one of the monitored condition and wherein the vehicle-related information is configured for receipt by the remote location; and

receiving analyzed information about the identified predetermined event from the remote location.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user preferences are configured to be updated by a user within the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information based on the user preferences further comprises automatically transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location upon the occurrence of the identified predetermined event occurs when the user preferences are set to automatically transmit the vehicle-related information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information based on the user preferences further comprises not transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location upon the occurrence of the identified predetermined event occurs when the user preferences are set to not transmit the vehicle-related information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information based on the user preferences further comprises providing a prompt to a user of the vehicle when the identified predetermined event occurs, wherein the prompt comprises a request for permission to transmit the vehicle-related information to the remote location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information based on the user preferences further comprises automatically transmitting vehicle-related information associated with at least one of the plurality of predetermined events to the remote location, regardless of the settings included in the user preferences.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preferences are configured to permit a user of the vehicle to select which of the plurality of predetermined events cause the selective transmittal of vehicle-related information to the remote location;

and

wherein the user preferences are further configured to permit a user of the vehicle to select when the vehicle-related information is automatically transmitted to the remote location.

8. A method for providing vehicle-related information from a vehicle including a transmitter and a memory to a remote location, the method comprising:

storing at least a portion of a user profile in a memory onboard the vehicle, the user profile including a plurality of predetermined events and user preferences;

monitoring a condition associated with a plurality of vehicle parts using one or more vehicle detection devices in communication with the plurality of vehicle parts;

comparing the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts with an associated threshold level;

determining whether the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts is above or below the associated threshold level;

selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location when at least two predetermined events from the plurality of predetermined events occur, wherein the plurality of predetermined events include at least one of the following;

a tire pressure below a predetermined tire pressure threshold level, a predetermined vehicle odometer reading, an oil level below a predetermined oil level threshold, and an engine temperature reading above a predetermined engine threshold level;

wherein selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises the steps of;

accessing the user preferences associated with the user profile stored in the memory onboard the vehicle;

determining whether the user preferences include information associated with transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location; and

selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location based on the user preferences such that whether or not the vehicle-related information is transmitted to the remote location is determined from the information included in the user preferences;

wherein the vehicle-related information contains information associated with the occurrence of the at least two predetermined events, including at least one of the monitored condition associated with each of the at least two predetermined events and wherein the vehicle-related information is configured for receipt by the remote location; and

receiving analyzed information about a condition of the vehicle from the remote location based on the vehicle-related information associated with the at least two predetermined events.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the vehicle-related information comprises at least one of the following:

a maintenance code, a time stamp, a vehicle identification number, vehicle odometer information, vehicle oil level information, and vehicle tire pressure information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises:

identifying a first predetermined event associated with a first monitored condition being above or below a first threshold level;

identifying a second predetermined event associated with a second monitored condition being above or below a second threshold level; and

selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location when at least the first predetermined event and the second predetermined event occur.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises transmitting the vehicle-related information from a vehicle information device at the vehicle to a mobile unit at the vehicle by way of an RF transceiver in communication with the vehicle information device and the mobile unit, and transmitting the vehicle-related information from the mobile unit to the remote location by way of a wireless communication network.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the RF transceiver is compliant with the Bluetooth®

wireless communication specification.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises transmitting the vehicle-related information from a vehicle information device at the vehicle to a mobile unit embedded in the vehicle by way of a cable in communication with the vehicle information device and the embedded mobile unit, and transmitting the vehicle-related information from the mobile unit to the remote location by way of a wireless communication network.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of receiving analyzed information about a condition of the vehicle from the remote location further comprises receiving analyzed vehicle-related information from the remote location based on stored vehicle-related information transmitted to the remote location from a plurality of vehicles.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the user preferences are configured to permit a user of the vehicle to select which of the plurality of predetermined events cause the selective transmittal of vehicle-related information to the remote location;

and

wherein the user preferences are further configured to permit a user of the vehicle to select when the vehicle-related information is automatically transmitted to the remote location.

16. A method for providing vehicle-related information from a vehicle including a transmitter and a memory to a remote location, the method comprising:

storing at least a portion of a user profile in a memory onboard the vehicle, the user profile including a plurality of predetermined events and user preferences;

monitoring a condition associated with a plurality of vehicle parts using one or more vehicle detection devices in communication with the plurality of vehicle parts;

selecting at least one predetermined event from the plurality of predetermined events in the user profile as an identified predetermined event;

comparing the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts with an associated threshold level;

determining whether the monitored condition of the plurality of vehicle parts is above or below the associated threshold level;

selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location when at least the identified predetermined event occurs, wherein the identified predetermined event is included in the user profile stored in the memory onboard the vehicle;

wherein selectively transmitting vehicle-related information to the remote location further comprises the steps of;

accessing the user preferences associated with the user profile stored in the memory onboard the vehicle;

determining whether the user preferences include information associated with transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location; and

selectively transmitting the vehicle-related information to the remote location based on the user preferences such that whether or not the vehicle-related information is transmitted to the remote location is determined from the information included in the user preferences;

wherein the vehicle-related information contains information associated with the occurrence of the identified predetermined event, including at least one of the monitored condition and wherein the vehicle-related information is configured for receipt by the remote location; and

scheduling a service appointment with a service provider in response to receiving analyzed information about the identified predetermined event from the remote location that indicates service is needed.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of scheduling the service appointment further comprises transmitting to the remote location desired service appointment information;

wherein the desired service appointment information is included in the user preferences; and

wherein the remote location is configured to schedule the service appointment with the service provider based on the transmitted desired service appointment information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the desired service appointment information comprises at least one of a preferred service provider and a desired appointment time.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising storing the desired service appointment information to the memory of the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising modifying the desired service appointment information by updating the user profile stored onboard the vehicle.