Dynamic route guidance

• US 8,630,791 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2011
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yuasa, Go
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Application Number:
  US13/040,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23, 701117-119, 701/123, 701/400, 701/408, 701/409, 701/410, 701/414, 701/438, 701/527, 701/532, 701/533, 340/450, 340/450.2, 340/995.1, 340/995.14, 340/995.17, 340/995.19, 340/995.24, 340/995.25, 340/995.27, 731/143.8, 731/145.2, 731/145.3, 731/145.4, 705/35, 705/400
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects

Abstract

A vehicle route guidance system is provided that may dynamically determine one or more possible destinations within a predetermined distance of a current location of a vehicle having the vehicle route guidance system. The vehicle route guidance system may determine respective routes to the one or more possible destinations and may access price information with respect to the one or more possible destinations. For each of the one or more possible destinations, the vehicle route guidance system may estimate a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle to reach respective ones of the one or more possible destination based on received traffic information, a respective route, and vehicle fuel consumption information. The vehicle route guidance system may provide information for guiding the vehicle to one of the one or more possible destinations having a lowest total overall cost.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method for providing dynamic routing guidance for guiding a vehicle to a fueling station selling fuel for the vehicle, the machine-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a vehicle route guidance system within the vehicle, traffic information;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, at least one fueling station within a first predetermined distance of a current location of the vehicle;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, a respective route to each of the at least one fueling station from the current location of the vehicle;

accessing, by the vehicle route guidance system, price information associated with each of the at least one fueling station;

estimating, by the vehicle route guidance system, a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to travel from the current location to each of the at least one fueling station based, at least partially, on the received traffic information, the determined respective route, and fuel consumption information;

computing, by the vehicle route guidance system, a total overall cost with respect to each of the at least one fueling station based on the accessed price information and the estimated cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to travel from the current location to each of the at least one fueling station;

selecting, by the vehicle route guidance system, one of the at least one fueling station having a lowest total overall cost as the destination;

providing, by the vehicle route guidance system, first information for guiding the vehicle to the destination;

receiving, by the vehicle route guidance system from a user, second information indicating a particular movie;

determining at least one movie theater showing the particular movie in an area within a second predetermined distance of the current location of the vehicle;

predicting respective costs of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle when traveling from the current location of the vehicle to respective locations of each of the at least one movie theater;

estimating a total cost associated with each of the at least one movie theater, respective estimated total costs include a cost of a ticket at a respective one of the at least one movie theater and the respective cost of fuel predicted to be consumed by the vehicle when traveling to the respective one of the at least one movie theater;

determining one of the at least one movie theater under consideration as a cheapest movie theater based on the estimated total cost associated with each of the at least one movie theater; and

providing information for guiding the vehicle to the cheapest movie theater.

2. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the estimating a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle further comprises;

predicting, by the vehicle route guidance system, a fuel consumption rate of the vehicle based, at least partially, on the received traffic information; and

the machine-implemented method further comprises;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, an amount of fuel remaining in a fuel tank of the vehicle, and

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, a driving range of the vehicle based on the predicted fuel consumption rate of the vehicle, the determined amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank of the vehicle, and the received traffic information, the first predetermined distance being based on the determined driving range.

3. The machine-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first predetermined distance is equal to a given percentage of the determined driving range.

4. The machine-implemented method of claim 2, wherein

each of the at least one fueling station is located within a predetermined distance of a calculated route to a trip destination.

5. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

obtaining, by the vehicle route guidance system, show times for the particular movie at the cheapest movie theater;

estimating, by the vehicle route guidance system, an arrival time at the cheapest movie theater;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, whether the estimated arrival time at the cheapest movie theater is within a predefined tolerance of a show time of the particular movie; and

performing, by the vehicle route guidance system, the providing of the information for guiding the vehicle to the cheapest movie theater when the estimated arrival time is determined to be within the predefined tolerance of the show time.

6. The machine-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

when the estimated arrival time is determined not to be within the predefined tolerance of the show time, performing;

discarding the cheapest movie theater;

selecting, by the vehicle route guidance system, a next cheapest movie theater as having a lowest overall cost from among the at least one cheapest movie theater, excluding the discarded cheapest movie theater, as a current cheapest movie theater;

estimating, by the vehicle route guidance system, an arrival time at the current cheapest movie theater;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, whether the estimated arrival time at the current cheapest movie theater is within the predefined tolerance of a show time of the particular movie; and

providing information for guiding the vehicle to the current cheapest movie theater when the estimated arrival time is determined to be within the predefined tolerance of the show time.

7. The machine-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the estimating an arrival time at the cheapest movie theater further comprises:

estimating the arrival time at the cheapest movie theater based, at least partially, on the received traffic information.

8. A system for providing dynamic routing guidance to a fueling station, the system comprising:

at least one computing device, one of the at least one computing device being located within a vehicle;

at least one memory connected to at least one processor of the at least one computing device, the at least one memory comprising;

instructions for determining an amount of fuel remaining in a fuel tank of a vehicle,

instructions for receiving and storing traffic information,

instructions for predicting a fuel consumption rate for the vehicle based, at least partially, on the received and stored traffic information and fuel consumption information for the vehicle,

instructions for accessing, by the computing device, price information for fuel at a plurality of fueling stations within a first predetermined distance of a current location of the vehicle,

instructions for predicting, by the computing device, respective amounts of fuel consumed to reach respective ones of the plurality of fueling stations based, at least partially, on the predicted fuel consumption rate for the vehicle,

instructions for estimating a respective estimated cost of fuel to reach the respective ones of the plurality of fuel stations based on the predicted respective amounts of fuel consumed to reach the ones of the plurality of fueling stations,

instructions for computing a cheapest overall price with respect to fueling the vehicle at each of the plurality of fueling stations based on the price information for the fuel at the plurality of fueling stations and the respective estimated cost of the fuel to reach the plurality of fueling stations,

instructions for outputting information regarding one of the plurality of fueling stations having the cheapest overall price,

instructions for receiving information indicating a particular movie,

instructions for determining at least one movie theater showing the particular movie in an area within a second predetermined distance of the current location of the vehicle,

instructions for predicting respective costs of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle when traveling from the current location of the vehicle to respective locations of each of the at least one movie theater,

instructions for estimating a total cost associated with each of the at least one movie theater, respective estimated total costs include a cost of a ticket at a respective one of the at least one movie theater and the respective cost of fuel predicted to be consumed by the vehicle when traveling to the respective one of the at least one movie theater,

instructions for determining one of the at least one movie theater under consideration as a cheapest movie theater based on the estimated total cost associated with each of the at least one movie theater; and

instructions for providing information for guiding the vehicle to the cheapest movie theater.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory further comprises:

instructions for determining a driving range of the vehicle based on the predicted fuel consumption rate for the vehicle and the received and stored traffic information, wherein

the first predetermined distance is based on the determined driving range.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory further comprises:

instructions for determining the current location of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of fueling stations is located within a second predetermined distance of a calculated route to a trip destination.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory further comprises:

instructions for obtaining a show time for the cheapest movie theater,

instructions for estimating a time of arrival of the vehicle at the cheapest movie theater,

instructions for determining whether the estimated time of arrival is within a predefined tolerance of the show time at the cheapest movie theater, and

instructions for eliminating the cheapest movie theater from consideration and determining one of the at least one movie theater under consideration as a cheapest movie theater based on the estimated total cost associated with each of the at least one movie theater under consideration when the estimated time of arrival is determined not to be within the predefined tolerance of the show time.

13. A system for providing dynamic routing guidance to a fueling station, the system comprising:

at least one computing device, one of the at least one computing device being located within a vehicle;

at least one memory connected to at least one processor of the at least one computing device, the at least one memory having instructions stored therein for performing a method comprising;

determining, by the vehicle route guidance system, a respective route from a current location of the vehicle to each of at least one fueling station within a first predetermined distance of the current location of the vehicle,

accessing, by the vehicle route guidance system, price information associated with each of the at least one fueling station,

estimating, by the vehicle route guidance system, a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to travel from the current location to each of the at least one fueling station based, at least partially, on the determined respective route, and fuel consumption information of the vehicle,

computing, by the vehicle route guidance system, a total overall cost with respect to each of the at least one fueling station based on the accessed price information and the estimated cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to travel from the current location to each of the at least fueling station,

selecting, by the vehicle route guidance system, one of the at least one fueling station having a lowest total overall cost as a selected fueling station,

providing, by the vehicle route guidance system, first information for guiding the vehicle to the selected fueling station,

accessing information regarding at least one movie theater showing a particular movie within a predefined distance of the current location of the vehicle,

calculating a route to each of the at least one movie theater from the current location of the vehicle,

predicting a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to reach each of the at least one movie theater from the current location based on the respective calculated routes, the fuel consumption information of the vehicle, and fuel price information,

computing a total overall cost, with respect to each of the at least one movie theater, based on a ticket price of the particular movie at each of the at least one movie theater and the predicted cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to reach each of the at least one movie theater,

determining a cheapest movie theater showing the particular movie, from among the at least one movie theater within the predefined distance, based on the respective total overall costs with respect to each of the at least one movie theater, and

providing information for guiding the vehicle to the cheapest movie theater from the current location of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the predicting a cost of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle in order to reach each of the at least one movie theater is further based, at least partially, on received traffic information.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

estimating an amount of time to reach the cheapest movie theater from the current location of the vehicle,

estimating an arrival time with respect to the cheapest movie theater based on a current time and the estimated amount of time to reach the cheapest movie theater, and

determining a next cheapest movie theater from among the at least one movie theater when the estimated arrival time is not within a predefined tolerance of a movie starting time.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a next cheapest movie theater from among the at least one movie theater after an indication is received from a user indicating a desire not to go to the determined cheapest movie theater.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

computing a route from the current location of the vehicle to a given destination,

determining an amount of fuel remaining in a fuel tank of the vehicle,

automatically performing, when the determined amount of fuel in the fuel tank is less than a predefined amount;

accessing second fuel price information for a second plurality of fueling stations along or within a predetermined distance of the computed route,

predicting a fuel consumption rate for the vehicle based, at least partially, on speed limit information along the computed route,

determining a driving range of the vehicle based on the predicted fuel consumption rate for the vehicle and the determined amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank,

determining, based on the accessed fuel price information, at least one of the second plurality of fuel stations having a cheapest fuel price and being located within the determined driving range of the vehicle, and

presenting information regarding the at least one of the second plurality of fuel stations having a cheapest fuel price and being located within the determined driving range of the vehicle.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving and storing traffic information, wherein;

the computing a route from a current location of the vehicle to a given destination further comprises computing a route from the current location of the vehicle to the given destination based, at least partially, on the received and stored traffic information, and

the predicting a fuel consumption rate for the vehicle based, at least partially, on speed limit information of the computed route further comprises predicting the fuel consumption rate for the vehicle based, at least partially, on the received and stored traffic information.