System and method for applications management in a networked vehicular environment

• US 8,989,954 B1
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Addepalli, Sateesh K., Dai, Lillian Lei, Sudhaakar, Raghuram S., Chen, Chin-Ju
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/083,305
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 705/34, 180/65.265, 180/65.29, 290/40.C, 290/42, 307/10.1, 307/10.7, 307/10.8, 165/41, 315/77, 315/82, 320/104, 320/109, 700/17, 700/83, 701/29.1, 701/32.3, 701/32.7, 370/328, 370/389, 713/168, 713/192, 726/3, 726/7
• US Class Current: 701/32.3
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/45 Structures or tools for the administration of authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/008 where the control data relates to payload of a different packet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• 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 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 : Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0009 : for a plurality of users or terminals, e.g. group communication or moving wireless networks user group management H04W4/08; processing of subscriber group data H04W8/186
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 : Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 : Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 : Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 : based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 : Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 : based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 : Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 : in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 : where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0264 : by selectively disabling software applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/12 : Outer and inner loops
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 : Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/225 : Calculation of statistics, e.g. average, variance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 : taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 : distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 : based on regulatory allocation policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 : for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 : Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 : Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 : Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 : Data link layer protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 : Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 : between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 30/60 : Planning or developing urban green infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method in one example embodiment includes identifying a power state and a battery level of a vehicle. The method also includes allocating power to critical applications (for example) in response to determining that the battery level is above a reserve threshold while the power state of the vehicle is engine-off. The method also includes allocating remaining power in excess of the reserve threshold to non-critical applications according to a power management policy. The power management policy may comprise at least one of a user power preference index and an application power preference index.

Claims

1. A on-board unit of a vehicle configured to manage power associated with the vehicle, the on-board unit comprising:

a memory element configured to store data and a power management policy that defines power management guidelines for the vehicle including an operational threshold for the vehicle in an engine-on state and a reserve threshold for the vehicle in the engine-off state; and

a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the on-board unit is configured for;

identifying a power state and a battery level of the vehicle;

when the power state of the vehicle is in the engine-off state and the battery level is above the reserve threshold, allocating power to critical applications and allocating power in excess of the reserve threshold to non-critical applications according to the power management policy; and

when the power state of the vehicle is in the engine-off state and the battery level is below the operational threshold, retrieving real-time charging station data in a travel radius of the vehicle, retrieving traffic data in the travel radius of the vehicle, and identifying one or more charging stations in the travel radius of the vehicle based on the real-time charging station data and the real-time traffic data.

2. The on-board unit of claim 1, wherein the memory element is further configured to store an application power preference index that defines a prioritized list of applications to receive power during reduced power operations, the on-board unit further configured for:

when the battery level is below the reserve threshold, restricting power to the non-critical applications, and allocating power to the critical applications according to the application power preference index.

3. The on-board unit of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store a user profile having associated user charging station preferences, the on-board unit further configured for:

selecting, from the one or more identified charging stations, a list of at least one charging station according to the user charging station preferences; and

presenting driving directions to a charging station from the list of charging stations.

4. The on-board unit of claim 3, wherein the on-board unit is further configured for:

initiating an auto-billing process for a charging transaction.

5. The on-board unit of claim 3, wherein the user charging station preferences include one or more charging station selection criteria, the charging station selection criteria based, at least in part, on variable conditions.

6. The on-board unit of claim 5, wherein the charging station selection criteria for a particular charging station include one or more of:

a distance from the vehicle to the particular charging station, a wait time at the particular charging station, a price of electricity offered by the charging station, a number of vehicle docking stations available at the particular charging station, availability of restrooms at the charging station, and traffic conditions on roadways to the particular charging station.

7. The on-board unit of claim 1, further comprising a real-time data management module for retrieving the real-time charging station data, wherein the real-time data management module is configured to calculate the travel radius based, at least in part, on an amount of available electricity for the vehicle.

8. The on-board unit of claim 1, further comprising a real-time data management module for retrieving the real-time traffic data, wherein the real-time travel data includes traffic conditions retrieved from a cloud database, the real-time data management module configured to calculate the travel radius based, at least in part, on the traffic conditions.

9. The on-board unit of claim 3, further configured for:

receiving the real-time charging station data from a second vehicle for at least one of the charging station selection criteria.

10. The on-board unit of claim 3, further configured for:

receiving the real-time charging station data and the real-time traffic data from a cloud database for at least one of the charging station selection criteria.

11. The on-board unit of claim 1 further configured for:

prioritizing power allocation to a communication application based, at least in part, on current usage of power by the communication application.

12. The on-board unit of claim 11, further configured for:

switching a communication channel for the communication application to a multi-hop communication channel based, at least in part, on how much network traffic is associated with the communication application.

13. The on-board unit of claim 1, wherein the memory element is further configured to store at least one of a user power preference index and an application power preference index.

14. The on-board unit of claim 13, wherein the application power preference index includes one or more prioritized lists of applications to receive power when the battery level is below the reserve threshold.

15. The on-board unit of claim 13, wherein the user power preference index includes one or more prioritized lists of applications to receive power when the battery level is below the reserve threshold, wherein the applications are prioritized based on a user preference.