Method and apparatus for obtaining weather information from road-going vehicles
First Claim
1. A method of determining weather information comprising:
- receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles; and
processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road-going vehicles, wherein the processing includes processing of vehicle equipment operation data based on a desired statistical confidence level and a minimum sample set size of road-going vehicles being included in the plurality of road-going vehicles, andwherein the processing further comprises using time-based weighting of reported windshield wiper speeds to generate precipitation-related weather information as an aggregate of individually reported wiper speed data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment taught herein, a plurality of road-going vehicles report weather-related data to a weather-determining system. For example, trucks and/or cars having in-vehicle information systems wirelessly transmit one or more items of weather-related data, such that the weather-determining system directly or indirectly receives the transmitted data. In turn, the weather-determining system jointly processes the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road-going vehicles. In one embodiment, the in-vehicle information systems comprise GPS-based position reporting systems installed in on-highway trucks and other fleet vehicles, and the weather-determining system comprises a modified position-tracking system, e.g., a modified network fleet management system. Weather-related data may be collected and processed for large numbers of vehicles across many geographic areas of interest, and the resulting weather information can be fed back to the road-going vehicles and/or provided to other consumers of weather information.
33 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of determining weather information comprising:
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receiving weather-related data from a plurality of road-going vehicles; and processing the weather-related data to determine weather information for one or more geographic areas corresponding to reported positions of the road-going vehicles, wherein the processing includes processing of vehicle equipment operation data based on a desired statistical confidence level and a minimum sample set size of road-going vehicles being included in the plurality of road-going vehicles, and wherein the processing further comprises using time-based weighting of reported windshield wiper speeds to generate precipitation-related weather information as an aggregate of individually reported wiper speed data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification