System and method for dynamically adapting to events during operations of a vehicle

• US 9,031,762 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2012
• Issued: 05/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Bell, Timothy Robert, Bollinger, Jonathan M., Cha, Tae-Woo, Price, Janet Kay
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malhotra, Sanjeev
• Application Number:
  US13/675,946
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 725/133, 718/102, 715/808, 705/9, 370/468, 358/1.15, 345/173
• US Class Current: 701/99
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

Embodiments relate generally to devices and methods for tracking events of a vehicle and associating those events with the driver and/or passengers within the vehicle at the time the events occurred. This may be accomplished by associating an individual identifier of a mobile device with a driver and/or passenger and connecting the mobile device to the head unit of the vehicle, wherein the head unit of the vehicle then associates the individual identifier of the mobile device with the tracked events.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically adapting to events during operations of a vehicle, comprising:

connecting, by an in-vehicle head unit executing at least one processor, a plurality of mobile devices based on communicatively coupling with the in-vehicle head unit of the vehicle, each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices comprising an individual identifier;

detecting, by the in-vehicle head unit, the individual identifier of each of the plurality of mobile devices;

receiving, by the in-vehicle head unit, a plurality of events from at least one of a plurality of sensors communicatively coupled with the vehicle, the plurality of events including any of vehicle location, miles travelled, gas used, speed, tire wear, oil use, brake use, acceleration, deceleration, lateral movement of shocks, motion detection, engine fail, and impact detection information;

monitoring, by the in-vehicle head unit, a time frame for each individual identifier of each of the plurality of mobile devices, wherein the time frame is based on the amount of time the individual identifier is detected;

responsive to receiving the plurality of events, associating, by the in-vehicle head unit, at least one of the individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices with at least one of the plurality of events during the monitored time frame corresponding to the at least one of the individual identifiers, wherein the at least one of the plurality of events associated with the at least one of the individual identifiers is received while the at least one of the individual identifiers is detected; and

transmitting, by the in-vehicle head unit, the associated individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices and the plurality of events to a network server via any of a cellular transceiver of the vehicle and one of the plurality of mobile devices detected by the in-vehicle head unit, wherein the associated individual identifiers and the plurality of events trigger at least one of the in-vehicle head unit or the network server to generate a usage report based on the plurality of events associated with the plurality of mobile devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating, by the in-vehicle head unit, at least one of the individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices with a user associated with one of the plurality of mobile devices;

responsive to the transmitting, allocating, by any of the in-vehicle head unit and the network server, costs associated with the plurality of events to at least one of the plurality of mobile devices; and

based on the allocating, generating, by any of the in-vehicle head unit and the network server, the usage report from the allocated costs associated with the individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving, on a user interface, the usage report that is generated by any of the in-vehicle head unit and the network server based on the plurality of events and the individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are associated with users of a carpool system, wherein one mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to a driver and another mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to a passenger.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring a user interface that displays the usage report on any of the in-vehicle head unit and at least one of the plurality of mobile devices.

6. A system for dynamically adapting to events during operations of a vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of sensors communicatively coupled with the vehicle that provide an indication of events; and

an in-vehicle head unit comprising;

at least one processor,

a cellular transceiver,

a short-range radio transceiver that is configured to communicatively couple with a plurality of mobile devices,

a non-transitory memory, and

an application stored in the non-transitory memory that, upon execution configures the at least one processor to,

receive a plurality of events from at least one of the plurality of sensors communicatively coupled with the vehicle, the plurality of events include any of vehicle location, miles travelled, gas used, speed, tire wear, oil use, brake use, acceleration, deceleration, lateral movement of shocks, motion detection, engine fail, and impact detection information,

store the plurality of events in the non-transitory memory, wherein storage of the plurality of events develops a history for at least some of the plurality of events,

detect an identifier of each of the plurality of mobile devices, wherein at least one of the plurality of mobile devices is communicatively coupled with the in-vehicle head unit,

monitor a time frame for each identifier, wherein the time frame is based on the amount of time the identifier is detected,

associate at least one identifier of the plurality of mobile devices with at least one of the plurality of events during the monitored time frame corresponding to the at least one identifier, wherein the at least one of the plurality of events is received while the at least one identifier is detected,

transmit the associated identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices and the plurality of events to a network server via any of the cellular transceiver and one of the plurality of mobile devices detected by the in-vehicle head unit, wherein the associated identifiers and the plurality of events trigger at least one of the in-vehicle head unit or the network server to generate a usage report based on the plurality of events associated with the plurality of mobile devices.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the head unit further configures the at least one processor to correlate, based on the association with at least one of the identifiers, a deviation between:

the plurality of events received from the at least one of the plurality of sensors in the vehicle while an identifier is detected and the history for at least some of the plurality of events stored in the non-transitory memory.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the in-vehicle head unit configures the at least one processor to monitor the time frame by tracking the time of a connection and disconnection of the plurality of mobile devices to the head unit via detection of the corresponding identifier.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the network server analyzes the associated events and generates the usage report based on the analysis.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the usage report reflects a cost calculation based on the plurality of events received by the application of the head unit while the plurality of mobile devices are connected to the head unit.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the usage report is communicated to users via at least one of:

a user interface of the head unit, a mobile device, and a website.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the cost reflected in the usage report is divided among at least some of the individual identifiers of the plurality of mobile devices based on the plurality of events that are received while the plurality of mobile devices are connected with the head unit.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are associated with a plurality of drivers of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are associated with a driver and at least one passenger of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein the in-vehicle head unit further comprises a user interface that is configurable to display the usage report.