Determining fuel economy by fuel source location

• US 9,256,842 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rhodes, Philippa M., Leggett, Jacquelle D.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Application Number:
  US13/534,913
• Publication Number:
  US 20140005917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 701/123
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A method, system or computer usable program product for computing fuel economy for a vehicle by fuel source location including monitoring a fuel level for the vehicle, responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location, computing a first fuel economy based on the first increase of the fuel level and a first distance travelled by the vehicle since a previous fuel source location, and allocating the first fuel economy to the previous fuel source location in a database.

Claims

1. A method of computing fuel economy for a vehicle by fuel source location comprising:

responsive to receiving signals from a fuel level sensor, monitoring a fuel level for the vehicle;

responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location, computing a first fuel economy based on the first increase of the fuel level and a first distance travelled by the vehicle since a previous fuel source location; and

allocating the first fuel economy to the previous fuel source location in a database.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at a second fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first fuel source location; and

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location in the database.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location determining the first location by electronic communications, and wherein the second fuel economy is allocated to the first fuel source location and the previous fuel source location based on a difference between the first increase fuel level and a fuel capacity of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the first fuel economy on a map and displaying the second fuel economy on the map.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the database is uploaded to a centralized database and the map is displayed to other persons.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first refueling at the first fuel source location;

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location;

responsive to determining a third increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a third fuel economy based on the third increase of the fuel level and a third distance traveled since the second refueling at the first fuel source location;

computing an average of the second fuel economy and the third fuel economy and associating the average to the first fuel source location in the database.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a user is queried whether to compute and allocate a first fuel economy, and responsive to a negative response from the user, disabling the steps of computing and allocating the first fuel economy.

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

computing a first statistical validity score for the first fuel economy;

computing a second statistical validity score for the second fuel economy; and

storing the first and second validity scores in the database.

9. A computer usable program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium including computer usable code for use in computing fuel economy for a vehicle by fuel source location, the computer usable program product comprising code for performing the steps of:

responsive to receiving signals from a fuel level sensor, monitoring a fuel level for the vehicle;

responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location, computing a first fuel economy based on the first increase of the fuel level and a first distance travelled by the vehicle since a previous fuel source location; and

allocating the first fuel economy to the previous fuel source location in a database.

10. The computer usable program product of claim 9 further comprising code for performing the steps of:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at a second fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first fuel source location; and

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location in the database.

11. The computer usable program product of claim 10 wherein responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location determining the first location by electronic communications, and wherein the second fuel economy is allocated to the first fuel source location and the previous fuel source location based on a difference between the first increase fuel level and a fuel capacity of the vehicle.

12. The computer usable program product of claim 9 further comprising code for performing the steps of displaying the first fuel economy on a map and displaying the second fuel economy on the map.

13. The computer usable program product of claim 12 wherein the database is uploaded to a centralized database and the map is displayed to other persons.

14. The computer usable program product of claim 9 further comprising code for performing the steps of:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first refueling at the first fuel source location;

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location;

responsive to determining a third increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a third fuel economy based on the third increase of the fuel level and a third distance traveled since the second refueling at the first fuel source location;

computing an average of the second fuel economy and the third fuel economy and associating the average to the first fuel source location in the database.

15. A data processing system for computing fuel economy for a vehicle by fuel source location, the data processing system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing program instructions which when executed by the processor execute the steps of;

responsive to receiving signals from a fuel level sensor, monitoring a fuel level for the vehicle;

responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location, computing a first fuel economy based on the first increase of the fuel level and a first distance travelled by the vehicle since a previous fuel source location; and

allocating the first fuel economy to the previous fuel source location in a database.

16. The data processing system of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at a second fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first fuel source location; and

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location in the database.

17. The data processing system of claim 16 wherein responsive to determining a first increase of the fuel level at a first fuel source location determining the first location by electronic communications, and wherein the second fuel economy is allocated to the first fuel source location and the previous fuel source location based on a difference between the first increase fuel level and a fuel capacity of the vehicle.

18. The data processing system of claim 15 further comprising the steps of displaying the first fuel economy on a map and displaying the second fuel economy on the map.

19. The data processing system of claim 18 wherein the database is uploaded to a centralized database and the map is displayed to other persons.

20. The data processing system of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

responsive to determining a second increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a second fuel economy based on the second increase of the fuel level and a second distance travelled since the first refueling at the first fuel source location;

allocating the second fuel economy to the first fuel source location;

responsive to determining a third increase of the fuel level at the first fuel source location, computing a third fuel economy based on the third increase of the fuel level and a third distance traveled since the second refueling at the first fuel source location;

computing an average of the second fuel economy and the third fuel economy and associating the average to the first fuel source location in the database.