Smartphone based system for vehicle monitoring security

• US 9,342,935 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Diamond 18 Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Diamond 18 Ltd.
• Inventors: Hefferan, John K., Lundsgaard, Niels C., Lundsgaard, Soren K.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, CALVIN K
• Application Number:
  US14/147,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20140195100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2205/02 using a vehicle scan tool
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

An apparatus and method for monitoring a vehicle. Some embodiments include: capturing and securely storing OBD and location data from the vehicle, maintaining the data on storage in control of a user for a user-specified amount of time, securely transmitting the stored data to an internet-based server, storing the data on the internet server and processing the data for retrieval, retrieving the data from the internet server for display via a web server or specialized application, and performing remote diagnostics in the vehicle based on the VIN. Some embodiments include extracting a make and model of the vehicle from the VIN; wirelessly transmitting the make and model to a server; wirelessly receiving, from the server, a particular set of on-board-diagnostic (OBD) queries to perform to determine whether any abnormal measurements exist for this make and model; and executing a plurality of queries from the particular set of OBD queries.

Claims

1. A computerized method for monitoring a particular vehicle with a computer system located in the particular vehicle, the computerized method comprising:

acquiring a set of vehicle data from the particular vehicle that includes vehicle diagnostic data, time data, and location data associated with a route the vehicle travels;

associating each of a plurality of diagnostic data with respective ones of the time data and the location data;

analyzing, in the computer system located in the particular vehicle, the set of vehicle data to determine a severity of a warning indication from a set of severities;

outputting to a user, from the computer system located in the particular vehicle, the severity of the warning indication;

securing the set of vehicle data to obtain a secured set of vehicle data and then storing the secured set of vehicle data on the computer system located in the particular vehicle; and

after a predetermined time delay from the acquiring of the set of vehicle data has elapsed, wireless transmitting the secured set of vehicle data to a host computer server.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the set of vehicle data according to at least one algorithm to generate derived diagnostic information that is at least in part derived from the acquired vehicle diagnostic data, time data, and location data,

wherein the derived information has a meaning distinct from the acquired set of vehicle data, and

wherein the at least one algorithm includes at least one selected from the set consisting of a geometric-location algorithm and a topological-location algorithm;

formatting the derived diagnostic information to obtain formatted derived information for visual display by an application running on the computer system,

wherein the computer system includes a user'"'"'s computer device,

wherein the visual display includes at least portions of the derived information indicative of the vehicle'"'"'s engine performance; and

transmitting the formatted derived information to the user'"'"'s computer device.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the acquiring of the set of vehicle data includes acquiring a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the particular vehicle, the method further comprising:

before the wirelessly transmitting of the set of vehicle data to the host computer server, changing the VIN to make the particular vehicle anonymous while retaining information from the VIN which identifies a make and model of the particular vehicle.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle diagnostic data includes a plurality of parameters reported by on-board diagnostics (OBD) functions of the vehicle, the parameters selected from the set consisting of:

engine RPM, engine intake manifold air pressure, engine mass air flow measurement, engine coolant temperature, ambient air temperature, engine intake air temperature, vehicle identification number (VIN), vehicle mileage, and vehicle speed as reported by the OBD.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, further comprising:

organizing the set of vehicle data in a plurality of interval subsets, wherein each interval subset includes interval start-location and end-location data, start-time and end-time data, minima and maxima of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the vehicle between the start and end location, averages and deciles of statistical measures of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the vehicle between the start and end location.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising

public-key-encrypting vehicle data before transmitting to the host computer server so that the host computer server can decrypt the data using a private key in the host computer.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising

capturing data to permanent storage only after determining that a predetermined distance has been traveled.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the computer system located in the particular vehicle includes a smartphone.

9. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the set of severities includes:

I) information,

II) warning—

contact service facility for future service,

III) drive below a specified speed, and drive less than a specified distance to get service, and

IV) stop vehicle immediately.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a suitably programmed information-processing system, perform a method comprising:

acquiring, into a in-vehicle computer located in the vehicle, vehicle data that includes vehicle-diagnostic data, time data, and location data associated with a route that a particular vehicle travels;

associating the vehicle-diagnostic data with the time data and the location data;

securing the vehicle data while stored on the in-vehicle computer;

processing said vehicle data according to at least one algorithm to generate derived diagnostic and location information that is at least in part derived from the acquired vehicle-diagnostic data, time data, and location data,

wherein the at least one algorithm includes at least one selected from the set consisting of a geometric-location algorithm and a topological-location algorithm, and

wherein the derived information has a meaning distinct from the acquired vehicle data;

analyzing, in the in-vehicle computer located in the vehicle, said vehicle data to determine a severity of a warning indication from a set of severities;

outputting to a user, from the in-vehicle computer located in the vehicle, the severity of the warning indication;

formatting the derived diagnostic information for display on an application running on a user'"'"'s computer device,

wherein the application presents to a user information associated with the vehicle,

wherein the interface includes at least one of an icon and a data field associated with the derived information indicative of the vehicle'"'"'s engine performance; and

wireless transmitting said formatted vehicle data in a communication to a host computer device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions to cause the method to further include:

delaying the transmission of vehicle data to the host computer for a user configured length of time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the application includes a browser, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising instructions to cause the method to further include:

displaying the formatted derived diagnostic information using the browser.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions to cause the method to further include:

generating anonymized VIN information based on the VIN to make the particular vehicle anonymous while retaining information from the VIN that identifies the make and model of the vehicle.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,

wherein the vehicle diagnostic data is organized into a plurality of interval subsets defined by intervals of travel, and

wherein each interval subset includes interval location start and end data, start and end time data, minima and maxima of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the vehicle between the start and end location, averages and deciles statistical measures of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the vehicle between the start and end location of the respective interval.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising

a data structure, stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium, for organizing a set of vehicle data regarding a particular vehicle, wherein the set of vehicle data includes vehicle diagnostic data, time data, and location data associated with a route the particular vehicle travels,

the data structure including:

vehicle information derived from the particular vehicle'"'"'s vehicle identification number (VIN) that indicates a make and model of the particular vehicle but that does not include a serial number of the particular vehicle; and

a plurality of interval subsets, each interval subset associated with a particular interval of travel, and each interval subset including;

data indicative of a start location for the particular interval,

data indicative of an end location for the particular interval,

data indicative of a start time for the particular interval,

data indicative of an end time for the particular interval, and

data indicative of a plurality of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the particular vehicle between the start location and the end location for the particular interval.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, each one of the plurality of interval subsets further including:

data indicative of minima and maxima of the plurality of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the particular vehicle between the start location and the end location for the particular interval.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, each one of the plurality of interval subsets further including:

averages and deciles of a plurality of statistical measures of the plurality of vehicle diagnostic data associated with the particular vehicle between the start location and the end location for the particular interval.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the data structure further including a parameter that specifies a privacy buffer distance associated with each start location and end location.

19. A computerized method for monitoring a particular vehicle with a computer system located in the particular vehicle, the computerized method comprising:

acquiring a set of vehicle data from the particular vehicle that includes vehicle diagnostic data, time data, and location data associated with a route the vehicle travels;

associating each of a plurality of the diagnostic data with respective ones of the time data and the location data;

securing the set of vehicle data and then storing the secured set of vehicle on the computer system located in the particular vehicle;

after a predetermined time delay from the acquiring of the set of vehicle data has elapsed, wirelessly transmitting the secured set of vehicle data to a host computer server;

analyzing, in the computer system located in the particular vehicle, the set of vehicle data to determine a severity of a warning indication from a set of severities;

outputting to a user, from the computer system located in the particular vehicle, the severity of the warning indication;

aggregating, in the host computer server, sets of vehicle data from a plurality of vehicles having similar characteristics to obtain an aggregated performance of the plurality of vehicles having similar characteristics;

comparing performance of the particular vehicle to the aggregated performance of the plurality of vehicles having similar characteristics based on the set of vehicle data from the particular vehicle; and

presenting to a user results from the comparing.