Crowdsourced weather data collection and provision

• US 9,451,030 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2011
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Schunder, Mark, Szwabowski, Steven Joseph, Filev, Dimitar Petrov, MacNeille, Perry Robinson
• Primary Examiner(s): Toatley, Gregory J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ishizuka, Yoshihisa
• Application Number:
  US13/030,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,041 Days
• Field of Search: 702/3, 701/208, 342/357.52
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of gathering data includes querying, via a vehicle computing system, a plurality of weather sensors included with a vehicle and in communication with a vehicle network. The method also includes determining whether or not appropriate conditions exist for storage of data from the sensor, for each of the sensors. Additionally, the method includes storing the data from the sensor if appropriate conditions exist. Finally, the method includes sending, from the vehicle computing system to a remote network, data from one or more queried sensors and current GPS coordinates of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

querying, via a vehicle computing system (VCS), a plurality of vehicle weather sensors in communication with a vehicle network;

for each sensor, determining whether current driving parameters will result in accurate sensor data;

storing the data from each sensor when current driving conditions will result in accurate sensor data from that sensor; and

sending, from the VCS to a remote network, data from the sensors and current vehicle GPS coordinates.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying is performed on a periodic basis.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying is performed on an on-demand basis in response to a request for data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a request for data is provided by a remote server in communication with the vehicle computing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending further includes sending the data once all sensors have been queried.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing includes storing the data in a local temporary memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing includes storing the data in a local permanent memory.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the current driving parameters include a vehicle movement state.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the current driving parameters include an ambient temperature detected at the vehicle.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a weather report request from a vehicle computing system (VCS), including requesting vehicle GPS coordinates;

gathering, via a server-implemented gathering process, a plurality of data-points, corresponding to weather data reported from other vehicles at a time in close proximity to a present time, and wherein the other vehicles reported the data from coordinates within a close proximity to the included GPS coordinates;

aggregating, via one or more server-implemented aggregation processes, the data to form a weather prediction for the included GPS coordinates, the aggregating including weighting the data based on the proximity of GPS coordinates that correspond to a point of data to the included GPS coordinates; and

reporting the weather prediction to the vehicle computing system from the server.