Vehicle maintenance reminders

• US 9,466,153 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2014
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Livio, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Myine Electronics, Inc. (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Gatti, Marco, Burke, Michael, Fischer, Joel J., Grover, Joey Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, ABBY YEE
• Application Number:
  US14/452,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20160042576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0234 related to maintenance or repairing of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A system may determine, based on vehicle data received from vehicle sensors, a maintenance indication indicative of vehicle maintenance required according to a vehicle maintenance schedule, identify a maintenance time indication for which a maintenance procedure unrelated to the vehicle maintenance schedule should be performed, and generate a maintenance recommendation to provide in a vehicle human-machine interface offering to perform the vehicle maintenance and the unrelated maintenance procedure. The system may also identify, based on driver maintenance preferences, a weather-specific maintenance procedure unrelated to a vehicle maintenance schedule, identify a maintenance time indication according to properties of weather appropriate for the weather-specific maintenance procedure and weather forecast data queried from a weather service, and present a maintenance recommendation offering to perform required vehicle maintenance and the weather-specific maintenance procedure at a time indicated by the maintenance time indication.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

vehicle sensors; and

a processor configured to

receive vehicle data from the vehicle sensors,

determine, based on the vehicle data and a vehicle maintenance schedule, a maintenance indication indicative of vehicle maintenance that is due,

identify a maintenance time indication for performing a weather-specific maintenance procedure unrelated to the vehicle maintenance schedule based on timeframes before and after weather predicted by weather forecast data during which maintenance recommendations are not to be indicated, and

display a maintenance recommendation offering to perform the vehicle maintenance and the weather-specific maintenance procedure at a time indicated by the maintenance time indication.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to provide the maintenance recommendation in a vehicle human-machine interface.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive user input accepting the maintenance recommendation, and

schedule the vehicle maintenance and the weather-specific maintenance procedure with a maintenance scheduling service.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the maintenance recommendation displays a message indicating a proposed day for performing the vehicle maintenance required by the maintenance schedule and the weather-specific maintenance procedure.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the maintenance recommendation includes user interface controls configured to receive user input regarding acceptance or rejection of the maintenance recommendation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the vehicle data from vehicle sensors connected to a controller area network of the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the maintenance time indication according to properties of weather appropriate for the weather-specific maintenance procedure and where the weather forecast data is queried by the processor from a weather service.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the weather-specific maintenance procedure based on driver maintenance preferences maintained by the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the weather-specific maintenance procedure includes a vehicle wash.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the maintenance schedule includes at least one of maintenance procedures specified according to a predetermined interval of time, or maintenance procedures specified according to an interval number of miles.

11. A system comprising:

vehicle sensors; and

a processor configured to

identify, based on driver maintenance preferences, a weather-specific maintenance procedure unrelated to a vehicle maintenance schedule,

identify a maintenance time indication according to properties of weather appropriate for the weather-specific maintenance procedure and weather forecast data queried from a weather service using driver maintenance preferences indicating timeframes before and after predicted weather during which maintenance recommendations are not to be indicated, and

display a maintenance recommendation offering to perform required vehicle maintenance determined based on data from the vehicle sensors and the weather-specific maintenance procedure at a time indicated by the maintenance time indication.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to determine, based on vehicle data received from the vehicle sensors and the vehicle maintenance schedule, a maintenance indication indicative of the required vehicle maintenance being due.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the vehicle data from vehicle sensors connected to a controller area network of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to provide the maintenance recommendation in a vehicle human-machine interface.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive user input accepting the maintenance recommendation, and

schedule the required vehicle maintenance and the weather-specific maintenance procedure with a maintenance scheduling service.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the maintenance recommendation displays a message indicating a proposed day for performing the vehicle maintenance required by the maintenance schedule and the weather-specific maintenance procedure.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the maintenance recommendation includes user interface controls configured to receive user input regarding acceptance or rejection of the maintenance recommendation.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the weather-specific maintenance procedure includes a vehicle wash.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the maintenance schedule includes at least one of maintenance procedures specified according to a predetermined interval of time, or maintenance procedures specified according to an interval number of miles.

20. A method comprising:

generating, by a processor of a vehicle, using a vehicle maintenance schedule and vehicle data received by the processor from vehicle sensors over a controller area network of the vehicle, a maintenance indication indicating a maintenance procedure to be performed to the vehicle;

generating, by the processor, a maintenance time indication indicative of one or more times deemed suitable for performing a maintenance procedure unrelated to the maintenance schedule by querying a weather service for weather conditions while accounting for driver maintenance preferences indicating timeframes before and after the weather during which maintenance recommendations are not to be indicated;

displaying, to a user interface screen of the vehicle, a maintenance recommendation suggesting a day suitable for the maintenance procedure unrelated to the vehicle maintenance schedule, and suggesting that both the maintenance procedure unrelated to the maintenance schedule and the maintenance indicated by the maintenance indication be performed that day; and

responsive to user input to the screen accepting the maintenance recommendation, schedule an appointment for the vehicle to have both the maintenance procedure unrelated to the maintenance schedule and the maintenance indicated by the maintenance indication performed.