Method for providing a service

• US 9,503,862 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2015
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Meier, Herbert, Hain, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): SIVJI, NIZAR N
• Application Number:
  US14/800,260
• Publication Number:
  US 20160021509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method for providing a service provides for a service provider to provide information to a service demander. In order to produce the information, the service provider evaluates data that describe selected parameters along a journey route. The data from the selected parameters are obtained by the service provider from selected data providers for the purpose of evaluation. The data from the selected parameters are received by service provider from the selected data providers such that identification by the service provider of one of the data providers on the basis of the transmitted data is made more difficult.

Claims

1. A method for providing a service by a service provider (30), comprising:

receiving, by the service provider (30), a request from a service demander (10) for a piece of information (I) relating to a multiplicity of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), the service demander (10) comprising a driving assistance system (11) in a vehicle operated by a driver;

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the multiplicity of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) data (D) that each describe a parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) from a multiplicity of parameters along a journey route (S), wherein the journey route has a multiplicity of subsections (T1, . . . , Tn);

the service provider (30) generating the information (I) by evaluating respective data that describe selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) from the multiplicity of the parameters along the journey route (S);

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the service demander (10), a request (R) for the provision of the information (I) from the service provider (30) for the journey route (S);

selecting, by the service provider (30), parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) that are to be evaluated from the multiplicity of the parameters for providing the requested information (I) to the service demander (10);

selecting, by the service provider (30), a number of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) for the respective provision of the data (D) describing the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) that are to be evaluated;

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), the respective data (D) from the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) and receiving from at least one of the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) data (D) describing at least one of the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along one of the subsections (T1, . . . , Tn) of the journey route (S), wherein the subsection (T1, . . . , Tn) is shorter than the journey route (S), or receiving from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) respective data (D) describing a first portion of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along the whole journey route (S) and receive from at least one further data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) respective data (D) describing a second portion of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along the whole journey route (S), wherein the first and second portions of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) each comprise fewer parameters than the whole of the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn); and

the service provider (30) evaluating the data (D) respectively received from the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), and providing the information (I) to the service demander (10) on the basis of the evaluation of the data (D),

wherein the information (I) from the service provider (30) is used by the driving assistance system (11) of the service demander (10) to provide driving assistance to the driver of the vehicle.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) are further vehicles that each have sensors (23a, . . . , 23n) for ascertaining the data (D) describing the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn).

2. A method for providing a service by a service provider (30), comprising:

receiving, by the service provider (30), a request from a service demander (10) for a piece of information (I) relating to a multiplicity of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), the service demander (10) comprising a driving assistance system (11) in a vehicle operated by a driver;

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the multiplicity of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) data (D) that each describe a parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) from a multiplicity of parameters along a journey route (S), wherein the journey route has a multiplicity of subsections (T1, . . . , Tn);

the service provider (30) generating the information (I) by evaluating respective data that describe selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) from the multiplicity of the parameters along the journey route (S);

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the service demander (10), a request (R) for the provision of the information (I) from the service provider (30) for the journey route (S);

selecting, by the service provider (30), parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) that are to be evaluated from the multiplicity of the parameters for providing the requested information (I) to the service demander (10);

selecting, by the service provider (30), a number of data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) for the respective provision of the data (D) describing the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) that are to be evaluated;

receiving, by the service provider (30), from the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), the respective data (D) from the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) and receiving from at least one of the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) data (D) describing at least one of the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along one of the subsections (T1, . . . , Tn) of the journey route (S), wherein the subsection (T1, . . . , Tn) is shorter than the journey route (S), or receiving from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) respective data (D) describing a first portion of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along the whole journey route (S) and receive from at least one further data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) respective data (D) describing a second portion of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) along the whole journey route (S), wherein the first and second portions of the parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) each comprise fewer parameters than the whole of the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn);

the service provider (30) evaluating the data (D) respectively received from the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n), and providing the information (I) to the service demander (10) on the basis of the evaluation of the data (D), wherein the information (I) from the service provider (30) is used by the driving assistance system (11) of the service demander (10) to provide driving assistance to the driver of the vehicle; and

storing, in a memory of the service provider (30) and/or a memory of the data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) at least one rule, according to which the service provider (30) receives from the selected data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) the data (D) describing the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn).

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one rule specifies on which of the subsections (T1, . . . , Tn) of the journey route (S) will the data (D) describing the at least one selected parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) received by the service provider (30) from the at least one selected data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) relate to.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2,

wherein the data (D) received from the data providers (20a, . . . , 20n) includes information relating to respective data sources (23a, . . . , 23n) describing the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn), and

wherein the at least one rule specifies which of the data (D) provided by the data sources (23a, . . . , 23n) of the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) will be received by the service provider (30) from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n).

5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one rule specifies which combinations of respective data (D) describing the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) will be received by the service provider (30) from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n).

6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one rule specifies in which geographical regions the data (D) describing the at least one selected parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) will be received by the service provider (30) from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) and which further geographical region is excluded from the data transmission.

7. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one rule specifies a maximum length of time for which uninterrupted data transmission of the data (D) describing the at least one selected parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) to the service provider (30) along the journey route (S) lasts.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one rule specifies a length of time for which a minimum interruption in the data transmission of the data (D) describing the at least one selected parameter (P1, . . . , Pn) from the at least one data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) to the service provider (30) along the journey route (S) lasts.

9. The method as claimed in claim 2,

wherein each of the rules is associated with one of a plurality of selectable safety levels stored in a memory device (25) of the at least one selected data provider (20a, . . . , 20n), the method further comprising:

selection of one of the safety levels for the at least one selected data provider (20a, . . . , 20n); and

receiving, by the service provider (30), the data describing the selected parameters (P1, . . . , Pn) from the at least one selected data provider (20a, . . . , 20n) on the basis of the rule associated with the selected safety level.