Vehicle communications via wireless access vehicular environment

• US 9,503,968 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2015
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Paxgrid Telemetric Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Paxgrid Telemetric Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Fairbanks, Neal, Nathanson, Martin D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US14/798,959
• Publication Number:
  US 20150319681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 497 Days
• Field of Search: 701/31.4, 342/357.28, 340/438, 709/224, 246/473.1, 370/338, 348/148
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/166 Navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/5905 Wi-fi
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/5915 Inter vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/166 Navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/5905 Wi-fi
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/5915 Inter vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Vehicle Communications using IEEE 802.11p WAVE functionality includes structure and method whereby a smart phone (SP) linked to an On Board Unit (OBU) having WAVE functionality, and incorporating Automotive Telemetry Protocol (ATP), has at least one processor to configure the SP as a GUI for the OBU, and to enable WAVE authentication of the SP through a networked Road Side Unit. Preferably, the OBU opens, after a command from an ATP Client, a virtual connection for streaming data between the vehicle data bus and a remote server providing an automotive scan tool. Also preferably, the SP may use either cellular or IEEE 802.11 control signals to trialaterate its geographic position with greater accuracy than GPS, and to hand off the geo-position fixes to the OBU. Accumulated geo-location information may be reported to a remote server, providing a centralized geographic trend analysis of plural SPs operating with OBUs.

Claims

1. A roadside unit (RSU) comprising:

at least one processor running at least one computer program adapted to enable the RSU to;

(i) comply with IEEE 802.11p Wireless Access Vehicular Environment (WAVE) functionality, including the IEEE 1609 suite of specifications;

(ii) cause the RSU to broadcast, in accordance with IEEE 1609.1 using a WAVE Services Announcement, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address of a UDP/IPv6-based geo-location service from which a vehicle On Board Unit (OBU) may acquire the geo-location of said RSU,

(iii) cache at least one Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value associated with Radio Frequency (RF) reception by said RSU of at least one IEEE 802.11p frame transmitted from at least one neighboring RSU, and

(iv) include said at least one RSSI value corresponding to the transmission of said at least one neighboring RSU in said IEEE 1609.1 WAVE Service Announcement, which information is configured to cause a receiving vehicle OBU to calibrate the distance, estimated according to the RSSI associated with transmission received by said OBU, from said at last one neighboring RSU, and improves the accuracy of the geo-location of the RSU'"'"'s own position determined by said OBU.

2. The roadside unit (RSU) according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor running the at least one computer program is configured to comply with the Automotive Telemetry Protocol.

3. The roadside unit (RSU), according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor running the at least one computer program is configured to enable the RSU to (i) provide the said UDP/IPv6-based geo-location service, (ii) acquire said RSU'"'"'s own geo-location from any remote Geographic Information System host, and (iii) respond to UDP requests from the OBU with the geo-location of the RSU.

4. A roadside unit (RSU) comprising:

at least one processor running at least one computer program adapted to enable the RSU to;

(i) comply with IEEE 802.11p Wireless Access Vehicular Environment (WAVE) functionality, including the IEEE 1609 suite of specifications; and

(ii) to cause the RSU to broadcast, in accordance with IEEE 1609.1 using a WAVE Services Announcement (WSA), a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address of a remote Roadway Authorization Server (RAS) whereby a vehicle On-Board Unit (OBU) receiving said WSA is caused to issue a UDP/IPv6 authorization request to said RAS.

5. The roadside unit (RSU) according to claim 4, wherein the at least one processor running the at least one computer program is configured to comply with the Automotive Telemetry Protocol.

6. A Roadway Authorization Server (RAS), comprising:

at least one processor running at least one computer program adapted to communicate with at least one of (i) a vehicle On Board Unit (OBU) requesting authorization and (ii) a device having configured itself on a subnet of the OBU according to Stateless Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC), and wherein said RAS is enabled to;

in response to a request for authorization from said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, to challenge said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device for identifying information, encrypted according to the security provisions of IEEE 1609.2, to identify the device;

to authenticate said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, or

to not authenticate said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, and consequently refuse access to the WAVE network, in accordance with provisions of IEEE 1609.2.

7. A Roadway Authorization Server (RAS) as defined in claim 6, wherein the identifying information includes an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier) or an ICCID (SIM card identifier) or both.

8. A Roadway Authorization Server (RAS), comprising:

at least one processor running at least one computer program adapted to communicate through a Road Side Unit (RSU) with at least one of (i) a vehicle On Board Unit (OBU) requesting authorization and (ii) with a device having configured itself on the subnet of OBU according to Stateless Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) said RSU issuing an instruction to the said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, in the form of a WAVE Services Announcement (WSA) which identifies an IP address and port of said RAS, and wherein said RAS is enabled to;

in response to a request for authorization from said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, to challenge said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device for identifying information, encrypted according to the security provisions of IEEE 1609.2, to identify said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device;

to authenticate said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, or

to not authenticate said at least one of (i) said OBU and (ii) said device, and consequently refuse access to the WAVE network, in accordance with provisions of IEEE 1609.2.