Determining a remedial action for a motorized vehicle based on sensed vibration

• US 9,576,406 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2013
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ent Services Development Corporation LP (DXC Technology Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Cunnings, Joseph Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US14/759,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,491 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29.1, 701/31.4, 701/30.5, 701/33.7, 701/34.4, 702/56, 702/39
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 1/00 Measuring characteristics of vibrations in solids by using direct conduction to the detector G01H9/00, G01H11/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence
• 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

Abstract

An apparatus that includes a vibration sensor and a circuit. The vibration sensor provides an indication of vibration sensed in a motorized vehicle. The circuit determines a remedial action to be taken for the motorized vehicle based at least in part on the sensed vibration.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a vibration sensor to sense a vibration of a motorized vehicle; and

a circuit to

compare the sensed vibration to previously recognized vibration patterns corresponding to maintenance and safety issues,

based on the comparison, determine whether the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue or an immediate safety issue,

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue, transmit data indicative of the sensed vibration to a remotely disposed data center for storage and analysis, and

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to an immediate safety issue, display an alert on an onboard display of the motorized vehicle to alert an operator of the motorized vehicle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuit is to determine a remedial action based at least in part on the comparison of the sensed vibration to the previously recognized vibration patterns.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication interface,

wherein the circuit is to use the interface to communicate a signal indicative of a remedial action to a database at the data center remotely disposed from the motorized vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the signal is indicative of a first occurrence of the sensed vibration, and the circuit is further to provide daily updates to the remote database after the first occurrence of the sensed vibration.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the circuit is further to communicate a daily log indicating a daily number of trips and a duration of each of the daily number of trips after the first occurrence of the sensed vibration.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuit is to use the display to provide a remedial action for the sensed vibration.

7. A method comprising:

sensing, by a vibration sensor in a motorized vehicle, a vibration of the motorized vehicle;

comparing, by a circuit in the motorized vehicle, the sensed vibration to previously recognized vibration patterns corresponding to maintenance and safety issues;

based on the comparison, determining, by the circuit, whether the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue or an immediate safety issue;

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue, transmitting data indicative of the sensed vibration to a remotely disposed data center for storage and analysis; and

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to an immediate safety issue, displaying an alert on an onboard display of the motorized vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data center receives data indicative of the vibration patterns from a plurality of motorized vehicles.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising updating at least one of the motorized vehicles from which the data indicative of the vibration patterns is received with data representing an association between each of the vibration patterns and a remedial action.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the alert includes display a remedial action for the sensed vibration, wherein the remedial action is based on previously diagnosed problems to vibration patterns of a plurality of motorized vehicles.

11. An article comprising a non-transitory computer accessible storage medium to store instructions that when executed by a processor-based system cause the processor-based system to:

sense a vibration in a motorized vehicle;

compare the sensed vibration to previously recognized vibration patterns corresponding to maintenance and safety issues;

based on the comparison, determine whether the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue or an immediate safety issue;

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to a maintenance issue, transmit data indicative of the sensed vibration to a remotely disposed data center for storage and analysis; and

in response to a determination that the sensed vibration corresponds to an immediate safety issue, display an alert on an onboard display of the motorized vehicle to alert an operator of the motorized vehicle.

12. The article of claim 11, the non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor-based system cause the processor-based system to identify a pattern associated with the sensed vibration and compare the pattern of the sensed vibration to the previously recognized vibration patterns associated with known causes.

13. The article of claim 11, the non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor-based system cause the processor-based system to communicate a signal from the motorized vehicle to a database at the data center remotely disposed from the motorized vehicle, the signal being indicative of a remedial action.