Centrally-managed vehicle network

• US 9,576,480 B1
• Filed: 09/21/2015
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Shoshan, Itzhak
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US14/860,491
• Time in Patent Office: 519 Days
• Field of Search: 701/119, 455/404.2, 340/988, 717/115
• 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 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Systems and methods to determine vehicle safety conditions are provided. Techniques include receiving one or more vehicle conditions from vehicle sensors and sending the data to a centralized server. The data is aggregated based on vehicle identifier and location to determine the type and location of the safety condition. The determined safety condition is sent to one or more vehicles in the vicinity of the determined safety condition to alert the drivers of the hazard. The safety condition can be displayed as an overlay on a map to aid the driver in locating it.

Claims

1. A system for managing vehicle sensor data, the system comprising:

one or more vehicle condition sensors communicating with communication hardware, the communication hardware configured to transmit vehicle condition sensor data to a central server;

wherein the central server is configured to;

aggregate vehicle condition sensor data by vehicle identifier and vehicle position;

determine a safety condition for the aggregated vehicle condition sensor data; and

transmit the safety condition to vehicles within an area around the safety condition, wherein the area is based on a classification of the safety condition.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server is further configured to:

create a live map of safety conditions;

wherein the live map comprises information layers associated with each vehicle identifier.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server is further configured to send operating instructions to the vehicles, wherein the operating instructions inform a driver about the safety condition.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a vehicle display, wherein the vehicle display is configured to display the safety condition.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein vehicle condition sensors comprise:

one or more electric system sensors;

one or more mechanical system sensors; and

a vehicle speed sensor.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server is further configured to:

compare aggregated vehicle condition sensor data for each vehicle identifier within an area to a set of predefined rules.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the set of predefined rules comprises:

a dangerous driving rule;

a slippery road rule; and

an emergency vehicle rule.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server is further configured to:

determine vehicle operation parameters from the aggregated vehicle condition sensor data; and

from the vehicle operation parameters, determine a location of the safety condition.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the location of the safety condition is location related.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the location of the safety condition is vehicle related.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the central server is further configured to:

determine an operating path of vehicles based on respective vehicle operation parameters; and

constrain communication of the safety condition to vehicles whose operating path intersects the location of the safety condition.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the central server is further configured to send instructions to the vehicles to move to a predetermined lane when the safety condition is associated with an emergency vehicle and the operating path of the emergency vehicle intersects with the operating path of the vehicles.

13. A method of managing vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving vehicle condition sensor data from a plurality of vehicles, the vehicle condition sensor data associated with respective vehicle identifiers and vehicle positions;

aggregating the vehicle condition sensor data based on vehicle identifier and vehicle position;

comparing the aggregated vehicle condition sensor data for the plurality of vehicles to predefined rules associated with safety conditions;

determining a safety condition at a particular location based on the comparison; and

transmitting the safety condition and the particular location to vehicles in an area.

14. The method claim 13, wherein the vehicle condition sensor data comprises:

an electric system condition;

a mechanical system condition; and

a vehicle speed.

15. The method claim 13, further comprising:

aggregating safety conditions at the particular location; and

sending the aggregated safety conditions to vehicles within an area around the aggregated safety conditions.

16. The method claim 13, further comprising classifying the safety condition as one of:

road hazard, traffic condition, or emergency vehicle.

17. The method claim 13, further comprising:

based on the safety condition at the particular location, altering traffic patterns near the safety condition to route vehicles in an area around the safety condition.

18. The method claim 17, wherein altering traffic patterns comprises one of dynamically assigning lanes, managing traffic signals, and providing a driving priority to vehicles near the safety condition;

wherein the driving priority comprises;

emergency vehicle, public transportation, carpooling, and standard cars.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed cause a computing system to:

receive vehicle condition sensor data from a plurality of vehicles, the vehicle condition sensor data associated with respective vehicle identifiers and vehicle positions;

aggregate the vehicle condition sensor data based on vehicle identifier and vehicle position;

compare the aggregated vehicle condition sensor data to predefined rules;

determine a safety condition at a particular location;

determine vehicle operation parameters from the aggregated vehicle condition sensor data;

determine an operating path of vehicles based on respective vehicle operation parameters; and

transmit the safety condition and the particular location to vehicles whose operating path intersects the particular location.