Determining available storage capacity of a vehicle

• US 9,639,909 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LYFT Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baldwin, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, ISAAC G
• Application Number:
  US14/042,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20150094876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,310 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1, 701 36, 348143, 348148, 348161, 348135, 3405681, 3405721, 345420
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 5/00 Compartments within vehicle body primarily intended or sufficiently spacious for trunks, suit-cases, or the like primarily intended for stowing loads in load-transporting vehicles B60P; arrangements for stowing spare wheels B62D43/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/28 for measuring areas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Tracking remaining storage capacity of a vehicle using sensors via a wireless system of the vehicle is presented herein. A method can include receiving, by a system comprising a processor, first data representing an object; receiving, by the system, second data representing a storage space of a vehicle; and determining, by the system using the first data and the second data, whether the object is capable of placement within the storage space of the vehicle. In an example, the method can further include displaying, by the system, information representing an order of placements of a set of objects comprising the object, a proposed location for the object, and/or a proposed orientation for the object within the storage space of the vehicle in response to the object being determined to be capable of placement within the storage space of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, object data representing a characteristic of an object;

in response to receiving, from an interior camera of a vehicle via a wireless communication, image data representing a storage space of the vehicle, determining, by the system based on the image data, dimensions of an available storage space of the vehicle;

determining, by the system based on the object data and the dimensions of the available storage space, a placement of the object within the available storage space; and

in response to determining that a removal of the object has increased a risk of damage to a remaining object within the storage space, sending, by the system, a message directed to a device comprising a warning indicating the removal of the object has increased the risk of damage to the remaining object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the object data comprises receiving the object data via a sensor of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the object data comprises receiving the object data in response to a scan of information representing the object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the object being determined to be capable of being placed within the available storage place, displaying, by the system, information representing a proposed location for the object within the storage space of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the object being determined to be capable of being placed within the available storage place, displaying, by the system, information representing a proposed orientation for the object within the storage space of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the object being determined to be capable of being placed within the available storage place, determining, by the system based on the object data, an order of placements of a set of objects comprising the object within the storage space of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the object data comprises receiving the object data via a camera of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the object is not capable of placement within the storage space, sending, by the system, a message directed to a mobile device indicating the object cannot be stored in the vehicle.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the removal of the object has increased the risk of damage to the remaining object comprises correlating the object with a predetermined probability that the object will at least one of roll or tilt within the storage space.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

in response to the determining that the removal of the object has increased the risk of damage to the remaining object within the storage space, determining a reconfiguration of a component of the storage space for placement of the object within the storage space.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the storage space comprises an arbitrary size that is reconfigurable according to the component.

8. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining a physical characteristic of a first object;

in response to receiving, from an interior camera of a vehicle via a wireless communication, image data representing a storage area of the vehicle, determining, based on the image data, dimensions corresponding to an available storage space of the vehicle;

determining, based on the dimensions and the physical characteristic, a location for placement of the first object in the available storage space; and

in response to determining, based on the first object being removed, that a risk of damage to a second object that has been stored in the storage area has increased, sending a message directed to a wireless device, wherein the message indicates removal of the first object has increased the risk of damage to the second object.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining the physical characteristic of the first object comprises receiving, via a sensor of the vehicle, data representing the physical characteristic of the first object.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining the physical characteristic of the first object comprises receiving data representing the physical characteristic of the first object in response to a scan of information representing the first object.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is capable of being stored in the available storage space, determining a candidate location for the first object within the available storage space; and

displaying information representing the candidate location.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise determining a candidate orientation for the first object within the available storage space.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is capable of being stored in the available storage space, displaying information representing the candidate orientation.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is capable of being stored in the available storage space, determining an order of placements for a group of objects comprising the first object within the available storage space.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is not capable of being stored within the vehicle, sending a communication directed to a mobile device indicating the first object is unable to be stored in the vehicle.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving first data representing first dimensions of a first object;

in response to receiving, via a wireless communication from an interior camera of a vehicle, image data representing a storage area of the vehicle, determining, based on the image data, second data representing second dimensions of an available portion of the storage area of the vehicle;

determining, based on the first data and the second data, a placement of the first object within the available portion of the storage area of the vehicle; and

in response to determining that removal of the first object from the storage area has increased a probability of damage to a second object of the storage area, sending a message representing the probability of damage to the second object directed to a device.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the receiving the first data comprises receiving the first data via another camera of the vehicle.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is capable of placement within the available portion of the storage area of the vehicle, displaying information representing a candidate location for the first object within the storage area.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the first object is not capable of placement within the storage area, sending a message directed to a mobile device indicating the first object is not to be stored in the vehicle.