Apparatus for use in an automated fuel authorization program requiring data to be dynamically retrieved from a vehicle data bus during fuel authorization
First Claim
1. A system to be installed on a vehicle participating in a fuel authorization program, where the fuel authorization program is based on exchanging data dynamically extracted from a vehicle data bus and a fuel vendor, comprising:
- (a) a truck board device, having an infrared (IR) transmitter that is positioned to send an IR signal through the vehicle windshield and an radiofrequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, the RF transmitter and RF receiver positioned to communicate with RF transceivers both inside and outside the vehicle;
(b) a smart cable, including;
(i) a housing;
(ii) a data cable extending from the housing and terminating in a data plug, to be used to logically couple the smart cable to a vehicle data bus(iii) a short-range RF transceiver to be used to logically couple the smart cable to the truck board device in the vehicle; and
(iv) a at least one or more of a microcontroller, a processor executing instructions stored on memory, or application-specific integrated circuit disposed in the housing and being logically coupled to the data plug and the short-range RF transceiver, the at least one or more of a microcontroller, a processor executing instructions stored on memory, or application-specific integrated circuit automatically implementing the functions of automatically responding to a query from the truck board device that is received by the short-range RF transceiver by using the data plug to dynamically acquire at least some data required for fuel authorization from the vehicle data bus; and
upon retrieving the data from the vehicle data bus, automatically conveying the acquired data to the truck board device using the short-range RF transceiver, wherein upon receiving the acquired data, the truck board device conveys the acquired data to the fuel vendor using at least one of the Infrared (IR) transmitter or (RF) transmitter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein is a fuel authorization program that requires data to be dynamically retrieved from a vehicle data bus during the fuel authorization process. This can be implemented using a smart cable that is installed in enrolled vehicles. The smart cable includes a housing suitable for commercial environments, a cable to logically couple the smart cable to the vehicle data bus, a second data link to be used to logically couple the smart cable to a fuel authorization “puck” in a vehicle, and a controller. The puck handles communication with the fuel vendor. The controller automatically implements the functions responding to a query from the puck received over the second data link by dynamically acquiring data from the vehicle data bus using the first data link, and conveying the data to the puck using the second data link.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A system to be installed on a vehicle participating in a fuel authorization program, where the fuel authorization program is based on exchanging data dynamically extracted from a vehicle data bus and a fuel vendor, comprising:
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(a) a truck board device, having an infrared (IR) transmitter that is positioned to send an IR signal through the vehicle windshield and an radiofrequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, the RF transmitter and RF receiver positioned to communicate with RF transceivers both inside and outside the vehicle; (b) a smart cable, including; (i) a housing; (ii) a data cable extending from the housing and terminating in a data plug, to be used to logically couple the smart cable to a vehicle data bus (iii) a short-range RF transceiver to be used to logically couple the smart cable to the truck board device in the vehicle; and (iv) a at least one or more of a microcontroller, a processor executing instructions stored on memory, or application-specific integrated circuit disposed in the housing and being logically coupled to the data plug and the short-range RF transceiver, the at least one or more of a microcontroller, a processor executing instructions stored on memory, or application-specific integrated circuit automatically implementing the functions of automatically responding to a query from the truck board device that is received by the short-range RF transceiver by using the data plug to dynamically acquire at least some data required for fuel authorization from the vehicle data bus; and
upon retrieving the data from the vehicle data bus, automatically conveying the acquired data to the truck board device using the short-range RF transceiver, wherein upon receiving the acquired data, the truck board device conveys the acquired data to the fuel vendor using at least one of the Infrared (IR) transmitter or (RF) transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification