Vehicle location services

• US 9,913,104 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2016
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Rasal, Abuzafor M., Hu, Zhoumin, Yasan, Eray
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US15/003,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20170215045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 4554562, 455410, 4554141, 455427
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/015 Arrangements for jamming, spoofing or other methods of denial of service of such systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/215 issues related to spoofing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0054 of actual mobile position, i.e. position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/04 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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]

Abstract

A vehicle communication system and method of improving location services for a user in a vehicle are described. The method includes the steps of: receiving at a backend system a first message from the vehicle based on a determination of a malicious attack associated with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data received by the vehicle; receiving from a wireless carrier system (WCS) location data associated with a position of the vehicle; providing the location data to the vehicle from the backend system in response to the receipt of the first message; receiving a second message from the vehicle indicating that the malicious attack is no longer viable; and in response to receiving the second message, ceasing to provide the location data from the backend system.

Claims

1. A method of improving location services for a user in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a backend system a first message from the vehicle based on a determination of a malicious attack associated with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data received by the vehicle;

receiving from a wireless carrier system (WCS) location data;

that indicates the vehicle'"'"'s location and that is determined at the WCS independently of any GNSS data, wherein the WCS determines the location data based on wireless communications with the vehicle;

providing the location data to the vehicle from the backend system in response to the receipt of the first message, whereby the vehicle'"'"'s location can thereby be determined at the vehicle without the use of the GNSS data;

receiving a second message from the vehicle indicating that the malicious attack is no longer occurring; and

in response to receiving the second message, ceasing to provide the location data from the backend system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first message is in response to the vehicle determining at least one of:

an absolute power associated with at least one of a plurality of GNSS signals which are associated with a plurality of GNSS satellites;

a power changing rate of at least one of the plurality of GNSS signals;

a relative power associated with at least some of the plurality of GNSS signals;

a phase range rate is outside of an expected threshold;

or

a Doppler shift check associated with at least one of the plurality of GNSS signals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data comprises latitude data and longitude data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received location data is acquired using a triangulation technique, an enhanced cell identification (E-Cell ID) technique, an Observed Time Difference of Arrival technique, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the received location data is not associated with public-safety access point (PSAP) data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing updated location data to the vehicle from the backend system, prior to receiving the second message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message is received in response to at least one of:

(a) a determination at the vehicle that the malicious attack has ceased, (b) a determination that the malicious attack is no longer adversely affecting location services provided by a GNSS module in the vehicle, or (c) a determination at the vehicle that the location data provided by the backend system corresponds to second location data determined by the GNSS module.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determined correspondence of the location data provided by the backend system and the second location data is within a predetermined tolerance.

9. A method of improving location services for a user in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

determining at the vehicle a condition indicating a malicious attack associated with a vehicle Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) module;

in response to determining the condition, sending a location data request message from the vehicle to a backend system;

in response to sending the location data request message, receiving location data from the backend system, wherein the location data originated from a wireless carrier system independently of GNSS data;

determining vehicle location using the location data received from the backend system;

determining that the condition no longer exists; and

in response to determining that the condition no longer exists, providing a termination request message to the backend system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the condition indicating the malicious attack further comprises determining that the GNSS signal data has been spoofed by a malicious attacker.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the condition indicating the malicious attack further comprises determining at the vehicle at least one of:

an absolute power associated with at least one of a plurality of GNSS signals which are associated with a plurality of GNSS satellites;

a power changing rate of at least one of the plurality of GNSS signals;

a relative power associated with at least some of the plurality of GNSS signals;

a phase range rate is outside of an expected threshold;

or

a Doppler shift check associated with at least one of the plurality of GNSS signals.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the location data received from the backend system comprises latitude data and longitude data.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving updated location data at the vehicle from the backend system, prior to determining that the condition no longer exists.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein determining that the condition no longer exists further comprises at least one of the following:

determining at the vehicle that the malicious attack has ceased;

determining at the vehicle that the malicious attack continues however is no longer adversely affecting location services provided by a GNSS module in the vehicle;

or

determining at the vehicle that location data provided by the backend system corresponds to second location data determined by the GNSS module.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determined correspondence is within a predetermined tolerance.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising using the location data to provide location services to a vehicle user.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining dead reckoning (DR) data at the vehicle and using the provided location data and the DR data at the vehicle to provide the user location services.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the condition indicating the malicious attack, sending the location data request message, and receiving the location data from the backend system occur seamlessly and without user interaction.