Vehicle information display and management

• US 9,940,089 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bender, Michael, Borse, Santosh S., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Richer, Joni
• Application Number:
  US15/252,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20180060008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/02 Flexible displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2096 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a flat panel suitable for both CRT and flat panel G09G5/006; specific for a CRT G09G1/167
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3225 using an active matrix

Abstract

Approaches presented herein include an electronic, programmable vehicle window display device and a method of managing the same. Specifically, an electronic, programmable vehicle window display device is provided for displaying a registration or other vehicle information in a window of a vehicle. The device displays a vehicle information document having an expiration date. The device, at pre-specified times, queries a vehicle database for an updated version of the document having a later expiration date. If an updated document is found, the device retrieves the updated document and saves the updated document in a storage area of the device. The device then modifies the display to show the updated document.

Claims

1. A method of managing a programmable vehicle window display device, the method comprising:

scheduling a display rotation of a plurality of documents stored on the programmable vehicle window display device based on a location schedule associated with a vehicle displaying the programmable vehicle window display device, the plurality of documents comprising at least a first type of document and a second type of document, wherein display of the second type of document is necessary for access to a location of the location schedule;

displaying, according to the scheduled display rotation, a first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents on a display of the programmable vehicle window display device, the first vehicle information document having a first validity end date;

querying a vehicle information database for a second vehicle information document of the first type of document having a second validity end date subsequent to the first validity end date;

retrieving, responsive to the second validity end date being subsequent to the first validity end date, the second vehicle information document;

saving the second vehicle information document in a storage area of the programmable vehicle window display device;

replacing the first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents with the second document in the scheduled display rotation;

displaying the second vehicle information document on the display according to the scheduled display rotation;

verifying, periodically, the second document with the vehicle information database;

invalidating the second document in the case of a verification failure; and

displaying, responsive to the invalidation, an invalidation indicator on the display.

2. The method of claim 1, the querying further comprising submitting a query to the vehicle information database at a preset interval, the query comprising a vehicle identifier and the first validity end date.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising displaying a notification on the display within a threshold time period prior to the first validity end date.

4. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a third vehicle information document;

saving the third vehicle information document in the storage area of the programmable vehicle window display device;

displaying on the display, daily at a first time period, the third vehicle information document; and

displaying on the display, daily at a second time period, the second vehicle information document.

5. The method of claim 1, the second information document being generated in response to a renewal of a permission granted by the first information document.

6. The method of claim 5, the first information document and the second information document being a same type of document, and the type of document being selected from the group consisting of:

a registration document, a parking document, and an access document.

7. The method of claim 1, the display having a flexible screen and the programmable vehicle window display device having a mechanism for attachment to a vehicle window.

8. The method of claim 7, the programmable vehicle window display device having a mechanism to electronically invalidate the programmable vehicle window display device in the event of removal of the programmable vehicle window display device from a vehicle window.

9. A computer system for managing a programmable vehicle window display device, the computer system comprising:

the programmable vehicle window display device, comprising;

a memory medium comprising program instructions;

a bus coupled to the memory medium; and

a processor for executing the program instructions comprising a vehicle window display engine, the instructions causing the system to;

scheduling a display rotation of a plurality of documents stored on the programmable vehicle window display device based on a location schedule associated with a vehicle displaying the programmable vehicle window display device, the plurality of documents comprising at least a first type of document and a second type of document, wherein display of the second type of document is necessary for access to a location of the location schedule;

display, according to the scheduled display rotation, a first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents on a display of the programmable vehicle window display device, the first vehicle information document having a first validity end date;

query a vehicle information database for a second vehicle information document of the first type of document having a second validity end date subsequent to the first validity end date;

retrieve, responsive to the second validity end date being subsequent to the first validity end date, the second vehicle information document;

save the second vehicle information document in a storage area of the programmable vehicle window display device;

replace the first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents with the second document in the scheduled display rotation;

display the second vehicle information document on the display according to the scheduled display rotation;

verify, periodically, the second document with the vehicle information database;

invalidate the second document in the case of a verification failure; and

display, responsive to the invalidation, an invalidation indicator on the display.

10. The computer system of claim 9, the instructions further causing the system to submit a query to the vehicle information database at a preset interval, the query comprising a vehicle identifier and the first validity end date.

11. The computer system of claim 9, the instructions further causing the system to display a notification on the display within a threshold time period prior to the first validity end date.

12. The computer system of claim 9, the instructions further causing the system to:

receive a third vehicle information document;

save the third vehicle information document in the storage area of the programmable vehicle window display device;

display on the display, daily at a first time period, the third vehicle information document; and

displaying on the display, daily at a second time period, the second vehicle information document.

13. The computer system of claim 9, the second information document being generated in response to a renewal of a permission granted by the first information document.

14. The computer system of claim 13, the first information document and the second information document being a same type of document, and the type of document being selected from the group consisting of:

a registration document, a parking document, and an access document.

15. The computer system of claim 9, the display having a flexible screen and the programmable vehicle window display device having a mechanism for attachment to a vehicle window.

16. The computer system of claim 15, the programmable vehicle window display device having a mechanism to electronically invalidate the programmable vehicle window display device in the event of removal of the programmable vehicle window display device from a vehicle window.

17. A computer program product for managing a programmable vehicle window display device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable hardware storage device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable hardware storage device, to:

schedule a display rotation of a plurality of documents stored on the programmable vehicle window display device based on a location schedule associated with a vehicle displaying the programmable vehicle window display device, the plurality of documents comprising at least a first type of document and a second type of document, wherein display of the second type of document is necessary for access to a location of the location schedule;

display, according to the scheduled display rotation, a first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents on a display of the programmable vehicle window display device, the first vehicle information document having a first validity end date;

query a vehicle information database for a second vehicle information document of the first type of document having a second validity end date subsequent to the first validity end date;

retrieve, responsive to the second validity end date being subsequent to the first validity end date, the second vehicle information document;

save the second vehicle information document in a storage area of the programmable vehicle window display device;

replace the first vehicle information document of the first type of document of the plurality of documents with the second document in the scheduled display rotation;

display the second vehicle information document on the display according to the scheduled display rotation;

verify, periodically, the second document with the vehicle information database;

invalidate the second document in the case of a verification failure; and

display, responsive to the invalidation, an invalidation indicator on the display.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to submit a query to the vehicle information database at a preset interval, the query comprising a vehicle identifier and the first validity end date.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to display a notification on the display within a threshold time period prior to the first validity end date.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, the second information document being generated in response to a renewal of a permission granted by the first information document, the first information document and the second information document being a same type of document, and the type of document being selected from the group consisting of:

a registration document, a parking document, and an access document.