Systems and methods for cooperative, dynamic, and balanced access to the infrastructure supporting the network of moving things, for example including autonomous vehicles

• US 10,708,823 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2017
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nexar Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Inventors: Condeixa, Tiago
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US15/854,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20180343587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile and/or static nodes, including for example autonomous vehicles. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, and methods that provide for cooperative, dynamic, and balanced access to the communication network infrastructure supporting the Network of Moving Things.

Claims

1. A vehicle communication network comprising:

a first node comprising;

at least one first communication circuit; and

at least one first module comprising a first processor and first memory, the at least one first module of the first node operable to, at least;

identify an offered resource that is available for utilization;

determine an offered cost associated with the offered resource; and

utilize the at least one first communication circuit to transmit a first message comprising information describing the offered resource and the offered cost; and

a Mobile Access Point (MAP) comprising;

at least one MAP communication circuit; and

at least one MAP module comprising a MAP processor and MAP memory, the at least one MAP module operable to, at least;

identify a needed resource that is needed by the MAP for performing a communication;

receive the first message transmitted by the first node;

determine, based on the needed resource, the offered resource, and the offered cost, whether to request the offered resource; and

if the at least one MAP module determined to request the offered resource, then at least;

utilize the at least one MAP communication circuit to transmit a second message to the first node requesting the offered resource; and

utilize the at least one MAP communication circuit to perform the communication;

wherein one or more of the identifying of the offered resource, the determining the offered cost, the identifying the needed resource, and the determining whether to request the offered resource are based on mobility information associated with one or both of the first node and the MAP.

2. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the first node comprises an access point of the vehicle communication network.

3. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module of the first node is operable to determine whether to transmit the first message based on a location and/or trajectory of the MAP.

4. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module of the first node is operable to determine the cost associated with the offered resource based on a vehicle and/or vehicle fleet with which the MAP is associated.

5. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module of the first node is operable to:

receive the second message from the MAP; and

in response to the received second message;

grant the offered resource to the MAP;

monitor use of the offered resource by the MAP; and

determine a charged cost, different from the offered cost, of the MAP'"'"'s utilization of the offered resource.

6. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the at least one MAP module of the MAP is operable to determine whether to request the offered resource by comparing the offered cost to a cost objective.

7. The vehicle communication network of claim 6, wherein the at least one MAP module of the MAP is operable to determine the cost objective based on an amount of time remaining to perform the communication.

8. The vehicle communication network of claim 6, wherein the at least one MAP module of the MAP is operable to determine the cost objective based on whether the communication is a real-time communication or a delay-tolerant communication.

9. The vehicle communication network of claim 1, wherein the at least one MAP module of the MAP is operable to determine whether to request the offered resource based on location and/or trajectory of the MAP.

10. A first node of a vehicle communication network, the first node comprising:

at least one communication circuit; and

at least one module comprising a processor and memory, the at least one module operable to, at least;

identify an offered resource that is available for utilization;

determine an offered cost associated with the offered resource;

utilize the at least one communication circuit to transmit a first message comprising information describing the offered resource and the offered cost;

receive a second message from a Mobile Access Point (MAP) of the vehicle communication network requesting the offered resource; and

in response to the received second message, at least;

allocate the offered resource to the MAP; and

utilize the at least one communication circuit to provide a wireless communication service to the MAP utilizing the allocated resource;

wherein one or both of the identifying of the offered resource and the determining the offered cost are based on mobility information associated with one or both of the first node and the MAP.

11. The first node of claim 10, wherein the first node comprises a fixed access point of the vehicle communication network.

12. The first node of claim 10, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether to transmit the first message based on a location and/or trajectory of the MAP.

13. The first node of claim 10, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost associated with the offered resource based on a communication network load balancing objective.

14. The first node of claim 10, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost associated with the offered resource based on a vehicle and/or vehicle fleet with which the MAP is associated.

15. The first node of claim 10, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost associated with the offered resource based on whether the offered resource is being offered for real-time communication or delay-tolerant communication.

16. The first node of claim 10, wherein:

the offered resource comprises a communication link; and

the information describing the offered resource comprises communication link bandwidth information and communication link quality information.

17. The first node of claim 10, wherein the at least one module is operable to, in response to the received second message, at least:

grant the offered resource to the MAP;

monitor use of the resource by the MAP; and

determine a charged cost, different from the offered cost, of the MAP'"'"'s utilization of the offered resource.

18. A Mobile Access Point (MAP) of a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:

at least one wireless communication circuit;

at least one module comprising a processor and memory, the at least one module operable to, at least;

identify a needed resource that is needed by the MAP for performing a communication;

receive a first message transmitted by a first node of the vehicle communication network, the first message comprising information describing an offered resource and an offered cost associated with the offered resource;

determine, based on the needed resource, the offered resource, and the offered cost, whether to request the offered resource; and

if the at least one module determined to request the offered resource, then at least;

utilize the at least one wireless communication circuit to transmit a second message to the first node requesting the offered resource; and

utilize the at least one wireless communication circuit to perform the communication;

wherein one or both of the identifying of the needed resource and the determining whether to request the offered resource are based on mobility information associated with one or both of the first node and the MAP.

19. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 18, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether to request the offered resource by comparing the offered cost to a cost objective.

20. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 19, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost objective based on an amount of time remaining to perform the communication.

21. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 19, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost objective based on historical cost of the needed resource.

22. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 19, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine the cost objective based on whether the communication is a real-time communication or a delay-tolerant communication.

23. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 18, wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether to request the offered resource based on location and/or trajectory of the MAP.

24. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 18, wherein the at least one module is operable to:

monitor utilization of the offered resource by the MAP; and

determine a usage cost, different from the offered cost, for the MAP'"'"'s utilization of the offered resource.

25. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 18, wherein the at least one module is operable to asynchronously send a message requesting the needed resource without first receiving the first message.