System, apparatus, and method for implementing one or more internet of things (IoT) capable devices embedded within a roadway structure for performing various tasks

• US 10,838,383 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2019
• Issued: 11/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Funk, Tom, Carpenter, Phil, Morrill, Robert J., Walker, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ramesh B
• Application Number:
  US16/289,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20190196428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/14006 Safety, monitoring in general
• 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 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• 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 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

embedding, within a roadway structure of a roadway, one or more first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable devices of a plurality of IoT-capable devices each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprising one or more first sensors;

receiving, with each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices from the one or more first sensors, at least one first sensor data;

sending, with the one or more first IoT-capable devices, the at least one first sensor data via machine-to-machine communications to a computing system; and

autonomously controlling, wit the computing system, one or more devices to perform one or more tasks based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first loT-capable devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway comprises at least one of a local road, a main road, a highway, an airport apron, an airport ramp, an airport runway, a canal, a lock, or a waterway.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a top surface of each first IoT-capable device is one of substantially level with a top surface of the roadway or below the top surface of the roadway.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices, which are embedded in the roadway structure of the roadway, comprises at least one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more structural integrity sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more seismic sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, one or more particulate sensors, or one or more snow accumulation sensors.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more structural integrity sensors comprise at least one of two or more global positioning system sensors or two or more relative position sensors.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one first sensor data comprises data indicating a change in position of one structural integrity sensor relative to another structural integrity sensor beyond a predetermined threshold amount.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices further comprises one or more second IoT-capable devices that are each disposed in one of a street lamp, a traffic control signal device, or an above-ground structure, wherein the one or more second IoT-capable devices each comprises one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more temperature sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, or one or more particulate sensors.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway comprises dynamic lane change markers, wherein the dynamic lane change markers are configured to change in response to receiving the at least one first sensor data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein changing the dynamic lane change markers comprises at least one of turning the dynamic lane change markers off or on, changing the color of the dynamic lane change markers, changing a projection of the dynamic lane change markers, shifting the dynamic lane change markers, or changing a shape of the dynamic lane change markers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway comprises one or more heat pads, wherein the one or more heat pads turn on or off in response to receiving the at least one first sensor data.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, with each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices each comprising the one or more first sensors, whether at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors exceeds a predetermined threshold for each corresponding type of sensor;

wherein sending, with each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices each comprising the one or more first sensors, the at least one first sensor data to the computing system via machine-to-machine communications comprises sending the at least one first sensor data to the computing system via machine-to-machine communications in response to a determination that the at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors exceeds the predetermined threshold for each corresponding type of sensor; and

in response to a determination that at least one second sensor data from the one or more first sensors does not exceed the predetermined threshold for at least one corresponding type of sensor, preventing, with each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices each comprising the one or more first sensors, the at least one second sensor data from being sent to the computing system.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, with the computing system, the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices of the plurality of IoT-capable devices via machine-to-machine communications;

analyzing, with the computing system, the at least one first sensor data to determine one or more first actions to be taken; and

identifying, with the computing system, the one or more devices for performing the determined one or more first actions to be taken, based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices;

wherein

the one or more tasks are based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks comprises sending, with the computing system, one or more first control instructions to each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises one of a single processor disposed within a vehicle, a plurality of processors disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a customer premises associated with an owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a business premises associated with a company that owns or operates the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a service provider facility associated with providing services to the owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at one or more roadway service provider facilities associated with service providers that provide roadway services, a server computer remote from the vehicle, a roadway-embedded IoT management node, a plurality of roadway-embedded IoT management nodes, a municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management node, a plurality of municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management nodes, a computing system disposed at a vehicle traffic control center, a cloud computing system, a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from plurality of IoT-capable devices, or a combination of two or more of these computing systems.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of a communications system, one or more traffic control signal devices, or at least one of a navigation system, a display device, a digital instrument gauge cluster, an electronic throttle control system, a braking system, a gear system, a steering system, or a vehicle turn signal system of each of one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise one or more power generation nodes embedded in the roadway, the one or more power generation nodes generating and providing power to at least one of one or more batteries or an electrical power grid interface, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the one or more power generation nodes to transfer generated power to the at least one of the one or more batteries or the electrical power grid interface.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise one or more battery charging nodes embedded in the roadway or parking spots, the one or more battery charging nodes generating and providing power to at least one of one or more batteries of a vehicle, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the one or more battery charging nodes to transfer generated power to the at least one of the one or more batteries of the vehicle.

19. A system, comprising:

a computing system; and

one or more first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable devices of a plurality of IoT-capable devices, the one or more first IoT-capable devices being embedded within a roadway structure of a roadway, each first IoT-capable device comprising;

one or more first sensors;

a first transceiver;

at least one first processor;

a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the IoT-capable device to;

receive at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors; and

send the at least one first sensor data to computing system via machine-to-machine communications, via the first transceiver, wherein

the computing ystem autonomously controls one or more devices to perform one or more tasks based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first loT-capable devices.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more first sensors;

a first transceiver;

at least one first processor; and

a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the apparatus to;

receive at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors; and

send the at least one first sensor data to a computing system via machine-to-machine communications, via the first transceiver;

wherein the apparatus is an Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable device embedded within a roadway structure of a roadway, and

wherein the computing system autonomously controls one or more devices to perform one or more tasks based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first loT-capable devices.