Fuel supply station information distributing system, fuel supply station information distributing server, and fuel supply station information displaying device

• US 20060185756A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Abe, Hiroyuki, Kobayashi, Junichi, Hayashi, Masanori, Nagaoka, Hisashi, Takeshita, Toshiaki, Sato, Kazuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,726,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 141/94
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 5/02 Supplying fuel to vehicles; General disposition of plant in filling stations apparatus for transferring measured quantities of petrol, oil, or the like from storage space to vehicles B67D

Abstract

Fuel supply station information distributing system includes at least one vehicle, an information distributing server and at least one station, which are interconnected through communication line networks. The information distributing server transmits at every given time a request-to-send for vehicle information to the vehicles as well as a request-to-send for station information to the stations. The information distributing server then creates a fuel supply station information associating for each vehicle based on the vehicle information received from the vehicle and the station information received from the stations, and distributes it to the vehicle. When the vehicle receives the fuel supply station information from the information distributing server, it is displayed on the car navigation screen for notifying the driver.

Claims

1. A fuel supply station information distributing system comprising:

at least one movable member side device, each mounted on a movable member, keeping movable member information that is information about the movable member, and updating the movable member information as needed;

at least one fuel supply station side device, each installed in a fuel supply station for supplying movable members with fuel, keeping station information that is information about the fuel supply station, and updating the station information as needed; and

a fuel supply station information distributing server connected to the movable member side devices and the fuel supply station side devices through a network, creating fuel supply station information associated with each of the movable members based on the movable member information received from one movable member side device and the station information received from the fuel supply station side devices, and distributing the fuel supply station information thus created to the one movable member side device,

wherein the movable member information includes a remaining amount of fuel of the movable member and a geographical position of the movable member, and the station information includes an amount of fuel storage at the fuel supply station and a geographical position of the fuel supply station,

wherein the fuel supply station information distributing server calculates for each movable member a prospective remaining amount of fuel when the movable member arrives at the fuel supply station, based on information including the remaining amount of fuel of the movable member, the geographical position of the movable member and the geographical position of the fuel supply station, creates the fuel supply station information about an amount of fuel that can be supplied at the fuel supply station to the movable member in consideration of the amount of fuel storage at the fuel supply station and the prospective remaining amount of fuel when the movable member arrives at the fuel supply station, and distributes the fuel supply station information thus created to the movable member side device, and

wherein the movable member side device is connected to a display device for displaying predetermined information, and causes the display device to display the fuel supply station information upon receiving the fuel supply station information from the fuel supply station information distributing server.

4. A fuel supply station information displaying device connected to the movable member side device included in the fuel supply station information distributing system of claim 1, wherein the fuel supply station information displaying device displays the fuel supply station information when the movable member side device receives the fuel supply station information from the fuel supply station information distributing server.

5. A fuel supply station information displaying device according to claim 4, wherein a storage amount rate of fuel that is a rate of the amount of fuel storage at each fuel supply station to an amount of fuel required to fill up the movable member is calculated as the fuel supply station information, and the fuel supply station information displaying device displays a display data indicating the calculated storage amount rate of fuel on a map data.

2. A fuel supply station information distributing server which is connected to at least one movable member side device and at least one fuel supply station side device through a network, creates fuel supply station information associated with each of the movable members based on movable member information received from one movable member side device and station information received from the fuel supply station side devices, and distributes the fuel supply station information thus created to the one movable member side device,

wherein each of the movable member side devices is mounted on a movable member, keeps the movable member information that is information about the movable member, and updates the movable member information as needed;

and the movable member information includes a remaining amount of fuel of the movable member and a geographical position of the movable member,

wherein each of the fuel supply station side devices is installed in a fuel supply station for supplying movable members with fuel, keeps the station information that is information about the fuel supply station, and updates the station information as needed; and

the station information includes an amount of fuel storage at the fuel supply station and a geographical position of the fuel supply station, and

wherein the fuel supply station information distributing server calculates for each movable member a prospective remaining amount of fuel when the movable member arrives at the fuel supply station, based on information including the remaining amount of fuel of the movable member, the geographical position of the movable member and the geographical position of the fuel supply station, creates the fuel supply station information about an amount of fuel that can be supplied at the fuel supply station to the movable member in consideration of the amount of fuel storage at the fuel supply station and the prospective remaining amount of fuel when the movable member arrives at the fuel supply station, and distributes the fuel supply station information thus created to the movable member side device.

3. A fuel supply station information distributing server according to claim 2, wherein the fuel supply station information distributing server calculates for each of the movable members a prospective possible travel distance for which the movable member can move based on the information including the remaining amount of fuel of the movable member, calculates a station distance that is a distance from the movable member to an appropriate fuel supply station based on the geographical position of the movable member and the geographical position of the fuel supply station, creates the fuel supply station information in order of movable members having smaller distance difference value that is a value obtained by subtracting the station distance from the prospective possible travel distance of the movable member, reserves one or more fuel supply stations for supplying fuel to the movable member if the number of fuel supply stations that can offer fuel to the movable member is smaller than a predetermined number, and subtracts an amount of fuel to be supplied to the movable member from the amount of fuel storage at the fuel supply station.