Vehicle Communications Using the Internet

• US 20060212194A1
• Filed: 06/01/2006
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Incorporated
• Inventors: Breed, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

Vehicle including a data generating system which obtains or generates information about the vehicle and a communications system coupled to the data generating system for communicating directly with a wireless Internet service provider (ISP) to enable the information obtained or generated by the data generating system to be transmitted via the Internet. The data generating system may be a diagnostic system which diagnoses the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle and generates an output indicative or representative thereof. The data generating system may be arranged to obtain or generate information about the operation of the vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, the data generating system may be arranged to obtain or generate information about the presence of contents in the compartment and/or when contents are present, information about contents in the compartment.

Claims

1. A vehicle, comprising:

a data generating system arranged on the vehicle to obtain or generate information about the vehicle; and

a communications system coupled to said data generating system for communicating directly with a wireless Internet service provider (ISP) and arranged to enable the information obtained or generated by said data generating system to be transmitted via the Internet.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said data generating system is a diagnostic system which diagnoses the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle and generates an output indicative or representative thereof.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said communications system is arranged to establish an Internet link between the vehicle and a remote facility via the ISP without manual intervention and send the output of said diagnostic system to the remote facility.

4. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said diagnostic system comprises a plurality of vehicle sensors mounted on the vehicle, each of said sensors providing a measurement related to a state of said sensor or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location, and a processor coupled to said sensors and arranged to receive data from said sensors and process the data to generate the output indicative or representative of the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle, at least one of said sensors being wirelessly coupled to said processor.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein said processor embodies a pattern recognition algorithm trained to generate the output from the data received from said sensors.

6. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein said generated output is that the vehicle is experiencing or has experienced a crash.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an occupant sensing system arranged to determine at least one property or characteristic of occupancy of the vehicle, said communications system being coupled to said occupant sensing system and arranged to transmit the determined property or characteristic of occupancy of the vehicle to the remote facility.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said data generating system comprises a plurality of sensors mounted at different locations on the vehicle, each of said sensors providing a measurement related to a state of said sensor or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location, and a processor coupled to said sensors and arranged to diagnose the state of the vehicle or the state of the component of the vehicle based on the measurements of said sensors.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein at least one of said sensors includes an RFID or SAW response unit, further comprising at least one RFID or SAW interrogator device, said at least one interrogator device causing said RFID or SAW response unit of said at least one sensor to transmit a signal representative of the measurement of said at least one sensor to said processor.

10. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein at least one of said sensors is arranged to measure at least one of temperature, pressure, the presence of a chemical and the concentration of a chemical.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a location determining system for determining the location of the vehicle, said communications system being coupled to said location determining system and arranged to transmit the determined location of the vehicle via the Internet.

12. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said data generating system is arranged to obtain or generate information about the operation of the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a frame defining a compartment, said data generating system being arranged to obtain or generate information about the presence of contents in said compartment.

14. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a frame defining a compartment, said data generating system being arranged to obtain or generate information about contents in said compartment.

15. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said communications system is arranged to communicate with a remote, non-ISP site to enable the information obtained or generated by said data generating system to be transmitted to the non-ISP site.

16. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein said communications system is arranged to select which communications technique to use based on travel status of the vehicle, the location of the vehicle the importance of the information obtained or generated by said data generating system and/or the urgency with which the information obtained or generated by said data gathering system should be transmitted.

17. A method for communicating with a vehicle, comprising:

obtaining or generating information about the vehicle; and

transmitting the obtained or generated information from the vehicle to a wireless Internet service provider (ISP).

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of obtaining or generating information about the vehicle comprises diagnosing the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle by means of a diagnostic system arranged on the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing the information transmitted to the wireless ISP to an entity interested in the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting update data and programs to a vehicle-resident computer via the wireless ISP.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining the location of the vehicle; and

determining which update data and programs are transmitted to the vehicle-resident computer based on the determined location of the vehicle.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission of information via the wireless ISP uses XMax.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of transmitting the information comprises arranging a communications device comprising an IEEE 802.xx compliant system including an antenna on the vehicle.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of obtaining or generating information about the vehicle comprises obtaining or generating information about the operation of the vehicle.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the vehicle includes a frame defining a compartment, the step of obtaining or generating information about the vehicle comprising obtaining or generating information about the presence of contents in the compartment.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the vehicle includes a frame defining a compartment, the step of obtaining or generating information about the vehicle comprising obtaining or generating information about contents in the compartment.

27. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting the obtained or generated information to a remote, non-ISP site.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising determining whether the obtained or generated information is to be transmitted to the wireless ISP or to the remote, non-ISP site based on travel status of the vehicle, the location of the vehicle the importance of the obtained or generated information and/or the urgency with which the obtained or generated information should be transmitted.

29. A vehicle, comprising:

a data generating system arranged on the vehicle to obtain or generate information about the vehicle;

a location determining system for determining the location of the vehicle; and

a communications system coupled to said data generating system and said location determining system and arranged to enable the information obtained or generated by said data generating system to be transmitted to a remote site in one of a plurality of different communications techniques based on the location of the vehicle as determined by said location determining system.

30. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said communications system is arranged to communicate directly with a wireless Internet service provider (ISP) when said location determining system determines that the vehicle is on land such that the information obtained or generated by said data generating system is transmitted via the Internet.

31. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said data generating system is arranged to obtain or generate information about the operation of the vehicle.

32. The vehicle of claim 29, further comprising a frame defining a compartment, said data generating system being arranged to obtain or generate information about the contents or the presence of contents in said compartment.

33. A vehicle, comprising:

a data generating system arranged on the vehicle to obtain or generate information about the vehicle;

an ISP detection system for detecting the existence of an available wireless Internet service provider; and

a communications system coupled to said data generating system and said ISP detection system and arranged to enable the information obtained or generated by said data generating system to be transmitted to a remote site in one of a plurality of different communications techniques based on the availability of a wireless ISP as determined by said ISP detection system such that whenever a wireless ISP is detected, said communications system communicates with the wireless ISP to provide the obtained or generated information via the Internet.

34. The vehicle of claim 33, wherein said data generating system is arranged to obtain or generate information about the operation of the vehicle.

35. The vehicle of claim 33, further comprising a frame defining a compartment, said data generating system being arranged to obtain or generate information about the contents or the presence of contents in said compartment.