Vehicle information communication system

• US 20080136670A1
• Filed: 12/12/2006
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Technical Center North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Heft, Ronald, Tengler, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 7,609,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle information communication system is provided in which probe data or other private data relating to a host vehicle can be collected with anonymity. Basically, the host vehicle collects the probe data and sends the probe data to a carrier vehicle that disassociates the host vehicle'"'"'s identifying information (e.g., MAC address) from the data before the carrier vehicle sends the probe data to a roadside unit or other external communications station.

Claims

1. A vehicle onboard unit comprising:

a vehicle probe data collecting section configured to collect host vehicle probe data relating to external traveling conditions; and

a vehicle communication section configured to receive surrounding vehicle probe data, configured to disassociate identifying information from the surrounding vehicle probe data, and configured to selectively transmit the surrounding vehicle probe data without identifying information of the surrounding vehicle to an external communication device.

2. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the vehicle communication section is further configured to erase the surrounding vehicle probe data upon completing transmission of the surrounding vehicle probe data.

3. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the vehicle communication section is further configured to erase the surrounding vehicle probe data upon turning off the vehicle onboard unit.

4. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the vehicle communication section is further configured to broadcast a request for a carrier vehicle to transmit the host vehicle probe data, and configured to transmit the host vehicle probe data to the carrier vehicle.

5. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 1, further comprising

a travel route recording section configured to record travel route data that is transmitted by the vehicle communication section.

6. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 5, wherein

the travel route recording section is further configured to a starting point, an ending point and a travel time as the travel route data.

7. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 6, wherein

the travel route recording section is part of a navigation system in which the starting point is recorded in response to selection of a destination.

8. The vehicle onboard unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the vehicle probe data collecting section further includes detection devices that detect the external traveling conditions of the host vehicle that include at least one of traffic, weather and roadway conditions as the probe data.

9. A vehicle information communication system comprising:

a host vehicle including a vehicle probe data collecting section configured to collect host vehicle probe data relating to external traveling conditions of the host vehicle, and a host vehicle communication section configured to transmit the host vehicle probe data;

a carrier vehicle including a carrier vehicle communication section configured to disassociate host vehicle identifying information from the host vehicle probe data and to transmit the host vehicle probe data without the host vehicle identifying information; and

an external communication device configured to receive wireless communications from the carrier vehicle communication section of the carrier vehicle when the carrier vehicle is within a communication area of the external communication device.

10. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the external communication device includes a roadside unit that is part of a vehicle communication infrastructure system.

11. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the host vehicle communication section is further configured to receive surrounding vehicle probe data, configured to disassociate identifying information from the surrounding vehicle probe data, and configured to selectively transmit the surrounding vehicle probe data without identifying information of the surrounding vehicle.

12. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the host vehicle communication section is further configured to erase the host vehicle probe data from the host vehicle upon completing transmission of the host vehicle probe data from the host vehicle to the carrier vehicle.

13. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the host vehicle communication section is further configured to erase the host vehicle probe data from the carrier vehicle upon turning off the carrier vehicle.

14. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the host vehicle further includes a travel route recording section configured to record travel route data that is transmitted by the host vehicle communication section.

15. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 14, wherein

the travel route recording section is further configured to a starting point, an ending point and a travel time as the travel route data.

16. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 15, wherein

the travel route recording section is part of a navigation system in which the starting point is recorded in response to selection of a destination.

17. The vehicle information communication system as recited in claim 9, wherein

the vehicle probe data collecting section further includes detection devices that detect external traveling conditions of the host vehicle that include at least one of traffic, weather and roadway conditions as the probe data.

18. A vehicle information communication method comprising:

collecting host vehicle probe data in a host vehicle;

transmitting the host vehicle probe data from the host vehicle to a carrier vehicle;

disassociating host vehicle identifying information from the host vehicle probe data;

transmitting the host vehicle probe data from the carrier vehicle to an external communication device when the carrier vehicle is within a communication area of the communication device.

19. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 18, further comprising

receiving surrounding vehicle probe data in the host vehicle, disassociating identifying information from the surrounding vehicle probe data in the host vehicle, and selectively transmitting the surrounding vehicle probe data without identifying information of the surrounding vehicle from the host vehicle.

20. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 18, further comprising

erasing the host vehicle probe data from the carrier vehicle upon completing transmission of the host vehicle probe data from the carrier vehicle.

21. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 18, further comprising

erasing the host vehicle probe data from the carrier vehicle upon turning off the carrier vehicle.

22. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 18, further comprising

recording travel route data in the host vehicle and transmitting the travel route data from the host vehicle.

23. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 22, wherein

the recording of the travel route data includes recording a starting point of the host vehicle, an ending point of the host vehicle and a travel time of the host vehicle.

24. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 23, wherein

the recording of the starting and ending points of the host vehicle travel route recording section are performed in response to selecting of a destination in a navigation system.

25. The vehicle information communication method as recited in claim 18, wherein

the collecting of the host vehicle probe data further includes detecting at least one of traffic, weather and roadway conditions.