DEAD SPOT MITIGATION METHODS FOR MEDIA APPLICATIONS IN VEHICULAR ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20110167128A1
• Filed: 01/07/2010
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Raghunathan, Badri, Jain, Vivek
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/02 Buffering or recovering information during reselection ; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off

Abstract

A wireless communication method has computer-implemented steps including identifying a location of a dead spot region within an expected route of a vehicle. The vehicle has a loss of wireless connectivity within the dead spot region. Lengths of time before the vehicle will arrive at the dead spot region and before the vehicle will exit the dead spot region are estimated. Audio content and/or video content are accessed from at least one source inside the vehicle and/or at least one source outside the vehicle such that playing of the content is uninterrupted while the vehicle is within the dead spot region, the accessing being dependent upon the estimated lengths of time.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

identifying a location of a dead spot region within an expected route of a vehicle, the vehicle having a loss of wireless connectivity within the dead spot region;

estimating a length of time before the vehicle will arrive at the dead spot region;

estimating a length of time before the vehicle will exit the dead spot region; and

accessing audio content and/or video content from at least one source inside the vehicle and/or at least one source outside the vehicle such that playing of the content is uninterrupted while the vehicle is within the dead spot region, the accessing being dependent upon the two estimating steps.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the accessing step includes:

determining respective time durations of a plurality of items of the content that are available from the at least one source outside the vehicle; and

selecting at least one of the items of content that are available from the at least one source outside the vehicle such that playback within the vehicle of the selected at least one item of content can be completed before the vehicle arrives at the dead spot region.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the accessing step includes:

determining respective time durations of a plurality of items of the content that are available from the at least one source outside the vehicle;

selecting at least one of the items of content that are available from the at least one source outside the vehicle;

ascertaining that playback within the vehicle of the selected at least one item of content cannot be completed before the vehicle arrives at the dead spot region if the at least one item of content is received within the vehicle as a real time broadcast; and

in response to the ascertaining step, downloading the at least one item of content to the vehicle before the vehicle arrives at the dead spot region.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the downloading is performed by use of a plurality of threads.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the downloading is performed by use of a plurality of wireless technologies and a plurality of simultaneous connections to an application server.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one source outside the vehicle comprises a radio station.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising the further step of providing feedback to a user within the vehicle, the feedback informing the user of at least one of:

an estimated length of time before the vehicle enters a dead spot region;

an estimated travel distance before the vehicle enters a dead spot region;

an estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through a dead spot region; and

an estimated distance that the vehicle will travel through a dead spot region.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the accessing step includes using a connectionless protocol while the vehicle is within the dead spot region.

9. A wireless communication method comprising the steps of:

identifying a location of a dead spot region within an expected route of a first vehicle, the first vehicle having a loss of wireless connectivity with a provider of audio/video content while the first vehicle is within the dead spot region;

broadcasting a request signal from the first vehicle to at least one other vehicle that is in a vicinity of the first vehicle, the request signal including;

an identification of a time period during which the first vehicle is expected to be in the dead spot region; and

an identification of the provider of audio/video content; and

receiving within the first vehicle a re-broadcast signal from at least one said other vehicle, the re-broadcast signal being received while the first vehicle is in the dead spot region, the re-broadcast signal including a portion of the audio/video content, the portion of the audio/video content being broadcast by the provider while the first vehicle is in the dead spot region.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the provider of audio/video content is an internet content provider.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one other vehicle is in communication with the internet content provider.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the first vehicle and the at least one other vehicle use different wireless technologies.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein a wireless technology used in the broadcasting and re-broadcasting is predetermined, and a channel used for initial handshaking is predetermined.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one other vehicle comprises a plurality of other vehicles, the first vehicle communicating with the other vehicles by using a multiple channel access scheme.

15. A wireless communication method comprising the steps of:

estimating a length of time that a vehicle will travel through a dead spot region, the vehicle having a loss of wireless connectivity with a provider of audio/video content while the vehicle is within the dead spot region;

transmitting a signal from the vehicle to the provider, the signal requesting an item of audio/video content having a time duration substantially matching the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region;

receiving within the vehicle a wirelessly transmitted item of audio/video content having a time duration substantially matching the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region, the transmitted item being received before the vehicle enters the dead spot region; and

playing back the transmitted item within the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling through the dead spot region.

16. The method of claim 15 comprising the further step of the content provider selecting the item of audio/video content having a time duration substantially matching the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region, the item being selected from a collection of items of audio/video content having various time durations.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the item is selected dependent upon at least one of:

a planned route of the vehicle, the route including the dead spot region; and

demographic information associated with a user of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 15 comprising the further steps of:

the content provider selecting an unabridged item of audio/video content having a time duration greater than the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region, the unabridged item being selected from a collection of unabridged items of audio/video content having various time durations; and

the content provider editing the unabridged item to match the estimated length of time that the vehicle will travel through the dead spot region, the transmitted item of audio/video content resulting from the editing of the unabridged item.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein each unabridged item in the collection of unabridged items of audio/video content is divided into a plurality of segments, the segments having predetermined rankings in order of importance, the editing including deleting a subset of the segments from the item, the segments in the deleted subset having lowest said rankings.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the editing is performed dependent upon at least one of:

demographic information associated with at least one user of the vehicle;

a planned route of the vehicle, the route including the dead spot region; and

a geographic area of residence of at least one user of the vehicle.

21. A wireless communication method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

wirelessly receiving a plurality of sets of navigation information as a vehicle travels along a route, the sets being received sequentially, each said set being received in association with the vehicle arriving at a respective location along the route;

identifying a dead spot region within an expected route of a vehicle, the vehicle having a loss of wireless connectivity within the dead spot region;

determining that at least one said location along the route is disposed within the dead spot region;

wirelessly transmitting a request for at least one said set of navigation information associated with the at least one said location within the dead spot region, the request being transmitted before the vehicle enters the dead spot region; and

wirelessly receiving the at least one said set of navigation information associated with the at least one said location within the dead spot region, the at least one said set of navigation information being received before the vehicle enters the dead spot region.