SOLUTION FOR THE SCALABILITY OF BROADCAST FORWARDING IN VEHICULAR NETWORKS BY MAP-REFERENCED INFORMATION ON NODE POSITION

• US 20120003921A1
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: STMicroelectronics SRL (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Original Assignee: STMicroelectronics SRL (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Inventors: SCOPIGNO, Riccardo Maria, COZZETTI, Hector Agustin
• Application Number:
  US13/153,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20120003921A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location

Abstract

An embodiment of an apparatus includes a receiver operable to receive a message, and a processor operable to determine whether to broadcast the message. For example, the receiver and processor may be disposed on a first vehicle, and the receiver may receive the message from a second vehicle, where the message includes information related to a traffic-related event. The processor may determine whether to broadcast the message to other vehicles based on, e.g., the location of the first vehicle, the location of the second vehicle, the location of the event, or whether the processor has received the message more than once. The processor may determine not to broadcast the message if, based on these or other factors, it determines that the benefit of broadcasting the message is outweighed by the potential of the message, if broadcast, to “clog” a channel over which such traffic-related-event messages are broadcast.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a receiver operable to receive a message; and

a processor operable to determine whether to broadcast the message.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receiver is operable to receive the message from a node.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receiver is operable to receive the message from a vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a location of the receiver.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on the message.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a map of an area in which the receiver is located.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a map of an area in which a source of the message is located.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a heading of the receiver relative to a location identified by the message.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a distance between the receiver and a location identified by the message.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to determine whether to broadcast the message based on a location of the receiver relative to a location identified by the message.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter operable to broadcast the message in response to the processor determining to broadcast the message.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time related to a distance between the receiver and a source of the message.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time inversely proportional to a distance between the receiver and a source of the message.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time related to a distance between the receiver and a location identified by the message.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time related to a location of the receiver.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time related to a location of a source of the message.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is operable to wait an access time before determining whether to broadcast the message, the access time related to a location identified by the message.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein if the processor determines to broadcast the message, the processor is operable:

to broadcast the message; and

to rebroadcast the message if the receiver does not receive the broadcast message within a safety time.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein if the processor determines to broadcast the message, the processor is operable:

to broadcast the message;

to rebroadcast the message if the receiver does not receive the broadcast message within a safety time; and

to repeat the step of rebroadcasting up to a limit number of times.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an antenna coupled to the receiver.

22. A system, comprising:

a receiver operable to receive a message; and

a processor coupled to the receiver and operable to determine whether to broadcast the message.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a global positioning system coupled to the processor.

24. The system of claim 22, further comprising a memory coupled to the processor.

25. The system of claim 22, further comprising a transmitter coupled to the processor.

26. The system of claim 22, further comprising an antenna coupled to the receiver.

27. A vehicle, comprising:

a receiver operable to receive a message; and

a processor operable to determine whether to broadcast the message.

28. An method, comprising:

receiving a message; and

determining whether to broadcast the message.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from a vehicle.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from a vehicle that is related to an event that is identified by the message.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from a vehicle that is unrelated to an event that is identified by the message.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from a source that is related to vehicle travel region.

33. The method of claim 28 wherein determining whether to broadcast the message comprises determining whether to broadcast the message based on a content of the message.

34. The method of claim 28 wherein determining whether to broadcast the message comprises determining whether to broadcast the message based on a map.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein determining whether to broadcast the message comprises determining whether to broadcast the message based on a heading of an object in which the receiver is disposed relative to a location identified by the message.

36. The method of claim 28 wherein determining whether to broadcast the message comprises determining whether to broadcast the message based on a distance between an object in which the receiver is disposed and a location identified by the message.

37. The method of claim 28 wherein determining whether to broadcast the message comprises determining whether to broadcast the message based on a location of an object in which the receiver is disposed relative to a location identified by the message.

38. The method of claim 28, further comprising broadcasting the message in response to the processor determining to broadcast the message.

39. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

determining to broadcast the message; and

waiting an access time before broadcasting the message.

40. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

determining to broadcast the message; and

before broadcasting the message, waiting an access time that is related to a location of an object in which the receiver is disposed.

41. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

determining to broadcast the message; and

before broadcasting the message, waiting an access time that is related to a location of a source of the message.

42. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

determining to broadcast the message; and

before broadcasting the message, waiting an access time that is related to a location identified by the message.

43. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

broadcasting the message; and

rebroadcasting the message if the receiver does not receive the broadcast message within a safety time.

44. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

broadcasting the message; and

rebroadcasting the message up to a number of times if the receiver does not receive the broadcast message within a safety time.

45. A tangible computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed, cause a processor to determine whether to broadcast a message received by the processor.