MONITORING SYSTEMS OF A VEHICLE BY GENERATING AND TRANSMITTING CUSTOMIZED INFORMATION MESSAGES TO WIRELESS NETWORKED COMPUTERS

• US 20140164555A1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: FOLLOWELL, DAVID, SWEARINGEN, KEVIN, MAGGIORE, JEANNE C., MITCHELL, BRADLEY, FRIES, ERIK B., DAME, STEPHEN G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,794,346 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A method for monitoring systems of a vehicle may include determining relevant information used by at least one of a plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least a function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer with respect to an associated one of a multiplicity of components of the systems of the vehicle. The method may also include formulating a customized information message for the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least the relevant information used and the function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer. The method may further include transmitting the customized information message to the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring systems of a vehicle, comprising:

determining, by a processor, relevant information used by at least one of a plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least a function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer with respect to an associated one of a multiplicity of components of the systems of the vehicle;

formulating, by the processor, a customized information message for the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least the relevant information used and the function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer; and

transmitting, by a transceiver, the customized information message to the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data by a vehicle data recorder from a plurality of sensors associated with the systems of the vehicle;

processing the data to provide the relevant information; and

storing the relevant information by the vehicle data recorder.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising cataloguing the relevant information based on at least one of a source of the data from which the relevant information is processed, a use of the relevant information, and which ones of the plurality of wireless networked computers use the relevant information.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating a configuration table, wherein the configuration table comprises a listing of the wireless networked computers, the relevant information used by the at least one of the wireless networked computers, and a specification for formatting and transmitting the customized information message to the at least one of the wireless networked computers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the configuration table further comprises an identification of any wireless networked computer that receives at least a subset of information in one of the customized information messages from another one of the wireless networked computers.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein formulating the customized information message comprises formulating the customized information message from the configuration table.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising retrieving the relevant information by a parameter broadcast controller to formulate the customized information message for the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising parsing the relevant information by the parameter broadcast controller to be transmitted in the customized information message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized information message comprises the relevant information and a command for the wireless networked computer designated to receive the customized information message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one wireless networked computer executes a power saving function based on the information or command, the power saving function comprising at least one of an extended sleep mode duration, a reduced sensor sample rate, an extended transmission interval, a reduced transmission power level, a reduced processor clock speed, a reduced amplifier setting, sleeping and turning off one or more selected components of the at least one wireless network computer.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the customized information message by the at least one wireless networked computer designated to receive the customized information message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting a subset of the information in the customized information message to an associated wireless networked computer.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving data from at least one local sensor associated with the at least one wireless networked computer;

integrating the data from the at least one local sensor with the relevant information by the at least one wireless networked computer; and

transmitting resulting information from integrating the data from the at least one local sensor with the relevant information to a vehicle data recorder by the at least one wireless networked computer, wherein the resulting information is used to monitor the component associated with the at least one wireless networked computer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized information message is transmitted based on predetermined criterion, the predetermined criterion comprising a rate of transmission based on the component being monitored, a frequency of the relevant information being updated, an operational status of the component being monitored, and an operational status of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an airplane.

16. A system for monitoring systems of a vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of wireless networked computers; and

a vehicle data recorder comprising;

a processor, the processor being configured to;

determine relevant information used by at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least a function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer with respect to an associated one of a multiplicity of components of the systems of the vehicle;

formulate a customized information message for the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least the relevant information used and the function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer; and

wherein the vehicle data recorder further comprises;

a transceiver to transmit the customized information message to the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the vehicle data recorder receives data from a plurality of sensors associated with the systems of the vehicle, the processor processes the data to provide the relevant information and stores the relevant information in a data store.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a configuration table, wherein the configuration table comprises a listing of the wireless networked computers, the relevant information used by at least one of the wireless networked computers, and a specification for formatting and transmitting the customized information message to the at least one wireless networked computer.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein each wireless networked computer comprises:

a transceiver for receiving the customized information message designated for the wireless networked computer;

a port for receiving data from at least one local sensor associated with the wireless networked computer; and

a processor for integrating the data from the at least one local sensor with the relevant information,

wherein the transceiver transmits resulting information from integrating the data from the at least one local sensor with the relevant information to the vehicle data recorder, the resulting information being used to monitor the component associated with the wireless networked computer.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising an associated wireless networked computer that receives a subset of the relevant information from another wireless networked computer designated to receive the customized information message.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the vehicle is an airplane.

22. A computer program product for monitoring systems of a vehicle, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to determining relevant information used by at least one of a plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least a function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer with respect to an associated one of a multiplicity of components of the systems of the vehicle;

computer readable program code configured to formulate a customized information message for the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers based on at least the relevant information used and the function performed by the at least one wireless networked computer; and

computer readable program code configured to transmit the customized information message to the at least one of the plurality of wireless networked computers.