USING VEHICLE SYSTEMS TO GENERATE A ROUTE DATABASE

• US 20180037117A1
• Filed: 09/01/2017
• Published: 02/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iQar Inc.
• Original Assignee: Invently Automotive Inc. (iQar Inc.)
• Inventors: Koebler, Martin, Goldstein, Nicole G., Brown, Stephen J., Harper, Jason H.
• Granted Patent: US 10,850,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/06 Combustion engines, Gas turbines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0677 Engine power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/086 Power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3822 Road feature data, e.g. slope data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3841 Data obtained from two or more sources, e.g. probe vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 : for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 : Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

Described herein are devices, systems, and methods for managing the power consumption of an automotive vehicle, and thereby for optimizing the power consumption of the vehicle. The devices and systems for managing the power consumption of the vehicle typically include power management logic that can calculate an applied power for the vehicle engine based on information provided from the external environment of the vehicle, the operational status of the vehicle, one or more command inputs from a driver, and one or more operational parameters of the vehicle.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an interface configured to (a) receive (i) sensor data samples during operation of a vehicle and (ii) data from a telemetry system and (b) connect to a remote database;

a memory configured to store (a) said sensor data samples over a number of points in time and (b) said data from said telemetry system; and

a processor configured to (i) analyze said sensor data samples stored in said memory to determine current conditions and (ii) associate said current conditions with a route segment traveled by said vehicle, wherein (a) said route segment is identified according to said data from said telemetry system and (b) said current conditions associated with said route segment are uploaded to said remote database to enable historical route information for a plurality of route segments.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said current conditions associated with said route segment are stored in said remote database with previously stored conditions associated with said route segment.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said historical route information comprises said current conditions and said previously stored conditions associated with said plurality of route segments.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said data from said telemetry system comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said data from said telemetry system comprises at least one of a map service and a traffic service.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said current conditions comprise information about an environment (a) surrounding said vehicle and (b) acting on said vehicle.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said current conditions comprise at least one of:

drag, wind resistance, tire resistance, a location relative to a destination, traffic patterns, an amount of light energy, a position of the sun, geographical information, an elevation of said vehicle, a grade of a road, a location of stoplights, a timing of stoplights, weather, a wind direction, a wind velocity, a temperature, air pressure, moisture, visibility, an amount of vibration, and traction.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said current conditions are determined by deriving inferences from said sensor data samples.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said historical route information comprises said current conditions received from a plurality of vehicles each using one of said apparatuses.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus is configured to receive said historical route information for said plurality of route segments.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, where operational parameters of said vehicle are adjusted for said route segment based on said historical route information.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein adjusting said operational parameters for said route segment based on said historical route information is performed to optimize power consumption of said vehicle.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interface is configured to receive from a bus of said vehicle at least one of (a) said sensor data samples and (b) said data from said telemetry system.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interface is configured to receive from an external device at least one of (a) said sensor data samples and (b) said data from said telemetry system.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein (i) said processor further comprises a classification module and (ii) said sensor data samples are implemented as arrays of data.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said classification module is configured to classify said arrays of data into clusters associated with conditions for said route segment.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said current conditions comprise at least one of:

energy requirements, a speed of said vehicle, road conditions, and traffic.

18. A vehicle comprising:

a power train;

a drive train;

an interface configured to (a) receive (i) sensor data samples during operation of a vehicle and (ii) data from a telemetry system and (b) connect to a remote database;

a storage device configured to store (a) said sensor data samples over a number of points in time and (b) said data from said telemetry system; and

a processor configured to (i) analyze said sensor data samples stored in said storage device to determine current conditions and (ii) associate said current conditions with a route segment traveled by said vehicle, wherein (a) said route segment is identified according to said data from said telemetry system and (b) said current conditions associated with said route segment are uploaded to said remote database to enable historical route information for a plurality of route segments.

19. A method for creating a database of route conditions, comprising the steps of:

(A) monitoring a plurality of sensors to generate sensor data during operation of a vehicle;

(B) connecting to a telemetry system;

(C) connecting to a remote database;

(D) storing (i) said sensor data over a number of points in time and (ii) data from said telemetry system;

(E) analyzing said sensor data to determine current conditions; and

(F) associating said current conditions with a route segment traveled by said vehicle, wherein (a) said route segment is identified according to said data from said telemetry system and (b) said current conditions associated with said route segment are uploaded to said remote database to enable historical route information for a plurality of route segments.