Vehicle related wireless scientific instrumentation telematics

• US 6,895,310 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2002
• Issued: 05/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: USA Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: USA Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kolls, H. Brock
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To, Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US10/115,547
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 455/323, 455/334, 455/461, 455/445, 455/417, 701/1, 701/35, 701/200, 701/211, 701/213, 701/300, 341/108, 341/123, 375/347, 375/341, 375/355, 375/136, 375/147, 375/220, 342/417, 342/357, 342/457, 340/995, 340/996
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/007 Wheeled or endless-tracked vehicles G01M17/08 takes precedence

Abstract

An in-vehicle device data communicates with data processing resources, including global network based data processing resources for the purpose of programming and receiving data from an in-vehicle device where the data communicated can include sampling intervals, global position system (GPS) data, or scientific instrumentation data related to certain weather, environmental, traffic, or road conditions.

Scientific instrumentation data gathering can be effectuated proximate to a vehicle, wherein the vehicle has an in-vehicle device and the in-vehicle device has a scientific instrumentation interface. In this regard, scientific instrumentation data can be obtained while the vehicle is stationary or in motion.

Scientific instrumentation data gathered at the data processing resource or gathered by the in-vehicle device can be utilized to effectuate a wide variety of data dissemination. Such data dissemination can include forecasting, change predictions, warning alarm determinations, and or other reporting or analysis related to weather, environmental, traffic, or road conditions.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle device configured to communicate with a scientific instrument component for communicating scientific instrumentation data samples gathered at a vehicle to a data processing resource remote from the vehicle, said in-vehicle device comprising;

a scientific instrumentation interface configured to receive the scientific instrumentation data samples gathered at scheduled intervals at the vehicle from the scientific instrument component, and configured to process commands from the data processing resource to chance the scheduled intervals when the scientific instrumentation data samples are gathered; and

a data communication interface coupled with said scientific instrumentation interface, said data communication interface configured to communicate the scientific instrumentation data samples from the scientific instrumentation interface to the data processing resource remote from the vehicle, to receive the commands to change the scheduled intervals from the data processing resource, and to communicate the received commands to the scientific instrumentation interface.

2. The in-vehicle device of claim 1, further comprising:

a processor coupled with the scientific instrumentation interface and the data communication interface, said processor configured to receive the scientific instrumentation data samples through the scientific instrumentation interface, process the scientific instrumentation data samples, and communicate at least a portion of the processed scientific instrumentation data samples to the data processing resource via the data communication interface.

3. The in-vehicle device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to determine if the scientific instrumentation data samples represent at least one of the following i) an alarm condition, ii) a state change condition, or iii) an out of range condition and to communicate the condition responsive thereto.

4. The in-vehicle device of claim 2, further comprising:

a global positioning system coupled to the processor, the global positioning system configured to receive global positioning location data, wherein the processor is further configured to combine the global positioning location data with the scientific instrumentation data samples to indicate one or more geographic locations where the scientific instrumentation data samples are obtained and to communicate the combined global positioning location data and scientific instrumentation data samples to the data processing resource.

5. The in-vehicle device of claim 1, wherein the data processing resource is coupled with one or more communication interface devices and wherein the data communication interface is configured to communicate with the data processing resource via the one or more communication interface devices.

6. The in-vehicle device of claim 5;

wherein the one or more communication interface devices are wireless devices and wherein the data communication interface is configured to communicate wirelessly with the one or more communication interface devices.

7. The in-vehicle device of claim 1;

wherein the scientific instrumentation interface is at least one of the following;

i) a weather instrumentation system interface;

ii) an environmental instrumentation system interface;

iii) a road condition instrumentation system interface;

iv) a traffic instrumentation system interface.

10. The in-vehicle device of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication interface device coupled with said data communication interface.

11. The in-vehicle device of claim 10, wherein said communication interface device comprises at least one of the following:

i) a wireless modem;

ii) a wireless transceiver;

iii) a wireless phone transceiver;

iv) a wireless phone interface;

v) a wireless data link.

8. An in-vehicle device configured to communicate scientific instrumentation data samples obtained at a vehicle to a data processing resource remote from the vehicle, said in-vehicle device comprising:

a scientific instrumentation component to obtain the scientific instrumentation data;

a scientific instrumentation interface configured to receive the scientific instrumentation data samples gathered at scheduled intervals at the vehicle from the scientific instrument component, and configured to process commands from the data processing resource to change the scheduled intervals when the scientific instrumentation data samples are gathered; and

a data communication interface coupled with said scientific instrumentation interface, said data communication interface configured to communicate the scientific instrumentation data samples from the scientific instrumentation interface to the data processing resource remote from the vehicle, to receive the commands to change the scheduled intervals from the data processing resource, and to communicate the received commands to the scientific instrumentation interface.

9. The in-vehicle device of claim 8, wherein the scientific instrumentation component is configured to obtain a scientific data sample of at least one of the following:

a) humidity;

b) temperature;

c) barometric pressure;

d) dew point;

e) normalized wind speed;

f) road slippage;

g) ice conditions;

h) road wetness;

i) visibility;

j) air quality;

k) chemical composition of air;

l) emission levels;

m) ozone levels;

n) ultra violet levels;

o) traffic speed;

p) congestion areas;

q) braking activity;

or

r) vehicle spacing.

12. An apparatus for analyzing scientific instrumentation data samples gathered by one or more in-vehicle devices, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of communication interface devices configured to communicate with the one or more in-vehicle devices; and

a data processing resource coupled to the plurality of communication interface devices, the data processing resource configured to;

communicate one or more commands to change sampling intervals of scientific instrumentation data of a respective one or ones of the in-vehicle devices;

receive the scientific instrumentation data samples gathered by the one or more in-vehicle devices via the plurality of communication interface devices;

analyze the scientific instrumentation data samples; and

communicate data corresponding to the analyzed scientific data samples.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data processing resource analyzes the scientific instrumentation data samples to forecast data for communication related to at least one of the following:

i) weather conditions;

ii) traffic conditions;

iii) road conditions; and

iv) environmental conditions.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data processing resource is configured to communicate data corresponding to the analyzed scientific instrumentation data samples to at least one of i) one of the one or more in-vehicle devices or ii) another data processing resource.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the scientific instrumentation data samples are combined by the one or more in-vehicle devices with global positioning system location data that indicates one ore more geographic locations where the scientific instrumentation date samples are obtained and wherein the data processing resource is further configured to analyze the global positioning system location data and to communicate data corresponding to the combined scientific data samples and analyzed global positioning system location data.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one of the plurality of communication interface devices is a wireless communication interface device.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one of the plurality of communication interface devices is an internet appliance.

18. A method for communicating scientific instrumentation data corresponding to in-vehicle devices of a vehicle to a remote data processing resource, said method comprising the steps of:

obtaining scientific instrumentation data samples gathered at scheduled intervals at the vehicle via the in-vehicle devices;

communicating the scientific instrumentation data samples to the remote data processing resource;

communicating a command to change the scheduled intervals from the data processing resource; and

changing the scheduled intervals responsive to the command communicated from the data processing resource.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:

processing the obtained scientific instrumentation data samples at the in-vehicle device for communication to the remote data processing resource.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing step comprises the step of determining if the scientific instrumentation data samples represent at least one of i) an alarm condition, ii) a state change condition, or iii) an out of range condition and the communicating step comprises communicating the condition responsive thereto.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing step further comprises the step of:

combining the obtained scientific instrumentation data samples with global positioning system location data at the in-vehicle devices to indicate one or more geographic locations where the scientific instrumentation data samples are obtained, and

wherein the step of communicating scientific instrumentation data samples further comprises the step of communicating the global positioning system location data to the remote data processing resource.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the remote data processing resource is coupled with one or more communication interface devices and wherein the step of communicating the scientific data samples comprises at least the step of:

communicating the scientific instrumentation data samples to the remote data processing resource via the one or more communication interface devices.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more communication interface devices are wireless devices and wherein the step of communicating scientific data samples comprises at least the step of:

wirelessly communicating at least a portion of the scientific instrumentation data samples to the remote data processing resource via the one or more communication interface devices.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of obtaining scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of:

logging at least one of the following;

i) weather scientific instrumentation data;

ii) environmental scientific instrumentation data;

iii) road scientific instrumentation data;

iv) traffic scientific instrumentation data.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of obtaining scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of:

logging at least one of the following;

a) humidity;

b) temperature;

c) barometric pressure;

d) dew point;

e) normalized wind speed;

f) road slippage;

g) ice conditions;

h) road wetness;

i) visibility;

j) air quality;

k) chemical composition of air;

l) emission levels;

m) ozone levels;

n) ultra violet levels;

o) traffic speed;

p) congestion areas;

q) braking activity;

or

r) vehicle spacing.

26. A method for analyzing at a data processing resource scientific instrumentation data samples logged gathered at scheduled intervals at one or more vehicles by one or more in-vehicle devices, the method comprising:

receiving and analyzing the scientific instrumentation data samples gathered by the one or more in-vehicle devices at the data processing resource remote from the one or more vehicles;

communicating data corresponding to the analyzed scientific instrumentation data samples to the one or more in-vehicle devices;

communicating a command to change the scheduled intervals from the data processing resource; and

changing the scheduled intervals responsive to the command communicated from the data processing resource.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of analyzing the scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of analyzing the scientific instrumentation data samples received from the one or more in-vehicle devices to forecast data for communication related to at least one of the following:

i) weather conditions;

ii) traffic conditions;

iii) road conditions;

or

iv) environmental conditions.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of communicating the data corresponding to the analyzed scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of:

communicating the data corresponding to the scientific instrumentation data samples to at least one of i) one or more of the in-vehicle devices or ii) another data processing resource.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of:

receiving global positioning system location data associated with the scientific instrumentation data samples that indicates one or more geographic locations where the scientific instrumentation data samples are obtained; and

wherein the step of analyzing the scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of analyzing the global positioning system location data.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the data processing resource is coupled with a plurality of data communication interface devices and wherein the step of receiving the scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of:

receiving the scientific instrumentation data samples through one or more of the plurality of data communication interface devices.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein at least one of the plurality of data communication interface devices is a wireless communication interface device and wherein the step of receiving the scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of;

wirelessly receiving at least a portion of the scientific instrumentation data samples through the at least one wireless communication interface device.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein one or more of the data communication interface devices are internet appliances and wherein the step of receiving the scientific instrumentation data samples comprises the step of:

wirelessly receiving at least a portion of the scientific instrumentation data samples through at least one of the internet appliances.