Obtaining contextual vehicle information

• US 7,212,916 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2004
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tomtom Global Content B.V (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Alewine, Neal J., Rusnak, Joseph G., Wrobel, Anthony W. Jr., Gabel, Jonathan L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli; Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US11/011,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20060129283A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B

Abstract

A system for permitting remotely located applications to obtain information about vehicle conditions and responsively perform programmatic actions based upon the vehicle conditions. The system can include a vehicle response server and a vehicle response agent. The vehicle response server can manage communications between one or more vehicles and at least one application remotely located from the vehicles. The application can automatically execute at least one context-dependent programmatic action based upon an event occurrence triggered by vehicle sensor input. The vehicle response agent, which resides within the vehicle can receive an activation context that specifies conditions for the event occurrence. The vehicle response agent can then monitor the vehicle for the event occurrence and, when appropriate, wirelessly convey an indication of the event occurrence to the vehicle response server. The indication can result in the automatic execution of the at least one context-dependent programmatic action.

Claims

1. A system for interacting with vehicles comprising:

a vehicle response server configured to manage communications between at least one vehicle and at least one application remotely located from the vehicle, wherein the application conveys a message to the vehicle response server that indicates a set of conditions for triggering at least one context-dependent programmatic action, and wherein the application automatically executes at least one context-dependent programmatic action based upon an event occurrence triggered by vehicle sensor input; and

a vehicle response agent disposed in said at least one vehicle configured to receive an activation context that specifies conditions for the event occurrence, monitor for the event occurrence, and wirelessly convey an indication of the event occurrence to the vehicle response server, which results in the automatic execution of the at least one context-dependent programmatic action.

2. The system of claim 1, said vehicle response agent further comprising:

a context processor configured to translate said activation context into vehicle-specific conditions for the event occurrence;

a communication engine configured to wirelessly exchange digitally encoded information with the vehicle response server; and

a sensor monitor configured to receive said vehicle sensor input and to correlate the vehicle sensor input to the vehicle specific conditions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle response server and the vehicle response agent utilize a vehicle response language that includes data types and functions specifically defined for obtaining and processing vehicle sensor input.

4. A method for obtaining contextual vehicle information comprising the steps of:

conveying a message from an application to a remote computing device, said message indicating an activation context from an application;

conveying the activation context from the remote computing device to an in-vehicle device, said activation context associated with at least one context-dependent programmatic action, wherein the in-vehicle device and the remote computing device are communicatively linked through a wireless network;

determining by the in-vehicle device an occurrence of a context event specified by the activation context;

responsive to the occurrence, conveying a context indication to the remote computing device, said context indication causing the context-dependent programmatic action to execute; and

conveying a message from the remote computing device to the application, the message connoting the context indication to the application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the context indication includes at least one value obtained from a vehicle sensor of a vehicle containing the in-vehicle device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one value is passed as a parameter to a software routine that performs the at least one context-dependent programmatic action.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the vehicle is moving during the step of conveying of the activation context, the step of determining the occurrence, and the step of conveying the context indication.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle sensor indicates at least one of a location, a speed, and a direction of travel for the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle sensor indicates at least one of an oil level, an engine temperature, a tank fuel level, and a wiper setting for the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle sensor indicates at least one of an odometer reading and a tachometer reading for the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

receiving by the remote computing device a message indicating an activation context from a different application; and

conveying by the remote computing device a message connoting an context indication to the different application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the same activation context is indicated by the application and by the different application, and wherein the same context indication is connoted to the application and by the different application, and wherein a single activation context is conveyed from the remote computing device to the in-vehicle device, and wherein a single context indication is conveyed from the in-vehicle device to the remote computing device.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of conveying the activation context, the step of determining the occurrence, and the step of conveying the context indication utilize a vehicle response language.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the vehicle response language includes defined data types for at least one of vehicle longitude, vehicle latitude, vehicle speed, engine oil level, engine temperature, engine tachometer, tank fuel level, and wiper setting.

13. A method for obtaining contextual vehicle information comprising the steps of:

conveying an activation context from a remote computing device to an in-vehicle device, said activation context associated with at least one context-dependent programmatic action;

the in-vehicle device determining an occurrence of a context event specified by the activation context;

responsive to the occurrence, conveying a context indication to the remote computing device, said context indication causing the context-dependent programmatic action to execute, wherein the vehicle and the remote computing device are communicatively linked through a wireless network, wherein the context-dependent programmatic action generates an electronic message conveyed to the in-vehicle device; and

presenting by the in-vehicle device content from the electronic message to a vehicle passenger.

16. A method for obtaining contextual vehicle information comprising the steps of:

conveying an activation context from a remote computing device to an in-vehicle device, said activation context associated with at least one context-dependent programmatic action;

the in-vehicle device determining an occurrence of a context event specified by the activation context; and

responsive to the occurrence, conveying a context indication to the remote computing device, said context indication causing the context-dependent programmatic action to execute;

wherein the vehicle and the remote computing device are communicatively linked through a wireless network;

wherein the step of conveying the activation context, the step of determining the occurrence, and the step of conveying the context indication each utilize a vehicle response language;

wherein the vehicle response language includes a function that returns a value generated by a sensor indicating a value change that has been detected since the last time the in-vehicle device sent a value for the sensor to the remote computing device.

17. A machine-readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

conveying a message from an application to a remote computing device, said message indicating an activation context from an application;

conveying the activation context from the remote computing device to an in-vehicle device, said activation context associated with at least one context-dependent programmatic action, wherein the in-vehicle device and the remote computing device are communicatively linked through a wireless network;

determining by the in-vehicle device an occurrence of a context event specified by the activation context;

responsive to the occurrence, conveying a context indication to the remote computing device, said context indication causing the context-dependent programmatic action to execute; and

conveying a message from the remote computing device to the application, the message connoting the context indication to the application.

18. The machine-readable storage of claim 17, wherein the vehicle is moving during the step of conveying of the activation context, the step of determining the occurrence, and the step of conveying the context indication.

19. The machine-readable storage of claim 17, wherein the step of conveying the activation context, the step of determining the occurrence, and the step of conveying the context indication utilize a vehicle response language that includes data types and functions specifically defined for obtaining and processing vehicle sensor information.