Maintenance assistance for a vehicle

• US 7,412,313 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2004
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Temic Automotive of North America, Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Isaac, Emad S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner; Mark
• Application Number:
  US10/752,865
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 701 29- 34, 701/123, 701/213
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096883 where input information is obtained using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA

Abstract

A system and method to provide navigational maintenance assistance for a vehicle includes a first step of estimating when the vehicle will require maintenance. A next step includes establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle. A next step includes searching a database for any service stations within a range of the vehicle and ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle before the vehicle becomes disabled. This step can be provided by a remote service provider. A next step includes presenting the found service stations from the searching step to a driver of the vehicle via a user interface.

Claims

1. A method to provide navigational maintenance assistance for a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

triggering a maintenance warning using a sensor on the vehicle;

in response to the maintenance warning, estimating a range a vehicle can travel before a required maintenance will disable the vehicle;

establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;

defining a search zone for searching for service stations, the search zone defined by at least (i) an axis along the direction of travel of the vehicle, (ii) the range from the estimating step, and (iii) an expandable angular range to either side of the axis, wherein the angular range is initially such that the search zone is limited to an area substantially ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle;

searching a database including service-station locations for any service stations located within the search zone;

if one or more service stations are found in the searching step, presenting the one or more service stations to a driver of the vehicle; and

if no service station is found in the searching step, expanding the angular range of the search zone and returning to the searching step,

wherein, if no service station is found in the searching step after expanding the angular range such that the search zone covers a substantially circular area around the location of the vehicle, further carrying out the steps of;

expanding a radius of the substantially circular area corresponding to the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein the steps of expanding the radius and searching are carried out until at least one service station is found in the searching step.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the required maintenance is a refueling of the vehicle, and wherein the estimating step includes estimating an amount of fuel available in the vehicle and estimating a mileage rate of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the estimating step includes estimating a time of fuel remaining using a speed of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the required maintenance is a refueling of the vehicle, and further comprising a preliminary step of triggering a low fuel warning depending upon a predetermined fuel volume, wherein the subsequent steps will only occur upon triggering of the low fuel warning.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the required maintenance is a refueling of the vehicle, and further comprising the steps of:

defining refueling preferences of the driver, and

filtering the one or more service stations found in the searching step with the refueling preferences.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating step includes receiving input on traffic conditions ahead of the vehicle on the route being traveled to estimate the range.

7. A method to provide navigational refueling assistance for a vehicle with a communication device in contact with a network of a service provider, the method comprising the steps of:

triggering a low fuel warning using a fuel level sensor;

in response to the low fuel warning, estimating a remaining-fuel range of the vehicle using an existing amount of fuel and a mileage rate of the vehicle;

establishing a location and direction of travel of the vehicle;

defining a search zone for searching for refueling stations, the search zone defined by at least (i) an axis along the direction of travel of the vehicle, (ii) the range from the estimating step, and (iii) an expandable angular range to either side of the axis, wherein the angular range is initially such that the search zone is limited to an area substantially ahead of the location of the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle;

searching a refueling station database including refueling-station locations for any refueling stations located within the search zone, wherein the refueling station database is located on the service provider network;

if one or more refueling stations are found in the searching step, downloading content related to the one or more refueling stations from the service provider network to the communication device and presenting the downloaded content to a driver of the vehicle via a user interface;

if no refueling station is found in the searching step, expanding the angular range of the search zone and returning to the searching step,

wherein, if no refueling station is found in the searching step after expanding the angular range such that the search zone covers a substantially circular area around the location of the vehicle, further carrying out the steps of;

expanding a radius of the substantially circular area corresponding to the search zone and returning to the searching step, wherein the steps of expanding the radius and searching are carried out until at least one refueling station is found in the searching step.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the estimating step includes estimating a time of fuel remaining using a speed of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

defining refueling preferences of the driver, and

filtering the downloaded content with the refueling preferences.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the estimating step includes receiving input from the service provider on traffic conditions ahead of the vehicle on the route being traveled.