Vehicle fuel informational system

• US 7,668,644 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Technical Center North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Heft, Ronald, Tengler, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Figueroa; Jaime
• Application Number:
  US11/314,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150171A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• Field of Search: 700/282, 701/29, 701/30, 701/36, 701/200, 701/123, 200/190, 340/450, 340/988, 732/90.R, 137/386
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers

Abstract

A vehicle fuel informational system is provided with a fuel level determination component, an onboard vehicle positioning component, an onboard vehicle navigation component and a low fuel notification component. The fuel level determination component determines a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system. The onboard vehicle positioning component determines a host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle equipped with the vehicle positioning component. The onboard vehicle navigation component provides vehicle route information for a desired vehicle route of the host vehicle. The low fuel notification component provides a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and automatically recommends a suggested fuel provider at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position of the host vehicle and the desired vehicle route.

Claims

1. A vehicle fuel informational system comprising:

a fuel level determination component configured to determine a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system;

an onboard vehicle positioning component configured to determine a position of the host vehicle;

an onboard vehicle navigation component configured to process and provide vehicle route information onboard the host vehicle for a desired vehicle route of the host vehicle; and

a low fuel notification component configured to provide a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and to recommend a suggested fuel provider at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position and the desired vehicle route, the suggested fuel provider being chosen from a plurality of participating fuel providers such that priority of recommendation is given to those of the participating fuel providers that have paid a priority fee, the priority of recommendation being used as one criterion used in recommending the suggested fuel provider.

2. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, further comprising

a host vehicle communication device configured to obtain information related to the participating fuel providers.

3. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 2, wherein

the host vehicle communication device includes a wireless communication device.

4. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 2, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

5. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 4, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

6. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 4, wherein

the onboard vehicle navigation component includes a display configured to view the suggested fuel provider and provide options to a user as to accept the suggested fuel provider and to ignore the suggested fuel provider.

7. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the onboard vehicle navigation component includes a display configured to view the suggested fuel provider, and

the onboard vehicle navigation component is configured to recommend a route to the suggested fuel provider.

8. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching a moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position for information relating to the participating fuel providers within a prescribed distance of the host vehicle'"'"'s position.

9. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 8, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to limit the moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position to a forward vehicle motion direction and eliminate searching in a direction opposite to the forward vehicle motion direction.

10. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 9, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to use an average trajectory angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the host vehicle to define the moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position.

11. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching within a prescribed distance of the desired vehicle route of the host vehicle when the desired vehicle route has been specified, and to determine the suggested fuel provider by searching a moving area surrounding the host vehicle'"'"'s position for information relating to the participating fuel providers within a prescribed distance of the host vehicle'"'"'s position when the desired vehicle route has not been specified.

12. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 11, further comprising

a host vehicle two way communication device configured to conduct direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle and obtain information relating to the participating fuel providers, with the low fuel notification component being further configured to recommend the suggested fuel provider based on the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

13. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 12, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a closest fuel provider as the suggested fuel provider and to provide fuel pricing information relating to the closest participating fuel provider.

14. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 12, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a low cost fuel provider as the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information relating to the participating fuel providers.

15. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 14, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend a closest fuel provider among the participating fuel providers having identical fuel prices when at least two of the participating fuel providers have identical fuel prices and when both or neither of the at least two of the participating fuel providers are given the priority of recommendation.

16. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 14, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to recommend one of those of the participating fuel providers that have paid the priority fee over one of the participating fuel providers that have not paid the priority fee when the one of those of the participating fuel providers that have paid the priority fee and the one of the participating fuel providers that have not paid the priority fee have identical fuel prices.

17. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 12, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured with a low cost fuel provider mode in which a low cost fuel provider is recommended as the suggested fuel provider based on price of fuel contained in the information from the participating fuel providers and to provide traveling distance information, and a closest fuel provider mode in which a closest fuel provider is recommended as the suggested fuel provider and to provide fuel pricing information received from the closest fuel provider.

18. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 17, wherein

the low fuel notification component is further configured to provide a low cost fuel provider selectable list that ranks the participating fuel providers by pricing information when in the low cost fuel provider mode, and to provide a closest cost fuel provider selectable list that ranks the participating fuel providers when in the closest fuel provider mode.

21. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 1, wherein

the low fuel notification component communicates with the fuel level determination component in order to detect the low fuel and to automatically provide the low fuel alert notification and recommend the suggested fuel provider.

24. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 2, wherein

the host vehicle communication device is a two-way communication device that conducts direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle.

19. A vehicle fuel informational system comprising:

a fuel level determination component configured to determine a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system;

an onboard vehicle positioning component configured to determine a position of the host vehicle;

an onboard vehicle navigation component configured to process and provide vehicle route information onboard the host vehicle for a desired vehicle route of the host vehicle;

a host vehicle communication device configured to obtain information related to participating fuel providers such that general location information is obtained via a broadcast channel and private data including pricing and payment confirmation information is obtained via a private service channel; and

a low fuel notification component configured to provide a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and to recommend a suggested fuel provider among the participating fuel providers at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position, the desired vehicle route and the information obtained via the host vehicle communication device.

22. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 19, wherein

the low fuel notification component communicates with the fuel level determination component in order to detect the low fuel and to automatically provide the low fuel alert notification and recommend the suggested fuel provider.

20. A vehicle fuel informational system comprising:

a fuel level determination component configured to determine a fuel level of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle fuel informational system;

an onboard vehicle positioning component configured to determine a position of the host vehicle;

an onboard vehicle navigation component configured to process and provide vehicle route information onboard the host vehicle for a pre-programmed vehicle travel route of the host vehicle; and

a low fuel notification component configured to provide a low fuel alert notification that is indicative of a low fuel and to recommend a suggested fuel provider among a plurality of participating fuel providers at least partially based on at least one of the host vehicle'"'"'s position and the desired vehicle route such that the suggested fuel provider is located within a prescribed distance from the pre-programmed vehicle travel route.

23. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 20, wherein

the low fuel notification component communicates with the fuel level determination component in order to detect the low fuel and to automatically provide the low fuel alert notification and recommend the suggested fuel provider.

25. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 20, further comprising

a host vehicle communication device configured to obtain information related to the participating fuel providers.

26. The vehicle fuel informational system according to claim 25, wherein

the host vehicle communication device is a two-way communication device that conducts direct communications in a host vehicle broadcast area surrounding the host vehicle.