Navigation system for an electric vehicle

• US 8,880,337 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2013
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Scholl, Kay-Ulrich
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US13/773,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20130218458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 701/426
• US Class Current: 701/426
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3867 Geometry of map features, e.g. shape points, polygons or for simplified maps
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09626 where the origin of the information is within the own vehicle, e.g. a local storage device, digital map
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging

Abstract

A navigation system for an electric vehicle may ascertain a selection of a charging station based on a user input, wherein a stored position of the charging station is an ultimate destination. The navigation system can ascertain a current position of the electric vehicle. In addition, the navigation system can ascertain a reachability of a target position that is separated from the current position and the stored position of the charging station. The ascertainment of reachability can be based on the current position of the electric vehicle, the stored position of the selected charging station, and the current state of charge of the energy storage device, so that the target position and subsequently the stored position of the selected charging station are reachable with the current state of charge of the energy storage device.

Claims

1. A method for operating an electric vehicle comprising the steps:

ascertaining, with a processor, a selection of a charging station based on a user input, where a position of the selected charging station is stored in a database, and is an ultimate destination of the electric vehicle subsequent to reaching a target position;

ascertaining, with the processor, a current position of the electric vehicle;

ascertaining, with the processor, a reachability of the target position, the target position separated from the current position and the stored position of the selected charging station, where the ascertainment is based on the current position of the electric vehicle, the stored position of the selected charging station, and a current state of charge of an energy storage device included in the electric vehicle, so that the target position and subsequently the stored position of the selected charging station are reachable with only the current state of charge of the energy storage device; and

outputting by the processor the reachability of the target position with an information item provided for display on an output device of a navigation system of the electric vehicle, the information item including an area marking displayed on the output device as a line or polygon enclosing an area in which any one location of a plurality of locations within the line or polygon and subsequently the stored position of the selected charging station are reachable with only the current state of charge of the energy storage device.

2. The method according to claim 1, where outputting by the processor the reachability of the target position further comprises outputting the information item in a form of a symbol for display on a map view.

3. The method according to claim 1, where the area marking includes a plurality of boundary lines or polygons indicating different levels of reachability of locations within each boundary line or polygon, where each level of reachability defines an amount of stored charge remaining in the energy storage device after reaching an associated location and the stored position.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the additional step of displaying the selection of the charging station by a selection item.

5. The method according to claim 4, where the selection item includes at least one of a marking, a symbol, or text that is particularly displayed on a map view.

6. The method according to claim 1, where the reachability of the target position is ascertained by the processor after the selection of the charging station, with the stored position of the charging station being the ultimate destination.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

additionally ascertaining, with the processor, a direct reachability of the stored position of the charging station based on the current charge state of the energy storage device and the current position of the electric vehicle, and the processor outputting the direct reachability of the stored position of the charging station for display on the output device of the navigation system using an additional information item.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the processor storing an entry associated with the charging station in association with a position of the charging station in a database of the navigation system of the electric vehicle, the storing being initiated by the processor in response to a connection to the charging station and the entry associated with the charging station not being present in the database.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing an attribute associated with the charging station as an entry in the database;

where ascertaining, with the processor, the reachability of the target position comprises determining the reachability of at least one of the target position or the direct reachability of the stored position as a function of the attribute; and

outputting, with the processor, a third information item associated with the attribute.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a storage of an entry of the database, such that during display of the storage, the entry can be modified or deleted in response to a user input.

11. A navigation system of an electric vehicle comprising:

a computing unit configured to ascertain a selection of a selected charging station based on a user input, where a stored position of the charging station is an ultimate destination of the electric vehicle subsequent to reaching a target position;

the computing unit further configured to ascertain a current position of the electric vehicle;

the computing unit further configured to ascertain a reachability of a target position separated from the current position and the stored position of the selected charging station so that the target position and the stored position of the selected charging station are subsequently reachable with only a current state of charge of an energy storage device included in the vehicle, where ascertainment of the reachability is based on the current position of the electric vehicle, the stored position of the selected charging station and the current state of charge of the energy storage device; and

the computing unit further configured to output the reachability of the target position using an information item that is output for display with an output device of the navigation system of the electric vehicle, the information item including an area marking displayed on the output device as a line or polygon enclosing an area in which any one location of a plurality of locations within the line or polygon and subsequently the stored position of the selected charging station are reachable with only the current state of charge of the energy storage device.

12. The navigation system of claim 11, where the computing unit is configured to receive attributes of a charging station, the attributes displayable with the output device of the navigation system.

13. The navigation system of claim 12, where the stored position of the charging station is stored in a database in association with the attributes of the charging station.

14. The navigation system of claim 11, where the information item comprises a symbol or text for display with a display device on a map view.

15. The navigation system of claim 11, where the computing unit is further configured to ascertain a reachability of the stored position of the selected charging station based on the current state of charge of the energy storage device and the current position of the electric vehicle, the computing unit further configured to output both the reachability of the target position using an information item and the reachability of the stored position of the selected charging station for display with the output device of the navigation system.

16. A computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions executable by a processor for a navigation system of an electric vehicle, the computer readable storage medium comprising:

instructions executable by the processor to receive and store in a database an identifier of a charging station and a position of the charging station;

instructions executable by the processor to receive a selection, via user input, of the charging station as an ultimate destination and receive an indication of a target destination defined as a waypoint between a current location of the electric vehicle and the charging station;

instructions executable by the processor to determine the current location of the electric vehicle;

instructions executable by the processor to calculate a route to the target destination and subsequently to the position of the charging station in response to the user input;

instructions executable by the processor to receive a current state of charge of an energy storage device included in the electric vehicle;

instructions executable by the processor to ascertain, based on the current location and the current state of charge, that the electric vehicle can travel to the target destination and subsequently travel to the position of the charging station using only the current state of charge of the energy storage device;

instructions executable by the processor to generate an information item for display on a display device, the information item indicative that the electric vehicle can reach the target destination and return to the position of the charging station;

instructions executable by the processor to ascertain an area within which the electric vehicle can reach target positions and return to the position of the charging station; and

instructions executable by the processor to output for display with the display device an area marking on a map view within which target locations are indicated as reachable as the target destination, the area marking including a polygon enclosing the area in which any one target position within the line or polygon and subsequently the position of the charging station are reachable with only the current state of charge of the energy storage device.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the area marking includes a plurality of boundary polygons indicating different levels of reachability of target positions within each boundary line or polygon, where each level of reachability defines an amount of stored charge remaining in the energy storage device after reaching an associated target position and the position of the charging station.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to generate the information item for display on the display device further comprise instructions executable by the processor to output for display with the display device a symbol on a map view in association with the target destination.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein instructions executable by the processor to receive the selection of the charging station as the ultimate destination and receive the indication of the target destination further comprise instructions executable by the processor to output for display with the display device a symbol on a map view in association with the charging station indicative that the charging station is the ultimate destination.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising:

instructions executable by the processor to calculate a route from the current location to the position of the charging station;

instructions executable by the processor to ascertain, based on the current location and the current state of charge, that the electric vehicle can reach the position of the charging station from the current location using only the current state of charge of the energy storage device; and

instructions executable by the processor to generate the information item for display on the display device, the information item comprising a first information item indicative that the electric vehicle can reach the target destination and subsequently return to the position of the charging station and a second information item indicative that the electric vehicle can reach the position of the charging station.