Method and apparatus for vehicle usage recording

• US 9,898,876 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2013
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bridgestone Mobility Solutions BV (Bridgestone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TomTom Telematics BV (Bridgestone Corporation)
• Inventors: Hollweg, Dirk, Linke, Mathias, Suess, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Application Number:
  US14/652,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20160196697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 701533
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of providing suggested entries for a candidate journey in a vehicle logbook, comprising selecting one or more neighbour journeys based on a location of one or more end-points of the candidate journey and the one or more neighbour journeys, determining an accuracy value indicative of a match between each neighbour journey and the candidate journey based on one or more attributes of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey, and providing at least one suggested entry for the candidate journey in the vehicle logbook based on the accuracy value associated

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing suggested entries for a candidate journey in a vehicle logbook, comprising:

selecting one or more neighbour journeys based on a location of one or more end-points of the candidate journey and the one or more neighbour journeys;

determining an accuracy value indicative of a match between each neighbour journey and the candidate journey based on one or more attributes of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey; and

providing one or more suggested entries for the candidate journey in the vehicle logbook based on the accuracy value associated with each neighbour journey, each of the one or more suggested entries comprising a respective combination of information about the candidate journey for updating the vehicle logbook to include a corresponding entry for the candidate journey.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting of the one neighbour journeys comprises:

determining a geographic region based on a location of one or more end-points of the candidate journey;

wherein the one or more neighbour journeys are selected according to an end-point of the neighbour journey residing within the geographic region.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein end-point of the candidate journey is a destination location and the end-point of the neighbour journey is a destination location.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the geographic region is centred upon the location of the one or more end-points of the candidate journey.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the accuracy value is determined based on at least one end-point of the neighbour journey residing within a geographic region associated with an end point of the candidate journey.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the geographic region is associated with a start location of the candidate journey and the start location of the neighbour journey.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the accuracy value is weighted toward a correspondence between the least one end-point of the neighbour journey with the end point of the candidate journey.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the accuracy value is determined based on a temporal match between each neighbour journey and the candidate journey.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the temporal match is determined based on one or more of:

a weekday of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey;

an end time of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey being within a predetermined period of time;

an end time of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey being not more than a predetermined period of time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the accuracy value is determined based on a category associated with each neighbour journey.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the category is indicative of a type of the neighbour journey.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the category is one or more of:

business, commuting, and private.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon receiving an indication of an acceptance of a given suggested entry from among the one or more suggested entries, updating the vehicle logbook to include the corresponding entry for the candidate journey based on the given suggested entry.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, causes the computing device to perform a method for providing suggested entries for a candidate journey in a vehicle logbook, the method comprising:

selecting one or more neighbour journeys based on a location of one or more end-points of the candidate journey and the one or more neighbour journeys;

determining an accuracy value indicative of a match between each neighbour journey and the candidate journey based on one or more attributes of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey; and

providing one or more suggested entries for the candidate journey in the vehicle logbook based on the accuracy value associated with each neighbour journey, each of the one or more suggested entries comprising a respective combination of information about the candidate journey for updating the vehicle logbook to include a corresponding entry for the candidate journey.

14. A computing device, comprising:

a memory storing a logbook application;

a processor operatively arranged to execute the logbook application, wherein the logbook application is arranged to;

select one or more neighbour journeys stored in a data storage structure accessible to the logbook application based on a location of one or more end-points of a candidate journey and the one or more neighbour journeys;

determine an accuracy value indicative of a match between each neighbour journey and the candidate journey based on one or more attributes of each neighbour journey and the candidate journey; and

provide one or more suggested entries for the candidate journey in the vehicle logbook based on the accuracy value associated with each neighbour journey, each of the one or more suggested entries comprising a respective combination of information about the candidate journey for updating the vehicle logbook to include a corresponding entry for the candidate journey.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device having a display, the processor being arranged to display the at least one suggested entry for the candidate journey on the display.