Patent ID: 9346365
Filing Date: 2016-05-24
CPC Classification: B60L,G01C,G06Q,G07F,H02J,H04W,Y02E,Y02T,Y04S

Claim Text:
1. A charging unit for charging an electric vehicle, the charging unit being connectable to a charge source and having a connector for coupling the charge unit to the electric vehicle, the charge unit comprising, a port for interfacing with an charging an auxiliary battery; a display having a graphical user interface (GUI) for providing (a) charge status of a main battery of a vehicle when the vehicle is connected to the charge unit via the connector and (b) charge status of the auxiliary battery when connected to the port of the charge unit; and a communications port for interfacing with cloud services over the Internet, the communications port defined for providing data of the charge unit to the cloud services, the cloud services including one or more servers for enabling access of data and control of functions of the charge unit by a portable computer; the communications port further defined for providing data of the charge unit to vehicle electronics via cloud services, wherein the charge status of one or both of the main battery and the auxiliary battery, during charging and at completion, is accessible for viewing from the display of the charging unit, a vehicle display, or a display of the portable computer; the cloud services enable a user account access to the charge unit to view data and control charging functions of the charge unit, the cloud services is configured to provide sponsored discounts based on location of the charging unit for businesses that are geographically proximate to the charging unit, the sponsored discounts being accessible via the display of the charge unit, the vehicle display, or the display of the portable computer.