Abstract:
The described method and system allow a service provider to remotely interact with a vehicle analysis system, high voltage battery contactors, and other vehicle systems to eliminate certain sources of inconvenience for service personnel and users. For example, when the high voltage battery contactors are disconnected inadvertently or as a precaution, they may later need to be safely reengaged to allow the user to drive the disabled but otherwise operational vehicle. Conversely, when an electric vehicle has become disabled and needs to be towed or serviced, the disengagement of the high voltage battery contactors as well as the activation or deactivation of related systems will assist the servicing entity in properly moving and servicing the vehicle.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electric-only and hybrid electric vehicles have become increasingly capable and increasingly popular in recent years, as rising fossil fuel prices and improved battery technologies level the cost and performance fields between the vehicle types. Indeed, while the range and acceleration of production-level electric vehicles have historically lagged behind those of their fuel-powered counterparts, this situation is rapidly changing as high-capacity battery technologies are optimized and commercialized. 
     Nonetheless, despite the increasing parity between electric vehicles and fuel-powered vehicles, there are numerous differences between the vehicle types that require different handling and operational procedures. For example, the voltage present in a fuel-powered vehicle is generally fairly low, e.g., 12 volts, with the exception of certain sheltered areas such as spark plugs and ignition-related capacitors and transformers. In contrast, the core power system in an electric vehicle often exposes very high voltages, e.g., hundreds of volts, and does so at significant current levels. 
     Moreover, the charging and discharging of high-capacity electrical cells require more care than the analogous activity of filling a gas tank and using the gas. For example, many battery technologies require that the discharge cycle be controlled such that the battery cells are not discharged to a state of less than a certain voltage value per cell. Discharge rates are also often limited. Thus, it is important to control the rate at which battery cells are discharged and to monitor and cease the discharge before it reaches a level that may damage one or more cells of the battery. 
     One way to prevent a battery or battery bank from overly discharging or from exposing a dangerous voltage level at an inappropriate time is to use one or more contactors to isolate the battery from the remaining components and circuitry of the vehicle. This is also useful as an interlock feature, so that if a motor controller were to malfunction and present a short-circuit, the contactors can disconnect power and prevent an undesired acceleration. 
     However, while the use of contactors is generally beneficial, the inventors have discovered that there are situations wherein the contactors can also cause inconvenience for the operator or service personnel. It is an object in certain implementations of the invention to provide a system that may prevent or overcome certain of these problems. Nonetheless, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to systems that solve the problems noted herein. Moreover, the inventors have created the above body of information for the convenience of the reader and expressly disclaim all of the foregoing as prior art; the foregoing is a discussion of problems discovered and/or appreciated by the inventors, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides a system and apparatus for remotely interacting with the vehicle analysis system and high voltage battery contactors to eliminate certain sources of inconvenience. For example, when the high voltage battery contactors are disconnected inadvertently or as a precaution, they may later need to be safely reengaged to allow the user to drive the presently disabled but otherwise operational vehicle. Conversely, when an electric vehicle has become entirely disabled and needs to be towed or serviced, the disengagement of the high voltage battery contactors as well as the activation or deactivation of related systems may assist the servicing entity in properly moving and servicing the vehicle. 
     To these ends, certain aspects and implementations of the inventive concepts allow a user or other authorized entity to remotely re-engage the disconnected high voltage battery contactors, once a prerequisite validation analysis of the vehicle status has been remotely completed. Similarly, when the vehicle is disabled and the high voltage battery contactors or related systems have not activated/deactivated as desired, an authorized remote entity may remotely prepare the vehicle for towing or service by remotely verifying vehicle status and selectively activating disabling measures. 
     Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an operating environment for a mobile vehicle communication system usable in implementations of the described principles; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic vehicle diagram showing relevant power links and communications linkages within the vehicle and between the vehicle and a remote entity; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a process of reengaging opened high voltage contactors to provide roadside assistance to a user of a vehicle; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a process of remotely preparing a vehicle to receive roadside assistance from third party personnel. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Before discussing the details of the invention and the environment wherein the invention may be used, a brief overview is given to guide the reader. In general terms, not intended to limit the claims, the invention is directed to a system and method for remotely assisting a user or service personnel regarding an electric vehicle. Specifically, the system allows a telematics service provider to remotely trigger the vehicle to be prepared for towing and to receive a message back from the vehicle to verify the vehicle status. Specific activities that may be undertaken to prepare the vehicle for towing are: high-voltage battery disconnect, charge disabling if the vehicle is plugged in, and turning off of regenerative braking systems to allow the vehicle to be more easily towed. 
     In the event that the high voltage battery contactors have been disengaged, the system allows a telematics system to remotely command the contactors to re-engage after performing a remote validation that it is safe to re-engage the contactors. This may improve the customer experience by eliminating the need to have the vehicle towed. However, the described principles also assist in the event that towing and/or service are needed. In particular, if such a vehicle is disabled and requires roadside assistance, a service provider can transmit a signal to the vehicle to instruct the vehicle to prepare itself for towing. In one aspect, this may occur only after receiving a message back from the vehicle to verify the vehicle status. Having a vehicle prepared for towing or service will tend to increases the confidence of the roadside provider that the vehicle will be ready to tow and may also prevent any additional damage to the vehicle during towing. 
     Given this overview, an exemplary environment in which the invention may operate is described hereinafter. It will be appreciated that the described environment is an example, and does not imply any limitation regarding the use of other environments to practice the invention. With reference to  FIG. 1  there is shown an example of a communication system  100  that may be used with the present method and generally includes a vehicle  102 , a wireless carrier system  104 , a land network  106  and a call center  108 . It should be appreciated that the overall architecture, setup and operation, as well as the individual components of a system such as that shown here are generally known in the art. Thus, the following paragraphs simply provide a brief overview of one such exemplary information system  100 ; however, other systems not shown here could employ the present method as well. 
     Vehicle  102  is preferably a mobile vehicle such as a motorcycle, car, truck, recreational vehicle (RV), boat, plane, etc., and is equipped with suitable hardware and software that enables it to communicate over system  100 . Some of the vehicle hardware  110  is shown generally in  FIG. 1  including a telematics unit  114 , a microphone  116 , a speaker  118  and buttons and/or controls  120  connected to the telematics unit  114 . Operatively coupled to the telematics unit  114  is a network connection or vehicle bus  122 . Examples of suitable network connections include a controller area network (CAN), a media oriented system transfer (MOST), a local interconnection network (LIN), an Ethernet, and other appropriate connections such as those that conform with known ISO, SAE, and IEEE standards and specifications, to name a few. 
     The telematics unit  114  is an onboard device that provides a variety of services through its communication with the call center  108 , and generally includes an electronic processing device  128  one or more types of electronic memory  130 , a cellular chipset/component  124 , a wireless modem  126 , a dual antenna  160  and a navigation unit containing a GPS chipset/component  132 . In one example, the wireless modem  126  is comprised of a computer program and/or set of software routines executing within processing device  128 . The cellular chipset/component  124  and the wireless modem  126  may be called the network access device (NAD) of the telematics unit  114 . 
     The telematics unit  114  provides too many services to list them all, but several examples include: turn-by-turn directions and other navigation-related services provided in conjunction with the GPS based chipset/component  132 ; airbag deployment notification and other emergency or roadside assistance-related services provided in connection with various crash and or collision sensor interface modules  156  and sensors  158  located throughout the vehicle. Infotainment-related services where music, Web pages, movies, television programs, video games and/or other content is downloaded by an infotainment center  136  operatively connected to the telematics unit  114  via vehicle bus  122  and audio bus  112 . In one example, downloaded content is stored for current or later playback. 
     Again, the above-listed services are by no means an exhaustive list of all the capabilities of telematics unit  114 , as should be appreciated by those skilled in the art, but are simply an illustration of some of the services that the telematics unit  114  is capable of offering. It is anticipated that telematics unit  114  include a number of known components in addition to those listed above. 
     Vehicle communications preferably use radio transmissions to establish a voice channel with wireless carrier system  104  so that both voice and data transmissions can be sent and received over the voice channel. Vehicle communications are enabled via the cellular chipset/component  124  for voice communications and a wireless modem  126  for data transmission. In order to enable successful data transmission over the voice channel, wireless modem  126  applies some type of encoding or modulation to convert the digital data so that it can communicate through a vocoder or speech codec incorporated in the cellular chipset/component  124 . Any suitable encoding or modulation technique that provides an acceptable data rate and bit error can be used with the present method. Dual mode antenna  160  services the GPS chipset/component and the cellular chipset/component. 
     Microphone  116  provides the driver or other vehicle occupant with a means for inputting verbal or other auditory commands, and can be equipped with an embedded voice processing unit utilizing a human/machine interface (HMI) technology known in the art. Conversely, speaker  118  provides verbal output to the vehicle occupants and can be either a stand-alone speaker specifically dedicated for use with the telematics unit  114  or can be part of a vehicle audio component  154 . In either event, microphone  116  and speaker  118  enable vehicle hardware  110  and call center  108  to communicate with the occupants through audible speech. The vehicle hardware also includes one or more buttons or controls  120  for enabling a vehicle occupant to activate or engage one or more of the vehicle hardware components  110 . For example, one of the buttons  120  can be an electronic push button used to initiate voice communication with call center  108  (whether it be a live advisor  148  or an automated call response system). In another example, one of the buttons  120  can be used to initiate emergency services. 
     The audio component  154  is operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122  and the audio bus  112 . The audio component  154  receives analog information, rendering it as sound, via the audio bus  112 . Digital information is received via the vehicle bus  122 . The audio component  154  provides AM and FM radio, CD, DVD, and multimedia functionality independent of the infotainment center  136 . Audio component  154  may contain a speaker system, or may utilize speaker  118  via arbitration on vehicle bus  122  and/or audio bus  112 . 
     The vehicle crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  156  are operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122 . The crash sensors  158  provide information to the telematics unit  114  via the crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  156  regarding the severity of a vehicle collision, such as the angle of impact and the amount of force sustained. 
     Vehicle sensors  162 , connected to various sensor interface modules  134  are operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122 . Example vehicle sensors include but are not limited to gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, emission detection and/or control sensors, and the like. Example sensor interface modules  134  include power train control, climate control, and body control, to name but a few. 
     Wireless carrier system  104  is preferably a cellular telephone system or any other suitable wireless system that transmits signals between the vehicle hardware  110  and land network  106 . According to an example, wireless carrier system  104  includes one or more cell towers  138 , base stations and/or mobile switching centers (MSCs)  140 , as well as any other networking components required to connect the wireless system  104  with land network  106 . A component in the mobile switching center may include a remote data server  144 . 
     As appreciated by those skilled in the art, various cell tower/base station/MSC arrangements are possible and could be used with wireless system  104 . For example, a base station and a cell tower could be co-located at the same site or they could be remotely located, and a single base station could be coupled to various cell towers or various base stations could be coupled with a single MSC, to but a few of the possible arrangements. Preferably, a speech codec or vocoder is incorporated in one or more of the base stations, but depending on the particular architecture of the wireless network, it could be incorporated within a Mobile Switching Center or some other network components as well. 
     Land network  106  can be a conventional land-based telecommunications network that is connected to one or more landline telephones and connects wireless carrier network  104  to call center  108 . For example, land network  106  can include a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or an Internet protocol (IP) network, as is appreciated by those skilled in the art. Of course, one or more segments of the land network  106  can be implemented in the form of a standard wired network, a fiber or other optical network, a cable network, other wireless networks such as wireless local networks (WLANs) or networks providing broadband wireless access (BWA), or any combination thereof. 
     Call Center (OCC)  108  is designed to provide the vehicle hardware  110  with a number of different system back-end functions and, according to the example shown here, generally includes one or more switches  142 , servers  144 , databases  146 , live advisors  148 , as well as a variety of other telecommunication and computer equipment  150  that is known to those skilled in the art. These various call center components are preferably coupled to one another via a network connection or bus  152 , such as the one previously described in connection with the vehicle hardware  110 . Switch  142 , which can be a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, routes incoming signals so that voice transmissions are usually sent to either the live advisor  148  or an automated response system, and data transmissions are passed on to a modem or other piece of equipment  150  for demodulation and further signal processing. 
     The modem  150  preferably includes an encoder, as previously explained, and can be connected to various devices such as a server  144  and database  146 . For example, database  146  could be designed to store subscriber profile records, subscriber behavioral patterns, or any other pertinent subscriber information. Although the illustrated example has been described as it would be used in conjunction with a manned call center  108 , it will be appreciated that the call center  108  can be any central or remote facility, manned or unmanned, mobile or fixed, to or from which it is desirable to exchange voice and data. 
     As noted above, the telematics unit  114  and associated components are associated in an implementation of the invention with a vehicle  102 . In particular, the vehicle  102  is a hybrid-electric or electric vehicle.  FIG. 2  is a vehicle schematic showing the components of the vehicle of interest with the respect to the disclosed principles and the manner in which the components may be interrelated to execute those principles. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated architecture is merely an example, and that the disclosed principles do not require that the vehicle be configured precisely as shown. 
     In the illustrated example, the vehicle  200  ( 102 ) includes an electrical energy storage system  201  which is a battery or battery bank (“battery”) of suitable voltage and capacity. Suitable battery types include but are not limited to lead acid batteries, Nickel Cadmium batteries (NiCd), Nickel Metal Hydride batteries (NiMH), Lithium Ion batteries and Lithium Polymer batteries. 
     The battery  201  is conductively linkable, e.g., via a controller  203 , to an electrical drive unit  205 , e.g., an electrical motor or motors. The electrical energy may be modulated, voltage-modified, or otherwise modified by the controller  203  as needed to drive the electrical drive unit  205 . The electrical drive unit  205  is linked or linkable to a ground engaging drive, typically including one or more wheels  207 . 
     In one optional implementation, a plug interface  209  is provided in order to charge the battery  201 , although it will be appreciated that the teachings herein apply beyond vehicles having plug-in architectures as well. The plug interface  209  is linked to the battery  201  via a charge controller  211 . The telematics unit  214  ( 114 ) is adapted to receive information from a remote source as discussed above to convey data regarding vehicle systems and to facilitate alerts when appropriate. 
     An aspect of the vehicle  200  and battery  201  is the ability to electrically disconnect the high voltage of the battery  201  from the rest of the car by controlling at least one and preferably two or more high voltage contactors  213  if an adverse condition is detected. For example, the controller  203  may monitor battery parameters such as voltage (or voltages within multiple cells), currents, pack temperature etc., to determine if any of these parameters indicates a problem requiring the battery  201  to be disconnected. The controller  203  may also monitor, or be linked to an entity that does monitor, important vehicle parameters that may impact battery operation and safety such as acceleration or deceleration (e.g. to detect a collision), vehicle attitude and orientation (e.g. to detect rollover), interior climate conditions including smoke, humidity, moisture and so on. 
     In the event that the battery parameter or vehicle parameter sensors detect a condition requiring disconnect, the controller  203  activates the high voltage battery contactors  213  to quickly, e.g., within milliseconds, disconnect the high voltage of the battery pack  201  from the car. With some designs, the high voltage contactors  213  must be electrically activated in order to open (default closed), while in other cases the high voltage contactors  213  must be electrically activated in order to close (default open). 
     As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the contactors  213  are similar to electrical power relays, although any suitable contactor design and make may be used. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the set of contactors within a vehicle may comprise one or more contactors that are themselves sufficient to open and close the power circuit, or may comprise contactors placed in serial or parallel configuration to provide logical “AND” operation and/or logical “OR” operation. 
     With further reference to the architecture of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , and turning to  FIG. 3 , a process  300  is shown for reengaging opened contactors to provide roadside assistance to a user. The process  300  begins at stage  301 , wherein the telematics unit  114 , controller  203 , or other module detects a condition that requires the contactors to be disengaged for purposes of personnel safety or vehicle safety. At stage  303 , in response to detecting the anomalous condition, the detecting entity disengages, or causes to be disengaged, the high voltage contactors  213 . Depending upon the design of the high voltage contactors  213 , they may disengaged by different mechanisms. For example, high voltage contactors that are defaulted on may be energized to disengage, while high voltage contactors that are defaulted off may be de-energized to open. 
     At stage  305 , the telematics unit  114  or controller  203  receives or generates a request to reconnect the high voltage contactors  213 . This request may originate from a user request, e.g., via a button push on the telematics unit  114  interface or via a service provider operator request pursuant to a user report, or may be internally generated as a routine matter to check for unwarranted disconnections. 
     Having received the request for reconnection, the telematics unit  114  or controller  203  initiates a safety check protocol. In particular at stage  307 , the telematics unit  114  or controller  203  verifies that none of the conditions that would warrant a disconnect has occurred. The safety check protocol may be remotely triggered and managed, e.g., by an operator at the service center or an automated remote process, in either case connecting to the vehicle via the telematics unit  114 . Alternatively, the safety check protocol may be locally triggered and locally managed by the telematics unit  114  or controller  203 . 
     At stage  309 , it is determined whether the safety check has successfully completed or not. It is contemplated that successful completion may entail the detection of no errors or the detection of no errors except errors unrelated to personnel safety. If the safety check has successfully completed at stage  309 , the process  300  moves to stage  311 , wherein the telematics unit  114  or the controller  203  reengages the high voltage contactors  213  and the process  300  terminates. Otherwise, if the safety check was not successfully completed at stage  309 , the process  300  terminates. In one optional mode, the process  300  may re-execute the safety protocol one or more times before terminating. 
     It will be appreciated from the foregoing that if the vehicle cannot be returned to operational status, then third party assistance may be needed, e.g., to tow or repair the vehicle. However, the emergency shutdown of the vehicle may have created conditions making it difficult to render such assistance, and the system described herein will allow the service provider to prepare the vehicle to allow a third party to more easily render assistance. 
     In one aspect, the service provider is able to send a signal to the vehicle to contact the vehicle so as to prepare the vehicle for towing after receiving a message back from the vehicle to verify the vehicle status. The vehicle may be prepared in different ways, but exemplary steps include high-voltage battery disconnect via the high voltage contactors  213 , charge disabling if the vehicle is plugged in, and deactivating regenerative braking facilities to allow the vehicle to be towed more easily. 
     With this situation in mind,  FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a process of remotely preparing the vehicle to receive roadside assistance from third party personnel. In particular, at stage  401  of the process  400 , the remote service provider receives a request to prepare the vehicle for towing or service. The request received in stage  401  may originate from the vehicle via the wireless network linked to the telematics unit  114 , or may be received from personnel at the service provider, e.g., pursuant to a call received from the vehicle user or otherwise. 
     Once the remote service provider has received a request to prepare the vehicle for towing or service, the remote service provider sends a diagnostic request to the vehicle, e.g., via the vehicle telematics unit  114  at stage  403 . In response to receiving the diagnostic request, the telematics unit causes the vehicle to run a diagnostic protocol at stage  405  to determine whether the vehicle may be safely towed or repaired. 
     For example, if the vehicle is disabled but there is no condition which would cause a risk to personnel or to the vehicle, the diagnostic check may return an affirmative response. An example of a condition which disables the vehicle but does not present a risk of injury or damage is the depletion of the onboard battery in an electric-only vehicle, or the depletion of both the battery and the onboard fuel in a hybrid vehicle. An example of a condition that both disables the vehicle and presents a risk of damage if the vehicle is towed would include a condition wherein gearing linked to one or more wheels has seized, rendering the vehicle untowable if further damage is to be avoided. 
     At stage  407  of the process  400 , the vehicle returns the result of the diagnostic check to the remote service provider, i.e., indicating whether the diagnostic check has generated an affirmative response (that the vehicle is disabled but towable or serviceable) or a negative response. In the event that the response is negative as determined at stage  409 , the process  400  terminates from stage  409 . Otherwise, the process  400  continues to stage  411 , whereupon the service provider transmits a preparation signal to the vehicle. The preparation signal includes instructions to the telematics unit  114  or other controller to prepare the vehicle for towing and/or service. 
     At stage  413 , having received the preparation signal, the telematics unit  114  executes a preparation protocol to enable towing or service, including for example, deenergizing the vehicle electrical power system by disconnecting the high-voltage battery contactors  213 , disabling charging if the vehicle is plugged in, and/or deactivating regenerative braking facilities to allow the vehicle to be towed more easily. 
     After executing the preparation protocol, the telematics unit  114  transmits a confirmation signal to the service provider at stage  415  to verify that the necessary preparation steps have been taken, and the process  400  then terminates. 
     It will be appreciated that the described system allows a vehicle battery to be both reactivated and deactivated remotely to either alleviate a false de-energization or to provide preparation for towing and servicing. It will also be appreciated, however, that the foregoing methods and implementations are merely examples of the inventive principles, and that these illustrate only preferred techniques. 
     It is thus contemplated that other implementations of the invention may differ in detail from foregoing examples. As such, all references to the invention are intended to reference the particular example of the invention being discussed at that point in the description and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the invention more generally. All language of distinction and disparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate a lack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from the scope of the invention entirely unless otherwise indicated. 
     The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention. 
     Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.