Patent Publication Number: US-10777079-B2

Title: Methods and systems for estimating an end of a vehicle trip

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for estimating an end of a vehicle trip. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Current systems may monitor a trip of a vehicle and log when a trip begins through data provided by the vehicle. However, these systems may not receive sufficient information to determine when the trip has concluded. As such, these systems merely make assumptions as to when the trip has concluded. 
     SUMMARY 
     This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the DETAILED DESCRIPTION. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     In one aspect, the present disclosure is related to a system that includes a memory that stores instructions for executing processes for estimating the end of the vehicle trip and a processor configured to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to: receive first data from each of a vehicle and a mobile device connected to the vehicle, the first data being received from the vehicle at periodic intervals; receive updated first data and second data from the mobile device when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle; upon failing to receive the first data from the vehicle at a next interval, estimate the end of the vehicle trip based on the updated first data and the second data from the mobile device; and generate a trip log with the estimated end of the vehicle trip. 
     In a further aspect, the present disclosure is related to a method that includes: receiving first data from each of a vehicle and a mobile device connected to the vehicle, the first data being received from the vehicle at periodic intervals; receiving updated first data and second data from the mobile device when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle; upon failing to receive the first data from the vehicle at a next interval, estimating an end of a vehicle trip based on the updated first data and the second data from the mobile device; and generating a trip log with the estimated end of the vehicle trip. 
     In a further aspect, the present disclosure is related to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing executable computer program code. The code comprises instructions configured to cause a processor to: receive first data from each of a vehicle and a mobile device connected to the vehicle, the first data being received from the vehicle at periodic intervals; receive updated first data and second data from the mobile device when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle; upon failing to receive the first data from the vehicle at a next interval, estimate an end of a vehicle trip based on the updated first data and the second data from the mobile device; and generate a trip log with the estimated end of the vehicle trip. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The novel features believed to be characteristic of aspects of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. In the descriptions that follow, like parts are marked throughout the specification and drawings with the same numerals, respectively. The drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale and certain figures may be shown in exaggerated or generalized form in the interest of clarity and conciseness. The disclosure itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advances thereof, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative aspects of the disclosure when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic view of an exemplary operating environment of a vehicle system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary network for managing the vehicle system; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates various features of an exemplary computer system for use in conjunction with aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary flowchart for estimating an end of a vehicle trip, according to aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following includes definitions of selected terms employed herein. The definitions include various examples and/or forms of components that fall within the scope of a term and that may be used for implementation. The examples are not intended to be limiting. 
     A “processor,” as used herein, processes signals and performs general computing and arithmetic functions. Signals processed by the processor may include digital signals, data signals, computer instructions, processor instructions, messages, a bit, a bit stream, or other computing that may be received, transmitted and/or detected. 
     A “bus,” as used herein, refers to an interconnected architecture that is operably connected to transfer data between computer components within a singular or multiple systems. The bus may be a memory bus, a memory controller, a peripheral bus, an external bus, a crossbar switch, and/or a local bus, among others. The bus may also be a vehicle bus that interconnects components inside a vehicle using protocols, such as Controller Area network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN), among others. 
     A “memory,” as used herein may include volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include, for example, ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM (erasable PROM) and EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM). Volatile memory may include, for example, RAM (random access memory), synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), and/or direct RAM bus RAM (DRRAM). 
     An “operable connection,” as used herein may include a connection by which entities are “operably connected,” is one in which signals, physical communications, and/or logical communications may be sent and/or received. An operable connection may include a physical interface, a data interface and/or an electrical interface. 
     A “vehicle,” as used herein, refers to any moving vehicle that is powered by any form of energy. A vehicle may carry human occupants or cargo. The term “vehicle” includes, but is not limited to: cars, trucks, vans, minivans, SUVs, motorcycles, scooters, boats, personal watercraft, and aircraft. In some cases, a motor vehicle includes one or more engines. 
     Generally described, the present disclosure provides systems and methods for estimating an end of a vehicle trip. Turning to  FIG. 1 , a schematic view of an exemplary operating environment  100  of a vehicle system  110  according to an aspect of the disclosure is provided. The vehicle system  110  may reside within a vehicle  102 . The components of the vehicle system  110 , as well as the components of other systems, hardware architectures, and software architectures discussed herein, may be combined, omitted or organized into various implementations. 
     The vehicle  102  may generally include an electronic control unit (ECU)  112  that operably controls a plurality of vehicle systems. The ECU  112  may include internal processing memory, an interface circuit, and bus lines for transferring data, sending commands, and communicating with the vehicle systems. The ECU  112  may include an internal processor and memory, not shown. The vehicle  102  may also include a bus for sending data internally among the various components of the vehicle system  110 . The vehicle systems may include, but are not limited to, the vehicle system  110 , among others, including vehicle HVAC systems, vehicle audio systems, vehicle video systems, vehicle infotainment systems, vehicle telephone systems, and the like. 
     The vehicle system  110  may also include a processor  114  and a memory  116  that communicate with a communications device  130  and driving system  132 . In some aspects, the driving system  132  may collect floating car data/floating cellular data (“FCD”). In some aspects, the FCD may include, but is not limited to, localization data, speed, direction of travel, and time information of the vehicle  102 . In some aspects, the FCD, along with other data, may be used to determine when a vehicle trip has concluded. The communications device  130  (e.g., wireless modem) may provide wired or wireless computer communications utilizing various protocols to send/receive electronic signals internally with respect to features and systems within the vehicle  102  and with respect to external devices. These protocols may include a wireless system utilizing radio-frequency (RF) communications (e.g., IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth®)), a near field communication system (NFC) (e.g., ISO 13157), a local area network (LAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN) (e.g., cellular) and/or a point-to-point system. Additionally, the communications device  130  of the vehicle  102  may be operably connected for internal computer communication via a bus (e.g., a CAN or a LIN protocol bus) to facilitate data input and output between the electronic control unit  112  and vehicle features and systems. In an aspect, the communications device  130  may be configured for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications, and/or vehicle-to-anything (V2X) communications. For example, V2V, V2P, and V2X communications may include wireless communications over a reserved frequency spectrum. As another example, V2V, V2P, and V2X communications may include an ad hoc network between vehicles set up using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth®. In some aspects, the driving system  132  may transmit the FCD directly to a manufacturer system, such as a server, using the communications device  130 . For example, the FCD may be transmitted to the manufacturer system upon start-up of the vehicle and at scheduled intervals, e.g., every ten minutes, throughout a duration of the vehicle trip. In further aspects, the driving system  132  may also transmit the FCD to a mobile device coupled to the vehicle using, for example, a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth® connection, such that the coupled mobile device may also transmit the FCD to the manufacturer system. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary network  200  for managing the vehicle system  110 . The network  200  may be a communications network that facilitates communications between multiple systems. For example, the network  200  may include the Internet or another Internet Protocol (IP) based network. The network  200  may enable the vehicle system  110  to communicate with a mobile device  210  or a manufacturer system  230 . The manufacturer system  230 , mobile device  210 , and driving system  132  may include a computer system, as shown with respect to  FIG. 3  described below. For example, the manufacturer system  230  may also include a memory that stores instructions for executing processes for estimating when the vehicle trip concluded based on the FCD and other information, and a processor configured to execute the instructions. 
     In some aspects, the vehicle system  110  may, for example, transmit the FCD to the manufacturer system  230  via the network  200 . In some aspects, the FCD may be transmitted from the vehicle system  110  to the manufacturer system  230  upon starting the vehicle  102  and at scheduled intervals, e.g., every ten minutes, throughout a duration of the vehicle trip. In further aspects, the vehicle system  110  may transmit the FCD directly to the manufacturer system  230  using the communications device  130 . In further aspects, the vehicle system  110  may transmit the FCD to the mobile device  210 , which may be coupled to the vehicle  102  using a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth® connection, and the mobile device  210  may, in turn, transmit the FCD to the manufacturer system  230 . In some aspects, a connection between the mobile device  210  and the vehicle  102  may be monitored using an application operating on the mobile device  210  and/or the vehicle  102 . 
     In some aspects, the manufacturer system  230  may estimate when a driving trip concluded based on the FCD. In some aspects, when the vehicle  102  stops transmitting the FCD, it is indicative that the trip has concluded. However, the manufacturer system  230  may not be aware of when the trip concluded in between transmission intervals of the FCD. To resolve this, when the mobile device  210  is disconnected from the vehicle  102 , the mobile device  210  may transmit the most recent FCD, as well as other information, such as the speed of the vehicle  102 , the time of day, a current location of the vehicle  102 , whether media was being streamed in the vehicle  102  (e.g., music), a navigation setting, etc. In some aspects, the disconnection between the mobile device  210  and the vehicle  102  may be detected when the wireless connection, e.g., a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth® connection, between the mobile device  210  and the vehicle  102  is terminated. Thus, when the manufacturer system  230  fails to receive the FCD at a next scheduled interval, the manufacturer system  230  may estimate when the trip concluded based the FCD and other information received from the mobile device  210 . For example, when the mobile device  210  is disconnected from the vehicle  102  while the vehicle  102  is still in motion but nearing its destination, the manufacturer system  230  may estimate when the trip concluded by estimating a remaining travel time based on the information from the mobile device  210 . As another example, when the mobile device  210  is disconnected from vehicle  102  while the vehicle  102  is stationary, the manufacturer system  230  may estimate the end of the vehicle trip by estimating a time of arrival as the end of the vehicle trip based on the time the disconnect occurs. In some aspects, the manufacturer system  230  may generate a trip log with the estimated end of the trip. 
     In some aspects, the manufacturer system  230  may store the estimated arrival time as the end of a trip until the FCD is received from the vehicle  102 , e.g., upon the next start-up of the vehicle  102 . Upon receiving the FCD from the vehicle  102  upon start-up, the manufacture system  230  may replace the estimated end to the trip with the FCD from the vehicle  102 . In some aspects, upon receiving the updated FCD from the vehicle  102 , the manufacturer system  230  may generate an updated trip log indicating an actual end time of the trip. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems. In an aspect of the present disclosure, features are directed toward one or more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionality described herein. An example of such a computer system  300  is shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     Computer system  300  includes one or more processors, such as processor  304 . The processor  304  is connected to a communication infrastructure  306  (e.g., a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network). Various software aspects are described in terms of this example computer system. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement aspects of the disclosure using other computer systems and/or architectures. 
     Computer system  300  may include a display interface  302  that forwards graphics, text, and other data from the communication infrastructure  306  (or from a frame buffer not shown) for display on a display unit  330 . Computer system  300  also includes a main memory  308 , preferably random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory  310 . The secondary memory  310  may include, for example, a hard disk drive  312 , and/or a removable storage drive  314 , representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, etc. The removable storage drive  314  reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit  318  in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit  318  represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, USB flash drive etc., which is read by and written to removable storage drive  314 . As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit  318  includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data. 
     Alternative aspects of the present disclosure may include secondary memory  310  and may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system  300 . Such devices may include, for example, a removable storage unit  322  and an interface  320 . Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) and associated socket, and other removable storage units  322  and interfaces  320 , which allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit  322  to computer system  300 . 
     Computer system  300  may also include a communications interface  324 . Communications interface  324  allows software and data to be transferred between computer system  300  and external devices. Examples of communications interface  324  may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface  324  are in the form of signals  328 , which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by communications interface  324 . These signals  328  are provided to communications interface  324  via a communications path (e.g., channel)  326 . This path  326  carries signals  328  and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio frequency (RF) link and/or other communications channels. In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” are used to refer generally to media such as a removable storage drive  318 , a hard disk installed in hard disk drive  312 , and signals  328 . These computer program products provide software to the computer system  300 . Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to such computer program products. 
     Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in main memory  308  and/or secondary memory  310 . Computer programs may also be received via communications interface  324 . Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system  300  to perform the features in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor  304  to perform the features in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system  300 . 
     In an aspect of the present disclosure where the disclosure is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system  300  using removable storage drive  314 , hard drive  312 , or communications interface  320 . The control logic (software), when executed by the processor  304 , causes the processor  304  to perform the functions described herein. In another aspect of the present disclosure, the system is implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s). 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flowchart for estimating an end of a vehicle trip, according to aspects of the present disclosure. A method  400  includes receiving first data from each of a vehicle and a mobile device connected to the vehicle, the first data being received from the vehicle at periodic intervals  410 . In some aspects, the first data may include FCD and the second data may include a current location of the vehicle, whether media was being streamed in the vehicle  102 , a navigation setting, etc. In further aspects, the first data may be received from the vehicle every ten minutes, although other intervals are also contemplated according to aspects of the present disclosure. The method also includes receiving updated first data and second data from the mobile device when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle  420 . In some aspects, the disconnection between the mobile device and the vehicle may be detected when the wireless connection, e.g., a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth® connection, between the mobile device and the vehicle is terminated. The method further includes, upon failing to receive the first data from the vehicle at a next interval, estimating an end of a vehicle trip based on the updated first data and the second data from the mobile device  430  and generating a trip log with the estimated end of the vehicle trip  440 . For example, when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle while the vehicle is still in motion but nearing its destination, estimating the end of the vehicle trip may include estimating a remaining travel time based on the second data from the mobile device. As another example, when the mobile device is disconnected from the vehicle while the vehicle is stationary, estimating the end of the vehicle trip may include estimating a time of arrival as the end of the vehicle trip based on the time the disconnect occurs. 
     It will be appreciated that various implementations of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives or varieties thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.