Patent Abstract:
A system may enable vehicle operators to request information automatically along the route of travel by transmitting information requests, tied to the vehicle&#39;s current position, to a server. The server may store a plurality of informational files associated with particular global positioning system coordinates. Upon receipt of a request, the files associated with a particular position may be located and transmitted to the vehicle. The files may be stored as audio files so the user may listen to the files without being distracted while driving the vehicle.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,173. This application and Ser. No. 12/505,776 and Ser. No. 12/700,920 are continuations of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/901,689, filed on Sep. 18, 2007. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/975,760 is a continuation of this application and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/901,689.  
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This invention relates generally to providing information to vehicles, based on their position. 
     As the vehicles move down highways and other roads, they encounter a variety of circumstances which may be relevant to other drivers. For example, one driver may pass a location where traffic is congested, an accident has occurred or road construction is ongoing. A driver currently has no way to broadcast that information to other drivers traversing the same route. 
     If other drivers were aware of the conditions ahead, they could make alternate routing plans to avoid the problem. Armed with this information, other drivers could make on-the-go decisions about the best route to take. 
     Existing systems provide information related to particular locations. For example, radio stations and television stations may provide information about road conditions, which tends to become outdated. Given the limited time that these stations have to broadcast this type of information, they are limited in how much information they can provide about the plethora of driving locations around their urban broadcast area. 
     Thus, there is a need for better ways to provide more information to more vehicle operators. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with one embodiment, a method of obtaining information includes generating a signal indicative of a vehicle&#39;s position. The signal is transmitted to a base station. Information, stored at the base station in association with the vehicle&#39;s position, is then received from the base station. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block depiction of one system for implementing the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a depiction of a file structure useful in connection with the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart for software implementing a transmit function at a vehicle in one embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart for software implementing the seek function at a vehicle in one embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart of software at the server for handling a request from a vehicle for position-linked information in one embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow chart of software on a server for receiving input information from a vehicle; 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart of software at the vehicle for receiving information from the server; 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of one embodiment for a processor-based system located in the vehicle in accordance with the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is a depiction of a screen display in one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a system for providing information to a plurality of vehicle operators, keyed to the location of chose vehicles, includes a server  10  coupled with a wireless link  15  having an antenna  14 . The wireless link  15  may implement a radio frequency based transmission system, such as that used in connection with digital cellular telephones. The wireless link  15  may be part of the server  10  or may be at a separate location. The wireless link  15  may be a telephone base station coupled to the server  10  over a  network such as the Internet. 
     The server  10  may have associated with it a linked audio database  12 , which includes information about a plurality of different locations tied to particular location coordinate information. For example, each of the database entries may, in one embodiment of the present invention, be an audio file linked to coordinates that may, for example, have been generated by the global positioning system (GPS). 
     The server  10  may communicate, for example, by radio or cellular telephone, with a plurality of vehicles  16 , e.g., vehicles  16 a and  16 b shown in  FIG. 1 . Each of the vehicles may include an appropriate receiving antenna  22 a or  22 b. In addition, each vehicle may include its own position location system, e.g., a GPS system  18 a and  18 b, together with the appropriate antennas  20 a and  20 b. 
     In this way, the vehicles may request information from the server. Those requests may have appended GPS coordinate information. The server may then search its database  12  to find any audio files associated with the GPS position of the vehicle  16 a, for example. If it finds such files, the server may transmit those files to the vehicle  16 a so the operator can have the benefit of what others have recorded for a particular position along the roadway. 
     The information associated with a particular location may include descriptions of various driving conditions or information about sites along the way. In addition, messages may be stored for other drivers who may be known by a particular operator. For example, one operator may leave a message for another operator to turn at the next right turn. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the vehicles  16  may also include a compass, e.g., a digital compass  21 , which provides direction information. In this way, only information associated with a given position and vehicle heading direction may be provided by the server. For example, vehicles traveling northbound on a given highway will receive information that was stored by northbound traveling vehicles and not by southbound traveling vehicles. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the server may include a database  12 , which includes data files  24 . The files  24  may include text, video, or other data. For example, the files  24  may include audio files  26 , which are essentially digital recordings of voice communications received from a variety of vehicles. Each of the audio files  26  may have associated coordinate information  28 , which, in one embodiment of the present invention, may be GPS coordinate information. 
     In this way, each of the files  24  may be searched for particular GPS coordinates. All the files  26  associated with those coordinates which match the current position of a requesting vehicle may be transmitted to the vehicle. 
     Each of the files may also have a time stamp  25  so that after an amount of time, a file may be discarded. Thus, only relatively current information will be received by the vehicle for a given position. The files may also include a user name or a reply field to facilitate a response to the submitter. Other techniques used in bulletin board systems may also be used here. 
     Advantageously, the files  26  may also include a vehicle identifier  27 , e.g., a telephone number. The file  24  may include not only the GPS coordinates  28 , but also direction or compass information  29 , which may also be transmitted by the vehicle  16  to the server  10 . 
     While the present invention has been described with respect to a server which serves audio files, the server may also serve text-based files as well. Thus, a server may actually receive and send text-based files. If desired, these files may then be converted, using conventional text-to-speech or speech-to-text software to and from a spoken format. 
     In each case, it is not necessary for the coordinates to match exactly, but instead, a given tolerance can be provided for both the GPS coordinate information and the compass information. That is, if the position of the requesting vehicle is within a given tolerance of the position and direction of a file stored in the server, that information may be provided. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , software  30  for enabling a vehicle  16  to transmit information to the server  10  is illustrated. Initially, a check at diamond  32  determines whether an audio file has been prepared by the operator of the vehicle. If so, the current GPS coordinates may be appended to the file, as indicated at block  34 . In addition, compass information may be appended as well, if desired. The file may then compressed and transmitted, as indicated in block  38 , for receipt by the server  10 . The transmission may be undertaken over a radio or cellular telephone communication link. Other communication links can be used as well. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , software  40  for enabling a vehicle operator to request information associated with a given file begins by determining whether or not an information request has been initiated, as indicated in diamond  42 . If so, the current GPS coordinate position is acquired as indicated in block  44 . The request is then transmitted, as indicated in block  46 , together with the present position information, and if desired, the directional information. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 5 , the server may respond to a request for information linked to a particular location using the software  50 . Initially, a check determines whether a request has been received from a vehicle as indicated in block  52 . The database  12  is then searched (block  56 ) for other files which have matching GPS and compass/direction information. 
     The audio file (with or without the identifier) may then be compressed and transmitted to the vehicle as indicated in block  60 . In a cellular phone system, the request may include the requester&#39;s cellular telephone number. Alternatively, the caller&#39;s telephone number may be obtained using a caller identity delivery (CID) system. The audio file may be subsequently transmitted using the telephone information without tying up the user&#39;s telephone any more than necessary. 
     Moving on to  FIG. 6 , software  62  begins by receiving an audio file, as indicated in block  64 , from a vehicle. The audio file may be decompressed. The file is then stored by GPS coordinates and/or compass direction information associated with the audio file, as indicated in block  68 . Time stamp data may be appended or may be obtained from the GPS system in one embodiment. 
     The vehicle may then receive audio information in response to a previous request using the software  70  shown in  FIG. 7 . The audio file is received, as indicated in block  72 , and may be decompressed. 
     In one embodiment, the server may continuously broadcast information to the vehicles. The vehicles may store this information, for example using a first in first out archiving system. A vehicle based processor may then be used to sort through the location information to identify files associated with the vehicle&#39;s current position. Those files may then be identified to the vehicle operator. 
     As another alternative, the vehicle may periodically send its position to the server. The server may then send files associated with the area the vehicle is currently moving through. A vehicle based processor may then identify files associated with adjacent locations. 
     In one embodiment, illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the server may send information that may be displayed on a digital map, showing locations with associated files. Those files may then be selected when the vehicle reaches those locations or at any other time. The messages may also be played automatically based on the vehicle&#39;s position. 
     For example, the map that appears on a display  118  may indicate the vehicle&#39;s current position  202 , and the locations  204 ,  206  and  208  having associated files. It may also show roads  200 ,  210  and  212 . 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the audio file may be automatically played over the vehicle&#39;s sound system (block  76 ). If the sound system is already in use, if desired, the existing audio may be muted in favor of an incoming audio file. 
     One embodiment of a processor-based system for implementing the capabilities previously described on a vehicle may use a processor-based system located in the vehicle&#39;s dashboard. The system illustrated in  FIG. 8  may be implemented, for example, by the Intel 82430TX PCI chipset. Other processor/chipset combinations may be used as well. 
     The processor  126  communicates across a host bus  151  to a bridge  150 , an L2 cache  152 , and system memory  154 . The bridge  150  may communicate with a bus  156 , which could, for example, be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus in accordance with the revision 2.1 of the PCI electrical specification available from the PCI Special Interest Group, Portland, Oreg. 97214. The bus  156 , in turn, may be coupled to a display controller  162 , which may drive a display  118  in one embodiment in the invention. A digital camera  164  may be coupled through an interface  162  to the bus  156 . The camera may be used to create digital images that may be sent to the server  10  which may then send them with other data to other vehicles. 
     A microphone input  166  may feed to the Audio Codec (AC&#39;97)  166 a, where it may be digitized and sent to memory through the audio accelerator  166 b. The AC&#39;97 specification is available from hotel Corporation (www.developer.intel.com/pc-supp/platform/ac97). A tuner  160  may be controlled from a south bridge  168 . The output of the tuner may be sent to system memory  154  or mixed in the Codec and sent to the car sound system  158 . Sounds generated by the processor  126  may be sent through the audio accelerator  166 b and the AC&#39;97 Codec  166 a to the car sound system  158 . 
     The bus  156  may be coupled to a south bridge  168 , which may have an Extended Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) coupling  170  and Universal Serial Bus (USB) coupling  176  (i.e., a device compliant with the Universal Serial Bus Implementers Forum Specification Version 1.0 [www.usb.org.]). Finally, the USB connection  176  may couple to a series of USB hubs  178 . One of these hubs may couple to an in-car bus bridge  180  as illustrated. The in-car bus bridge  80  may, for example use the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol or the Society of Automotive Engineers J1850 standard. The in-car bus provides communication between microcontrollers that control vehicle operation. The other hubs may be available for implementing additional functionality. 
     The EIDE connection  170  may couple to a hard disk drive  172  and a CD-ROM player  174 . In some systems, it may be desirable to replace the hard disk drive with other memory forms. For example, a flash memory may be used in place of the drive  172 . The GPS receiver  18  may be attached by a cable  182  to a serial port or on a serial I/O device  188  attached to the bus  186 , as are the keyboard  191  and modem  192 . 
     The bridge  168  in turn may be coupled to an additional bus  186 , which may couple to a serial interface  188 , which drives a peripheral  190 , a keyboard  191 , a modem  192  coupled to a cellular phone  194 , and a basic input/output system (BIOS) memory  196 . 
     The memory may be implemented, for example, by a 28F200 two megabyte flash memory, available from Intel Corporation. The USB hubs may be implemented using 8093HX microcontrollers, available from Intel Corporation. Local firmware may be stored on EPROM memory (e.g., the 27C256 EPROM, available from Intel Corporation). 
     While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations, as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7