Patent Application
20140012459
The field of invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring vehicle status and the behavior of the driver or operator of the vehicle. In particular, using wireless technology to inexpensively retrofit vehicles with a monitoring device capable of communicating with a number of wireless devices and wireless protocols.
The invention of user driven vehicles has created an environment upon which we as a society have come heavily to rely. Over the years, innumerable safety features have been added or improved upon including safety belts, warning lights, alarms, and structural designs. A new, emerging safety feature market is that of vehicular monitoring and tracking. This has become popular with parents of new teen drivers as a way to monitor their behavior and to discuss driving safely.
Some monitorable features include driver behavior, fuel consumption, vehicle diagnostics, and location tracking. Existing systems are not perfect and have limitations to their use and practicality. One such limitation is that existing systems collect data from a plethora of sensors and/or the built-in vehicular instrumentation. This can result in mass quantities of information that is expensive to collect if the same methodology is applied to other vehicles. Additionally, the on-board diagnostics (OBD) port on passenger cars and light trucks serves to supply various data points pertinent to use and focuses primarily on engine performance not vehicle position, diver behavior, or location tracking. However, these ports are not necessarily present on heavy, industrial and commercial trucks and other such vehicles. The absence of these ports creates the need for a simple solution to monitor similar information.
Another limitation is the associated costs with the technology. The individual components required to complete a monitoring system each carry a heavy expense and cannot be retrofitted or updated in the field. A user must then purchase expensive software or pay for the services of another to interpret the data stream.
No prior art has fully addressed the issues at hand in the manner herein described. In view of the aforementioned limitations, there is a need for an improvement to the existing technology to combat these issues.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is a monitoring system for a vehicle wherein the vehicle is capable of being user controlled, the system having a monitoring apparatus, and a wireless device the device being a Bluetooth® compatible device. In some embodiments, the Bluetooth® compatible device may have also Wi-Fi capabilities or both. The monitoring apparatus has a plurality of digital sensors including but not limited to a digital compass, digital accelerometer, digital gyroscope, global positioning system, and at least one sensor. The environmental sensors may vary but may comprise, but not limited to, any number of humidity sensors, carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors, light sensors, temperature sensors, and sound sensors. The Bluetooth® compatible device must be within an operable range in relation to the monitoring apparatus.
The monitoring system may draw power from the vehicle and in some instances be able to harvest that power for use when the vehicle is in the “off” state. The monitoring system achieves this by either plugging into a cigarette adapter in the vehicle or in a universal serial bus port, if present, within the vehicle. The Bluetooth® compatible wireless device may take the form of a smart phone, laptop, PC, PDA, or the like. Additionally, the wireless device may act as a gateway and forward the collected data to a remote web server.
In another embodiment of the present invention there is a monitoring system for a vehicle lacking an on-board diagnostics (OBD) port, the monitoring system having a monitoring apparatus operably coupled to the vehicle, the monitoring apparatus having a digital compass, digital accelerometer, digital gyroscope, global positioning system and at least one sensor; and a wireless device having Bluetooth capabilities contained within a predetermined proximity to the monitoring apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is a method of monitoring a vehicle comprising attaching a monitoring apparatus to a vehicle, and forming an operable connection between the two, collecting information from the monitoring apparatus on a Bluetooth® enabled device, and interpreting the collected information using a three dimensional mapping software, and assessing the health and vehicular status compared to predetermined parameters. This collected information may then be forwarded to a remote web server. In some instances, the information is collected using a wireless device operating off a separate wireless standard or protocol such as Wi-Fi.
These and other embodiments will be better understood in conjunction with the drawings and descriptions that follow.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to the drawings,
The global positioning system permits any interaction with any of the GPS satellites in orbit. In order for a connection to be made, at least four of these satellites need to have their signal picked up by the internal GPS receiver. These signals contain the time the signal was transmitted, and the satellite position at the time of transmission. From this data, the internal
GPS receiver can deduce the position of the object associated with the GPS receiver. In some instances, it may be possible for only three satellite connections to be made, but this requires an outside known, fixed variable not normally associated with automobile traffic.
The digital compass, accelerometer and gyroscope all provide more detailed data than the GPS receiver. Whereas the GPS provides general location and movement, these components can provide information such lateral gravitational forces (i.e. automobile swerving on road) experienced by the automobile. Additionally, these components can provide a similar read out if the vehicle is in a location where there is not a sufficient GPS satellite coverage.
The apparatus also contains a number of different environmental sensor combinations including but not limited to carbon dioxide, light, temperature, humidity, sound, and the like. These sensors can monitor both the internal or external environment of the associated vehicle, Additionally, the system may monitor the vehicles battery or batteries for direct current voltage load changes. The system logs these changes to determine cycle times for turning load bearing electronics on/off.
The data is collected, compiled, stored, and time stamped in the onboard memory in the device. It may be preferential in some cases to send and store the data at a remote site. It is then sent to a Bluetooth® enabled device 104 for viewing, off load storage, and processing. As previously stated, the enabled device may also employ Wi-Fi for wireless data communications. Bluetooth® is a wireless communication standard operating in 2.4-2.8 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band, and is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Wi-Fi is the name for products using IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless communication. Wi-Fi operates at a higher power than Bluetooth® permitting higher bit rates and a longer range from the base station.
These devices can be a number of devices including but not limited to laptops, PCs, PDAs, smart phones, digital cameras, and video game systems. The next step is to interpret the data 106. This can be achieved by loading the data points into interpretive software or by visual inspection. This may be achieved using any number of commercially available multi-dimensional mapping software. Alternatively, this data can be sent to a remote web server 110. Here, the process is the same as above, albeit there may be more options to interpret the data 106 based on the technological capabilities of each method.
With this interpretation having taken place, one can assess the health and operative status of the vehicle 108. There are preset parameters for different vehicles and these parameters can then be examined with relation to the collected data points. Differing values between such data can signify operable issues with the vehicle. For example, one may be able to measure the temperature of particular areas of the vehicle. An unusual temperature readout could signal a cooling mechanism is not working correctly or that there is undue friction occurring. The user may have an option of having an audible alarm emanating from the Bluetooth® enabled device or the monitoring apparatus itself if the data points are over a certain threshold in relation to accepted values for such data. Additionally, one can track in real time the location and movement of said vehicle.
The methodology of applying such a monitoring system is described in
The interpreting of the data 204 may be accomplished via the input of the data points into commercially available three dimensional (3-D) mapping software. This permits the recreation of vehicle behavior through an augmented video. This user friendly feature allows for a visual representation of the data. Once this has been achieved, one can adequately assess the vehicle status and condition 206. This process is fairly straightforward and will likely involve comparing the measured and interpreted data points versus the accepted values for the specific make/model of the vehicle in question. These differences will signify what changes and/or maintenance must be performed on the vehicle.
This application claims priority to U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/668,069 filed on Jul. 5, 2012, the contents of which are fully incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61668069 | Jul 2012 | US |
