Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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' EXPRESS MAIL LABEL NO:
EL 487 707 095 US
' System and Method for
Just-in-time Vehicle Maintenance
Kulbir S . Sandhu
Rodric C. Fan
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to positioning
technology. In particular, the present invention relates to
applications of positioning technology to delivering
relevant services to a vehicle. -
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, commercial app7.ications based on
positioning systems have been developed. These applications
are based, for example, on the Global. Position System (GPS),
or a cellular telephone network (using triangulation
method). For example, one position-based system delivering
services over the Internet is disclosed in U.S. patent
application 09/521,247 ("Copending Application"), entitled
"Method and Structure for Distribution of Travel Information
Using a Network," to Fan et al., filed March 8, 2000, which
is a continuation-in-part application of U:S. Patent
5,959,577, filed August 28, 1997. The Copending Application
and its parent application are assigned to CRoad, Inc., the
assignee also of the present invention. The disclosure of
the Copending Application is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides vehicle maintenance-
related services from a server over a wide area network,
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such as the Internet. A method of the present invention
includes (a) providing a server accessible over the wide
area network through a wireless communication link; (b)
collecting, over a data bus in the vehicle, data relating to
an operation of the vehicle; (c) communicating the data
received from the data bus to the server over the wireless
communication link; and (d) based on the data received at
the server, initiating the maintenance-related services.
In one embodiment; the operation data of the vehicle
i0 are collected from various subsystems of the vehicle, such
as a brake sub-system, an engine sub--system and various
sensors located at var~.ous subsystem~~ of the vehicle. Under
one mode of operation, the data collected from these
subsystems are reported to the servex- at pre-determined time
intervals. In one embodiment, the apparatus of the
invention includes a positioning apparatus for determining a
location of said vehicle from received ranging signals.
Such signals can be received from a global position system
(GPS) or a ranging system based on triangulation, such as
those used in cellular telephone systems.
According to one aspect of the present invention,
applicable maintenance-related services include scheduling
the vehicle for a maintenance procedure at a service center,
based on a current operating condition of the vehicle
received from the apparatus of the present invention, or
based on a periodic schedule. Because the position of the
vehicle is provided along with the operating condition of
the vehicle, the server can render a maintenance-related
service that includes ordering parts for delivery to the
service center for use in conjunction with the maintenance
procedure. Alternatively, based on the operational history
of the vehicle and the location of the vehicle, the server
can render "road side" assistance to an operator of the
vehicle, or enforce a mandatory work .rule (e. g., 8 hours'
rest after a 12-hour work day or 1200 miles).
In addition, the server can also download diagnostic
commands to the data bus to diagnose t:he various subsystem
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in operation in the vehicle, based on industry standard
protocols.
In one embodiment, the wireless link couples an
apparatus of the present invention to a wireless gateway,
from which the server can be accessed over the wide area
network. The wireless link can be provided, for example, by
a cellular telephone network.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a
mobile control apparatus is provided,. In one embodiment,
the mobile control apparatus include~~ (1) a position circuit
receives ranging signals over a first: wireless link from a
positioning system to provide a position of the mobile
position apparatus, {2) a communicat~_on interface that is
capable of maintaining a wireless link for communicating
with a server on a wide area network; (3) a peripheral
interface to a peripheral device for transferring control
information between the peripheral device and the mobile
control apparatus; (4) a controller for executing a program
that (a) control operations of the position circuit, the
communication interface, and the peripheral interface; and
(b) transfers the position and the control information to
said server; and (5) a memory for storing the program. In
one embodiment, the position circuit can be implemented by
GPS RF front-end and data processing application-specific
integrated circuits,
The present invention is better understood upon
consideration of the detailed description below and the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows positioning system 100 in which the
present invention is applicable.
Figure 2 shows one implementation of ILM 101 by circuit
200.
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Figure 3 provides system 300, which is one possible
implementation of a system that allows server 105 to provide
vehicle-related services; in accordance with the present
invention.
S Figure 4 illustrates, schematically, a method for
"just-in-time" maintenance of a vehicle, in accordance with
the present invention.
In the detailed description below, to provide clarity,
and to facilitate correspondence among the figures, like
elements in the figures are provided like reference
numerals.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention provides a system and a method
for delivering services to a vehicle or a traveler based on
1S the vehicle or the traveler's location determined in a
positioning system. Figure l shows :positioning system 100
in which the present invention is applicable. As shown in
Figure 1, positioning system 100 includes an Internet
location manager (ILM) 101, which is a mobile control device
having the capabilities of both obtaining its own position
from a positioning system (e. g., GPS) and communicating over
a computer network (e. g., the internE=t) to a server
providing services of the present invention. ILM 101 can be
provided, for example, in a vehicle. One possible
2S implementation of ILM 101 is shown in Figure 2, which is
discussed in further detail below. As shown in Figure 1,
ILM 101 interacts with a user through, for example, console
device 102. Typically, console device 102 includes a key
board or a pointing device for data entry, and a display for
output of information.
ILM 101 receives from the positioning system (e.g., GPS
satellite 104) position input information, which is
processed to provide ILM 101's current position. In
addition, ILM 101 communicates over wireless link 103 (e. g.,
3S a CDPD, GSM, iDEN, CDMA or another wireless or cellular
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telephone communication link) with server 105, which
delivers location relevant services to ILM 101 over wide
area network 106 (e. g., the Internet). As shown in Figure
l, wireless link 103 connects ILM 101 with wireless
communication system 106 that includes cellular telephone
network 107 and gateway 108. Gateway 108 is typically a
switch or a computer that couples and provides protocol
conversion for data traffic between cellular telephone
network 107 and wide area network 106. Server 105 can have,
for example, a hypertext "web" interface and provides access
to a database having location-relevant information.
Figure 2 shows one implementation of ILM I01 by circuit
200. As shown in Figure 2, circuit :200 includes central
processing unit (CPU) 201, which is typically a general-
purpose microprocessor, such as a Motorola 68331
microprocessor. CPU 201 is the main controller of the
system. Crystal. oscillator 202 provides a time reference
for circuit 200. Flash memory module 203 and static random
access memory (SRAM) 204 provide non-volatile and volatile
storage for CPU 201. In this embodiment, flash memory
module 203 provides 512 K-bytes of non-volatile storage, and
SRAM 204 provides 128 K-bytes of storage. The non-volatile
storage is used primary for storing t:he firmware of ILM 101,
GPS look-up tables for positioning information calculation,
and configuration parameters, such a:~ device identification.
SRAM 204 provides run-time storage, such as positioning
information -- position, velocity and time (PVT).
Battery 205 maintains the content of SRAM 204. Real
time clock (RTC) and system controller 206 provides a real
time clock and non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM)
control. In addition RTC controller 206 includes an analog-
to-digital (A/D) converter. In this embodiment, the A/D
converter is used to receive ignition., temperature and GPS
antenna data. RTC and system controller 206, which receives
a clock signal from 32.768 KHz oscillator 216, can be
implemented, for example, by an integrated circuit DS 1670E,
which is available from Dallas Semiconductor.
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GPS RF front-end 208 and GPS Engine 207 implement the
GPS signal processing functions of ILM 201. In this
embodiment, GPS RF front-end 208 can be implemented by four
- VRF-2 application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) or a
VRF-12 ASIC, all of which are integrated dual conversion
front end ASICs available from CRoad, Tnc. GPS RF ASIC 208
receives L1 (1575.42 MHz) GPS signal, and provide a down-
converted bandpass 2-bit quantized signal for data
processing. GPS Engine 207, which receives down-converted
signals from GPS RF front-end 208 and provides signal
processing to compute PVT informatibn for ILM 201. In this
embodiment, GPS Engine 208 can be implemented by a VGP-12
ASIC available from QRoad, Inc. In this embodiment, GPS
Engine 207 provides a memory-mapped interface to CPU 201, a
GPS clock controller, GPS correlator channels with common
control, receiver gain control, and :parallel and serial
ports. In this embodiment, GPS Engine 207 communicates with
CPU 201 over a 16-bit parallel bus. One example of GPS
signal data processing is disclosed in U.S. Patent
5,990,827, entitled "Structure of a Position Processing
Apparatus," to Fan et al., filed March 28, 1997, which is
also assigned to @Road, Inc., the assignee also of this
invention.
Modem 210 provides an interface to an external
communication system, such as a cellular telephone network.
Modem 210 allows ILM 101 to communicate with server 105 over
the external communication system and gateway 108. In this
embodiment, modem 210 can be implemented, for example, by a
Novatel NRM-6812 modem card. Modem <'?10 communicates with
CPU 201 over input-output (I/0) bus 217. Modem 210 receives
a serial bit stream from and transmit: a serial bit stream to
a built-in universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter
(UART) in GPS Engine 207.
ILM 101 communicates with external circuits through
industry standard interfaces at one or more data port, such
as data ports 212 and 213 of circuit 200. In one
implementation, circuit 200 communicates over output port
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212 (provided as an RS-232 interface) with a multimedia
output device during normal operatio~z, and a configuration
tool and a debugging tool during manufacturing and testing.
Data port 213 is provided to interface with additional
S external devices and system. A multimedia output device is
capable of providing video output, audio output, or both.
In one embodiment, described in further detail below, an
interface to an automobile industry :standard bus allaws ILM
101 to obtain operating data of the ~rehicle relevant to
ZO vehicle-related services provided by server 105. Some
examples of automobile industry standard buses include SAE
1708 bus, SAE J1939 bus, CAN bus and the IDB bus.
In addition, circuit 200 provides visual status
indicators to an operator of the veh~_cle using LEDs 213.
15 Some examples of status indicators that can be implemented
by LEDs 213 include power on/off, act:ive/inactive
communication with external communication network,
operative/non-operative status of the GPS system in circuit
200, active/inactive link to server 1.05. In this
20 embodiment, input and output terminals 215 provide
additional means for input and output control signals that
can be used by the firmware of ILM 101.
The firmware in ILM 101 can be loaded and updated using
over-the-air programming (OTAP) through modem 210. OTAP can
25 be provided using industry standard TFTP ("trivial file
transfer protocol"). In TFTP, a TFTP file server is
provided from which ILM 101 can request one or more files
under operator control, or control by server 105. Upon
receiving the requested file, ILM 101 is reconfigured by
30 executing a programming file to load the new firmware into
non-volatile memory 203. The programming file can be one of
the files transferred under TFTP.
As mentioned above, ILM 101 can :be coupled to an
industry standard automobile bus to allow vehicle-related
35 services. Figure 3 provides system 300, which is one
possible implementation of a system that allows server 105
to provide vehicle-related services. As shown in Figure 3,
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system 300 includes ILM 101 coupled into industry standard
automobile bus 310, through data port 213. Bus 310 include s
bus controller 301, which provides general access control to
bus 310. Bus 310 can be accessed by, and can provide access
to, various subsystems and sensors of the vehicle. For
example, as shown in Fig. 3, brake subsystem 302, engine
subsystem 303, fuel subsystem 304 and various sensors 305
(e. g., engine RPM sensor, oil pressure sensor, tire pressure
sensor, battery charge status sensor, odometer reading,
etc.). Typically, server 105 can obtain status information
of each of subsystem 302-304 and sensors 305 through ILM
101. Alternatively, server 105 can provide through TLM 101
diagnostic commands to each of subsystems 302-304 for
diagnostic purposes.
Based on a configuration such as system 300, a number
of vehicle-related services can be provided. One service
that can be provided by server 105, for example, is a "just-
in-time" maintenance service, which is schematically
represented by Figure 4. As shown i:n Figure 4, ILM 101 can
be programmed to report to server 105 on a periodic basis
the status information of each of subsystem 302-304 and
sensors 305. From this report, server 105 can determine the
current operative condition of the vehicle and can compile
vehicle operation history. At scheduled intervals, or as
deemed necessary from the operative condition of the
vehicle, server 105 can advise the operator of the vehicle
to bring the vehicle to a service center for scheduled or
unscheduled maintenance. Such maintenance service may
include replacement of brake pads, fluids, tires,
readjustment of engine valves etc. :Cn one embodiment, based
on the current location of the vehic:Le and a database of the
service centers available in the vicinity, server 105 can
also advise the operator of a designated service center
available, based on distance, business relationship with the
operator, price and other considerations. In one
embodiment, where the vehicle is a member of a fleet of a
large transportation concern, server 105 is integrated with
the enterprise resource planning system of the
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transportation concern. In that embodiment, server 105 can
also schedule the required maintenance procedure with the
service center in advance of the veh.icle's arrival, and
order any necessary parts for delivery to the service center
prior to the scheduled maintenance procedure.
Because server 105 can monitor the vehicle
continuously, the operator of the vehicle or a dispatcher
can be notified immediately of any unusual operating
condition that may lead to an impending failure or
emergency. Such timely information can prevents
catastrophic failure and enhances safety. In another
application, fuel pries are surveyed ahead of the vehicle
arriving at a service area to select the most cost efficient
supplier. Operation data across a large number of vehicles
in a fleet can be compiled for statistical analysis valuable
for more accurate cost and equipment lifetime analyses
With the "just-in-time maintenance" service, highest
operative performance and safety in the trucking concern's
vehicles is achieved, and the "down time" for performing
maintenance procedures are minimized.
Another service server 105 can provide based on a
system such as system 300, also illustrated schematically by
Figure 4, is "on--the-read" assistancev to the vehicle' s
operator and enforcement work rules. For example, based on
the operation history of the vehicle for a particular work
day, or the number of miles driven o:r the tasks completed
for the day, server 105 advises the 'vehicle's operator that
a mandatory rest stop, motivated by safety concerns for
example, is required. In addition, based on the current
location of the vehicle, server 105 can guide the operator
to a nearby rest facility (e. g., a motel), make reservations
for a room at the rest facility and arrange for payment of
services by the trucking company. Arrangements for other
operator conveniences, such as a meal stop, can be similarly
made .
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The detailed description above is provided to
illustrate specific embodiments of the present invention and
is not intended to be limiting. Numerous variations and
modifications within the scope of the present invention are
possible. The present invention is set forth in the
accompanying claims.
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