SE543068C2 - Minimizing perceived communication downtime for a group of vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method (300) performed by an off board system (140) configured to perform one or more services for a group of vehicles (120-123), the method comprising obtaining data pertaining to the group of vehicles (120-123) at least by receiving messages comprising data pertaining to each vehicle, predicting an upcoming outage of a communications link (L0-L3) of at least one vehicle (120) of the group of vehicles (120-123), performing a proactive action to mitigate a negative impact on the one or more services for the group of vehicles (120-123).

Description

MINIMIZING PERCEIVED COMMUNICATION DOWNTIME FÖR Å GRÜUF' GF VEHÉCLES TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method performed by a server configured toperform one or more services for a group of vehicles. The invention further relates to a control unit and a vehicle comprising the control unit.

BACKGROUND Cooperative lntelligent Transport Systems is about digitalization, “informatization” ofthe transport system and information sharing between road vehicles andinfrastructure. This is e.g. done by standardizing the methods of communicationallowing different vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure manufacturers andgovernmental agencies to exchange information independently. Examples suchcommunication is vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2l) and vehicle-to-anything (V2X).

Various services may be provided to vehicles on the road, using both standardizedmethods of communication and propriety methods of communication, such aspropriety protocols over WiFi. Examples of such services may be Fleet l\/lanagement Services.

Communication downtime or outages of a communications link is always consideredan issue which can harm the consistency, quality and timeliness of information forservices that are dependent on this information. This even becomes a more severeissue for real-time services. ln addition the consistency of any further analysis basedon that data stream can lose its validity and accuracy. The effect would of coursediffer, e.g. depending on the frequency, location and duration of said downtime.

Communication downtime or outages can occur due to many reasons, includinghaving no network coverage, or even hardware or software malfunctions within the extended vehicle.

A disadvantage of conventional systems is that lack of knowledge and preparation fordifferent types of disturbances/downtimes/outages can result in data loss, i.e. thepossibility to restoring data, e.g. recreating the data or vehicle behavior for somepurpose, may be low and unreliable. This is true even if part of the data is saved,prioritized or requested during the downtime.

A further disadvantage is that an outage could negatively affect the presentation ofinformation to (internal or external) customers and can damage the reputation of theservice and may lead to customers choosing other competing services. With theintroduction of autonomous transport systems these issues become even more prominent.

Thus, there is a need for an improved method and server.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An objective of embodiments of the present invention is to provide a solution whichmitigates or solves the drawbacks described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above objective is achieved by the subject matter described herein. Further advantageous implementation forms of the invention are described herein.

According to a first aspect of the invention the objects of the invention is achieved bya method performed by server configured to perform one or more services for agroup of vehicles, the method comprising obtaining data pertaining to the group ofvehicles at least by receiving messages comprising data pertaining to each vehicle,predicting an upcoming outage of a communications link of at least one vehicle of thegroup of vehicles, and performing a proactive action to mitigate a negative impact onthe one or more services for the group of vehicles. ln one embodiment, performing aproactive action comprises a selection of any of sending a message to the at leastone vehicle, the message comprising a selection of any of a configuration, settings,policies and strategies, sending a message to the at least one vehicle, the messagecomprising an indication of the predicted upcoming outage, the indication comprising a selection of any of an outage duration, an outage spatial location and arecommended action and sending a message to a management server, the messagecomprising an indication of the upcoming outage, the indication comprising aselection of any of an outage duration, an outage spatial location and a recommended action.

At least one advantage of the first aspect is to provide a method that has improvedresilience when communication outages occur, by increasing the possibility to restoredata, e.g. recreating the data or vehicle behavior for some purpose.

According to a second aspect of the invention the objects of the invention is achievedby a method performed by a control unit adapted to be comprised in a vehicle, themethod comprising obtaining data pertaining to the vehicle and sending a message to a server configured to perform one or more services for a group of vehicles.

According to a third aspect of the invention the objects of the invention is achieved bya server configured to perform the method according to the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention the objects of the invention is achievedby a control unit configured to perform the method according to the second aspect.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention the objects of the invention is achieved bya vehicle comprising the control unit according to the fourth aspect.

The scope of the invention is defined by the claims, which are incorporated into thissection by reference. A more complete understanding of embodiments of theinvention will be afforded to those skilled in the art, as well as a realization ofadditional advantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detailed descriptionof one or more embodiments. Reference will be made to the appended sheets ofdrawings that will first be described briefly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 illustrates a scenario to perform one or more services for a group of vehicles.

Fig. 2 shows a system for performing one or more services for a group of vehiclesaccording to one or more embodiments described herein.

Fig. 3 shows a server according to one or more embodiments described herein.

Fig. 4. i||ustrates a flowchart of a method performed by server configured to performone or more services for a group of vehicles according to one or more embodiments described herein.

Fig. 5. i||ustrates a flowchart of a method performed by a control unit according to one or more embodiments described herein.

A more complete understanding of embodiments of the invention will be afforded tothose skilled in the art, as well as a realization of additional advantages thereof, by aconsideration of the following detailed description of one or more embodiments. ltshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An “or” in this description and the corresponding claims is to be understood as amathematical OR which covers ”and” and “or”, and is not to be understand as anXOR (exclusive OR). The indefinite article “a” in this disclosure and claims is not limited to “one” and can also be understood as “one or more”, i.e., plural.

The present disclosure proposes a method which ensures the lowest possiblecommunication downtime perceived by users, e.g. of fleet management services.The solution addresses actions to be taken (prior to, during and after acommunication downtime) in the off board environment of a transport system (i.e.environment outside of the vehicle) which sends/receives data to/from vehicles in thefield. By using data from relevant sources (real-time or historical) in order to decrease data loss and improve quality of data and services.

Uptime/downtime or communication outages is/are an important factor/s for allbusinesses at any time. Even small disruptions can result in huge costs. lt is oftenchallenging to plan for disturbances and downtime of services. Downtime is alwaysan inconvenience, and it is therefore important to reduce outages or downtime ofcommunications and/or services. Downtime of a service can be due to many reasons and can occur in any part of the chain of functions that make up the service. ln one 4 way or another downtime is harmful to the users and their businesses. lf userscannot use a service the consistency of data for the service will be affected in anegative way. Data which could have been used for analysis might then be lost. lf theservice is unavailable due to problems with connections or that the service is notworking for the moment, this can affect the customers experience of the service. Theeffect of that experience will of course differ a lot based on the frequency andduration of said downtime. There are many Fleet l\/lanagement Services which arereachable through an interface of a server to a lot of users who rely on their users toimprove the service. Feedback, fault reports, complaints and field testing are allimportant factors to continuously improve a service. The quality and consistency ofthese reports and the data affects the outcome of analysis. Services which appear tosuffer from more downtime than other services will not be able to compete with other similar solutions in the long run, the customers will choose other services.

A problem is that communication downtime is always considered an issue which canharm the consistency, quality and timeliness of information for the services that aredependent on this information. This even becomes a more severe issue for real-timeservices. ln addition the consistency of any further analysis based on that datastream can lose its validity and accuracy. The effect would of course differ dependingon the frequency and duration of said downtime. When communication is lost it isimportant that the off board transport system “knows” this and can adapt itsbehaviour in a timely manner to ensure that quality is not degenerated and the useris affected as little as possible. Communication downtime can occur due to manyreasons, including having no network coverage, or even hardware or softwaremalfunctions within the extended vehicle. Lack of knowledge and preparation fordifferent types of disturbances and downtime can also result in that even if part of thedata is saved, prioritized or requested during the downtime, the possibility ofrecreating the whole information or vehicle behaviour for some purpose can still below and unreliable. Therefore it is important that services in the off board transportsystems are prepared for and able to detect the communication downtime in a timelymanner. lf communication downtime occurs often, due to the above issues, it wouldnegatively affect the presentation of information to (internal or external) customers and can damage the reputation of the service. Customers would in turn choose other services instead. With the introduction of autonomous transport systems these issues become even more prominent.

The present disclosure proposes a method which enables the off board transportsystem to prepare for communication loss and downtime. The said communicationdowntime refers to loss of any type of wired or wireless communication, including cellular communication and GPS signals.

The present disclosure has the advantage that it ensures that communicationdowntime has as small effect as possible on services, customer experience, analysisand continued operations by actions taken by off board transport system. The offboard transport system has access to information from many different sources andhas more computational and processing power than an on-board system, typically acontrol unit in a vehicle, and can therefore support any on-board system prior, during and after a communication downtime.

By using historical and real time knowledge about occurrence of communicationdowntime (which can be obtained from different sources such as other vehicles ortelecom/network providers), the off board transport system can act proactively by anyof the following actions to ensure that the downtime perceived by users and servicesis minimized: Proactive steps: - Based on a risk-threshold send new adapted setting, policies and strategies tothe vehicle prior to the predicted communication downtime. These new settings andstrategies are to be used by the onboard systems of the vehicle for adapting to the communication downtime, and can include: The characteristics of how data is sent and retrieved, prior and/or duringdowntime, e.g. the frequency, medium, employed communication technology or thecontent of messages transmitted from the vehicle.

The methods for transmission from the vehicle to off board systems couldinclude any existing method/technology such as cellular, satellite, WiFi, or V2X communications.

- Proactively inform the driver, vehicle owner, fleet manager etc. about possibleupcoming communication downtime. This could include estimated downtime duration, location and recommendations.Reactive steps: - ln case that the main communication path to a specific vehicle is already lost,the off board transport system attempts to send the adapted settings and strategiesto the vehicle through alternative communication paths. The alternativecommunication path does not necessarily have to be a viable path that replaces the main continuous communication.- lnforming and updating affected off board services.

- Using existing tools to recreate or estimate data during communication downtime if possible. Flag this data so that it would be traceable.Post downtime steps: - Reacting when communication is once again possible and informing relevant systems.

- Data collected in relation to the communication downtime would be used to improve this method.

- Report to the driver, vehicle owner, fleet manager etc. about the recent communication downtime.

One example for when this solution can be useful is when vehicles travel by boatbetween countries, e.g. from Sweden to Denmark. When at sea, the GPS-signal islost any positioning information becomes unreliable. Based on predictions, the offboard system sends a message comprising a new policy to the vehicle beforeboarding the boat and losing GPS communication. The new policy enables the use ofother sources or methods, e.g. HD-maps or Dead Reckoning, for positioning orconfigurations to make sure the vehicle can report correct positioning informationthrough the cellular network. When the GPS communication is once again established the policy can be deactivated or a new one can be activated.

The information about when and where downtime occurs will be used to improve thismethod continuously leading to better predictions and strategies for minimal effect ofdowntime on services. ln turn this will decrease the effect that downtime has on the USGFS.

The disclosed method provides more possibilities to handle issues caused bycommunication downtime. The disclosed method further provides increased ability toadjust behaviours of services and systems in the event of communication downtime.Using knowledge about where communication is unreliable can be used as anadvantage with this method to avoid disturbances or downtime that might harmquality of services or data used for analysis. Overall the proposed method leads tomore reliable information and therefore more trustable services from the customers” point of view.

Fig. 1 illustrates a scenario to perform one or more services for a group of vehicles120-123. Examples of such services are fleet management services, e.g. monitoringmaintenance of the vehicle, monitoring punctuality of vehicles according to aschedule or monitoring driving performance and habits of individual drivers. A server140 may be configured to perform one or more services, such as fleet managementservices, for the group of vehicles 120-123. The vehicles are shown in Fig. 1 to beroad vehicles such as busses, trucks or cars but may be any type of vehicle or craft,such as an aircraft, ship or boat. Other actors or parties, such as vehicle owners andfleet managers, may interact with the group of vehicles 120-123 and or the server140 directly and/or via a management server 150. Any third party entity or server, notshown in the figure, may configured to provide data pertaining to the group ofvehicles 120-123. Examples of such data may be traffic information, weatherinformation, road conditions, planned road maintenance or any other data pertainingto the group of vehicles 120-123 or conditions pertaining to the group of vehicles120-123. The group of vehicles 120-123, the server 140 and the management server150 are configured to communicate over a communications network 130, which maycomprise e.g. any of a Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM, UMTS, LTE or LTE advancedcommunications network or any other wired or wireless communication network known in the art. ln one example, a service l providing a recommended speed dependent on a set ofrequirements, such as requirements on punctuality and fuel economy. The server140 may be monitoring data pertaining to each vehicle such as the average speed ofthe whole group of vehicles 120-123 and send recommended speeds to a particularvehicle 120 of the group of vehicles 120-123. ln one further example, a service is providing driver coaching. E.g. coaching on howand when to change gear in order to drive in more sustainable/environmentallyfriendly manner. The service may be based on vehicle data, sensor data orinformation indicative of the intended route of the vehicle, information indicative ofroad conditions, information indicative of traffic, e.g. obtained from other vehicles of the group of vehicles as well as obtained by the vehicle itself. ln one further example, a service is providing route recommendation based oninformation about problems in a specific route obtained from other vehicles if thegroup of vehicles. ln one further example, a service is providing maintenance recommendations basedon information gathered from a subset of the group of vehicles, e.g. vehicles manufactured in a same or similar period in time.

Fig. 2 shows a system for performing one or more services for a group of vehicles 120-123 according to one or more embodiments described herein.

The system may comprise the server 140 that is configured to perform the one ormore services, such as fleet management services, for the group of vehicles 120-123. The server is communicatively coupled to the communications network 130 viaa wired or wireless link L4 and configured to communicate information to/from any ofthe group of vehicles 120-123 and/or the one or more management servers 150. Theserver 140 is further configured with a communication interface 1410, further described in relation to Fig. 3.

The system may further comprise the communications network 130 configured toexchange data or information between the group of vehicles 120-123, the server 140and the management server 150. As mention above, the communications network 130 may operate on any combination of communications techniques, such as any combination of Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM, UMTS, LTE or LTE advanced communications network or any other wired or wireless communication network known in the art.

The system may comprise the management server 150. The management server150 is communicatively coupled to the communications network 130 via a wired orwireless link Ls and configured to communicate information to/from any of the groupof vehicles 120-123 and the server 140. The server 150 is further configured with a communication interface 1510, further described in relation to Fig. 3.

Each vehicle 120 in the group of vehicles 120-123 is communicatively coupled to thecommunications network 130 via a wired or wireless link and are configured tocommunicate information to/from any other vehicle any of the group of vehicles 120-123 and/or the server 140 and/or the management server 150. Each vehicle of thegroup of vehicles 120-123 is further configured with a communication interface 1110,further described in relation to Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 shows a server 140 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.The server 140 may be in the form of a selection of any of one or more servers, oneor more cloud or virtual servers. The server 140 may comprise processing circuitry312 optionally communicatively coupled to a communications interface 304/1410 forwired and/or wireless communication. Further, the server 140 may further compriseat least one optional antenna (not shown in figure). The antenna may be coupled to atransceiver of the communications interface 304 and is configured to transmit and/oremit and/or receive a wireless signals in a wireless communication system, e.g.send/receive control signals and/or status data to/from the group of vehicles 120-123or the management server 150. ln one example, the processing circuitry 312 may beany of a selection of processor and/or a central processing unit and/or processormodules and/or multiple processors configured to cooperate with each-other. Further,the server 140 may further comprise a memory 315. The memory 315 may containinstructions executable by the processing circuitry to perform any of the methodsand/or method steps described herein.

The communications interface 304/1410, e.g. the wireless transceiver and/or awired/wireless communications network adapter, which is configured to send and/or receive data values or parameters as a signal to or from the processing circuitry 312 to or from other external nodes, e.g. the group of vehicles 120-123 or the150. communicates directly between communication network nodes or via the management server ln an embodiment, the communications interface communications network. ln one or more embodiments the server 140 may further comprise an input device317, configured to receive input or indications from a user and send a user-input signal indicative of the user input or indications to the processing circuitry 312. ln one or more embodiments the server 140 may further comprise a display 318configured to receive a display signal indicative of rendered objects, such as text orgraphical user input objects, from the processing circuitry 312 and to display the received signal as objects, such as text or graphical user input objects. ln one embodiment the display 318 is integrated with the user input device 317 and isconfigured to receive a display signal indicative of rendered objects, such as text orgraphical user input objects, from the processing circuitry 312 and to display thereceived signal as objects, such as text or graphical user input objects, and/orconfigured to receive input or indications from a user and send a user-input signal indicative of the user input or indications to the processing circuitry 312. ln embodiments, the processing circuitry 312 is communicatively coupled to thememory 315 and/or the communications interface 304 and/or the input device 317and/or the display 318 and/or one or more sensors (not shown in the figure). ln embodiments, the communications interface and/or transceiver 304 communicatesusing wired and/or wireless communication techniques. ln embodiments, the one ormore memory 315 may comprise a selection of a hard RAIVI, disk drive, a floppy diskdrive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a CD or DVD drive (R or RW), orother removable or fixed media drive. ln a further embodiment, the server 140 may further comprise and/or be coupled toone or more additional sensors (not shown) configured to receive and/or obtainand/or measure physical properties pertaining to a vehicle of the group of vehicles120-123 and send one or more sensor signals indicative of the physical properties tothe processing circuitry 312, e.g. sensor data indicative of wheel speeds of the vehicle.11 ln embodiments, the management server 150 comprises similar components asdescribed in relation to the server 140. ln embodiments, the control unit comprises similar components as described inrelation to the server 140. The control unit may be in the form of any one of an on-board computer, an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), a digital information display, astationary computing device, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a handheldcomputer, a wrist-worn computer, a smart watch, a PDA, a Smartphone, a smart TV,a telephone, a media player, a game console, a vehicle mounted computer system or a navigation device Fig. 4. illustrates a flowchart of a method 400 performed by server 140 configured toperform one or more services for a group of vehicles 120-123, the method comprising: STEP 410: obtaining data pertaining to the group of vehicles 120-123 at least byreceiving messages comprising data pertaining to each vehicle, ln one example, the data pertaining to each vehicle comprises data indicative ofsignal strength of a wireless communications network. Each vehicle of the group ofvehicles 120-123 transmits a message comprising information of currently measured signal strength of a wireless network. ln one example, the data pertaining to each vehicle is comprises data indicative ofpossible alternative communication links, e.g. by indicating existence of hotspotssuch as WiFi hotspots. This information may be used in combination with informationgathered from other sources in the server. ln one example, the data pertaining to each vehicle comprises data indicative ofmobile network outage in a certain geographical area, e.g. due to planned maintenance or due to unplanned issues ln one example, the data pertaining to each vehicle comprises data indicative of apossible wireless network overload, e.g. due to a planned event such as a festival or a sport match.

STEP 420: predicting an upcoming outage of a communications link Lo-Ls of at leastone vehicle 120 of the group of vehicles 120-123 The outage may be predicted using 12 the data pertaining to the group of vehicles 120-123. ln other words, By usinghistorical and real time knowledge about outages or downtime occurrences of communication downtime. ln one example, the data pertaining to the group of vehicles 120-123 is indicative oflow received signal strength of vehicles 121-123 travelling along the same route/roadand positioned at a location ahead of the expected route of the at least one vehicle120. As the vehicle 120 is travelling behind the other vehicles, the data pertaining tothe group of vehicles 120-123 can be used to predict that also the at least onevehicle 120 will experience low signal strength when the location is reached. ln one further example, data pertaining to the group of vehicles 120-123 indicative ofpossible alternative communication links is used to predict an upcoming outage of a communications link. ln one further example, data indicative of mobile network outage in a certaingeographical area, e.g. due to planned maintenance or due to unplanned issues, is used to predict an upcoming outage of a communications link. ln one example, the data pertaining to each vehicle comprises data indicative of apossible wireless network overload is used to predict an upcoming outage of a communications link.

STEP 430: performing a proactive action to mitigate a negative impact on the one ormore services for the group of vehicles 120-123. l\/litigating the negative impact on the one or more services may comprise mitigatingthat the upcoming outage harms the consistency, quality and timeliness ofinformation for services that are dependent on this information. ln one example aservice is providing route recommendations based on positioning signals, e.g. GPSsignals, and the data pertaining to the group of vehicles 120-123 indicate anupcoming loss of the positioning signals, i.e. an upcoming outage of acommunications link is predicted. A negative impact on the service can then bemitigated by providing route recommendations based on information obtained fromother vehicles in the same geographical area. Negative impacts on the one or moreservices may affect the customers experience of the service and might lead to that the user choose to use other services instead.13 ln one embodiment, performing a proactive action comprises sending a message tothe at least one vehicle 120, the message comprising a selection of any of a configuration, settings, policies and strategies. ln one example, the proactive action comprises, based on a risk-threshold, to sendnew adapted settings, policies and strategies to the vehicle prior to the predictedupcoming outage, e.g. communication downtime. These new settings and strategiesare to be used by the onboard systems of the vehicle for adapting to the communication downtime, and may include: The characteristics of how data is sent and retrieved, prior and/or during downtime,e.g. the frequency, medium, employed communication technology or the content of messages transmitted from the vehicle.

The methods for transmission from the vehicle 120 to off board systems 140, whiche.g. could include any existing method/technology such as cellular, satellite, WiFi, or V2X communications. ln one embodiment, performing a proactive action comprises sending a message tothe at least one vehicle 120, the message comprising an indication of the predictedupcoming outage, the indication comprising a selection of any of an outage duration,an outage spatial location and a recommended action. ln one embodiment, performing a proactive action comprises sending a message to amanagement server 150, the message comprising an indication of the upcomingoutage, the indication comprising a selection of any of an outage duration, an outagespatial location and a recommended action. ln one embodiment, the message comprises communications link Lo characteristicsindicative of how data is sent and retrieved. The characteristics may comprise aselection of any of a frequency of data transmittal, preferred communicationsmedium, preferred communications network 130 or the content of data transmittedfrom the vehicle 120. ln one example, the proactive action comprises, sending a message to the vehicle120 and/or the management server 150 to proactively inform the driver of the vehicle120, the vehicle owner, the fleet manager etc. about a possible upcoming 14 communication outage or downtime. This could include estimated downtime duration, location and recommendations.

Examples of recommendations are starting an application in the drivers mobile phoneto establish a new connection link, connecting to a nearby WiFi hotspot or could bemanually triggering an “communication downtime” mode that perform a set of routines/commands in the vehicle or in the off-board system. ln one embodiment, the method further comprises performing a reactive action formitigating a negative impact on the one or more services for the group of vehicles120-123. ln one embodiment, performing a reactive action comprises estimating data expected to have been received from the at least one vehicle 120 ln one example, this involves using existing tools to recover or estimate data duringcommunication downtime if possible. Flag this data so that it would be traceable. ln one example, this involves e.g. estimating data by using statistics and machinelearning tools or by creating a model/pattern from the historical data and predictingthe upcoming data. ln one embodiment, performing a reactive action comprises updating the one or more services to make them aware of the outage.ln one example, this may comprise halting or reducing a data stream to the vehicle. ln one further example, this may comprise sending a notification message to servicesnotifying the services that they should not fully trust the incoming data other thanflagged estimated values, if any, during a commination downtime or outage ln one embodiment, performing a reactive action comprises identifying and/orallocating an alternative communications link. The alternative communications link is typically identified and/or allocated temporarily. ln one example, the main communication path to a specific vehicle is alreadylost, the off board transport system or server 140 attempts to send the adaptedsettings and strategies to the vehicle through temporarily allocated alternative communication paths. The temporarily allocated alternative communication path does not necessarily have to be a viable path that replaces the main continuous communication. ln one embodiment, the method further comprises detecting that the outage of the communications link Lo-Le, has ended, and performing a normalizing action. ln one embodiment, the normalizing action comprises sending a message to the atleast one vehicle 120, the message comprising a selection of any of a configuration, settings, policies and strategies.

These configuration, settings, policies and strategies are to be used by the onboardsystems of the vehicle for adapting to the communication downtime, and may indude: The characteristics of how data is sent and retrieved, prior and/or during downtime,e.g. the frequency, medium, employed communication technology or the content ofmessages transmitted from the vehicle.

The methods for transmission from the vehicle 120 to off board systems 140, whiche.g. could include any existing method/technology such as cellular, satellite, WiFi, or V2X communications. ln one embodiment, the normalizing action comprises sending a message to the atleast one vehicle 120, the message comprising an indication to a driver that the outage has ended and/or an outage duration. ln one embodiment, the normalizing action comprises sending a message to amanagement server 150, the message comprising an indication to a user that theoutage has ended and/or an outage duration. ln one embodiment, the normalizing action comprises saving characteristics of theoutage to memory and retrieving buffered data from the at least one vehicle 120 andreplacing any estimated data with the buffered data. The estimated data maytypically be flagged to enable identification at the point of replacement with buffered data. ln one example, a vehicle is travelling by boat e.g. from Sweden to Denmark. Whenat sea, the GPS-signal is lost any positioning information becomes unreliable. Based on predictions, the off board system sends a new policy to the vehicle before16 boarding the boat and losing GPS communication. The new policy enables the use ofother sources or methods (e.g. HD-maps or Dead Reckoning) for positioning orconfigurations to make sure the vehicle can report correct positioning informationthrough the cellular network. When the GPS communication is once againestablished the policy can be deactivated or a new one can be activated. Theinformation about when and where downtime occurs will be used to improve thismethod continuously leading to better predictions and strategies for minimal effect ofdowntime on services. ln turn this will decrease the effect that downtime has on the USGFS.

Fig. 5. illustrates a flowchart of a method 500 performed by a control unit accordingto one or more embodiments described herein. The control unit is adapted to becomprised in a vehicle comprised in a group of vehicles 120-123, the method comprising:STEP 510: obtaining data pertaining to the vehicle 120, STEP 520: sending a message to a server 140 configured to perform one or more services for the group of vehicles 120-123. ln one embodiment, the method 500 further comprises receiving a second message,wherein the second message comprises a selection of any of a configuration,settings, policies and strategies, an indication to a driver of an upcoming outage, andan indication to a driver that the outage has ended and/or an outage duration. ln one embodiment, the message comprises communications link Lo characteristicsindicative of how data is sent and retrieved, wherein the characteristics comprises aselection of any of a frequency of data transmittal, preferred communicationsmedium, preferred communications network 130 or the content of data transmittedfrom the vehicle 120. ln one embodiment, a server is provided and configured to perform any of the method steps described herein. ln one embodiment, a control unit is provided and adapted to be comprised in avehicle, the control unit configured to perform any of the method steps described herein. 17 ln one embodiment, a vehicle 110 is provided and comprises the control unit above. ln one embodiment, a computer program is provided and comprises computer-executable instructions for causing a server 140, when the computer-executableinstructions are executed on a processing unit comprised in the server 140, toperform any of the method steps described herein. ln one embodiment, a computer program is provided and comprises computer-executable instructions for causing a control unit, when the computer-executableinstructions are executed on a processing unit comprised in the control unit, toperform any of the method steps described herein. ln one embodiment, a computer program product is provided and comprising acomputer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium haveany of the computer programs above embodied therein. ln one embodiment, a carrier containing the computer program above, wherein thecarrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. ln embodiments, the communications network 130 communicate using wired orwireless communication techniques that may include at least one of a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), l\/letropolitan Area Network (l\/IAN), Global System for l\/lobile Network(GSM), (EDGE), l\/lobileTelecommunications System, Long term evolution, High Speed Downlink PacketAccess (HSDPA), Wideband Code Division l\/lultiple Access (W-CDl\/IA), CodeDivision l\/lultiple Access (CDl\/IA), (TDl\/IA),Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Wi-Fi, Voice over lnternet Protocol (VolP), LTE Advanced,lEEE802.16m, Wirelessl\/IAN-Advanced, Evolved High-Speed Packet Access(HSPA+), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), l\/lobile Wil\/IAX (IEEE 802.16e), Ultral\/lobile Broadband (Ul\/IB) (formerly Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Rev. C), FastFrequency Division Enhanced Data GSM Environment Universal Time Division l\/lultiple Access Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff Orthogonall\/lultiplexing (Flash-OFDl\/l), High Capacity Spatial Division l\/lultiple Access (iBurst®)and l\/lobile Broadband Wireless Access (l\/IBWA) (IEEE 802.20) systems, HighPerformance Radio l\/letropolitan Area Network (HlPEFšlVlAN), Beam-Division l\/lultiple 18 Access (BDl\/IA), World lnteroperability for l\/licrowave Access (Wi-l\/IAX) and ultrasonic communication, etc., but is not limited thereto. l\/loreover, it is realized by the skilled person that the server 140 may comprise thenecessary communication capabilities in the form of e.g., functions, means, units,elements, etc., for performing the present solution. Examples of other such means,units, elements and functions are: processors, memory, buffers, control logic,encoders, decoders, rate matchers, de-rate matchers, mapping units, multipliers,decision units, selecting units, switches, interleavers, de-interleavers, modulators,demodulators, inputs, outputs, antennas, amplifiers, receiver units, transmitter units,DSPs, l\/lSDs, encoder, decoder, power supply units, power feeders, communicationinterfaces, communication protocols, etc. which are suitably arranged together forperforming the present solution.

Especially, the processor and/or processing means of the present disclosure maycomprise one or more instances of processing circuitry, processor modules andmultiple processors configured to cooperate with each-other, Central Processing Unit(CPU), a processing unit, a processing circuit, a processor, an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, a Field-Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. Theexpression '“processor” and/or “processing means” may thus represent a processingcircuitry comprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all ofthe ones mentioned above. The processing means may further perform dataprocessing functions for inputting, outputting, and processing of data comprising databuffering and device control functions, such as call processing control, user interfacecontrol, or the like.

Finally, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodimentsdescribed above, but also relates to and incorporates all embodiments within the scope of the appended independent claims. 19

Claims (9)

CLAI MS

1. A method (300) performed by an off board system (140) configured to perform one or more services for a group of vehicles (120-123), the method comprising: obtaining data pertaining to the group of vehicles (120-123) at least by receivingmessages comprising data pertaining to each vehicle, predicting based on said data an upcoming outage of a communications link(Lo-Ls) of at least one vehicle (120) of the group of vehicles (120-123), performing based on said prediction a proactive action to mitigate a negativeimpact on the one or more services for the group of vehicles (120-123).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing a proactive action comprises a selection of any of: sending a message to the at least one vehicle (120), the message comprising aselection of any of a configuration, settings, policies and strategies, sending a message to the at least one vehicle (120), the message comprisingan indication of the predicted upcoming outage, the indication comprising aselection of any of an outage duration, an outage spatial location and a recommended action. sending a message to a management server (150), the message comprising anindication of the upcoming outage, the indication comprising a selection ofany of an outage duration, an outage spatial location and a recommendedaction.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the message comprisescommunications link (Lo) characteristics indicative of how data is sent andretrieved, wherein the characteristics comprises a selection of any of afrequency of data transmittal, preferred communications medium, preferredcommunications network (130) or the content of data transmitted from the vehicle (120).

4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprisingperforming a reactive action for mitigating a negative impact on the one ormore services for the group of vehicles (120-123), wherein performing areactive action comprises a selection of any of: estimating data expected to have been received from the at least one vehicle(120), updating the one or more services to make them aware of the outage, identifying an alternative communications link.

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprisingdetecting that the outage of the communications link (Lo-Ls) has ended, and performing a normalizing action, wherein performing a normalizing action comprises a selection of any of: sending a message to the at least one vehicle (120), the messagecomprising a selection of any of a configuration, settings, policies andstrategies, sending a message to the at least one vehicle (120), the messagecomprising an indication to a driver that the outage has ended and/or anoutage duration, sending a message to a management server (150), the messagecomprising an indication to a user that the outage has ended and/or anoutage duration, saving characteristics of the outage to memory.retrieving buffered data from the at least one vehicle (120) and replacing any estimating data with the buffered data.

6. Ag; eervfleeoff board systern configured to perform the method according to any ofclaims 1-5.

7. A computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for causing ag eerveroff board system, when the computer-executable instructions are21 executed on a processing unit comprised in the serveroif board system, toperform any of the method steps according claims 1-5.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium,the computer-readable storage medium having the computer programaccording to c|aim 7 embodied therein.

9. A carrier containing the computer program according to c|aim 7, wherein thecarrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. 22