WO2018037325A1

WO2018037325A1 - Remotely updating a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2018037325A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/055034
Authority: WO
Inventors: Harish Kumar; Bharadwaaj RAMAKRISHNAN; Vivek DOULATANI
Original assignee: Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd.
Priority date: 2016-08-22
Filing date: 2017-08-21
Publication date: 2018-03-01

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for the vehicle. In an embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising steps of: tracking a current location of the vehicle; performing one of a first action and a second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area followed by notifying an administrator device in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area; and updating one of the first restricted area (mapped to at least one first geographic location) and the second restricted area (mapped to at least one second geographic location) based on a command received from the administrator device.

Description

REMOTELY UPDATING A FIRST RESTRICTED AREA AND A SECOND RESTRICTED AREA FOR A

VEHICLE FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to remotely controlling of a vehicle by defining restricted areas for the vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the invention. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present invention, and not as admissions of prior art. Now-a-days, preventing the vehicles into restricted areas has become a concern, since use of bars, various electric wire fences and cameras fail to solve the problem of intrusions and invasions into restricted areas. In daily life scenarios, when a vehicle is not driven by an owner and is handled by a second party (guest, who is not the owner of the vehicle) who may or may not be diligent enough, like the owner, so as to offer proper attention or care to the vehicle while driving, in such events there is always a risk of using the vehicle by the second party for performing an illegal activity, such as going beyond the predefined destination or taking an unauthorized route to reach a destination.

Therefore, it is desirable to remotely control the vehicle by preventing the vehicle to enter into the restricted areas. Presently, there exist various solutions to remotely control the vehicle. In one of the solutions for remotely controlling the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle is reduced and/or increased inadvertently; however such this solution does not prevent the driver of the vehicle from exceeding the posted speed limit. In another solution, the vehicle's driving preferences such as a speed limits, restricted areas, time and various other parameters are predefined before start of the trip, wherein the owner of the vehicle not only pre-defines the parameters but is also capable of tracking the vehicle. However, this solution of pre-defining the parameters and/or driving preferences also poses various limitations and may be considered as inappropriate and non-effective, since, predefining the parameters may reduce the overall efficiency in terms of time taken to reach a destination due to the inability of the owner to dynamically change/modify the pre-defined parameters depending upon plurality of sub-lanes, roads and highways with different driving speed limits comprised within a destination route. Thus, predefining a higher speed limit for the entire route of journey does not suffice the purpose since the whole route may not comprise of highways and travelling at a higher speed through the sub-lane exposes chance of accidents. Also, predefining a lower speed limit for the entire route of journey does not suffice the purpose since the route may comprise sub-lanes with lesser speed limit along with highways with higher speed limit and due to that the overall travel time increases since the driver of the vehicle is allowed to drive at higher speed even at the highways with higher speed limit. Further, in the existing solutions, the owner is incapable of performing any activity/ instruction/control in case it is detected that the vehicle is following an unauthorized route or is going beyond a predefined restricted area.

Accordingly, in order to overcome the aforementioned problems inherent in the existing solutions for remotely controlling the vehicle, there exists a need of an efficient mechanism to define and modify restricted areas for the vehicles based on a plurality of parameters.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This section is provided to introduce certain objects and aspects of the disclosed methods and systems in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In view of the above shortcomings of the existing systems, as discussed in the background section, it is apparent that there exists a need to provide a system and method for efficiently and remotely control the vehicle. Further, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for remotely updating/modifying restricted areas for the vehicle in a real time basis depending upon various parameters. Another object of the present invention is notifying the owner indicating the entry of the vehicle into the restricted areas, thereby enabling the owners to take actions.

In view of the abovementioned objects, the embodiments of the present invention aims at providing a well-organized method for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle, the method comprising: tracking a current location of the vehicle; performing one of a first action and a second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein the first action is based on a first set of parameters and the second action is based on a second set of parameters, the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters are predefined, and the first restricted area is mapped to at least one first geographic location and the second restricted area is mapped to at least one second geographic location; notifying an administrator device in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area; and updating one of the at least one first geographic location with at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with at least one fourth geographic location based on a command received from the administrator device, wherein the command comprises the at least one third geographic location and the at least one fourth geographic location.

Further, the embodiments of the present invention encompass a system for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle, the system comprising: at least one processing unit configured to: track a current location of the vehicle; perform one of a first action and a second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein the first action is based on a first set of parameters and the second action is based on a second set of parameters, the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters are predefined, and the first restricted area is mapped to at least one first geographic location and the second restricted area is mapped to at least one second geographic location, and notify an administrator device in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area; and the administrator device configured to transmit a command to the at least one processing unit, wherein the command comprises at least one third geographic location and at least one fourth geographic location; wherein the at least one processing unit updates one of the at least one first geographic location with at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with the at least one fourth geographic location based on the command received from the administrator device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this invention, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention. Some drawings may indicate the components using block diagrams and may not represent the internal circuitry of each component. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that invention of such drawings includes invention of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

Figure 1 illustrates a general overview of the system [100] architecture for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle, wherein the system [100] includes different modules/units working together in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [200] comprising the method steps for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only one of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein. Example embodiments of the present invention are described below, as illustrated in various drawings in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention relates to a mechanism for remotely updating at least at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle. A processing unit embedded in a vehicle, tracks a current location of the vehicle in order to perform at least one of a first action and a second action based on various pre-defined vehicle parameters, in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area from at least one at least one permissible area or vice versa. Subsequently, the processing unit notifies an administrator device in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area. On receiving the notification, the administrator device updates at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area and accordingly transmits a command to the processing unit. The processing unit consequently, updates the first restricted area and the second restricted area, pursuant to which at least one of the first action and the second action is again performed based on the various pre-defined vehicle parameters. The vehicle as used herein may include but not limited to an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a conventional vehicle, an alternative fuel vehicle and any such vehicle as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art. Further, the vehicle may comprise a plurality of vehicle components, including, but not limiting to, a vehicle lighting units (for e.g. headlight, a camper light) a motor, an engine, a frogger, a wheel, a tyre, a bearing, a cooling unit, a music system and any such component as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

The at least one processing unit as used herein may include, but is not limited to, processor or set of processors and any such processing unit as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art, that are configured inside the vehicle to perform operations including, but not limiting to, control and tracking of the vehicle and the vehicle's component/s, enabling and disabling vehicle components and at least one operating function thereof. Further, the at least one processing unit may refer to an embedded system of the vehicle configured to control the electrical system and sub-systems in of the vehicle.

The administrator device as used herein may include, but not limited to, a smart phone, a remote server, central server, a feature phone, a tablet, a phablet, a wearable device, a desktop and any such computing device as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art. Further, in an embodiment, the administrator device may comprise an input means such as a keyboard, an operating system, a processor, a memory unit, a display interface, etc.

The at least one permissible area as used herein may refer to allowable area where the vehicle is operating under ideal condition, i.e. without any irregularity and limitation/restriction. The first restricted area as used herein may refer to an area where a few of the vehicle components are operating completely or partially. Also, in the first restricted area functions of the few of the vehicle components may be disabled completely or partially. Further, the first restricted area is mapped to at least one first geographic location, i.e. operation of the vehicle components is pre-defined to be restricted/disable in said at one first geographic location. The first action as used herein may include, but not limited to, generating a first alert and varying at least one of the first set of parameters, wherein the first set of parameters represents at least one of battery parameters, motor parameters and vehicle parameters, including, but not limiting to, a state of charge, a motor temperature, a battery temperature, a torque, a motor current, a motor speed, a vehicle speed, and a current driving mode of the vehicle. The second restricted area as used herein may refer to an area where a few of the vehicle components are operating completely or partially. Also, in the second restricted area functions of the few of the vehicle components may be disabled completely or partially. Further, the second restricted area is mapped to at least one second geographic location, i.e. operation of the vehicle components is pre-defined to be restricted/disable in said at one second geographic location.

The second action as used herein may include, but not limited to, generating a second alert and varying at least one of the second set of parameters, wherein the second set of parameters represents at least one of battery parameters, motor parameters and vehicle parameters, including, but not limiting to, a state of charge, a motor temperature, a battery temperature, a torque, a motor current, a motor speed, a vehicle speed, and a current driving mode of the vehicle.

In an exemplary embodiment, when the vehicle leaves the at least one permissible area and enters the first restricted area, one of the first set of parameters such as speed reduces. Further, when the vehicle enters the second restricted area the vehicle is disabled to operate. More specifically, when the vehicle enters the first restricted location (for example, a sector boundary named sector 1 and sector 2), the vehicle starts operates partially or completely based on the inputs of the administrator's device. Subsequently, when the vehicle enters the second restricted location (for example, a sector boundary named sector 3 and sector 4), the vehicle stops operating based on the inputs of the administrator's device. Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present invention which encompasses a system architecture for remotely updating at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area for the vehicle. Also, the system [100] and its modules/units are organised/ arranged in such a manner that they are capable of remotely updating the first restricted area and the second restricted area. Moreover, the system [100] may be adapted to operate completely or in parts at a user level, a server level or a combination thereof. More particularly and as illustrated in the figure 1, the system [100] comprises at least one processing unit [102], a cellular radio [104] connected with an antenna [106], and an administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] connected with the at least one processing unit [102] through a network [110] through one of a wired connection [102B] or a wireless network [102A], for enabling efficient controlling of the vehicle by remotely updating at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area.

The at least one processing unit [102], embedded in the vehicle, comprises a detecting unit [102A], a control unit [102B] and an alert unit [102C]. The detecting unit [102A] of the at least one processing unit [102] is configured to track a current location of the vehicle, wherein the current location of the vehicle comprises information relating to one of a current direction, a current distance of the vehicle from the first restricted area and the second restricted area. Further, the detecting unit [102A] may include, but not limited to, a GPS unit. In an embodiment, the detecting unit [102A] continuously tracks the current location of the vehicle.

The control unit [102B] of the at least one processing unit [102], connected to the detecting unit [102A], is configured to perform one of the first action and the second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area from the at least one permissible area, wherein the first action is based on the first set of parameters and the second action is based on the second set of parameters. The first set of parameters and the second set of parameters represent at least one of battery parameters, motor parameters and vehicle parameters, including, but not limiting to, a state of charge, a motor temperature, a battery temperature, a torque, a motor current, a motor speed, a vehicle speed, and a current driving mode of the vehicle. Further, the first action comprises at least one of generating the first alert and varying at least one of the first set of parameters, while the second action comprises at least one of generating the second alert and varying at least one of the second set of parameters. In an exemplary embodiment, the first action comprises selective enablement of features such as the alert, a navigation, an SOS alert, etc., while in another exemplary embodiment, when the vehicle speed is varied, a driver of the vehicle may ride/drive the vehicle at the speed lower than or at the value specified but not at a higher value of the speed limit. In yet another exemplary embodiment, the second action comprises disconnecting power supply to the vehicle motor.

The alert unit [102C] of the at least one processing unit [102], connected with the detecting unit [102A] and the control unit [102B], is configured to notify the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area. The administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] is configured to transmit a command for updation to the at least one processing unit [102], wherein the command comprises the at least one third geographic location and the at least one fourth geographic location. The at least one third geographic location as used herein refers to updated restricted location that may be mapped under the first restricted area, while the at least one fourth geographic location as used herein refers to updated restricted location that may be mapped under the second restricted area. In an embodiment, the administrator unit [for e.g. 108A and 108B] may transmit the command, wherein the command indicates no change in the first restricted area and the second restricted area, thereby allowing the vehicle to continue performing one of the first action and the second action, as defined.

On receiving the command from the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B], the control unit [102B] of the at least one processing unit [102] is configured to remotely update one of the at least one first geographic location with the at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with the at least one fourth geographic location based on the command received from the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B]. The updation of the first restricted area (mapped to at least one first geographic location) and the second restricted area (mapped to at least one second geographic location) is independent of each other. The present invention encompasses transmitting an updated notification to the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B].

Further, the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] is configured to pre-define the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters. Also, in an embodiment of the present invention, secondary vehicle parameters may be pre-defined by the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B], wherein the secondary vehicle parameters may include, but not limited to, a riding profile, a statistic visualization, a riding mode, and a range prediction. In an example, the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] pre-defines differential speed limits based on the geography, the detecting unit [102A] is configured to constantly track the vehicle location and subsequently notify the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B]. In another embodiment, the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] pre-defines the vehicle speed limit based on a time span of travel, a distance of travel, geography, route, etc. Therefore, the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] may be configured to store information relating to at least one of the first set of parameters, the second set of parameters and the secondary vehicle parameters in a storage sub-unit, wherein the storage sub-unit may include, but not limited to, a volatile memory, non-volatile memory, a remote storage, a cloud storage, highspeed random access memory and/or non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, one or more optical storage devices, and/or flash memory (e.g., NAND, NOR) or a combination thereof.

Furthermore, the cellular radio [104] may be a transceiver, connected to the antenna [106] for receiving and transmitting the information related to at least one of the notification, the current location, etc.

As illustrated in the figure 2, the present invention encompasses an exemplary method [200] for remotely updating at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area for the vehicle. The following includes detailed steps involved in controlling the vehicle, wherein the method [200] step initiates at step 202, where the at least one processing unit [102] is connected with the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] through the network [110] through one of the wired connection [102B] or the wireless network [102A], for enabling efficient remotely updating of at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area for the vehicle.

At step 204, the detecting unit [102A] of the at least one processing unit [102] is configured to track the current location of the vehicle, wherein the current location of the vehicle comprises information relating to one of the current direction, the current distance of the vehicle from the first restricted area and the second restricted area. In an embodiment, the detecting unit [102A] continuously tracks the current location of the vehicle.

At step 206, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has entered one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area. In an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, the method [200] leads to step 208. Alternatively, the method [208] terminates.

At step 208, the control unit [102B] of the at least one processing unit [102], is configured to perform one of the first action and the second action in the event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein the first action is based on the first set of parameters and the second action is based on the second set of parameters. Also, the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters are pre-defined by the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B]. At step 210, the alert unit [102C] is configured to notify the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area.

At step 212, the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B] is configured to transmit the command for updation to the at least one processing unit [102], wherein the command comprises at the least one third geographic location and the at least one fourth geographic location. The at least one third geographic location as used herein refers to updated restricted location that may be mapped under the first restricted area, while the at least one fourth geographic location as used herein refers to updated restricted location that may be mapped under the second restricted area. In an embodiment, the administrator unit [for e.g. 108A and 108B] may transmit the command, wherein the command indicates no change in the first restricted area and the second restricted area, thereby allowing the vehicle to continue performing one of the first action and the second action, as defined.

At step 214, the control unit [102B] of the at least one processing unit [102] is configured to remotely update one of the at least one first geographic location with at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with the at least one fourth geographic location based on the command received from the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B]. Therefore, now the first restricted area will be mapped to the at least one third geographic location, while the second restricted area will be mapped to the at least one fourth geographic location, and the vehicle will perform one of the first action and the second action in an event the vehicle enters the updated first restricted area and the second restricted area based on the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters respectively. In an embodiment, based on the updation, the restrictions are removed from the first restricted area in an event the first restricted area is mapped to the at least one permissible area. In another embodiment, the at least one permissible area, the first restricted area and the second restricted area overlap with one other, the administrator device may define a plurality of priorities based on the first action and the second action.

At step 216, the method terminates with remote updation of the at least one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area for the vehicle. The present invention encompasses transmitting an updated notification to the administrator device [for e.g. 108A and 108B]. Thus, the present invention encompasses a system and method for remotely and dynamically updating the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein the updation of the first restricted area and the second restricted area may be independent of each other.

Though a limited number of the at least one processing unit [102], the detecting unit [102A], the control unit [102B], the alert unit [102C] and the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] have been shown in the figures; however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system [100] of the present invention encompasses any number and varied types of the entities/elements such as the at least one processing unit [102], the detecting unit [102A], the control unit [102B], the alert unit [102C] and the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B].

While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present invention. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.

Claims

We claim

A method [200] for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle, the method comprising:

tracking a current location of the vehicle;

performing one of a first action and a second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein

the first action is based on a first set of parameters and the second action is based on a second set of parameters,

the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters are predefined, and

the first restricted area is mapped to at least one first geographic location and the second restricted area is mapped to at least one second geographic location;

notifying an administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area; and

updating one of the at least one first geographic location with at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with at least one fourth geographic location based on a command received from the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B], wherein the command comprises the at least one third geographic location and the at least one fourth geographic location.

The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the current location of the vehicle comprises information relating to one of a current direction, a current distance of the vehicle from the first restricted area and the second restricted area.

The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first action comprises at least one of generating a first alert and varying at least one of the first set of parameters.

The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second action comprises at least one of generating a second alert and varying at least one of the second set of parameters.

5. The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first set of parameters represents at least one of battery parameters, motor parameters and vehicle parameters. The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second set of parameters represents at least one of battery parameters, motor parameters and vehicle parameters.

The method [200] as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters are predefined by the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B].

A system [100] for remotely updating at least one of a first restricted area and a second restricted area for a vehicle, the system comprising:

- at least one processing unit [102] configured to:

track a current location of the vehicle;

perform one of a first action and a second action in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area, wherein the first action is based on a first set of parameters and the second action is based on a second set of parameters,

the first restricted area is mapped to at least one first geographic location and the second restricted area is mapped to at least one second geographic location, and

notify an administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] in an event the vehicle enters one of the first restricted area and the second restricted area; and

- the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] configured to transmit a command to the at least one processing unit [102], wherein the command comprises at least one third geographic location and at least one fourth geographic location;

wherein the at least one processing unit [102] updates one of the at least one first geographic location with at least one third geographic location and the at least one second geographic location with the at least one fourth geographic location based on the command received from the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B].

The system [100] as claimed in claim 8, wherein the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] is configured to pre-define the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters.

10. The system [100] as claimed in claim 8, wherein the administrator device [for e.g. 108A, 108B] comprises one of a remote server, a central server, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a phablet, a desktop and a laptop.