"Group -based mobility management system based on V2V and V2X technologies"

Technical Field

The present appl ication describes a group-based mobility management system based on V2V and V2X technologies .

Background art

Document WO2013163265A1 describes a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder for use in V2V communication, safety and anti-collision systems using only a vehicle location for vehicle ID is described . Message embodiments are free of pre-assigned permanent vehicle identi fication . A hybrid TMDA and CSMA protocol is used . Vehicle position is broadcast as an of fset in distance units from a pre-defined geographical grid in degree units . A transponder may proxy for non-equipped vehicle . A proxy handof f and message coding for a proxy message are described . Embodiments are free of MAC and IP addresses . No central authority or road-side equipment (RSU) is required . Embodiments include equipped vehicles and V2V system using the transponder . Embodiments include equipped vehicles and V2V system using the transponder .

Document WO2015047178A1 describes a system to control a vehicle platoon that comprises at least one lead vehicle and one additional vehicle , each of which has a positioning unit and a unit for wireless communication, and a method to control a vehicle platoon . The system and method comprise to : - determine a common position-based driving strategy adapted to be applied for all vehicles in the vehicle platoon along a road hori zon for the road ahead of the vehicle platoon, wherein the driving strategy comprises a driving profile comprising target values b, and associated positions p, , and to - pas s the driving strategy to all vehicles in the vehicle platoon, after which the vehicles in the vehicle platoon are control according to the driving strategy, wherein the said target values are applied for each one of the vehicles at each position associated with a target value .

Document US 8352111B2 describes a method for controlling a plurality of vehicles to operate the plurality of vehicles in a platoon includes , within a leader vehicle selected from the plurality of vehicles : monitoring through a vehicle-to- vehicle communication a respective actual position of each of the plurality of vehicles that is not the leader vehicle based upon data from a respective global positioning device within each of the plurality of vehicles that is not the leader vehicle , determining distances to operate the plurality of vehicles in the platoon based upon the respective actual positions of each of the plurality of vehicles , and selecting a respective commanded vehicle position including a respective global positioning coordinate for each of the plurality of vehicles based upon the determined distances . Each respective commanded vehicle position is transmitted to the respective one of the plurality vehicles that is not the leader vehicle , and each respective one of the plurality of vehicles that is not the leader vehicle is operated based upon the respective commanded vehicle position . Summary

The present invention describes a mobility management system for groups of vehicles , said group of vehicles comprising at least one vehicle , and each vehicle comprising a local connectivity control unit ; and a display device configured to exhibit information provided by the local connectivity control unit ; wherein the group of vehicles is defined in a software application operated by a user of the vehicle , said defined group of vehicles comprising a set of data packets that is transmitted to the local connectivity control unit of each vehicle of the group .

In a proposed embodiment of present invention, the group of vehicles comprises at least two vehicles , and each vehicle comprises a local connectivity control unit ; and a display device configured to exhibit information provided by the local connectivity control unit ; wherein the group of vehicles is defined in a software application operated by a user of the vehicle , said defined group of vehicles comprising a set of data packets that is transmitted to the local connectivity control unit of each vehicle of the group .

Yet in another proposed embodiment of present invention, the local connectivity control unit comprises processing means , wireless communication means , data storage means and V2V communication means .

Yet in another proposed embodiment of present invention, the set of data packets comprises at least one of a set of a unique vehicle IDs , vehicle idle threshold or vehicle distance threshold . Yet in another proposed embodiment of present invention, the exhibited information in the display device comprises at least information from at least a vehicle of the group being stopped and information form at least a vehicle of the group being in a predefined distance with regard to the remaining vehicles .

Yet in another proposed embodiment of present invention, the local connectivity control unit is configured to determine the actual positioning of the vehicle where installed and ensure the communication with the group of vehicles and with the external software application .

In the present invention it is still described the method for managing the mobility of a groups of vehicles according to the mobility management system previously described, comprising the steps of : definition of a group of vehicles in a software application; transmitting the defined group of vehicles to a local connectivity control unit of each vehicle present in said group ; the local connectivity control unit determining the real time positioning of the vehicle where installed, and determining i f the real time positioning of the vehicle where installed with regard to other vehicles of the group is greater than a predetermined threshold distance ; and determining i f any vehicles has stopped in the same location for a certain amount of predetermined threshold time with regard to the remaining vehicles of the group ; the local connectivity control unit broadcasting a warning message to the remaining vehicles of the group in case any of the previous conditions is veri fied .

The present invention further describes a mobility management apparatus for a vehicle , according to the previously described mobility management system for the group of vehicles , comprising a local connectivity control unit ; and a display device configured to exhibit information provided by the local connectivity control unit ; wherein the local connectivity control unit is configured to operate autonomously during driving procedures of the vehicle , calculating a threshold distance between the vehicle and a group of vehicles , and a threshold time that the vehicle remains stagnant , sharing through V2V technologies with the group of vehicles said threshold distance and threshold time .

In a proposed embodiment of the mobility management apparatus for a vehicle , the display device is configured to display a warning noti fication to the user of the vehicle i f the threshold distance and/or threshold time exceeds a certain and predetermined value .

General Description

The present application describes a group-based mobility management system based on V2V and V2X technologies .

Vehicle users do not only drive and ride individual ly . They often engage in social rides that may require some level of group-based management solutions to keep the members of the group close to each other . Existing solutions for group- based mobility management on the market are too much reliant on the availability of third-party electronic devices ( e . g . , smartphones ) that in certain instances require users to temporarily stop their vehicles to be able to manually send noti fications to the other users ' devices who are part of their group or to be able to read their noti fications on the device .

Developed wireless-like technologies to manage groups of vehicles focus particularly on methods that support the operationali zation of position-based strategies for autonomous and semi-autonomous f leets of vehicles , i . e . , they allow for vehicles to " know" the position of others and later follow their path and allow for vehicles to " know" their own and other vehicles ' position for automatically maintain a certain distance from them . Known product- service-systems in the market providing similar group management solutions are based on the use of third-party devices , i . e . , smartphone usage ( comprising batteries , internet connectivity, sensors like GPS , accelerometer, etc . ) and computing power to function . Since these devices operate outside of the vehicle environment , do not allow them to benefit from direct integration with Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) features and the interaction af fordances of vehicles ' context . Additionally, the proper use of said electronic devices depends on their available battery charge , which might drain during a group trip, and on the existing climatical conditions especially when certain types of vehicles like bikes or motorbikes are being used for the group ride . That particular reliance on electronic devices and user inputs might be reduced and, therefore , also the more problems associated with it .

Known technologies reporting to V2V and Vehicle-to- Everything (V2X ) wireless-like technologies are mainly directed towards real-time safety and accident prevention solutions . Although these technologies are rapidly evolving and being applied for di f ferent road situations , current applications do not consider nor cover speci fic group mobility management solutions that can be of critical importance for those aiming to col lectively ride-drive-move on the road without using autonomous vehicles . Additionally, technological solutions embedded on vehicles for group management reveal mostly a focus on accident and collision prevention or on the management of autonomous and semi- autonomous vehicle platoons through speci fic optimi zation methods ( that allow for the individual vehicles to maintain a certain distance to each other, follow the same route , etc ) . Nevertheless , those systems do not provide solutions for the management of manually controlled vehicles engaged in social activities .

The present invention disclosure aims to overcome these limitations of current existing technologies , providing a more adequate technology to integrate in V2V and V2X . Known developments within these technologies fail to rely on sharing real-time location-based types of noti fications for groups of manually controlled vehicles so that users can use them to adapt their riding-driving-moving style to keep the entire group cohesive .

One of the aspects is considered important for group mobility management , in particular for group-riding management and for manually operated fleets of vehicles in general , is the inclusion of noti fications to inform users of a selected group when one vehicle of their group stops in the same position for a certain amount of time or is getting too far behind or too far ahead of the other users of the group .

Therefore , present invention aims to disclose a solution to expand the current uses of technological solutions embedded in vehicles , particularly v2v and v2x communication technologies , to support the management of groups of vehicles that are manually controlled by users .

The present invention describes a group-based mobility management system for manually controlled vehicles that comprises , in one of its particularities , the use of a software application, available and shared within a set of users through their electronic devices , via Bluetooth or WiFi or other technically means suitable , that allows the creation and formation of groups of vehicles . The software application can operate in a smartphone , or any other device technically adapted .

The vehicles are provided with a connectivity control unit ( CCU) that is configured to communicate with the remaining surrounding vehicles of the group through v2v and v2x technologies . The CCU comprises at least a set of internal processing devices that allow to determine necessary positioning calculations of the vehicle where installed and ensure also communication nor only with surrounding groups of vehicles , but also with an external software application . The CCU also provides information to a display device installed in each of the vehicles of the group , for example , a cluster already embedded on the vehicles , or alternatively, an external electronic device mounted into the vehicle by the user . As an alternative configuration, the CCU communicates with a cloud service to provide the vehicle positioning calculations and the cloud service runs the algorithm to detect the situations where a group member is away from the main group . After a group being formed and its preferences defined on the software application running on the electronic devices of the users , when detected in real-time by the CCU installed in the vehicle that a vehicle of said group has stopped in the same location for a certain amount of pre-determined time or that a vehicle from the formed group is getting too much far behind or ahead with respect to the others elements of the group, surpassing a certain threshold distance , a warning/noti f ication message sharing the status of said vehicle is automatically broadcasted to the pre-defined and remaining vehicles that make part of the formed group, being the noti fication automatically shown on the displaying device so that users can, in real-time , adapt their driving/riding style to address those situations .

The software application running on the electronic device of the users allows them to virtually create temporary or permanent groups of physical vehicles and pre-define some of the core group-based management preferences . A user can become a group manager by creating a temporary or permanent group of vehicles and setting up the main group preferences . The group manager can add new vehicles to the group . The owners of the vehicles with unique IDs may use the software application or a corresponding web service to accept or decline inclusion in said speci f ic groups . When the group has more than one vehicle with a unique ID enrol led, the di f ferent group members are attributed a speci fic shared string key, and sub-string keys . Those digital keys work as methods for the digital group- formation that should be later uploaded to the local CCUs so that vehicles can automatically "recogni ze" the other vehicles that are part of the same group ( s ) . Brief description of the drawings

For better understanding of the present application, figures representing preferred embodiments are herein attached which, however, are not intended to limit the technique disclosed herein.

Fig. 1 - illustrates one of the embodiments of the present invention wherein the reference numbers represent:

10 - local Connectivity Control Units (CCU) ;

11 - processing means;

12 - Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, other wireless communication means ;

13 - data storage means;

14 - data packets;

15 - V2V, V2X communication means;

16 - software application operating in remote server;

17 - display devices;

21 - group of vehicles;

22 - vehicle integrated in the group of vehicles (21) .

Description of Embodiments

With reference to the figures, some embodiments are now described in more detail, which are however not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the software application (16) is configured to set the group of vehicles (21) , define the group management preferences, and upload the preferences (14) to the Connectivity Control Units (10) of the vehicles (22) . The CCU (10) installed in the vehicles (22) is configured to operate autonomously during the driving procedures, calculating the threshold distance between a vehicle and the fleet and the threshold time that a vehicle remains stagnant, and sharing through V2V technologies (15) said threshold data. When the threshold data exceeds a certain and predetermined value, the remaining vehicles of the group are notified through a V2V (15) enabled warning (14) .

The displaying devices (17) of the pre-defined group members

(21) are configured to receive and display the warning notification (14) the user/driver of the vehicle.

The software application (16) running on the electronic device of the users allows them to virtually create temporary or permanent groups (21) of physical vehicles (22) and predefine some of the core group-based management preferences. A user can become a group manager by creating a temporary or permanent group (21) of vehicles (22) and setting up the main group preferences. The group manager can add new vehicles (22) to the group. The owners of the vehicles (22) with unique IDs may use the software application (16) or a corresponding web service to accept or decline inclusion in said specific groups (21) . When the group (21) has more than one vehicle with a unique ID enrolled, the different group members are attributed a specific shared string key, and sub-string keys. Those digital keys work as methods for the digital group-formation that should be later uploaded to the local CCUs (10) so that vehicles (22) can automatically "recognize" the other vehicles that are part of the same group ( s ) . The group management preferences in also include the possibility to define the amount of time that a vehicle (22) of the group (21) should be stagnant for a warning message to be sent to the other members in the group (21) , as well as the threshold distance in kilometers that should trigger a missing member (22) warning message. In that regard, the group manager can also pre-define to which vehicles (22) of the group (21) the warning messages should be sent, from the entire network of vehicles to a specific subset (i.e., the nearest vehicles, the group manager, etc.) . All of the individual users can set their preferences on where the warning notifications should be sent from a cluster already embedded on vehicles, to a specific user electronic device or both. Provided that users decide to use a cluster already embedded on their vehicles as a display (17) , the driver/rider will no longer be dependent on an electronic device for the group-management activities during the trip, but only before the trip in which he/she sets the preferences for that group (21) in the first time (while being the group manager) or accepts to be added to the group (while being a simple group member) .

After the configuration of the group-management preferences, user's should use their electronic device running the software application (16) to communicate and exchange that information with their vehicles' local CCUs (10) , resorting to wired or wireless technologies like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. From the moment the vehicles' CCUs (10) receive that information, they became automatically able to "recognize" the other vehicles (22) that are part of the same group (21) or groups and to share information with each other through the wireless-like adequate technologies, i.e., v2v & v2x technologies like Dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) and Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) , that are part of the CCUs (10) . Notably, in a preconfigured time frame, the vehicles' (22) status data, like speed, location, heading, and acceleration, are shared in specific messages (14) and broadcasted through the v2v and v2x wireless-like channels (15) that reach the other vehicles (22) in the group (21) and are saved on the local data storage means (13) of the CCU (10) . The data is locally processed in real-time by through processing means (11) comprised each of CCU (10) , and when the two pre-defined conditions are met, i.e., a vehicle (22) of the group (21) stopped for predetermined amount of time, or a vehicle (22) of the group (21) reaching predetermined distance to the group (21) , new warning messages (14) are sent to the network of vehicles, or to a subset of vehicles that were pre-defined initially in the software application (16) .

The warning notifications are shown in the user predefined displaying devices (17) , making it possible for individuals to adjust in real time their driving-riding-moving style to address the group-based situations.