U.S. patent application number 16/519191 was filed with the patent office on 2019-11-14 for battery agnostic provisioning of power.
The applicant listed for this patent is NIO USA, Inc.. Invention is credited to Christopher P. Ricci.
Application Number | 20190347873 16/519191 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 60892435 |
Filed Date | 2019-11-14 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190347873 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ricci; Christopher P. |
November 14, 2019 |
BATTERY AGNOSTIC PROVISIONING OF POWER
Abstract
According to one embodiment, provisioning an amount of power for
one or more vehicles can comprise receiving a request indicating a
requirement for an amount of power for the one or more vehicles.
The request can indicate the requirement for the amount of power
for the one or more vehicles individually or in total. A set of
management rules can be read from one or more databases. A set of
service configuration information and a set of vehicle specific
information for the one or more vehicles can also be read from one
or more databases. One or more power sources to meet the
requirement for the amount of power for the one or more vehicles
can be determined based on applying the management rules and using
the set of service configuration information and the set of vehicle
information and an indication of the determined power sources can
be provided.
Inventors: |
Ricci; Christopher P.;
(Saratoga, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
NIO USA, Inc. |
San Jose |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
60892435 |
Appl. No.: |
16/519191 |
Filed: |
July 23, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15395129 |
Dec 30, 2016 |
10395440 |
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16519191 |
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62378348 |
Aug 23, 2016 |
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62359563 |
Jul 7, 2016 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60L 7/10 20130101; B60L
9/00 20130101; B60W 2050/143 20130101; G01C 21/3697 20130101; G06F
16/248 20190101; G06F 21/31 20130101; G06Q 30/0637 20130101; H04W
12/06 20130101; B60L 8/006 20130101; G01C 21/36 20130101; G01S
2013/9316 20200101; G06Q 20/32 20130101; B60M 1/00 20130101; B60R
11/04 20130101; G06Q 10/20 20130101; H01Q 1/325 20130101; H04L
9/3226 20130101; G05B 15/02 20130101; G08G 1/0962 20130101; B60L
53/80 20190201; B60W 2300/34 20130101; B60Y 2200/92 20130101; A61B
2503/22 20130101; G08G 1/096775 20130101; B60L 53/65 20190201; G06K
19/0708 20130101; G06Q 30/0206 20130101; G07C 5/02 20130101; Y02T
10/7005 20130101; B60W 2540/215 20200201; B60Y 2200/91 20130101;
B60Y 2302/07 20130101; G06Q 20/3224 20130101; H04W 4/80 20180201;
G06K 9/00087 20130101; G06Q 30/012 20130101; G06Q 30/0208 20130101;
H04L 63/0428 20130101; B60L 2240/72 20130101; G05D 1/0088 20130101;
H04W 4/44 20180201; H04W 12/04 20130101; G07C 9/00563 20130101;
Y02T 90/161 20130101; Y02T 90/167 20130101; B60L 2270/32 20130101;
B60W 2050/146 20130101; G06Q 30/0635 20130101; H04W 12/001
20190101; Y02T 10/72 20130101; A61B 5/1176 20130101; B60L 53/665
20190201; B60Y 2400/92 20130101; G06Q 20/4012 20130101; G06Q
30/0609 20130101; B60L 53/12 20190201; B60W 2540/00 20130101; G08G
1/09626 20130101; H02J 7/0068 20130101; Y02T 10/70 20130101; G06Q
20/14 20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G07C 5/0808 20130101; B60L
8/003 20130101; B60W 50/08 20130101; G06Q 20/405 20130101; H04W
12/02 20130101; G06F 21/32 20130101; G06F 21/6245 20130101; B60R
1/00 20130101; G05D 1/0011 20130101; G06F 16/951 20190101; B60W
40/08 20130101; B60L 2240/549 20130101; B60R 25/2081 20130101; B60L
50/53 20190201; B60K 6/20 20130101; B60K 2370/334 20190501; B60L
53/14 20190201; B60W 2040/0809 20130101; B60W 2540/21 20200201;
A61B 5/1172 20130101; B60M 7/00 20130101; G07C 5/008 20130101; H04L
2209/84 20130101; Y02T 90/14 20130101; B60K 35/00 20130101; B60R
2325/105 20130101; G06K 9/00288 20130101; G06K 9/00832 20130101;
H01Q 1/3266 20130101; H04L 2209/80 20130101; H04W 4/40 20180201;
B60R 2300/30 20130101; G01C 21/3617 20130101; G06K 9/00845
20130101; G08G 1/096838 20130101; G08G 1/20 20130101; Y02T 90/121
20130101; Y04S 30/14 20130101; B60R 2011/004 20130101; G06F 3/011
20130101; G06Q 20/105 20130101; G08G 1/16 20130101; H04W 4/46
20180201; Y02T 10/7291 20130101; G06K 7/10257 20130101; G06K
9/00885 20130101; G06Q 30/0613 20130101; G07B 15/063 20130101; H04B
5/0037 20130101; G07C 5/0816 20130101; A61B 5/1171 20160201; B60L
5/24 20130101; B60R 25/102 20130101; B60R 2300/804 20130101; H01Q
21/30 20130101; G06K 7/10316 20130101; G06Q 20/401 20130101; G07C
5/0858 20130101; H01Q 1/3283 20130101; Y02T 90/12 20130101; B60K
2370/1537 20190501; B60Y 2200/912 20130101; G06K 7/10425 20130101;
H04L 9/321 20130101; Y02T 90/16 20130101; Y02T 90/163 20130101;
B60L 2240/70 20130101; G08G 1/017 20130101; H01Q 1/3291 20130101;
Y02T 90/169 20130101; G06Q 30/0625 20130101; G08G 1/096827
20130101; Y02T 10/7072 20130101; Y02T 90/124 20130101; H04L
2209/805 20130101; Y02T 90/128 20130101; G06Q 20/108 20130101; Y02T
90/122 20130101; B60R 2011/0003 20130101; B60Y 2300/60 20130101;
H01Q 1/3275 20130101; Y02T 10/7083 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G07C 5/00 20060101
G07C005/00; G06F 16/951 20060101 G06F016/951; G06F 16/248 20060101
G06F016/248; H04W 4/46 20060101 H04W004/46; H04W 4/44 20060101
H04W004/44; H04L 29/06 20060101 H04L029/06; G06Q 20/40 20060101
G06Q020/40; G06Q 20/32 20060101 G06Q020/32; G06K 19/07 20060101
G06K019/07; G06K 7/10 20060101 G06K007/10; G06F 21/32 20060101
G06F021/32; G05D 1/00 20060101 G05D001/00; G05B 15/02 20060101
G05B015/02; B60R 25/102 20060101 B60R025/102; B60R 11/04 20060101
B60R011/04; B60R 1/00 20060101 B60R001/00; H04W 4/40 20060101
H04W004/40; B60L 53/66 20060101 B60L053/66; B60L 53/65 20060101
B60L053/65; B60L 53/80 20060101 B60L053/80; B60L 53/12 20060101
B60L053/12; B60L 53/14 20060101 B60L053/14; G06F 21/31 20060101
G06F021/31; G06Q 20/14 20060101 G06Q020/14; G06Q 20/10 20060101
G06Q020/10; H04W 12/06 20060101 H04W012/06; H01Q 1/32 20060101
H01Q001/32; G08G 1/0968 20060101 G08G001/0968; G08G 1/0967 20060101
G08G001/0967; G08G 1/0962 20060101 G08G001/0962; G01C 21/36
20060101 G01C021/36; H04W 12/02 20060101 H04W012/02; G06K 9/00
20060101 G06K009/00; G06Q 30/06 20060101 G06Q030/06; G06F 21/62
20060101 G06F021/62; G07B 15/06 20060101 G07B015/06; B60R 25/20
20060101 B60R025/20; B60W 40/08 20060101 B60W040/08; B60W 50/08
20060101 B60W050/08; G08G 1/00 20060101 G08G001/00; G07C 5/08
20060101 G07C005/08; G08G 1/017 20060101 G08G001/017; H04B 5/00
20060101 H04B005/00; H01Q 21/30 20060101 H01Q021/30; G06F 3/01
20060101 G06F003/01; A61B 5/1171 20060101 A61B005/1171; A61B 5/1172
20060101 A61B005/1172; G07C 9/00 20060101 G07C009/00; G07C 5/02
20060101 G07C005/02; G06Q 30/00 20060101 G06Q030/00; H04W 4/80
20060101 H04W004/80; G06Q 30/02 20060101 G06Q030/02; G06Q 10/00
20060101 G06Q010/00; H04L 9/32 20060101 H04L009/32; H04W 12/04
20060101 H04W012/04; H02J 7/00 20060101 H02J007/00 |
Claims
1. A method for provisioning an amount of power for one or more
vehicles, the method comprising: determining, by a service provider
system, one or more power sources to meet a requirement for an
amount of power for one or more vehicles based on applying a set of
management rules and using a set of service configuration
information and a set of vehicle specific information for the one
or more vehicles; providing, from the service provider system over
a communications network to a controller of a battery exchange
facility, an indication of the determined power sources; and
causing, by the controller of the battery exchange facility,
operation of equipment of the battery exchange facility to effect a
battery exchange on the one or more vehicles based on the
indication of the determined power sources.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicles
comprises a plurality of vehicles.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request indicates the
requirement for the amount of power for the plurality of vehicles
in total.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the requirement for the amount of
power for the plurality of vehicles in total is expressed in terms
of a total distance travelled by the plurality of vehicles.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of service configuration
information comprises terms of a license agreement.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of vehicle specific
information for the one or more vehicles comprises information
identifying a type of power source used by each of the one or more
vehicles.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the power sources comprise
batteries.
8. A system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled with and
readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions
which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to
provision an amount of power for one or more vehicles, the method
comprising: determining one or more power sources to meet a
requirement for the amount of power for the one or more vehicles
based on applying a set of management rules and using a set of
service configuration information and a set of vehicle specific
information for the one or more vehicles; providing, to a
controller of a battery exchange facility, an indication of the
determined power sources; and causing the controller of the battery
exchange facility to operate equipment of the battery exchange
facility to enable a battery exchange on the one or more vehicles
based on the indication of the determined power sources.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more vehicles
comprises a plurality of vehicles.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the request indicates the
requirement for the amount of power for the plurality of vehicles
in total.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the requirement for the amount
of power for the plurality of vehicles in total is expressed in
terms of a total distance travelled by the plurality of
vehicles.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of service configuration
information comprises terms of a license agreement.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of vehicle specific
information for the one or more vehicles comprises information
identifying a type of power source used by each of the one or more
vehicles.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the power sources comprise
batteries.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of
instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor,
causes the processor to provision an amount of power for one or
more vehicles by: determining one or more power sources to meet a
requirement for an amount of power for one or more vehicles based
on applying a set of management rules and using a set of service
configuration information and a set of vehicle specific information
for the one or more vehicles; providing, to a controller of a
battery exchange facility, an indication of the determined power
sources; and causing the controller of the battery exchange
facility to operate equipment of the battery exchange facility to
enable a battery exchange on the one or more vehicles based on the
indication of the determined power sources.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,
wherein the one or more vehicles comprises a plurality of
vehicles.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16,
wherein the request indicates the requirement for the amount of
power for the plurality of vehicles in total.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17,
wherein the requirement for the amount of power for the plurality
of vehicles in total is expressed in terms of a total distance
travelled by the plurality of vehicles.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,
wherein the set of service configuration information comprises
terms of a license agreement.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,
wherein the set of vehicle specific information for the one or more
vehicles comprises information identifying a type of power source
used by each of the one or more vehicles.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 15/395,129, filed Dec. 30, 2016, which claims
the benefits of and priority, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e), to
U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/359,563, filed Jul. 7,
2016, entitled "Next Generation Vehicle"; and 62/378,348, filed
Aug. 23, 2016, entitled "Next Generation Vehicle." The entire
disclosures of the applications listed above are hereby
incorporated by reference, in their entirety, for all that they
teach and for all purposes.
FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure is generally directed to vehicle
systems, in particular, toward electric and/or hybrid-electric
vehicles.
BACKGROUND
[0003] In recent years, transportation methods have changed
substantially. This change is due in part to a concern over the
limited availability of natural resources, a proliferation in
personal technology, and a societal shift to adopt more
environmentally friendly transportation solutions. These
considerations have encouraged the development of a number of new
flexible-fuel vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, and electric
vehicles.
[0004] While these vehicles appear to be new they are generally
implemented as a number of traditional subsystems that are merely
tied to an alternative power source. In fact, the design and
construction of the vehicles is limited to standard frame sizes,
shapes, materials, and transportation concepts. Among other things,
these limitations fail to take advantage of the benefits of new
technology, power sources, and support infrastructure.
SUMMARY
[0005] A provider or seller of a particular service offered to a
user can set rules defining management and/or delivery of those
services. The provider may be a repair facility, power charging
station or facility, a power source exchange station or facility,
or fleet manager and the user may be a vehicle owner or operator.
For example, a set of rules can be used to manage services related
to use of a battery exchange facility for electric or hybrid
vehicles. According to one embodiment, instead of a battery centric
model for managing power for the vehicle, a battery agnostic model
can be used which can allow users to pay on an amp-hour or other
basis. This paradigm could be used in conjunction with the
licensing of the battery or multiple batteries, except, instead of
licensing the battery or batteries, a service provider or licensor
can provide whatever battery or batteries are necessary to meet the
purchased power demands. For example, in a fleet environment, a
service provider or licensor can provide however many batteries are
necessary to supply the fleet with sufficient power to operate
their vehicles for a total number of miles per year or other period
of time.
[0006] According to one embodiment, provisioning an amount of power
for one or more vehicles can comprise receiving, at a service
provider system and over a communications network, a request
indicating a requirement for an amount of power for the one or more
vehicles. The request can indicate the requirement for the amount
of power for the one or more vehicles individually or in total. The
service provider system can read a set of management rules from one
or more databases. The service provider system can also read a set
of service configuration information and a set of vehicle specific
information for the one or more vehicles from one or more
databases. For example, the set of service configuration
information comprises terms of a license agreement. Additionally or
alternatively, the set of vehicle specific information for the one
or more vehicles comprises information identifying a type of power
source used by each of the one or more vehicles. The service
provider system can determine one or more power sources to meet the
requirement for the amount of power for the one or more vehicles
based on applying the management rules and using the set of service
configuration information and the set of vehicle information and
provide, over the communications network, an indication of the
determined power sources.
[0007] In some cases, the power sources comprise batteries.
Additionally or alternatively, the one or more vehicles can
comprise a plurality of vehicles. In such cases, the request can
indicate the requirement for the amount of power for the plurality
of vehicles in total. For example, the requirement for the amount
of power for the plurality of vehicles in total can be expressed in
terms of a total distance travelled by the plurality of
vehicles.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 shows a vehicle in accordance with embodiments of the
present disclosure;
[0009] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the vehicle in accordance with
at least some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0010] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the vehicle in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure
[0011] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the instrument panel of the
vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electrical
system of the vehicle;
[0013] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a power
generation unit associated with the electrical system of the
vehicle;
[0014] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of power storage
associated with the electrical system of the vehicle;
[0015] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of loads
associated with the electrical system of the vehicle;
[0016] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a
communications subsystem of the vehicle;
[0017] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computing environment
associated with the embodiments presented herein;
[0018] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a computing device associated
with one or more components described herein;
[0019] FIG. 12 shows a vehicle in an environment in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0020] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a
system for applying management rules to manage provisioning an
amount of power for one or more vehicles according to one
embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0021] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for
applying management rules to manage provisioning an amount of power
for one or more vehicles according to one embodiment of the present
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in
connection with a vehicle, and in some embodiments, an electric
vehicle, rechargeable electric vehicle, and/or hybrid-electric
vehicle and associated systems.
[0023] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a vehicle 100 in
accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The electric
vehicle 100 comprises a vehicle front 110, vehicle aft 120, vehicle
roof 130, at least one vehicle side 160, a vehicle undercarriage
140, and a vehicle interior 150. In any event, the vehicle 100 may
include a frame 104 and one or more body panels 108 mounted or
affixed thereto. The vehicle 100 may include one or more interior
components (e.g., components inside an interior space 150, or user
space, of a vehicle 100, etc.), exterior components (e.g.,
components outside of the interior space 150, or user space, of a
vehicle 100, etc.), drive systems, controls systems, structural
components, etc.
[0024] Although shown in the form of a car, it should be
appreciated that the vehicle 100 described herein may include any
conveyance or model of a conveyance, where the conveyance was
designed for the purpose of moving one or more tangible objects,
such as people, animals, cargo, and the like. The term "vehicle"
does not require that a conveyance moves or is capable of movement.
Typical vehicles may include but are in no way limited to cars,
trucks, motorcycles, busses, automobiles, trains, railed
conveyances, boats, ships, marine conveyances, submarine
conveyances, airplanes, space craft, flying machines, human-powered
conveyances, and the like.
[0025] Referring now to FIG. 2, a plan view of a vehicle 100 will
be described in accordance with embodiments of the present
disclosure. As provided above, the vehicle 100 may comprise a
number of electrical and/or mechanical systems, subsystems, etc.
The mechanical systems of the vehicle 100 can include structural,
power, safety, and communications subsystems, to name a few. While
each subsystem may be described separately, it should be
appreciated that the components of a particular subsystem may be
shared between one or more other subsystems of the vehicle 100.
[0026] The structural subsystem includes the frame 104 of the
vehicle 100. The frame 104 may comprise a separate frame and body
construction (i.e., body-on-frame construction), a unitary frame
and body construction (i.e., a unibody construction), or any other
construction defining the structure of the vehicle 100. The frame
104 may be made from one or more materials including, but in no way
limited to steel, titanium, aluminum, carbon fiber, plastic,
polymers, etc., and/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments,
the frame 104 may be formed, welded, fused, fastened, pressed,
etc., combinations thereof, or otherwise shaped to define a
physical structure and strength of the vehicle 100. In any event,
the frame 104 may comprise one or more surfaces, connections,
protrusions, cavities, mounting points, tabs, slots, or other
features that are configured to receive other components that make
up the vehicle 100. For example, the body panels 108, powertrain
subsystem, controls systems, interior components, communications
subsystem, and safety subsystem may interconnect with, or attach
to, the frame 104 of the vehicle 100.
[0027] The frame 104 may include one or more modular system and/or
subsystem connection mechanisms. These mechanisms may include
features that are configured to provide a selectively
interchangeable interface for one or more of the systems and/or
subsystems described herein. The mechanisms may provide for a quick
exchange, or swapping, of components while providing enhanced
security and adaptability over conventional manufacturing or
attachment. For instance, the ability to selectively interchange
systems and/or subsystems in the vehicle 100 allow the vehicle 100
to adapt to the ever-changing technological demands of society and
advances in safety. Among other things, the mechanisms may provide
for the quick exchange of batteries, capacitors, power sources
208A, 208B, motors 212, engines, safety equipment, controllers,
user interfaces, interiors exterior components, body panels 108,
bumpers 216, sensors, etc., and/or combinations thereof.
Additionally or alternatively, the mechanisms may provide unique
security hardware and/or software embedded therein that, among
other things, can prevent fraudulent or low quality construction
replacements from being used in the vehicle 100. Similarly, the
mechanisms, subsystems, and/or receiving features in the vehicle
100 may employ poka-yoke, or mistake-proofing, features that ensure
a particular mechanism is always interconnected with the vehicle
100 in a correct position, function, etc.
[0028] By way of example, complete systems or subsystems may be
removed and/or replaced from a vehicle 100 utilizing a
single-minute exchange ("SME") principle. In some embodiments, the
frame 104 may include slides, receptacles, cavities, protrusions,
and/or a number of other features that allow for quick exchange of
system components. In one embodiment, the frame 104 may include
tray or ledge features, mechanical interconnection features,
locking mechanisms, retaining mechanisms, etc., and/or combinations
thereof. In some embodiments, it may be beneficial to quickly
remove a used power source 208A, 208B (e.g., battery unit,
capacitor unit, etc.) from the vehicle 100 and replace the used
power source 208A, 208B with a charged or new power source.
Continuing this example, the power source 208A, 208B may include
selectively interchangeable features that interconnect with the
frame 104 or other portion of the vehicle 100. For instance, in a
power source 208A, 208B replacement, the quick release features may
be configured to release the power source 208A, 208B from an
engaged position and slide or move in a direction away from the
frame 104 of a vehicle 100. Once removed, or separated from, the
vehicle, the power source 208A, 208B may be replaced (e.g., with a
new power source, a charged power source, etc.) by engaging the
replacement power source into a system receiving position adjacent
to the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may
include one or more actuators configured to position, lift, slide,
or otherwise engage the replacement power source with the vehicle
100. In one embodiment, the replacement power source may be
inserted into the vehicle 100 or vehicle frame 104 with mechanisms
and/or machines that are external and/or separate from the vehicle
100.
[0029] In some embodiments, the frame 104 may include one or more
features configured to selectively interconnect with other vehicles
and/or portions of vehicles. These selectively interconnecting
features can allow for one or more vehicles to selectively couple
together and decouple for a variety of purposes. For example, it is
an aspect of the present disclosure that a number of vehicles may
be selectively coupled together to share energy, increase power
output, provide security, decrease power consumption, provide
towing services, and/or provide a range of other benefits.
Continuing this example, the vehicles may be coupled together based
on travel route, destination, preferences, settings, sensor
information, and/or some other data. The coupling may be initiated
by at least one controller of the vehicle and/or traffic control
system upon determining that a coupling is beneficial to one or
more vehicles in a group of vehicles or a traffic system. As can be
appreciated, the power consumption for a group of vehicles
traveling in a same direction may be reduced or decreased by
removing any aerodynamic separation between vehicles. In this case,
the vehicles may be coupled together to subject only the foremost
vehicle in the coupling to air and/or wind resistance during
travel. In one embodiment, the power output by the group of
vehicles may be proportionally or selectively controlled to provide
a specific output from each of the one or more of the vehicles in
the group.
[0030] The interconnecting, or coupling, features may be configured
as electromagnetic mechanisms, mechanical couplings,
electromechanical coupling mechanisms, etc., and/or combinations
thereof. The features may be selectively deployed from a portion of
the frame 104 and/or body of the vehicle 100. In some cases, the
features may be built into the frame 104 and/or body of the vehicle
100. In any event, the features may deploy from an unexposed
position to an exposed position or may be configured to selectively
engage/disengage without requiring an exposure or deployment of the
mechanism from the frame 104 and/or body of the vehicle 100. In
some embodiments, the interconnecting features may be configured to
interconnect one or more of power, communications, electrical
energy, fuel, and/or the like. One or more of the power,
mechanical, and/or communications connections between vehicles may
be part of a single interconnection mechanism. In some embodiments,
the interconnection mechanism may include multiple connection
mechanisms. In any event, the single interconnection mechanism or
the interconnection mechanism may employ the poka-yoke features as
described above.
[0031] The power system of the vehicle 100 may include the
powertrain, power distribution system, accessory power system,
and/or any other components that store power, provide power,
convert power, and/or distribute power to one or more portions of
the vehicle 100. The powertrain may include the one or more
electric motors 212 of the vehicle 100. The electric motors 212 are
configured to convert electrical energy provided by a power source
into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy may be in the form
of a rotational or other output force that is configured to propel
or otherwise provide a motive force for the vehicle 100.
[0032] In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may include one or more
drive wheels 220 that are driven by the one or more electric motors
212 and motor controllers 214. In some cases, the vehicle 100 may
include an electric motor 212 configured to provide a driving force
for each drive wheel 220. In other cases, a single electric motor
212 may be configured to share an output force between two or more
drive wheels 220 via one or more power transmission components. It
is an aspect of the present disclosure that the powertrain may
include one or more power transmission components, motor
controllers 214, and/or power controllers that can provide a
controlled output of power to one or more of the drive wheels 220
of the vehicle 100. The power transmission components, power
controllers, or motor controllers 214 may be controlled by at least
one other vehicle controller or computer system as described
herein.
[0033] As provided above, the powertrain of the vehicle 100 may
include one or more power sources 208A, 208B. These one or more
power sources 208A, 208B may be configured to provide drive power,
system and/or subsystem power, accessory power, etc. While
described herein as a single power source 208 for sake of clarity,
embodiments of the present disclosure are not so limited. For
example, it should be appreciated that independent, different, or
separate power sources 208A, 208B may provide power to various
systems of the vehicle 100. For instance, a drive power source may
be configured to provide the power for the one or more electric
motors 212 of the vehicle 100, while a system power source may be
configured to provide the power for one or more other systems
and/or subsystems of the vehicle 100. Other power sources may
include an accessory power source, a backup power source, a
critical system power source, and/or other separate power sources.
Separating the power sources 208A, 208B in this manner may provide
a number of benefits over conventional vehicle systems. For
example, separating the power sources 208A, 208B allow one power
source 208 to be removed and/or replaced independently without
requiring that power be removed from all systems and/or subsystems
of the vehicle 100 during a power source 208 removal/replacement.
For instance, one or more of the accessories, communications,
safety equipment, and/or backup power systems, etc., may be
maintained even when a particular power source 208A, 208B is
depleted, removed, or becomes otherwise inoperable.
[0034] In some embodiments, the drive power source may be separated
into two or more cells, units, sources, and/or systems. By way of
example, a vehicle 100 may include a first drive power source 208A
and a second drive power source 208B. The first drive power source
208A may be operated independently from or in conjunction with the
second drive power source 208B and vice versa. Continuing this
example, the first drive power source 208A may be removed from a
vehicle while a second drive power source 208B can be maintained in
the vehicle 100 to provide drive power. This approach allows the
vehicle 100 to significantly reduce weight (e.g., of the first
drive power source 208A, etc.) and improve power consumption, even
if only for a temporary period of time. In some cases, a vehicle
100 running low on power may automatically determine that pulling
over to a rest area, emergency lane, and removing, or "dropping
off," at least one power source 208A, 208B may reduce enough weight
of the vehicle 100 to allow the vehicle 100 to navigate to the
closest power source replacement and/or charging area. In some
embodiments, the removed, or "dropped off," power source 208A may
be collected by a collection service, vehicle mechanic, tow truck,
or even another vehicle or individual.
[0035] The power source 208 may include a GPS or other geographical
location system that may be configured to emit a location signal to
one or more receiving entities. For instance, the signal may be
broadcast or targeted to a specific receiving party. Additionally
or alternatively, the power source 208 may include a unique
identifier that may be used to associate the power source 208 with
a particular vehicle 100 or vehicle user. This unique identifier
may allow an efficient recovery of the power source 208 dropped
off. In some embodiments, the unique identifier may provide
information for the particular vehicle 100 or vehicle user to be
billed or charged with a cost of recovery for the power source
208.
[0036] The power source 208 may include a charge controller 224
that may be configured to determine charge levels of the power
source 208, control a rate at which charge is drawn from the power
source 208, control a rate at which charge is added to the power
source 208, and/or monitor a health of the power source 208 (e.g.,
one or more cells, portions, etc.). In some embodiments, the charge
controller 224 or the power source 208 may include a communication
interface. The communication interface can allow the charge
controller 224 to report a state of the power source 208 to one or
more other controllers of the vehicle 100 or even communicate with
a communication device separate and/or apart from the vehicle 100.
Additionally or alternatively, the communication interface may be
configured to receive instructions (e.g., control instructions,
charge instructions, communication instructions, etc.) from one or
more other controllers or computers of the vehicle 100 or a
communication device that is separate and/or apart from the vehicle
100.
[0037] The powertrain includes one or more power distribution
systems configured to transmit power from the power source 208 to
one or more electric motors 212 in the vehicle 100. The power
distribution system may include electrical interconnections 228 in
the form of cables, wires, traces, wireless power transmission
systems, etc., and/or combinations thereof. It is an aspect of the
present disclosure that the vehicle 100 include one or more
redundant electrical interconnections 232 of the power distribution
system. The redundant electrical interconnections 232 can allow
power to be distributed to one or more systems and/or subsystems of
the vehicle 100 even in the event of a failure of an electrical
interconnection portion of the vehicle 100 (e.g., due to an
accident, mishap, tampering, or other harm to a particular
electrical interconnection, etc.). In some embodiments, a user of a
vehicle 100 may be alerted via a user interface associated with the
vehicle 100 that a redundant electrical interconnection 232 is
being used and/or damage has occurred to a particular area of the
vehicle electrical system. In any event, the one or more redundant
electrical interconnections 232 may be configured along completely
different routes than the electrical interconnections 228 and/or
include different modes of failure than the electrical
interconnections 228 to, among other things, prevent a total
interruption power distribution in the event of a failure.
[0038] In some embodiments, the power distribution system may
include an energy recovery system 236. This energy recovery system
236, or kinetic energy recovery system, may be configured to
recover energy produced by the movement of a vehicle 100. The
recovered energy may be stored as electrical and/or mechanical
energy. For instance, as a vehicle 100 travels or moves, a certain
amount of energy is required to accelerate, maintain a speed, stop,
or slow the vehicle 100. In any event, a moving vehicle has a
certain amount of kinetic energy. When brakes are applied in a
typical moving vehicle, most of the kinetic energy of the vehicle
is lost as the generation of heat in the braking mechanism. In an
energy recovery system 236, when a vehicle 100 brakes, at least a
portion of the kinetic energy is converted into electrical and/or
mechanical energy for storage. Mechanical energy may be stored as
mechanical movement (e.g., in a flywheel, etc.) and electrical
energy may be stored in batteries, capacitors, and/or some other
electrical storage system. In some embodiments, electrical energy
recovered may be stored in the power source 208. For example, the
recovered electrical energy may be used to charge the power source
208 of the vehicle 100.
[0039] The vehicle 100 may include one or more safety systems.
Vehicle safety systems can include a variety of mechanical and/or
electrical components including, but in no way limited to, low
impact or energy-absorbing bumpers 216A, 216B, crumple zones,
reinforced body panels, reinforced frame components, impact bars,
power source containment zones, safety glass, seatbelts,
supplemental restraint systems, air bags, escape hatches, removable
access panels, impact sensors, accelerometers, vision systems,
radar systems, etc., and/or the like. In some embodiments, the one
or more of the safety components may include a safety sensor or
group of safety sensors associated with the one or more of the
safety components. For example, a crumple zone may include one or
more strain gages, impact sensors, pressure transducers, etc. These
sensors may be configured to detect or determine whether a portion
of the vehicle 100 has been subjected to a particular force,
deformation, or other impact. Once detected, the information
collected by the sensors may be transmitted or sent to one or more
of a controller of the vehicle 100 (e.g., a safety controller,
vehicle controller, etc.) or a communication device associated with
the vehicle 100 (e.g., across a communication network, etc.).
[0040] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the vehicle 100 in accordance
with embodiments of the present disclosure. In particular, FIG. 3
shows a broken section 302 of a charging system 300 for the vehicle
100. The charging system 300 may include a plug or receptacle 304
configured to receive power from an external power source (e.g., a
source of power that is external to and/or separate from the
vehicle 100, etc.). An example of an external power source may
include the standard industrial, commercial, or residential power
that is provided across power lines. Another example of an external
power source may include a proprietary power system configured to
provide power to the vehicle 100. In any event, power received at
the plug/receptacle 304 may be transferred via at least one power
transmission interconnection 308. Similar, if not identical, to the
electrical interconnections 228 described above, the at least one
power transmission interconnection 308 may be one or more cables,
wires, traces, wireless power transmission systems, etc., and/or
combinations thereof. Electrical energy in the form of charge can
be transferred from the external power source to the charge
controller 224. As provided above, the charge controller 224 may
regulate the addition of charge to at least one power source 208 of
the vehicle 100 (e.g., until the at least one power source 208 is
full or at a capacity, etc.).
[0041] In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may include an
inductive charging system and inductive charger 312. The inductive
charger 312 may be configured to receive electrical energy from an
inductive power source external to the vehicle 100. In one
embodiment, when the vehicle 100 and/or the inductive charger 312
is positioned over an inductive power source external to the
vehicle 100, electrical energy can be transferred from the
inductive power source to the vehicle 100. For example, the
inductive charger 312 may receive the charge and transfer the
charge via at least one power transmission interconnection 308 to
the charge controller 324 and/or the power source 208 of the
vehicle 100. The inductive charger 312 may be concealed in a
portion of the vehicle 100 (e.g., at least partially protected by
the frame 104, one or more body panels 108, a shroud, a shield, a
protective cover, etc., and/or combinations thereof) and/or may be
deployed from the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the inductive
charger 312 may be configured to receive charge only when the
inductive charger 312 is deployed from the vehicle 100. In other
embodiments, the inductive charger 312 may be configured to receive
charge while concealed in the portion of the vehicle 100.
[0042] In addition to the mechanical components described herein,
the vehicle 100 may include a number of user interface devices. The
user interface devices receive and translate human input into a
mechanical movement or electrical signal or stimulus. The human
input may be one or more of motion (e.g., body movement, body part
movement, in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space, etc.),
voice, touch, and/or physical interaction with the components of
the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the human input may be
configured to control one or more functions of the vehicle 100
and/or systems of the vehicle 100 described herein. User interfaces
may include, but are in no way limited to, at least one graphical
user interface of a display device, steering wheel or mechanism,
transmission lever or button (e.g., including park, neutral,
reverse, and/or drive positions, etc.), throttle control pedal or
mechanism, brake control pedal or mechanism, power control switch,
communications equipment, etc.
[0043] FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of the instrument panel 400 of
the vehicle 100. The instrument panel 400 of vehicle 100 comprises
a steering wheel 410, a vehicle operational display 420 (e.g.,
configured to present and/or display driving data such as speed,
measured air resistance, vehicle information, entertainment
information, etc.), one or more auxiliary displays 424 (e.g.,
configured to present and/or display information segregated from
the operational display 420, entertainment applications, movies,
music, etc.), a heads-up display 434 (e.g., configured to display
any information previously described including, but in no way
limited to, guidance information such as route to destination, or
obstacle warning information to warn of a potential collision, or
some or all primary vehicle operational data such as speed,
resistance, etc.), a power management display 428 (e.g., configured
to display data corresponding to electric power levels of vehicle
100, reserve power, charging status, etc.), and an input device 432
(e.g., a controller, touchscreen, or other interface device
configured to interface with one or more displays in the instrument
panel or components of the vehicle 100. The input device 432 may be
configured as a joystick, mouse, touchpad, tablet, 3D gesture
capture device, etc.). In some embodiments, the input device 432
may be used to manually maneuver a portion of the vehicle 100 into
a charging position (e.g., moving a charging plate to a desired
separation distance, etc.).
[0044] While one or more of displays of instrument panel 400 may be
touch-screen displays, it should be appreciated that the vehicle
operational display may be a display incapable of receiving touch
input. For instance, the operational display 420 that spans across
an interior space centerline 404 and across both a first zone 408A
and a second zone 408B may be isolated from receiving input from
touch, especially from a passenger. In some cases, a display that
provides vehicle operation or critical systems information and
interface may be restricted from receiving touch input and/or be
configured as a non-touch display. This type of configuration can
prevent dangerous mistakes in providing touch input where such
input may cause an accident or unwanted control.
[0045] In some embodiments, one or more displays of the instrument
panel 400 may be mobile devices and/or applications residing on a
mobile device such as a smart phone. Additionally or alternatively,
any of the information described herein may be presented to one or
more portions 420A-N of the operational display 420 or other
display 424, 428, 434. In one embodiment, one or more displays of
the instrument panel 400 may be physically separated or detached
from the instrument panel 400. In some cases, a detachable display
may remain tethered to the instrument panel.
[0046] The portions 420A-N of the operational display 420 may be
dynamically reconfigured and/or resized to suit any display of
information as described. Additionally or alternatively, the number
of portions 420A-N used to visually present information via the
operational display 420 may be dynamically increased or decreased
as required, and are not limited to the configurations shown.
[0047] An embodiment of the electrical system 500 associated with
the vehicle 100 may be as shown in FIG. 5. The electrical system
500 can include power source(s) that generate power, power storage
that stores power, and/or load(s) that consume power. Power sources
may be associated with a power generation unit 504. Power storage
may be associated with a power storage system 208. Loads may be
associated with loads 508. The electrical system 500 may be managed
by a power management controller 224. Further, the electrical
system 500 can include one or more other interfaces or controllers,
which can include the billing and cost control unit 512.
[0048] The power generation unit 504 may be as described in
conjunction with FIG. 6. The power storage component 208 may be as
described in conjunction with FIG. 7. The loads 508 may be as
described in conjunction with FIG. 8.
[0049] The billing and cost control unit 512 may interface with the
power management controller 224 to determine the amount of charge
or power provided to the power storage 208 through the power
generation unit 504. The billing and cost control unit 512 can then
provide information for billing the vehicle owner. Thus, the
billing and cost control unit 512 can receive and/or send power
information to third party system(s) regarding the received charge
from an external source. The information provided can help
determine an amount of money required, from the owner of the
vehicle, as payment for the provided power. Alternatively, or in
addition, if the owner of the vehicle provided power to another
vehicle (or another device/system), that owner may be owed
compensation for the provided power or energy, e.g., a credit.
[0050] The power management controller 224 can be a computer or
computing system(s) and/or electrical system with associated
components, as described herein, capable of managing the power
generation unit 504 to receive power, routing the power to the
power storage 208, and then providing the power from either the
power generation unit 504 and/or the power storage 208 to the loads
508. Thus, the power management controller 224 may execute
programming that controls switches, devices, components, etc.
involved in the reception, storage, and provision of the power in
the electrical system 500.
[0051] An embodiment of the power generation unit 504 may be as
shown in FIG. 6. Generally, the power generation unit 504 may be
electrically coupled to one or more power sources 208. The power
sources 208 can include power sources internal and/or associated
with the vehicle 100 and/or power sources external to the vehicle
100 to which the vehicle 100 electrically connects. One of the
internal power sources can include an on board generator 604. The
generator 604 may be an alternating current (AC) generator, a
direct current (DC) generator or a self-excited generator. The AC
generators can include induction generators, linear electric
generators, and/or other types of generators. The DC generators can
include homopolar generators and/or other types of generators. The
generator 604 can be brushless or include brush contacts and
generate the electric field with permanent magnets or through
induction. The generator 604 may be mechanically coupled to a
source of kinetic energy, such as an axle or some other power
take-off. The generator 604 may also have another mechanical
coupling to an exterior source of kinetic energy, for example, a
wind turbine.
[0052] Another power source 208 may include wired or wireless
charging 608. The wireless charging system 608 may include
inductive and/or resonant frequency inductive charging systems that
can include coils, frequency generators, controllers, etc. Wired
charging may be any kind of grid-connected charging that has a
physical connection, although, the wireless charging may be grid
connected through a wireless interface. The wired charging system
can include connectors, wired interconnections, the controllers,
etc. The wired and wireless charging systems 608 can provide power
to the power generation unit 504 from external power sources
208.
[0053] Internal sources for power may include a regenerative
braking system 612. The regenerative braking system 612 can convert
the kinetic energy of the moving car into electrical energy through
a generation system mounted within the wheels, axle, and/or braking
system of the vehicle 100. The regenerative braking system 612 can
include any coils, magnets, electrical interconnections,
converters, controllers, etc. required to convert the kinetic
energy into electrical energy.
[0054] Another source of power 208, internal to or associated with
the vehicle 100, may be a solar array 616. The solar array 616 may
include any system or device of one or more solar cells mounted on
the exterior of the vehicle 100 or integrated within the body
panels of the vehicle 100 that provides or converts solar energy
into electrical energy to provide to the power generation unit
504.
[0055] The power sources 208 may be connected to the power
generation unit 504 through an electrical interconnection 618. The
electrical interconnection 618 can include any wire, interface,
bus, etc. between the one or more power sources 208 and the power
generation unit 504.
[0056] The power generation unit 504 can also include a power
source interface 620. The power source interface 620 can be any
type of physical and/or electrical interface used to receive the
electrical energy from the one or more power sources 208; thus, the
power source interface 620 can include an electrical interface 624
that receives the electrical energy and a mechanical interface 628
which may include wires, connectors, or other types of devices or
physical connections. The mechanical interface 608 can also include
a physical/electrical connection 634 to the power generation unit
504.
[0057] The electrical energy from the power source 208 can be
processed through the power source interface 624 to an electric
converter 632. The electric converter 632 may convert the
characteristics of the power from one of the power sources into a
useable form that may be used either by the power storage 208 or
one or more loads 508 within the vehicle 100. The electrical
converter 624 may include any electronics or electrical devices
and/or component that can change electrical characteristics, e.g.,
AC frequency, amplitude, phase, etc. associated with the electrical
energy provided by the power source 208. The converted electrical
energy may then be provided to an optional conditioner 1638. The
conditioner 1638 may include any electronics or electrical devices
and/or component that may further condition the converted
electrical energy by removing harmonics, noise, etc. from the
electrical energy to provide a more stable and effective form of
power to the vehicle 100.
[0058] An embodiment of the power storage 208 may be as shown in
FIG. 7. The power storage unit can include an electrical converter
632b, one or more batteries, one or more rechargeable batteries,
one or more capacitors, one or more accumulators, one or more
supercapacitors, one or more ultrabatteries, and/or superconducting
magnetics 704, and/or a charge management unit 708. The converter
632b may be the same or similar to the electrical converter 632a
shown in FIG. 6. The converter 632b may be a replacement for the
electric converter 632a shown in FIG. 6 and thus eliminate the need
for the electrical converter 632a as shown in FIG. 6. However, if
the electrical converter 632a is provided in the power generation
unit 504, the converter 632b, as shown in the power storage unit
208, may be eliminated. The converter 632b can also be redundant or
different from the electrical converter 632a shown in FIG. 6 and
may provide a different form of energy to the battery and/or
capacitors 704. Thus, the converter 632b can change the energy
characteristics specifically for the battery/capacitor 704.
[0059] The battery 704 can be any type of battery for storing
electrical energy, for example, a lithium ion battery, a lead acid
battery, a nickel cadmium battery, etc. Further, the battery 704
may include different types of power storage systems, such as,
ionic fluids or other types of fuel cell systems. The energy
storage 704 may also include one or more high-capacity capacitors
704. The capacitors 704 may be used for long-term or short-term
storage of electrical energy. The input into the battery or
capacitor 704 may be different from the output, and thus, the
capacitor 704 may be charged quickly but drain slowly. The
functioning of the converter 632 and battery capacitor 704 may be
monitored or managed by a charge management unit 708.
[0060] The charge management unit 708 can include any hardware
(e.g., any electronics or electrical devices and/or components),
software, or firmware operable to adjust the operations of the
converter 632 or batteries/capacitors 704. The charge management
unit 708 can receive inputs or periodically monitor the converter
632 and/or battery/capacitor 704 from this information; the charge
management unit 708 may then adjust settings or inputs into the
converter 632 or battery/capacitor 704 to control the operation of
the power storage system 208.
[0061] An embodiment of one or more loads 508 associated with the
vehicle 100 may be as shown in FIG. 8. The loads 508 may include a
bus or electrical interconnection system 802, which provides
electrical energy to one or more different loads within the vehicle
100. The bus 802 can be any number of wires or interfaces used to
connect the power generation unit 504 and/or power storage 208 to
the one or more loads 508. The converter 632c may be an interface
from the power generation unit 504 or the power storage 208 into
the loads 508. The converter 632c may be the same or similar to
electric converter 632a as shown in FIG. 6. Similar to the
discussion of the converter 632b in FIG. 7, the converter 632c may
be eliminated, if the electric converter 632a, shown in FIG. 6, is
present. However, the converter 632c may further condition or
change the energy characteristics for the bus 802 for use by the
loads 508. The converter 632c may also provide electrical energy to
electric motor 804, which may power the vehicle 100.
[0062] The electric motor 804 can be any type of DC or AC electric
motor. The electric motor may be a direct drive or induction motor
using permanent magnets and/or winding either on the stator or
rotor. The electric motor 804 may also be wireless or include brush
contacts. The electric motor 804 may be capable of providing a
torque and enough kinetic energy to move the vehicle 100 in
traffic. In some embodiments, the electric motor 804 may be
similar, if not identical, to the electric motor 212 described in
conjunction with FIG. 2.
[0063] The different loads 508 may also include environmental loads
812, sensor loads 816, safety loads 820, user interaction loads
808, etc. User interaction loads 808 can be any energy used by user
interfaces or systems that interact with the driver and/or
passenger(s) of the vehicle 100. These loads 808 may include, for
example, the heads up display 434, the dash display 420, 424, 428,
the radio, user interfaces on the head unit, lights, radio, and/or
other types of loads that provide or receive information from the
occupants of the vehicle 100. The environmental loads 812 can be
any loads used to control the environment within the vehicle 100.
For example, the air conditioning or heating unit of the vehicle
100 can be environmental loads 812. Other environmental loads can
include lights, fans, and/or defrosting units, etc. that may
control the environment within, and/or outside of, the vehicle 100.
The sensor loads 816 can be any loads used by sensors, for example,
air bag sensors, GPS, and other such sensors used to either manage
or control the vehicle 100 and/or provide information or feedback
to the vehicle occupants. The safety loads 820 can include any
safety equipment, for example, seat belt alarms, airbags,
headlights, blinkers, etc. that may be used to manage the safety of
the occupants of the vehicle 100. There may be more or fewer loads
than those described herein, although they may not be shown in FIG.
8.
[0064] FIG. 9 illustrates a hardware diagram of communications
componentry that can be optionally associated with the vehicle 100
in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0065] The communications componentry can include one or more wired
or wireless devices such as a transceiver(s) and/or modem that
allows communications not only between the various systems
disclosed herein but also with other devices, such as devices on a
network, and/or on a distributed network such as the Internet
and/or in the cloud and/or with other vehicle(s).
[0066] The communications subsystem can also include inter- and
intra-vehicle communications capabilities such as hotspot and/or
access point connectivity for any one or more of the vehicle
occupants and/or vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
[0067] Additionally, and while not specifically illustrated, the
communications subsystem can include one or more communications
links (that can be wired or wireless) and/or communications busses
(managed by the bus manager 974), including one or more of CANbus,
OBD-II, ARCINC 429, Byteflight, CAN (Controller Area Network), D2B
(Domestic Digital Bus), FlexRay, DC-BUS, IDB-1394, IEBus, I2C, ISO
9141-1/-2, J1708, J1587, J1850, J1939, ISO 11783, Keyword Protocol
2000, LIN (Local Interconnect Network), MOST (Media Oriented
Systems Transport), Multifunction Vehicle Bus, SMARTwireX, SPI, VAN
(Vehicle Area Network), and the like or in general any
communications protocol and/or standard(s).
[0068] The various protocols and communications can be communicated
one or more of wirelessly and/or over transmission media such as
single wire, twisted pair, fiber optic, IEEE 1394, MIL-STD-1553,
MIL-STD-1773, power-line communication, or the like. (All of the
above standards and protocols are incorporated herein by reference
in their entirety).
[0069] As discussed, the communications subsystem enables
communications between any if the inter-vehicle systems and
subsystems as well as communications with non-collocated resources,
such as those reachable over a network such as the Internet.
[0070] The communications subsystem 900, in addition to well-known
componentry (which has been omitted for clarity), includes
interconnected elements including one or more of: one or more
antennas 904, an interleaver/deinterleaver 908, an analog front end
(AFE) 912, memory/storage/cache 916, controller/microprocessor 920,
MAC circuitry 922, modulator/demodulator 924, encoder/decoder 928,
a plurality of connectivity managers 934-966, GPU 940, accelerator
944, a multiplexer/demultiplexer 952, transmitter 970, receiver 972
and wireless radio 978 components such as a Wi-Fi
PHY/Bluetooth.RTM. module 980, a Wi-Fi/BT MAC module 984,
transmitter 988 and receiver 992. The various elements in the
device 900 are connected by one or more links/busses 5 (not shown,
again for sake of clarity).
[0071] The device 400 can have one more antennas 904, for use in
wireless communications such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO)
communications, multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO)
communications Bluetooth.RTM., LTE, 4G, 5G, Near-Field
Communication (NFC), etc., and in general for any type of wireless
communications. The antenna(s) 904 can include, but are not limited
to one or more of directional antennas, omnidirectional antennas,
monopoles, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,
dipoles, and any other antenna(s) suitable for communication
transmission/reception. In an exemplary embodiment,
transmission/reception using MIMO may require particular antenna
spacing. In another exemplary embodiment, MIMO
transmission/reception can enable spatial diversity allowing for
different channel characteristics at each of the antennas. In yet
another embodiment, MIMO transmission/reception can be used to
distribute resources to multiple users for example within the
vehicle 100 and/or in another vehicle.
[0072] Antenna(s) 904 generally interact with the Analog Front End
(AFE) 912, which is needed to enable the correct processing of the
received modulated signal and signal conditioning for a transmitted
signal. The AFE 912 can be functionally located between the antenna
and a digital baseband system in order to convert the analog signal
into a digital signal for processing and vice-versa.
[0073] The subsystem 900 can also include a
controller/microprocessor 920 and a memory/storage/cache 916. The
subsystem 900 can interact with the memory/storage/cache 916 which
may store information and operations necessary for configuring and
transmitting or receiving the information described herein. The
memory/storage/cache 916 may also be used in connection with the
execution of application programming or instructions by the
controller/microprocessor 920, and for temporary or long term
storage of program instructions and/or data. As examples, the
memory/storage/cache 920 may comprise a computer-readable device,
RAM, ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, and/or other storage device(s) and
media.
[0074] The controller/microprocessor 920 may comprise a general
purpose programmable processor or controller for executing
application programming or instructions related to the subsystem
900. Furthermore, the controller/microprocessor 920 can perform
operations for configuring and transmitting/receiving information
as described herein. The controller/microprocessor 920 may include
multiple processor cores, and/or implement multiple virtual
processors. Optionally, the controller/microprocessor 920 may
include multiple physical processors. By way of example, the
controller/microprocessor 920 may comprise a specially configured
Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or other integrated
circuit, a digital signal processor(s), a controller, a hardwired
electronic or logic circuit, a programmable logic device or gate
array, a special purpose computer, or the like.
[0075] The subsystem 900 can further include a transmitter 970 and
receiver 972 which can transmit and receive signals, respectively,
to and from other devices, subsystems and/or other destinations
using the one or more antennas 904 and/or links/busses. Included in
the subsystem 900 circuitry is the medium access control or MAC
Circuitry 922. MAC circuitry 922 provides for controlling access to
the wireless medium. In an exemplary embodiment, the MAC circuitry
922 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium and
configure frames or packets for communicating over the
wired/wireless medium.
[0076] The subsystem 900 can also optionally contain a security
module (not shown). This security module can contain information
regarding but not limited to, security parameters required to
connect the device to one or more other devices or other available
network(s), and can include WEP or WPA/WPA-2 (optionally+AES and/or
TKIP) security access keys, network keys, etc. The WEP security
access key is a security password used by Wi-Fi networks. Knowledge
of this code can enable a wireless device to exchange information
with an access point and/or another device. The information
exchange can occur through encoded messages with the WEP access
code often being chosen by the network administrator. WPA is an
added security standard that is also used in conjunction with
network connectivity with stronger encryption than WEP.
[0077] In some embodiments, the communications subsystem 900 also
includes a GPU 940, an accelerator 944, a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE PHY module
980 and a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE MAC module 984 and wireless transmitter 988
and receiver 992. In some embodiments, the GPU 940 may be a
graphics processing unit, or visual processing unit, comprising at
least one circuit and/or chip that manipulates and changes memory
to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer for output
to at least one display device. The GPU 940 may include one or more
of a display device connection port, printed circuit board (PCB), a
GPU chip, a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
(MOSFET), memory (e.g., single data rate random-access memory
(SDRAM), double data rate random-access memory (DDR) RAM, etc.,
and/or combinations thereof), a secondary processing chip (e.g.,
handling video out capabilities, processing, and/or other functions
in addition to the GPU chip, etc.), a capacitor, heatsink,
temperature control or cooling fan, motherboard connection,
shielding, and the like.
[0078] The various connectivity managers 934-966 (even) manage
and/or coordinate communications between the subsystem 900 and one
or more of the systems disclosed herein and one or more other
devices/systems. The connectivity managers include an emergency
charging connectivity manager 934, an aerial charging connectivity
manager 938, a roadway charging connectivity manager 942, an
overhead charging connectivity manager 946, a robotic charging
connectivity manager 950, a static charging connectivity manager
954, a vehicle database connectivity manager 958, a remote
operating system connectivity manager 962 and a sensor connectivity
manager 966.
[0079] The emergency charging connectivity manager 934 can
coordinate not only the physical connectivity between the vehicle
100 and the emergency charging device/vehicle, but can also
communicate with one or more of the power management controller,
one or more third parties and optionally a billing system(s). As an
example, the vehicle 100 can establish communications with the
emergency charging device/vehicle to one or more of coordinate
interconnectivity between the two (e.g., by spatially aligning the
charging receptacle on the vehicle with the charger on the
emergency charging vehicle) and optionally share navigation
information. Once charging is complete, the amount of charge
provided can be tracked and optionally forwarded to, for example, a
third party for billing. In addition to being able to manage
connectivity for the exchange of power, the emergency charging
connectivity manager 934 can also communicate information, such as
billing information to the emergency charging vehicle and/or a
third party. This billing information could be, for example, the
owner of the vehicle, the driver/occupant(s) of the vehicle,
company information, or in general any information usable to charge
the appropriate entity for the power received.
[0080] The aerial charging connectivity manager 938 can coordinate
not only the physical connectivity between the vehicle 100 and the
aerial charging device/vehicle, but can also communicate with one
or more of the power management controller, one or more third
parties and optionally a billing system(s). As an example, the
vehicle 100 can establish communications with the aerial charging
device/vehicle to one or more of coordinate interconnectivity
between the two (e.g., by spatially aligning the charging
receptacle on the vehicle with the charger on the emergency
charging vehicle) and optionally share navigation information. Once
charging is complete, the amount of charge provided can be tracked
and optionally forwarded to, for example, a third party for
billing. In addition to being able to manage connectivity for the
exchange of power, the aerial charging connectivity manager 938 can
similarly communicate information, such as billing information to
the aerial charging vehicle and/or a third party. This billing
information could be, for example, the owner of the vehicle 100,
the driver/occupant(s) of the vehicle 100, company information, or
in general any information usable to charge the appropriate entity
for the power received etc., as discussed.
[0081] The roadway charging connectivity manager 942 and overhead
charging connectivity manager 946 can coordinate not only the
physical connectivity between the vehicle 100 and the charging
device/system, but can also communicate with one or more of the
power management controller, one or more third parties and
optionally a billing system(s). As one example, the vehicle 100 can
request a charge from the charging system when, for example, the
vehicle 100 needs or is predicted to need power. As an example, the
vehicle 100 can establish communications with the charging
device/vehicle to one or more of coordinate interconnectivity
between the two for charging and share information for billing.
Once charging is complete, the amount of charge provided can be
tracked and optionally forwarded to, for example, a third party for
billing. This billing information could be, for example, the owner
of the vehicle 100, the driver/occupant(s) of the vehicle 100,
company information, or in general any information usable to charge
the appropriate entity for the power received etc., as discussed.
The person responsible for paying for the charge could also receive
a copy of the billing information as is customary. The robotic
charging connectivity manager 950 and static charging connectivity
manager 954 can operate in a similar manner to that described
herein.
[0082] The vehicle database connectivity manager 958 allows the
subsystem to receive and/or share information stored in the vehicle
database. This information can be shared with other vehicle
components/subsystems and/or other entities, such as third parties
and/or charging systems. The information can also be shared with
one or more vehicle occupant devices, such as an app (application)
on a mobile device the driver uses to track information about the
vehicle 100 and/or a dealer or service/maintenance provider. In
general any information stored in the vehicle database can
optionally be shared with any one or more other devices optionally
subject to any privacy or confidentially restrictions.
[0083] The remote operating system connectivity manager 962
facilitates communications between the vehicle 100 and any one or
more autonomous vehicle systems. These communications can include
one or more of navigation information, vehicle information, other
vehicle information, weather information, occupant information, or
in general any information related to the remote operation of the
vehicle 100.
[0084] The sensor connectivity manager 966 facilitates
communications between any one or more of the vehicle sensors and
any one or more of the other vehicle systems. The sensor
connectivity manager 966 can also facilitate communications between
any one or more of the sensors and/or vehicle systems and any other
destination, such as a service company, app, or in general to any
destination where sensor data is needed.
[0085] In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, any of the
communications discussed herein can be communicated via the
conductor(s) used for charging. One exemplary protocol usable for
these communications is Power-line communication (PLC). PLC is a
communication protocol that uses electrical wiring to
simultaneously carry both data, and Alternating Current (AC)
electric power transmission or electric power distribution. It is
also known as power-line carrier, power-line digital subscriber
line (PDSL), mains communication, power-line telecommunications, or
power-line networking (PLN). For DC environments in vehicles PLC
can be used in conjunction with CAN-bus, LIN-bus over power line
(DC-LIN) and DC-BUS.
[0086] The communications subsystem can also optionally manage one
or more identifiers, such as an IP (internet protocol) address(es),
associated with the vehicle and one or other system or subsystems
or components therein. These identifiers can be used in conjunction
with any one or more of the connectivity managers as discussed
herein.
[0087] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a computing
environment 1000 that may function as the servers, user computers,
or other systems provided and described herein. The environment
1000 includes one or more user computers, or computing devices,
such as a vehicle computing device 1004, a communication device
1008, and/or more 1012. The computing devices 1004, 1008, 1012 may
include general purpose personal computers (including, merely by
way of example, personal computers, and/or laptop computers running
various versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.RTM. and/or Apple
Corp.'s Macintosh.RTM. operating systems) and/or workstation
computers running any of a variety of commercially-available
UNIX.RTM. or UNIX-like operating systems. These computing devices
1004, 1008, 1012 may also have any of a variety of applications,
including for example, database client and/or server applications,
and web browser applications. Alternatively, the computing devices
1004, 1008, 1012 may be any other electronic device, such as a
thin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or
personal digital assistant, capable of communicating via a network
1010 and/or displaying and navigating web pages or other types of
electronic documents. Although the exemplary computer environment
1000 is shown with two computing devices, any number of user
computers or computing devices may be supported.
[0088] Environment 1000 further includes a network 1010. The
network 1010 may can be any type of network familiar to those
skilled in the art that can support data communications using any
of a variety of commercially-available protocols, including without
limitation SIP, TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, and the like. Merely
by way of example, the network 1010 maybe a local area network
("LAN"), such as an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring network and/or
the like; a wide-area network; a virtual network, including without
limitation a virtual private network ("VPN"); the Internet; an
intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network
("PSTN"); an infra-red network; a wireless network (e.g., a network
operating under any of the IEEE 802.9 suite of protocols, the
Bluetooth.RTM. protocol known in the art, and/or any other wireless
protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or other
networks.
[0089] The system may also include one or more servers 1014, 1016.
In this example, server 1014 is shown as a web server and server
1016 is shown as an application server. The web server 1014, which
may be used to process requests for web pages or other electronic
documents from computing devices 1004, 1008, 1012. The web server
1014 can be running an operating system including any of those
discussed above, as well as any commercially-available server
operating systems. The web server 1014 can also run a variety of
server applications, including SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
servers, HTTP(s) servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database
servers, Java servers, and the like. In some instances, the web
server 1014 may publish operations available operations as one or
more web services.
[0090] The environment 1000 may also include one or more file and
or/application servers 1016, which can, in addition to an operating
system, include one or more applications accessible by a client
running on one or more of the computing devices 1004, 1008, 1012.
The server(s) 1016 and/or 1014 may be one or more general purpose
computers capable of executing programs or scripts in response to
the computing devices 1004, 1008, 1012. As one example, the server
1016, 1014 may execute one or more web applications. The web
application may be implemented as one or more scripts or programs
written in any programming language, such as JavaTM, C, C#.RTM., or
C++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL,
as well as combinations of any programming/scripting languages. The
application server(s) 1016 may also include database servers,
including without limitation those commercially available from
Oracle.RTM., Microsoft.RTM., Sybase.RTM., IBM.RTM. and the like,
which can process requests from database clients running on a
computing device 1004, 1008, 1012.
[0091] The web pages created by the server 1014 and/or 1016 may be
forwarded to a computing device 1004, 1008, 1012 via a web (file)
server 1014, 1016. Similarly, the web server 1014 may be able to
receive web page requests, web services invocations, and/or input
data from a computing device 1004, 1008, 1012 (e.g., a user
computer, etc.) and can forward the web page requests and/or input
data to the web (application) server 1016. In further embodiments,
the server 1016 may function as a file server. Although for ease of
description, FIG. 10 illustrates a separate web server 1014 and
file/application server 1016, those skilled in the art will
recognize that the functions described with respect to servers
1014, 1016 may be performed by a single server and/or a plurality
of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specific needs
and parameters. The computer systems 1004, 1008, 1012, web (file)
server 1014 and/or web (application) server 1016 may function as
the system, devices, or components described in FIGS. 1-10.
[0092] The environment 1000 may also include a database 1018. The
database 1018 may reside in a variety of locations. By way of
example, database 1018 may reside on a storage medium local to
(and/or resident in) one or more of the computers 1004, 1008, 1012,
1014, 1016. Alternatively, it may be remote from any or all of the
computers 1004, 1008, 1012, 1014, 1016, and in communication (e.g.,
via the network 1010) with one or more of these. The database 1018
may reside in a storage-area network ("SAN") familiar to those
skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing
the functions attributed to the computers 1004, 1008, 1012, 1014,
1016 may be stored locally on the respective computer and/or
remotely, as appropriate. The database 1018 may be a relational
database, such as Oracle 20i.RTM., that is adapted to store,
update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted
commands.
[0093] FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of a computer system 1100
upon which the servers, user computers, computing devices, or other
systems or components described above may be deployed or executed.
The computer system 1100 is shown comprising hardware elements that
may be electrically coupled via a bus 1104. The hardware elements
may include one or more central processing units (CPUs) 1108; one
or more input devices 1112 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.); and
one or more output devices 1116 (e.g., a display device, a printer,
etc.). The computer system 1100 may also include one or more
storage devices 1120. By way of example, storage device(s) 1120 may
be disk drives, optical storage devices, solid-state storage
devices such as a random access memory ("RAM") and/or a read-only
memory ("ROM"), which can be programmable, flash-updateable and/or
the like.
[0094] The computer system 1100 may additionally include a
computer-readable storage media reader 1124; a communications
system 1128 (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an
infra-red communication device, etc.); and working memory 1136,
which may include RAM and ROM devices as described above. The
computer system 1100 may also include a processing acceleration
unit 1132, which can include a DSP, a special-purpose processor,
and/or the like.
[0095] The computer-readable storage media reader 1124 can further
be connected to a computer-readable storage medium, together (and,
optionally, in combination with storage device(s) 1120)
comprehensively representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable
storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more
permanently containing computer-readable information. The
communications system 1128 may permit data to be exchanged with a
network and/or any other computer described above with respect to
the computer environments described herein. Moreover, as disclosed
herein, the term "storage medium" may represent one or more devices
for storing data, including read only memory (ROM), random access
memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic disk storage
mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/or other
machine readable mediums for storing information.
[0096] The computer system 1100 may also comprise software
elements, shown as being currently located within a working memory
1136, including an operating system 1140 and/or other code 1144. It
should be appreciated that alternate embodiments of a computer
system 1100 may have numerous variations from that described above.
For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or
particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software
(including portable software, such as applets), or both. Further,
connection to other computing devices such as network input/output
devices may be employed.
[0097] Examples of the processors 1108 as described herein may
include, but are not limited to, at least one of Qualcomm.RTM.
Snapdragon.RTM. 800 and 801, Qualcomm.RTM. Snapdragon.RTM. 620 and
615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing, Apple.RTM. A7
processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple.RTM. M7 motion
coprocessors, Samsung.RTM. Exynos.RTM. series, the Intel.RTM.
Core.TM. family of processors, the Intel.RTM. Xeon.RTM. family of
processors, the Intel.RTM. Atom.TM. family of processors, the Intel
Itanium.RTM. family of processors, Intel.RTM. Core.RTM. i5-4670K
and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel.RTM. Core.RTM. i5-3570K 22 nm Ivy
Bridge, the AMD.RTM. FX.TM. family of processors, AMD.RTM. FX-4300,
FX-6300, and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD.RTM. Kaveri processors,
Texas Instruments.RTM. Jacinto C6000.TM. automotive infotainment
processors, Texas Instruments.RTM. OMAP.TM. automotive-grade mobile
processors, ARM.RTM. Cortex.TM.-M processors, ARM.RTM. Cortex-A and
ARM926EJ-S.TM. processors, other industry-equivalent processors,
and may perform computational functions using any known or
future-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/or
architecture.
[0098] Referring to FIG. 12, the vehicle 100 is shown in a
plurality of operational and/or charging environments. The vehicle
100 may operate in any one or more of the depicted environments in
any combination. Other embodiments are possible but may not be
depicted in FIG. 12. Generally, the vehicle 100 may operate in
environments which enable charging of the vehicle 100 and/or
operation of the vehicle 100. More specifically, the vehicle 100
may receive a charge via one or more means comprising emergency
charging vehicle system 1270, aerial vehicle charging system 1280,
roadway system 1250, robotic charging system 1254, and/or overhead
charging system 1258. The vehicle 100 may interact and/or operate
in an environment comprising one or more other roadway vehicles
1260. The vehicle 100 may engage with elements within the vehicle
100 comprising vehicle driver 1220, vehicle passengers 1230, and/or
a vehicle database 1210. In one embodiment, vehicle database 1210
may not physically reside in the vehicle 100 and may instead be
accessed remotely (e.g., by wireless communication, etc.), and as
such, may reside in another location such as a residence or
business location. The vehicle 100 may operate autonomously and/or
semi-autonomously in an autonomous environment 1290 (here, depicted
as a roadway environment presenting a roadway obstacle 1294 of
which the vehicle 100 autonomously identifies and steers the
vehicle 100 clear of the obstacle 1294). Furthermore, the vehicle
100 may engage with a remote operator system 1240, which may
provide fleet management instructions or control.
[0099] In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may be configured to
receive charge via one or more compatible vehicle charging
interfaces, such as one or more charging panels and/or
interconnections. These compatible vehicle charging interfaces may
be configured at one or more locations on, in, or about a vehicle
100. For instance, the locations may include locations on the
vehicle 100 wherein charging may be received, via a vehicle roof
130, vehicle side 160 and vehicle lower or undercarriage 140.
[0100] In general, A provider or seller of a particular service
offered to a user can set rules defining management and/or delivery
of those services. The provider may be a repair facility, power
charging station or facility, a power source exchange station or
facility, or fleet manager and the user may be a vehicle owner or
operator. For example, a set of rules can be used to manage
services related to use of a battery exchange facility for electric
or hybrid vehicles. According to one embodiment, instead of a
battery centric model for managing power for the vehicle, a battery
agnostic model can be used which can allow users to pay on an
amp-hour or other basis. This paradigm could be used in conjunction
with the licensing of the battery or multiple batteries, except,
instead of licensing the battery or batteries, a service provider
or licensor can provide whatever battery or batteries are necessary
to meet the purchased power demands. For example, in a fleet
environment, a service provider or licensor can provide however
many batteries are necessary to supply the fleet with sufficient
power to operate their vehicles for a total number of miles per
year or other period of time.
[0101] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a
system for applying management rules to manage provisioning an
amount of power for one or more vehicles according to one
embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in this
example, a service provider's system 1300 can comprise a
configuration and/or administration component 1305, one or more
repositories of rules and information including but not limited to
a repository of management rules 1310, a repository of
configuration parameters 1315, and a repository of vehicle
information 1320. The service provider's system 1300 can further
comprise a data collection component 1325, a rules engine 1330, and
a licensing and/or provisioning component.
[0102] Generally speaking, a service provider can, for example
using a graphical or other user interface provided by the
configuration and/or administration component 1305, define a set of
rules saved in the repository of management rules 1310 and/or a set
of configuration parameters saved in the repository of
configuration parameters 1315. In some cases, the service provider
may also be able, through the configuration and/or administration
component 1305, define, modify, or view a set of vehicle
information saved in the repository of vehicle information 1320.
The rules engine 1330 can apply the rules of the repository of
maintenance management rules 1310 using the set of configuration
parameters saved in the repository of configuration parameters 1315
and the vehicle information saved in the repository of vehicle
information 1320 to determine or generate instructions and/or
information related to a service available from the service
provider to the vehicle such as the licensing of batteries or other
power sources to the user of the vehicle. These instructions
indicating, for example, type of power source, number of power
sources, terms of the license, etc. can be provided to a licensing
and/or provisioning component that can then manage the process of
providing the determined power sources to the vehicle. Additionally
or alternatively, the information can be sent by the licensing
and/or provisioning component 1335 to the vehicle or other system,
for example, via a cellular or other wireless connection.
[0103] More specifically, the service provider or seller of a
particular service, such as a battery licensing service, can set
rules for managing the services provided by configuring, through
the configuration and/or administration component 1305, business
rules defining how those services will be delivered. The set of
rules can be implemented in any common rule definition language
such as, for example, Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) or
similar language, and can comprise a set of conditions and
associated actions to be applied upon satisfaction of those
conditions. The actions can, in some cases, be calculations or
other operations to determine a type and/or number of power sources
for a requested amount of power for one or more vehicles, a cost
for the power sources, etc. Any number and variety of other rules
can be implemented at the service provider's discretion and are
considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.
[0104] The service provider can, for example, through the graphical
or other user interface of the configuration and/or administration
component 1305, define and/or adjust selectable or configurable
parameters stored in the repository of configuration parameters
1315 to be used by the management rules in order to determine
logistics for a requested service. These parameters can comprise,
for example, values for variables defined in the calculations or
actions of the rules. In other cases, the parameters can comprise
switches, flags, or other values for the conditions of the rules.
The terms or parameters stored in the repository of configuration
parameters 1315 may be varied by the service provider through the
configuration and/or administration component 1305 to define terms
of the licensing agreement and influence determinations of power
source types, numbers, costs, etc. Additionally or alternatively,
these parameters can be used to set variables related to capacity
and/or performance of particular types of power sources to
influence calculations of how many and what types of sources will
be required to meet a particular requested power amount. Any number
and variety of other parameters can be implemented in different
ways at the service provider's discretion and are considered to be
within the scope of the present disclosure.
[0105] The repository of vehicle information 1320 can comprise
information for one or more vehicles defined by the service
provider through the configuration and/or administration component.
The information stored in the repository of vehicle information
1320 can comprise values for variables defined in the calculations
or actions of the rules. In other cases, the information can
comprise switches, flags, or other values for the conditions of the
rules. For example, vehicle information may define a type of
equipment, e.g., a battery type, suitable for use in a particular
one or more vehicles, power usage or requirements of that vehicle
in operation, and/or other information. The vehicle specific
information can also be used when the rules are applied in order to
select or determine appropriate power sources to meet a requested
amount of power.
[0106] The rules engine 1330 can then determine power sources
required to meet a requested amount of power based on applying the
management rules stored in the repository maintenance management
rules 1310 and using the set of service configuration parameters
stored in the repository of configuration parameters 1315 and the
set of vehicle information stored in the repository of vehicle
information 1320. That is, once the variables of the rules are
populated with the values defined in the service configuration
parameters and/or the vehicle information, the rules can be
executed by the rules engine 1330 and the actions defined for the
rules can be performed by the rules engine 1330 based on the
populated conditions. These actions comprise calculations to select
or determine power sources required to meet a particular requested
amount of power for one or more vehicles.
[0107] The resulting information and/or instructions indicating,
for example, type of power source, number of power sources, terms
of the license, etc. can be provided from the rules engine 1330 to
the licensing and/or provisioning component 1335 that can then
manage the process of providing the determined power sources to the
vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, the information can be sent
by the licensing and/or provisioning component 1335 to the vehicle
or other system, for example, via a cellular or other wireless
connection.
[0108] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for
applying management rules to manage provisioning an amount of power
for one or more vehicles according to one embodiment of the present
disclosure. As illustrated in this example, provisioning an amount
of power for one or more vehicles can comprise receiving 1405, at a
service provider system and over a communications network, a
request indicating a requirement for an amount of power for the one
or more vehicles. The request can indicate the requirement for the
amount of power for the one or more vehicles individually or in
total. The service provider system can read 1410 a set of
management rules from one or more databases. The service provider
system can also read 1415 a set of service configuration
information and read 1420 a set of vehicle specific information for
the one or more vehicles from one or more databases. For example,
the set of service configuration information comprises terms of a
license agreement. Additionally or alternatively, the set of
vehicle specific information for the one or more vehicles can
comprise information identifying a type of power source used by
each of the one or more vehicles. The service provider system can
determine one or more power sources to meet the requirement for the
amount of power for the one or more vehicles based on applying 1425
the management rules and using the set of service configuration
information and the set of vehicle information and provide 1430,
over the communications network, an indication of the determined
power sources.
[0109] Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed herein
can be performed continuously and automatically.
[0110] The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have
been described in relation to vehicle systems and electric
vehicles. However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present
disclosure, the preceding description omits a number of known
structures and devices. This omission is not to be construed as a
limitation of the scope of the claimed disclosure. Specific details
are set forth to provide an understanding of the present
disclosure. It should, however, be appreciated that the present
disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the
specific detail set forth herein.
[0111] Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated
herein show the various components of the system collocated,
certain components of the system can be located remotely, at
distant portions of a distributed network, such as a LAN and/or the
Internet, or within a dedicated system. Thus, it should be
appreciated, that the components of the system can be combined into
one or more devices, such as a server, communication device, or
collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as
an analog and/or digital telecommunications network, a
packet-switched network, or a circuit-switched network. It will be
appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons of
computational efficiency, that the components of the system can be
arranged at any location within a distributed network of components
without affecting the operation of the system.
[0112] Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links
connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or any
combination thereof, or any other known or later developed
element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data
to and from the connected elements. These wired or wireless links
can also be secure links and may be capable of communicating
encrypted information. Transmission media used as links, for
example, can be any suitable carrier for electrical signals,
including coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, and may
take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated
during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
[0113] While the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated in
relation to a particular sequence of events, it should be
appreciated that changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence
can occur without materially affecting the operation of the
disclosed embodiments, configuration, and aspects.
[0114] A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure
can be used. It would be possible to provide for some features of
the disclosure without providing others.
[0115] In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this
disclosure can be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose
computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and
peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other
integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired
electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a
programmable logic device or gate array such as PLD, PLA, FPGA,
PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means, or the like.
In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementing the
methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the various
aspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for
the present disclosure includes computers, handheld devices,
telephones (e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog,
hybrids, and others), and other hardware known in the art. Some of
these devices include processors (e.g., a single or multiple
microprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage, input devices, and
output devices. Furthermore, alternative software implementations
including, but not limited to, distributed processing or
component/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or
virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the
methods described herein.
[0116] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be
readily implemented in conjunction with software using object or
object-oriented software development environments that provide
portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or
workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system may be
implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic
circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to
implement the systems in accordance with this disclosure is
dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the
system, the particular function, and the particular software or
hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being
utilized.
[0117] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be
partially implemented in software that can be stored on a storage
medium, executed on programmed general-purpose computer with the
cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer,
a microprocessor, or the like. In these instances, the systems and
methods of this disclosure can be implemented as a program embedded
on a personal computer such as an applet, JAVA.RTM. or CGI script,
as a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a
routine embedded in a dedicated measurement system, system
component, or the like. The system can also be implemented by
physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software
and/or hardware system.
[0118] Although the present disclosure describes components and
functions implemented in the embodiments with reference to
particular standards and protocols, the disclosure is not limited
to such standards and protocols. Other similar standards and
protocols not mentioned herein are in existence and are considered
to be included in the present disclosure. Moreover, the standards
and protocols mentioned herein and other similar standards and
protocols not mentioned herein are periodically superseded by
faster or more effective equivalents having essentially the same
functions. Such replacement standards and protocols having the same
functions are considered equivalents included in the present
disclosure.
[0119] The present disclosure, in various embodiments,
configurations, and aspects, includes components, methods,
processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially as depicted and
described herein, including various embodiments, subcombinations,
and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how
to make and use the systems and methods disclosed herein after
understanding the present disclosure. The present disclosure, in
various embodiments, configurations, and aspects, includes
providing devices and processes in the absence of items not
depicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments,
configurations, or aspects hereof, including in the absence of such
items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g.,
for improving performance, achieving ease, and/or reducing cost of
implementation.
[0120] The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been
presented for purposes of illustration and description. The
foregoing is not intended to limit the disclosure to the form or
forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing Detailed Description for
example, various features of the disclosure are grouped together in
one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects for the purpose
of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the embodiments,
configurations, or aspects of the disclosure may be combined in
alternate embodiments, configurations, or aspects other than those
discussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted
as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosure requires
more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as
the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than
all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment,
configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims are hereby
incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim
standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of the
disclosure.
[0121] Moreover, though the description of the disclosure has
included description of one or more embodiments, configurations, or
aspects and certain variations and modifications, other variations,
combinations, and modifications are within the scope of the
disclosure, e.g., as may be within the skill and knowledge of those
in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. It is
intended to obtain rights, which include alternative embodiments,
configurations, or aspects to the extent permitted, including
alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,
ranges, or steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate,
interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges, or
steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly
dedicate any patentable subject matter.
[0122] Embodiments include a method for provisioning an amount of
power for one or more vehicles, the method comprising: receiving,
at a service provider system and over a communications network, a
request indicating a requirement for an amount of power for the one
or more vehicles, the request indicating the requirement for the
amount of power for the one or more vehicles individually or in
total; reading, by the service provider system, a set of management
rules from one or more databases; reading, by the service provider
system, a set of service configuration information from one or more
databases; reading, by the service provider system, a set of
vehicle specific information for the one or more vehicles from one
or more databases; determining, by the service provider system, one
or more power sources to meet the requirement for the amount of
power for the one or more vehicles based on applying the management
rules and using the set of service configuration information and
the set of vehicle information; and providing, from the service
provider system over the communications network, an indication of
the determined power sources.
[0123] Aspects of the method include wherein the one or more
vehicles comprises a plurality of vehicles.
[0124] Aspects of the method include wherein the request for the
indicates the requirement for the amount of power for the plurality
of vehicles in total.
[0125] Aspects of the method include wherein the requirement for
the amount of power for the plurality of vehicles in total is
expressed in terms of a total distance travelled by the plurality
of vehicles.
[0126] Aspects of the method include wherein the set of service
configuration information comprises terms of a license
agreement.
[0127] Aspects of the method include wherein the set of vehicle
specific information for the one or more vehicles comprises
information identifying a type of power source used by each of the
one or more vehicles.
[0128] Aspects of the method include wherein the power sources
comprise batteries.
[0129] Embodiments include a system comprising a processor and a
memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing
therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the
processor, causes the processor to provision an amount of power for
one or more vehicles, the method comprising: receiving, over a
communications network, a request indicating a requirement for an
amount of power for the one or more vehicles, the request
indicating the requirement for the amount of power for the one or
more vehicles individually or in total; reading a set of management
rules from one or more databases; reading a set of service
configuration information from one or more databases; reading a set
of vehicle specific information for the one or more vehicles from
one or more databases; determining one or more power sources to
meet the requirement for the amount of power for the one or more
vehicles based on applying the management rules and using the set
of service configuration information and the set of vehicle
information; and providing, over the communications network, an
indication of the determined power sources.
[0130] Aspects of the above system include wherein the one or more
vehicles comprises a plurality of vehicles.
[0131] Aspects of the above system include wherein the request for
the indicates the requirement for the amount of power for the
plurality of vehicles in total.
[0132] Aspects of the above system include wherein the requirement
for the amount of power for the plurality of vehicles in total is
expressed in terms of a total distance travelled by the plurality
of vehicles.
[0133] Aspects of the above system include wherein the set of
service configuration information comprises terms of a license
agreement.
[0134] Aspects of the above system include wherein the set of
vehicle specific information for the one or more vehicles comprises
information identifying a type of power source used by each of the
one or more vehicles.
[0135] Aspects of the above system include wherein the power
sources comprise batteries.
[0136] Embodiments include a non-transitory computer-readable
medium comprising a set of instructions stored thereon which, when
executed by a processor, causes the processor to provision an
amount of power for one or more vehicles by: receiving, at a
service provider system and over a communications network, a
request indicating a requirement for an amount of power for the one
or more vehicles, the request indicating the requirement for the
amount of power for the one or more vehicles individually or in
total; reading, by the service provider system, a set of management
rules from one or more databases; reading, by the service provider
system, a set of service configuration information from one or more
databases; reading, by the service provider system, a set of
vehicle specific information for the one or more vehicles from one
or more databases; determining, by the service provider system, one
or more power sources to meet the requirement for the amount of
power for the one or more vehicles based on applying the management
rules and using the set of service configuration information and
the set of vehicle information; and providing, from the service
provider system over the communications network, an indication of
the determined power sources.
[0137] Aspects of the above non-transitory computer-readable medium
include wherein the one or more vehicles comprises a plurality of
vehicles.
[0138] Aspects of the above non-transitory computer-readable medium
include wherein the request for the indicates the requirement for
the amount of power for the plurality of vehicles in total.
[0139] Aspects of the above non-transitory computer-readable medium
include wherein the requirement for the amount of power for the
plurality of vehicles in total is expressed in terms of a total
distance travelled by the plurality of vehicles.
[0140] Aspects of the above non-transitory computer-readable medium
include wherein the set of service configuration information
comprises terms of a license agreement.
[0141] Aspects of the above non-transitory computer-readable medium
include wherein the set of vehicle specific information for the one
or more vehicles comprises information identifying a type of power
source used by each of the one or more vehicles.
[0142] Any one or more of the aspects/embodiments as substantially
disclosed herein.
[0143] Any one or more of the aspects/embodiments as substantially
disclosed herein optionally in combination with any one or more
other aspects/embodiments as substantially disclosed herein.
[0144] One or means adapted to perform any one or more of the above
aspects/embodiments as substantially disclosed herein.
[0145] The phrases "at least one," "one or more," "or," and
"and/or" are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and
disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions "at
least one of A, B and C," "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or
more of A, B, and C," "one or more of A, B, or C," "A, B, and/or
C," and "A, B, or C" means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B
together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C
together.
[0146] The term "a" or "an" entity refers to one or more of that
entity. As such, the terms "a" (or "an"), "one or more," and "at
least one" can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be
noted that the terms "comprising," "including," and "having" can be
used interchangeably.
[0147] The term "automatic" and variations thereof, as used herein,
refers to any process or operation, which is typically continuous
or semi-continuous, done without material human input when the
process or operation is performed. However, a process or operation
can be automatic, even though performance of the process or
operation uses material or immaterial human input, if the input is
received before performance of the process or operation. Human
input is deemed to be material if such input influences how the
process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents
to the performance of the process or operation is not deemed to be
"material."
[0148] Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an
embodiment that is entirely hardware, an embodiment that is
entirely software (including firmware, resident software,
micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware
aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a
"circuit," "module," or "system." Any combination of one or more
computer-readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-readable
medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a
computer-readable storage medium.
[0149] A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but
not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,
infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any
suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a
non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium would
include the following: an electrical connection having one or more
wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access
memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable
read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a
portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage
device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of
the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable
storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store
a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution
system, apparatus, or device.
[0150] A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated
data signal with computer-readable program code embodied therein,
for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a
propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including,
but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable
combination thereof. A computer-readable signal medium may be any
computer-readable medium that is not a computer-readable storage
medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program
for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,
apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer-readable
medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including,
but not limited to, wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF,
etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
[0151] The terms "determine," "calculate," "compute," and
variations thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and
include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or
technique.
[0152] The term "electric vehicle" (EV), also referred to herein as
an electric drive vehicle, may use one or more electric motors or
traction motors for propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered
through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources,
or may be self-contained with a battery or generator to convert
fuel to electricity. An electric vehicle generally includes a
rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS) (also called Full
Electric Vehicles (FEV)). Power storage methods may include:
chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries (e.g.,
battery electric vehicle or BEV), on board kinetic energy storage
(e.g., flywheels), and/or static energy (e.g., by on-board
double-layer capacitors). Batteries, electric double-layer
capacitors, and flywheel energy storage may be forms of
rechargeable on-board electrical storage.
[0153] The term "hybrid electric vehicle" refers to a vehicle that
may combine a conventional (usually fossil fuel-powered) powertrain
with some form of electric propulsion. Most hybrid electric
vehicles combine a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE)
propulsion system with an electric propulsion system (hybrid
vehicle drivetrain). In parallel hybrids, the ICE and the electric
motor are both connected to the mechanical transmission and can
simultaneously transmit power to drive the wheels, usually through
a conventional transmission. In series hybrids, only the electric
motor drives the drivetrain, and a smaller ICE works as a generator
to power the electric motor or to recharge the batteries.
Power-split hybrids combine series and parallel characteristics. A
full hybrid, sometimes also called a strong hybrid, is a vehicle
that can run on just the engine, just the batteries, or a
combination of both. A mid hybrid is a vehicle that cannot be
driven solely on its electric motor, because the electric motor
does not have enough power to propel the vehicle on its own.
[0154] The term "rechargeable electric vehicle" or "REV" refers to
a vehicle with on board rechargeable energy storage, including
electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
* * * * *