Systems and methods for using on-board resources of individual vehicles in a fleet of vehicles as a distributed data center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10102691-B1
Application number	US-201815958636-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 20, 2018
Priority date	Apr 20, 2018
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a distributed data center that includes resources carried by a fleet of vehicles. The system includes sensors configured to generate output signals conveying information related to the vehicles. The system may detect vehicle events based on the information conveyed by the output signals. The system includes a remote computing server configured to present a user interface to a user. Through the user interface, the user may query information from one or more vehicles in the fleet. The distributed query is transmitted to individual vehicles, and results are locally processed in accordance with response constraints and subsequently transmitted back to the remote computing server for presentation to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system configured to use data-processing resources carried by a fleet of vehicles as a distributed data center, the system configured to couple with the fleet of vehicles, wherein the fleet includes at least a first vehicle, a second vehicle, and a third vehicle, the system comprising:
a first set of resources for data processing and persistent storage, wherein the first set of resources is carried by the first vehicle, wherein the first set of resources includes a first transceiver configured to transfer and receive information to and from the fleet of vehicles and a remote computing server;
a first set of sensors configured to generate output signals conveying first information related to operation of the first vehicle, wherein the first set of sensors is carried by the first vehicle, wherein the first set of resources is configured to store the first information;
a second set of resources for data processing and persistent storage, wherein the second set of resources is carried by the second vehicle, wherein the second set of resources includes a second transceiver configured to transfer and receive information to and from the fleet of vehicles and the remote computing server;
a second set of sensors configured to generate output signals conveying second information related to operation of the second vehicle, wherein the second set of sensors is carried by the second vehicle, wherein the second set of resources is configured to store the second information;
a third set of resources for data processing and persistent storage, wherein the third set of resources is carried by the third vehicle, wherein the third set of resources includes a third transceiver configured to transfer and receive information to and from the fleet of vehicles and the remote computing server;
a third set of sensors configured to generate output signals conveying third information related to operation of the third vehicle, wherein the third set of sensors is carried by the third vehicle, wherein the third set of resources is configured to store the third information; and
the remote computing server including one or more processors, wherein the remote computing server is separate and discrete from the fleet of vehicles, and wherein the one or more processors are configured via machine-readable instructions to:
facilitate presentation of a user interface to a user, wherein the user interface is configured to receive input from the user;
receive the input from the user through the user interface, wherein the received input represents a distributed query related to the operation of the fleet of vehicles;
transmit wirelessly query information based on the distributed query from the remote computing server to the first, second, and third vehicle;

wherein the first transceiver is further configured to receive the query information from the remote computing server, wherein the first set of resources is configured to:
obtain a first set of response constraints;
obtain first current local data transmission conditions for the first transceiver;
perform the distributed query on the stored first information, resulting in a first set of potential results; and
convert the first set of potential results to create a first set of results, wherein conversion is based on the first set of response constraints and the first current local data transmission conditions,
wherein the first transceiver is further configured to transmit the first set of results to the remote computing server,

wherein the second transceiver is further configured to receive the query information from the remote computing server, wherein the second set of resources is configured to:
obtain a second set of response constraints;
obtain second current local data transmission conditions for the second transceiver;
perform the distributed query on the stored second information, resulting in a second set of potential results; and
convert the second set of potential results to create a second set of results, wherein conversion is based on the second set of response constraints and the second current local data transmission conditions,

wherein the second transceiver is further configured to transmit the second set of results to the remote computing server,
wherein the third transceiver is further configured to receive the query information from the remote computing server, wherein the third set of resources is configured to:
obtain a third set of response constraints;
obtain third current local data transmission conditions for the third transceiver;
perform the distributed query on the stored third information, resulting in a third set of potential results; and
convert the third set of potential results to create a third set of results, wherein conversion is based on the third set of response constraints and the third current local data transmission conditions,
wherein the third transceiver is further configured to transmit the third set of results to the remote computing server,

wherein the one or more processors of the remote computing server are further configured to:
receive the first set of results from the first transceiver, the second set of results from the second transceiver, and the third set of results from the third transceiver;
aggregate the first, second, and third set of results into aggregated results; and
facilitate presentation of the aggregated results via the user interface to the user.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distributed query corresponds to one or more particular time frames, wherein performance of the distributed query is limited to the output signals that were generated in the one or more particular time frames.

3. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the first information includes first timing information and first operator information, wherein the first timing information associates the generated output signals with one or more first moments of generation by the first set of sensors, wherein the first operator information associates the generated output signals with a first vehicle operator of the first vehicle at the one or more first moments of operation,
wherein the second information includes second timing information and second operator information, wherein the second timing information associates the generated output signals with one or more second moments of generation by the second set of sensors, wherein the second operator information associates the generated output signals with a second vehicle operator of the second vehicle at the one or more second moments of operation,
wherein the third information includes third timing information and third operator information, wherein the third timing information associates the generated output signals with one or more third moments of generation by the third set of sensors, wherein the third operator information associates the generated output signals with a third vehicle operator of the third vehicle at the one or more third moments of operation.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least part of the first set of response constraints are determined based on the received query information.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first current local data transmission conditions are obtained from the first transceiver.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distributed query corresponds to a particular vehicle operator.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first transceiver is configured to transmit the first set of results to the remote computing server in annotated data packets, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive a set of data packets,
determine whether one or more particular data packets are missing or corrupted, based on annotations in the set of received data pac

Assignees

• Smartdrive Systems Inc

Inventors

• Ghanbari Reza
• Brookins Nicholas Shayne
• Forney David
• Freitas Mark
• Deninger Daniel Andrew
• Griswold Jeffrey
• Palmer Jason

Classifications

• G07C5/008 Primary

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• H04W4/44

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G07C5/0841

  Registering performance data (recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B) · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title