System and method to exhibit vehicle information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10229601-B2
Application number	US-201715418979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2017
Priority date	Jan 30, 2017
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

A system to exhibit vehicle information is presented herein. The system includes a data center, vehicle, and sign. The data center includes a memory, long-range transceiver, and server. The memory is configured to have one or more vehicle share records. The long-range transceiver is configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over a long-range communication channel. The server is configured to communicably couple with the memory and long-range transceiver. The server is also configured to operate the long-range transceiver to transmit the vehicle-share records as data transmissions over the long-range communication channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system to exhibit vehicle information, the system comprising: a data center comprising:
a memory configured to store one or more vehicle-share records, wherein the one or more vehicle-share records are related to vehicle sharing and self-serve vehicle rental services, wherein the vehicle-share records comprise vehicle-share services reservation account information, vehicle reservation time-share information, and vehicle return expectation information;
a long-range transceiver configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over a long-range communication channel;
a server configured to communicably couple with the memory and long-range transceiver, the server configured to operate the long-range transceiver to transmit the vehicle-share records as data transmissions over the long-range communication channel; a vehicle comprising:
a communication device configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over a short-range communication channel;
a telematics unit configured to communicably couple with the communication device, the telematics unit configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over the long-range communication channel, the telematics unit configured to operate the communication device to transmit one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel;
a parking sign associated with a parking space, wherein the parking sign and parking space are related to the vehicle sharing and self-serve vehicle rental services, the parking sign comprising:
a short-range transceiver configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel;
a graphics display, wherein the graphics display is a liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) display, or organic light emitting diodes (OLEO) display, the graphics display configured to exhibit information; and
a processor module configured to communicably couple with the short-range transceiver and the display, the processor module configured to receive the one or more data transmissions from the short-range transceiver,
wherein the processor module is configured to generate a notification when the processor module determines that the one or more data transmissions comprise vehicle-share records information sufficient to generate the notification, wherein, based on the one or more vehicle-share records, the notification comprises vehicle-share services reservation account information, vehicle reservation time-share information, vehicle return expectation information, and wherein the processor module is further configured to operate the display to exhibit the notification

a mobile computing device comprising a second long-range transceiver configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over the long-range communication channel;
wherein the mobile computing device is configured to receive the one or more data transmissions comprising the vehicle-share records information from the second long-range transceiver, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to generate modified vehicle-share records when the mobile computing device determines that the one or more data transmissions comprise vehicle-share records information, and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second long-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the long-range communication channel wherein the modified vehicle-share records are based on the vehicle-share records information;
wherein the mobile computing device further comprising a second short-range transceiver configured to communicate one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel; and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second short-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel;
wherein the short-range communication channel is a near-field communication channel, and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to detect
being pressed against a selected portion of the parking sign, and
wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second short-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel when being pressed against the selected portion of the parking sign.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second memory on the sign, the second memory configured to store the vehicle-share records information or the notification or some combination thereof, wherein the short-range transceiver is further configured to transmit the stored vehicle-share records information or the notification or both the vehicle-share records information and the notification as one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a mobile computing device comprising a second long-range transceiver configured to transmit and receive one or more data transmissions over the long-range communication channel; and
wherein the mobile computing device is configured to receive the one or more data transmissions comprising the vehicle-share records information from the second long-range transceiver, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to generate modified vehicle-share records when the mobile computing device determines that the one or more data transmissions comprise vehicle-share records information, and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second long-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the long-range communication channel wherein the modified vehicle-share records are based on the vehicle-share records information.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the mobile computing device further comprising a second short-range transceiver configured to communicate one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel; and
wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second short-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the short-range communication channel is a near-field communication channel, and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to detect being pressed against a selected portion of the parking sign, and wherein the mobile computing device is configured to operate the second short-range transceiver to transmit the modified vehicle-share records as one or more data transmissions over the short-range communication channel when being pressed against the selected portion of the parking sign.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the communication device further configured to transmit a virtual vehicle identification key over the short-range communication channel;
the short-range transceiver further configured to receive the virtual vehicle identification key over the short-range communication channel; and
wherein the notification comprises an alert when an unapproved vehicle is identified to be in the parking space upon on a determination of the vehicle identification key status of the processor module.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle further comprises a sensor configured to perform vehicle diagnostics to generate diagnostic data, the sensor configured to communicably couple with the telematics unit; and
the telematics unit configured to operate the communication device to transmit the diagnostic data as one or more dat

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc
• Gen Motors Llc

Inventors

• Oesterling Christopher L
• Grimm Donald K
• Hurley Amy E
• Kamini Aditya S

Classifications

• G08G1/005

  including pedestrian guidance indicator · CPC title

• G08G1/02

  using treadles built into the road (pads or other sensitive devices responsive to passage of vehicles E01F11/00) · CPC title

• G08G1/04

  using optical or ultrasonic detectors · CPC title

• G08G1/042

  using inductive or magnetic detectors · CPC title

• H04W4/44

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