Vehicle route selection based on energy usage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10429199-B2
Application number	US-201715644151-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2017
Priority date	Nov 24, 2009
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

Vehicle management systems and associated processes can consider energy consumption when selecting routes for fleet vehicles. Vehicle management systems and associated processes are described that, in certain embodiments, evaluate vehicle energy usage based on factors such as terrain or elevation, vehicle characteristics, driver characteristics, road conditions, traffic, speed limits, stop time, turn information, traffic information, and weather information, and the like. The features described herein may also be implemented for non-fleet vehicles, such as in personal vehicle navigation systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing dynamically adjustable routing of a powered vehicle, the method comprising:
by a computer system comprising computer hardware and a communication device,
generating feasible routes;
analyzing the feasible routes based on an energy use;
identifying a preferred route based on the analysis;
determining navigation instructions based on the preferred route to navigate the powered vehicle along a transportation route connecting a plurality of stops via a network of streets in a geographic region;
outputting the navigation instructions for presentation to a user of the powered vehicle;
calculating a new set of feasible routes at each stop during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route, the new set of feasible routes based on new information received by the communication device, the new information affecting energy use of the powered vehicle during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route;
determining whether there is a new preferred route by calculating and ranking the energy use of each new set of the feasible routes; and
outputting new navigation instructions on the determination that there is the new preferred route, the new navigation instructions based on the new preferred route, the new navigation instructions being output for presentation to the user of the powered vehicle during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new information is provided by any of the user of the powered vehicle, a vehicle management system, and a remote third party application.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the new information comprises any of energy use constraint, distance, elevation, time constraint, vehicle characteristics, driver characteristics, speed limit, accident information, information of a stop requiring mandatory delivery at a particular time, road closure information, and detour information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each item of the new information is assigned a weight in relation to relative importance of the energy use.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the weight is based on any of predetermined criteria, an input from the vehicle management system, and a user-defined input.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the weight is variable and can be adjusted on real-time basis by an input from the vehicle management system or the user-defined input.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a user interface in the powered vehicle is configured to receive the user-defined input to adjust the weight in real-time.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the communication device is configured to receive an input from the remote third party application to adjust the weight in real-time.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein an operator override input causes the weight to be ignored in real-time.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the item of the new information selected by a user-defined input affects calculation of the new set of the feasible routes.

11. A system for providing dynamically adjustable routing of a powered vehicle, the system comprising:
a communication device; and
processing circuitry comprising physical computer hardware configured to:
generate feasible routes;
analyze the feasible routes based on an energy use;
identify a preferred route based on the analysis;
determine navigation instructions based on the preferred route to navigate the powered vehicle along a transportation route connecting a plurality of stops via a network of streets in a geographic region;
output the navigation instructions for presentation to a user of the powered vehicle;
calculate a new set of feasible routes at each stop during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route, the new set of feasible routes based on new information received by the communication device, the new information affecting energy use of the powered vehicle during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route;
determine whether there is a new preferred route by calculating and ranking the energy use of each new set of the feasible routes; and
output the new preferred route on the determination that there is a new preferred route, the new preferred route being output for presentation to the user of the powered vehicle during the course of travel of the powered vehicle along the transportation route.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the new information affecting energy use is provided by any of the user of the powered vehicle, a vehicle management system, and a remote third party application.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the new information affecting energy use comprises any of energy use constraint, distance, elevation, time constraint, vehicle characteristics, speed limit, accident information, information of a stop requiring mandatory delivery at a particular time, road closure information, and detour information.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein each item of the new information is assigned a weight in relation to relative importance of the energy use.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the weight is based on any of predetermined criteria, an input from the vehicle management system, and a user-defined input.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the weight is variable and can be adjusted on real-time basis by an input from the vehicle management system or the user-defined input.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein a user interface in the powered vehicle is configured to receive the user-defined input to adjust the weight in real-time.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the communication device is configured to receive an input from the remote third party application to adjust the weight in real-time.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein an operator override input causes the weight to be ignored in real-time.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the item of the new information selected by a user-defined input affects calculation of the new set of the feasible routes.

Assignees

• Telogis Inc
• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Mason Ralph James
• Koch Jason Mathew
• Jelinek Howard

Classifications

• B60W2540/043

  Identity of occupants · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• G06Q10/047

  Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem · CPC title

• G01C21/3617

  using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement · CPC title

• G06Q10/063112

  Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task · CPC title