Methods and apparatus for categorization of vehicle loading and display thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10589700-B2
Application number	US-201816104599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2018
Priority date	Aug 17, 2018
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for categorization of vehicle loading and display thereof. An example apparatus includes a vehicle load condition manager programmed to categorize a first load data and second load data associated with a vehicle, compare a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold, and generate an alert for display via a user interface when the summation of the first and second load data exceeds the threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a sensor interface to receive first load data associated with a vehicle from a sensor;
a user input interface to receive second load data associated with the vehicle from a user interface;
a threshold comparator to compare a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold;
a load categorizer to sort the first and second load data into one or more categories, each of the categories based on sensor input associated with the first load data or user input associated with the second load data, the first load data including vehicle load data or the second load data including an external load on the vehicle; and
a display generator to output the sorted load data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor includes at least one of an occupant sensor, an axle load sensor, a trailer weight sensor, or a fuel level sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more categories include at least one of a vehicle cargo category, an occupants category, a fuel category, an accessories category, or a trailer category.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user interface receives an input indicating at least one of an accessory mounted to the vehicle, an occupancy of the vehicle, or a trailer coupled to the vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the user interface receives an input including a load parameter of the accessory and further including a vehicle data storer to store the load parameter of the accessory.

6. An apparatus, comprising:
a sensor interface to receive first load data associated with a vehicle from a sensor;
a user input interface to receive second load data associated with the vehicle from a user interface;
a load categorizer to sort the first and second load data into one or more categories, each of the categories based on sensor input associated with the first load data or user input associated with the second load data;
a display generator to output the sorted load data;
a threshold comparator to compare a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold;
an alert generator to generate an alert for display via the user interface when the summation of the first and second load exceeds the threshold; and
a load planner to generate a recommendation for display via the user interface, the recommendation to recommend decreasing at least one of a first or second load associated with the first or second load data, respectively, such that the summation does not exceed the threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the load planner is further to generate the recommendation based upon a predicted parameter of the vehicle, the predicted parameter based upon at least one of a length of trip or a destination determined by at least one of a navigation system of the vehicle or a schedule associated with a user of the vehicle.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
a vehicle load condition manager programmed to:
categorize first load data and second load data associated with a vehicle into one or more categories, each of the categories based on sensor input associated with the first load data or user input associated with the second load data, the first load data including vehicle load data or the second load data including an external load on the vehicle;
compare a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold; and
generate an alert for display via a user interface when the summation of the first and second load data exceeds the threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first load data or the second load data are received from a sensor including at least one of an occupant sensor, an axle load sensor, a trailer weight sensor, or a fuel level sensor.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more categories include at least one of a vehicle cargo category, an occupants category, a fuel category, an accessories category, or a trailer category.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first load data or the second load data are received from an input via a user interface indicating at least one of an accessory mounted to the vehicle, an occupancy of the vehicle, or a trailer coupled to the vehicle.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user interface receives an input including a load parameter of the accessory and the vehicle load condition manager is further programmed to store the load parameter of the accessory.

13. An apparatus, comprising:
a vehicle load condition manager programmed to:
categorize first load data and second load data associated with a vehicle into one or more categories, each of the categories based on sensor input associated with the first load data or user input associated with the second load data;
compare a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold; and
generate an alert for display via a user interface when the summation of the first and second load data exceeds the threshold,
wherein the vehicle load condition manager is further programmed to generate a recommendation for display via the user interface, the recommendation to recommend decreasing a load on the vehicle such that the summation does not exceed the threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the vehicle load condition manager is further programmed to generate the recommendation based upon a predicted parameter of the vehicle, the predicted parameter based upon at least one of a length of trip or a destination determined by at least one of a navigation system of the vehicle or a schedule associated with a user of the vehicle.

15. A method, comprising:
receiving first load data associated with a vehicle from a sensor;
receiving second load data associated with the vehicle from a user interface;
sorting the first and second load data into one or more categories, each of the categories based on sensor input associated with the first load data or user input associated with the second load data;
comparing a summation of the first and second load data to a threshold; and
generating an alert for display via the user interface when the summation of the first and second load data exceeds the threshold.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the first load or second load are received from the sensor including at least one of an occupant sensor, an axle load sensor, a trailer weight sensor, or a fuel level sensor.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more categories include at least one of a vehicle cargo category, an occupants category, a fuel category, an accessories category, or a trailer category.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the first load or second load are received from an input via the user interface indicating at least one of an accessory mounted to the vehicle, an occupancy of the vehicle, or a trailer coupled to the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 18 , further including:
receiving an input including a load parameter of the accessory; and
storing the load parameter of the accessory.

20. The method of claim 15 , further including generating a graphic including the first and second load data, sorted by category, for display.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Niedert Andrew
• Rogness Anton
• Pearson Elliott
• Rajasingh Joshua

Classifications

• G07C5/008

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

• G01G23/005

  Means for preventing overload · CPC title

• G01G19/08 Primary

  for incorporation in vehicles · CPC title

• H04W4/44

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

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title