Systems and methods for environmental management in a network of moving things

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10841379-B2
Application number	US-201615228613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2016
Priority date	Sep 22, 2015
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for environmental management in a network of moving things. As non-limiting examples, various aspects of this disclosure provide systems and methods for integrating sensors, mobile access points, and/or the network of moving things with municipal waste management systems, pollution control systems, etc.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile access point (MAP) for use in a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:
at least one wireless transceiver; and
at least one module comprising a processor and memory, wherein the at least one module is operable to, at least, while the MAP is on-board a moving vehicle:
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver to provide general-purpose wireless local area network (WLAN) services to user devices within wireless range of the at least one wireless transceiver, the general-purpose WLAN services comprising WLAN communication services unrelated to waste management;
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver to establish communication links directly with other peer mobile access points, where each of the other peer mobile access points is on-board a respective vehicle;
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver of the MAP to establish communication links directly with waste container sensors positioned along a travel route of the moving vehicle that the MAP is on-board;
collect waste management-related sensor data from the sensors; and
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver to communicate information related to the collected waste management-related sensor data to a second system via the vehicle communication network,

wherein the at least one module is operable to:
receive first data collection control information, the first data collection control information comprising a list of sensors along the travel route of the moving vehicle that the MAP is on-board and from which the MAP is to collect sensor information; and
while the MAP is traveling on the travel route:
receive second data collection control information; and
adjust the list of sensors from which the MAP is to collect sensor information based, at least in part, on the received second data collection control information.

2. The mobile access point of claim 1 ,
wherein the MAP is mechanically coupled to a vehicle that is unrelated to waste management.

3. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein the MAP is mechanically coupled to a mail service vehicle.

4. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle comprises a public transportation vehicle; and
the at least one module is operable to provide general-purpose wireless communication services to passengers of the public transportation vehicle, the general-purpose wireless communication services comprising Internet access.

5. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein the second system comprises a central controller and/or a central database.

6. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein the second system comprises a peer mobile access point like the mobile access point and on-board another moving vehicle.

7. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein the at least one module is operable to, after collecting the waste management-related sensor data, determine at least one of a plurality of manners in which to communicate the information to the second system, the plurality of manners comprising a real-time communication manner and a delay tolerant communication manner.

8. The mobile access point of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of manners comprises:
a first manner comprising immediately communicating the information to the second system in the Cloud via a first type of metropolitan area network; and
a second manner comprising communicating the information to the second system in a delay tolerant manner via a second type of metropolitan area network.

9. The mobile access point of claim 7 , wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether to communicate the information to the second system in a real-time communication manner or in a delay tolerant communication manner based, at least in part, on a value of the collected waste management-related sensor data.

10. The mobile access point of claim 7 , wherein the at least one module is operable to identify a network via which to communicate the information related to the collected waste management-related sensor data to the second system based, at least in part, on time-of-day and/or day-of-week.

11. The mobile access point of claim 7 , wherein the at least one module is operable to:
determine a priority of the information; and
select between the plurality of manners in which to communicate the information to the second system based, at least in part, on the determined priority.

12. The mobile access point of claim 1 , wherein the at least one module is operable to, after collecting the waste management-related sensor data from the sensors, determine at least one of a plurality of manners in which to communicate the information to the second system, wherein the plurality of manners comprises:
a first manner comprising communicating the information to the second system via a vehicle communication network; and
a second manner comprising communicating the information to the second system via a cellular communication network.

13. A mobile access point (MAP) for use in a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:
at least one wireless transceiver; and
at least one module comprising a processor and memory, wherein the at least one module is operable to, at least, while the MAP is on-board a moving vehicle:
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver to provide general-purpose wireless local area network (WLAN) services to personal electronic devices within wireless range of the at least one wireless transceiver, the general-purpose WLAN services comprising WLAN communication services unrelated to waste management;
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver to establish communication links directly with other peer mobile access points, where each of the other peer mobile access points is on-board a respective vehicle;
utilize the at least one wireless transceiver of the MAP to establish communication links directly with sensors positioned along a travel route of the moving vehicle that the MAP is on-board;
collect waste management-related sensor data from the sensors; and
analyze the collected waste management-related sensor data to identify at least one action to perform,

wherein the at least one module is operable to, after collecting the waste management-related sensor data, analyze the collected waste management-related sensor data to determine at least one of a plurality of manners in which to communicate the collected waste management-related sensor data to a second system, the plurality of manners comprising a real-time communication manner and a delay tolerant communication manner.

14. The mobile access point of claim 13 , wherein the at least one module is operable to, after collecting the waste management-related sensor data, analyze the collected waste management-related sensor data to determine at least one of a plurality of available manners in which to communicate the collected waste management-related sensor data to a second system, the plurality of manners comprising a real-time communication manner and a delay tolerant communication manner.

15. The mobile access point of claim 13 , wherein the at least one module is operable to analyze the collected waste management-related sensor data to determine whether to modify a waste collection plan.

16. The mobile access point of claim 15 , wherein the at least one module is operable to:
receive a waste collection plan prior to collecting the waste management-related sensor data from the sensors; and
modify the waste collection plan in real-time while the mobile access point is moving based, at least in part, on the collected waste management-related senso

Assignees

• Veniam Inc

Inventors

• Azevedo Joao
• Cardote Andre

Classifications

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

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

• H04W88/10

  adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title