Method for coordinating a charging operation of a piloted motor vehicle, storage medium, mobile terminal device, and server apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10923779-B2
Application number	US-201816137858-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2018
Priority date	Sep 21, 2017
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A method for coordinating a charging operation for charging an energy storage mechanism of a piloted motor vehicle. A control mechanism that is external to the vehicle carries out: provision of a state-of-charge signal, which describes a current state of charge; provision of a schedule calendar signal, which describes schedule information of a user, on the basis of the provided schedule calendar signal; establishing a point in time of the time schedule; establishment of a state of charge as a threshold value required for adhering to the time schedule; if the current state of charge corresponds to the threshold value or drops below the threshold value, setting of geographic coordinates of a charging station as a drive destination that makes available at least one charging facility for charging the energy storage mechanism, and generation of a control signal for steering the motor vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for coordinating a charging operation for charging an energy storage mechanism of a piloted motor vehicle, the method comprising the following steps, which are carried out by a control mechanism external to the vehicle:
provision of a state-of-charge signal, which describes a current state of charge of the energy storage mechanism;
provision of a schedule calendar signal from a mobile terminal device, wherein the schedule calendar signal describes schedule information that is stored in a digital calendar and relates to a time schedule of a user of the motor vehicle and of the mobile terminal device;
conducting a textual analysis on descriptive text of the schedule calendar signal to identify a scheduled destination corresponding to a future scheduled event, wherein the scheduled destination identified through the textual analysis may lack a specific address;
on the basis of the provided schedule calendar signal: establishing a point in time of the time schedule which corresponds to the future scheduled event;
establishing of a required state of charge as a threshold value for enabling travel to the scheduled destination of the future scheduled event which eliminates a need to charge the energy storage mechanism and/or minimizes a number of recharging operations necessary to reach the scheduled destination of the future scheduled event;
provision of a data set that describes the respective geographic coordinates relating to a plurality of charging stations;
for each of the plurality of charging stations, determination of a workload of the respective charging facilities;
on the basis of the determined workload, determining at least one charging station as a travel destination that provides a freely available charging facility at a specified point in time or for a specified period of time in relation to the future scheduled event;
if the current state of charge corresponds to the threshold value or drops below the threshold value: choosing one of the at least one charging station which has or makes available at least one charging facility for charging the energy storage mechanism and setting geographic coordinates of a chosen charging station as the travel destination;
depending on the schedule information, generation of a control signal for steering the motor vehicle to the set geographic coordinates of the chosen charging station; and
transmission of the generated control signal to a driver assistance mechanism of the motor vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
on the basis of the provided schedule calendar signal: establishment of a parking parameter that describes a parking period in which the motor vehicle will not be used by the user and/or establishment of a parking location of the motor vehicle,
wherein the setting of the geographic coordinates of the charging station is made as a function of the established parking parameter.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
generation of a notification signal, which describes a message to the user relative to information about the current state of charge and/or a current remaining range of travel of the motor vehicle and/or a thematic context of the time schedule;
transmission of the generated notification signal to the mobile terminal device for emission by the mobile terminal device; and
after the transmission of the generated notification signal: receiving an activation signal from the mobile terminal device,
wherein the generation of the control signal and the transmission thereof to the driver assistance mechanism take place as a function of the received activation signal.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determination of a maintenance action for providing a functional state of a motor vehicle system of the motor vehicle;
determination of whether the charging station offers a particular provided service in order to carry out the maintenance action;
if the charging station offers the particular provided service: generation of a service query signal that describes the maintenance action and/or the particular provided service;
transmission of the generated service query signal to the mobile terminal device for output by the mobile terminal device;
depending on a confirmation signal received from the mobile terminal device: generation of an order signal, which describes a release for carrying out the maintenance action and/or the particular provided service; and
transmission of the generated order signal to a communication mechanism of the charging station.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
setting of a price of the maintenance action and/or of the particular provided service,
wherein a) the generated service query signal describes the determined price and/or wherein b), when the confirmation signal is received, the control mechanism debits a monetary value in the amount of the determined price from an account of the user.

6. A tangible non-transitory storage medium containing a program code, which, when executed by a processor mechanism of a mobile terminal device and/or a motor vehicle and/or a server apparatus, is equipped to carry out a method comprising the steps according to claim 1 .

7. A mobile, portable terminal device with a storage medium according to claim 5 .

8. A server device for operation in the Internet, having a storage medium according to claim 5 .

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Enzinger Tobias
• Soehnle Benjamin
• Schuller Florian
• Falk Sebastian

Classifications

• G07C5/0808 Primary

  Diagnosing performance data (testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005) · CPC title

• H01M10/486 Primary

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• B60L53/62

  in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge · CPC title

• B60L53/50 Primary

  Charging stations characterised by energy-storage or power-generation means · CPC title

• B60L2250/14

  by input of vehicle departure time · CPC title