Method for shared vehicle maintenance and recovery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210612-B2
Application number	US-202017117404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2020
Priority date	Apr 20, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

System, apparatus, device and methods relating to a telematic vehicle sharing platform ecosystem and a telematic vehicle share I/O expander to automate sharing and management of a vehicle that is shared by more than one operator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management for a shared vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving in a telematic device from a vehicle share platform a vehicle share reservation including reservation data;
subsequent to said receiving a vehicle share reservation, receiving an indication of a unique personal attribute capable to be associated with a telematic device and said shared vehicle;
initiating an active vehicle reservation;
from the beginning of said active vehicle reservation to the completion of said vehicle share reservation, monitoring said shared vehicle and communicating shared vehicle data to a vehicle maintenance platform;
processing said shared vehicle data and said reservation data providing shared vehicle maintenance identification for said shared vehicle thereby determining maintenance requirements between reservations of said shared vehicle,
wherein said determining maintenance requirements between reservations of said shared vehicle comprises determining either a minor maintenance event or a major maintenance event,
wherein said minor maintenance event is associated with a first maintenance location and first vehicle permissions, and
wherein said major maintenance event is associated with a second maintenance location and second vehicle permissions; and,
scheduling said major or minor maintenance event for said shared vehicle based on said reservation data, a time to a next reservation and vehicle location at an end of a previous reservation.

2. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said indication is a biometric indication.

3. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 2 wherein said biometric indication is selected from the group consisting of a face, a fingerprint, an eye or voice relating to said unique personal attribute.

4. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said indication is a proximal indication.

5. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 4 wherein said proximal indication is one of a RFID tag or proximity card relating to said unique personal attribute.

6. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said indication is a personal device indication.

7. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 6 wherein said personal device indication is selected from the group consisting of a smart phone, a smart watch, a smart fob or a vehicle share app installed on a smart device.

8. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said shared vehicle data is selected from the group of speed data, location data, or accelerometer data.

9. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 8 wherein said shared vehicle data provides indications of vehicle use and said indications of vehicle use are associated with said unique personal attribute.

10. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 9 wherein said shared vehicle data is selected from the group of fluid level data, energy level data or engine data.

11. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 further including:
receiving said reservation data, said reservation data including at least one of a purpose of vehicle use, preferred start location, preferred stop location, vehicle type, length of use, distance required, energy required or parked location.

12. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said shared vehicle data includes at least one of energy at start of said active reservation, energy replenishment, energy at completion of said active reservation, actual start location, actual stop location or fluid levels.

13. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 further including:
receiving said reservation data, wherein said reservation data includes at least one of a purpose of vehicle use, preferred start location, preferred stop location, vehicle type, length of use, distance required, energy required or parked location; and
wherein said shared vehicle data includes at least one of energy at start of said active reservation, energy replenishment, energy at completion of said active reservation, actual start location, actual stop location, fluid levels or accelerometer indications.

14. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 13 wherein receiving said reservation data comprises receiving said reservation data having said parked location and wherein said shared vehicle data includes said energy at completion, wherein processing said shared vehicle data and said reservation data comprises processing said parked location and said energy at completion to determine an energy maintenance event.

15. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 14 wherein said energy maintenance event includes recovery of said vehicle.

16. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 13 wherein receiving said reservation data comprises receiving said reservation data having said parked location and wherein said shared vehicle data includes said fluid levels, wherein processing said shared vehicle data and said reservation data comprises processing said parked location and said fluid levels to determine a fluid level maintenance event.

17. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 13 wherein receiving said reservation data comprises receiving said reservation data having said parked location and wherein said shared vehicle data includes said accelerometer indications, wherein processing said shared vehicle data and said reservation data comprises processing said parked location and said accelerometer indications to determine an accident maintenance event.

18. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 17 wherein said accident maintenance event includes recovery of said vehicle.

19. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 13 wherein receiving said reservation data comprises receiving said reservation data having said parked location and wherein said shared vehicle data includes engine data, wherein processing said shared vehicle data and said reservation data comprises processing said parked location and said engine data to determine an engine maintenance event.

20. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said telematic device includes a vehicle share portion wherein said vehicle share portion includes a microprocessor, memory and firmware configured to interface with an electronic vehicle key device, the electronic vehicle key device having a button, wherein the microprocessor performs an actuation validation process where a button-depressed or a button-released condition is monitored without the need to know the actual hardware configuration of the electronic vehicle key device.

21. A method for shared vehicle maintenance management as in claim 1 wherein said telematic device includes a vehicle share portion wherein said vehicle share portion includes a microprocessor, memory and firmware configured to interface with an electronic vehicle key device, the electronic vehicle key device having a button, wherein the microprocessor performs a health check and reports a fault if required.

Assignees

• Geotab Inc

Inventors

• Mendes Christopher J
• Fox Stephen Michael
• Gordon Gaffney Benjamin John

Classifications

• B60R2325/205

  Mobile phones · CPC title

• B60R25/255

  Eye recognition · CPC title

• B60R25/257

  Voice recognition · CPC title

• H04L67/12

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

• B60R25/33

  of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates · CPC title