Heuristic evaluation systems and methods for spatial information deliverability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12169133-B2
Application number	US-202217964988-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2022
Priority date	Oct 28, 2021
Publication date	Dec 17, 2024
Grant date	Dec 17, 2024

Abstract

Heuristic evaluation systems and methods for spatial information deliverability for electric vehicle (EV) owners who are traveling and looking for charging location suggestions via their navigation systems, mobile applications, and/or the like. Suggestions are captured based on prior knowledge and user desires. In general, the system knows that a user is traveling from point A to point B and has a suggested optimal distance and/or time and/or cost to reach point B. The systems gathers information related to the traveler's desires in relation to lesser known dimensions, to enhance the overall quality of the travel and charging experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A navigation and charging station recommendation system for an electric vehicle, the system comprising:
memory storing instructions executed by a processor to receive an origination point and a destination point from a user and determine and suggest charging station locations to the user traveling from the origination point to the destination point based on time and distance considerations, charging hardware capability and availability considerations, and user preference attributes received from the user;
the memory storing instructions executed by the processor to determine an ordered list of scored charging station locations by applying a vector space model to required attributes collected from the electric vehicle, charging point attributes collected from charging stations, and preferred attributes collected from the user, wherein an initial ordered list of scored charging station locations based on primary dimensions is refined to form an optimized ordered list of scored charging station locations using secondary dimensions as feedback to the vector space model;
a display operable for displaying the optimized ordered list of scored charging station locations encompassing the suggestions to the user.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the display is one of a vehicle navigation display and a mobile device display.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining and suggesting charging station locations to the user traveling from the origination point to the destination point based on time and distance considerations comprises:
determining whether or not the destination point can be reached from the origination point without a charge;
if the answer is no, then determining available charging locations along available routes between the origination point and the destination point that can be reached based on an available charge; and
if the answer is yes, then determining available charging locations proximate the destination point that can be reached subsequent to reaching the destination point based on the available charge.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: total travel time from the origination point to the destination point and each charging station received from one of a navigation system and a navigation application, air temperature along the route received from one or more of the vehicle and a mobile device, charging hardware temperature received from one or more of the vehicle and each charging station, an expected charging time received from one of the vehicle and each charging station, and an expected charging cost received from one of each charging station and an infrastructure database.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: cost of available kWh during an expected charging time received from one of each charging station and an infrastructure database, cost of parking during the expected charging time received from one of each charging station and the infrastructure database, and available charging hardware received from one of each charging station and the infrastructure database.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: weather conditions at each charging station received from one or more of each charging station and a weather database, expected time of day for charging at each charging station, reported crime rate at each charging station, and amenities available at each charging station.

7. A navigation and charging station recommendation method for an electric vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving an origination point and a destination point from a user and determining and suggesting charging station locations to the user traveling from the origination point to the destination point based on time and distance considerations, charging hardware capability and availability considerations, and user preference attributes received from the user;
determining an ordered list of scored charging station locations by applying a vector space model to required attributes collected from the electric vehicle, charging point attributes collected from charging stations, and preferred attributes collected from the user, wherein an initial ordered list of scored charging station locations based on primary dimensions is refined to form an optimized ordered list of scored charging station locations using secondary dimensions as feedback to the vector space model;
displaying by a display the optimized ordered list of scored charging station locations encompassing the suggestions to the user.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the display is one of a vehicle navigation display and a mobile device display.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining and suggesting charging station locations to the user traveling from the origination point to the destination point based on time and distance considerations comprises:
determining whether or not the destination point can be reached from the origination point without a charge;
if the answer is no, then determining available charging locations along available routes between the origination point and the destination point that can be reached based on an available charge; and
if the answer is yes, then determining available charging locations proximate the destination point that can be reached subsequent to reaching the destination point based on the available charge.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: total travel time from the origination point to the destination point and each charging station received from one of a navigation system and a navigation application, air temperature along the route received from one or more of the vehicle and a mobile device, charging hardware temperature received from one or more of the vehicle and each charging station, an expected charging time received from one of the vehicle and each charging station, and an expected charging cost received from one of each charging station and an infrastructure database.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: cost of available kWh during an expected charging time received from one of each charging station and an infrastructure database, cost of parking during the expected charging time received from one of each charging station and the infrastructure database, and available charging hardware received from one of each charging station and the infrastructure database.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ordered list of scored charging station locations is formulated based on one or more of: weather conditions at each charging station received from one or more of each charging station and a weather database, expected time of day for charging at each charging station, reported crime rate at each charging station, and amenities available at each charging station.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, at a user interface associated with the display, receiving from the user a selection of a desired charging station of the ordered list of scored charging station locations and determining a route to the desired charging station and the destination point from a current location of the user.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium stored as instructions in a memory and executed by a processor to carry out steps comprising:
receiving an origination point

Assignees

• Volvo Car Corp

Inventors

• Yararbas Aykut
• Seneger Jon
• Esfahani Amir Karim

Classifications

• G01C21/3461

  Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types or segments such as motorways, toll roads or ferries · CPC title

• G01C21/3617

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

• G01C21/3691

  Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09) · CPC title

• B60L53/67

  Controlling two or more charging stations · CPC title

• B60L53/66

  Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles · CPC title