Predictive data prefetching for connected vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018007161-A1
Application number	US-201615198741-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2016
Publication date	Jan 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a computer implemented method of receiving data at a vehicle having control circuitry configured to wirelessly couple a processor system of the vehicle to a network. The method includes determining, using the processor system, a route that is expected to be traveled by the vehicle. The method further includes determining, using the processor system, a portion of the route that includes a buffering zone, wherein the buffering zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets a predetermined criterion. The method further includes, based at least in part on a determination that the vehicle is within the buffering zone, pre-fetching data from a source over the network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer implemented method of receiving data at a vehicle having control circuitry configured to wirelessly couple a processor system of the vehicle to a network, the method comprising:
determining, using the processor system, a route that is expected to be traveled by the vehicle; determining, using the processor system, a portion of the route that includes a buffering zone, wherein the buffering zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets a predetermined criterion; and based at least in part on a determination that the vehicle is within the buffering zone, pre-fetching data from a source over the network.

2 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the portion of the route that includes the buffering zone is based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of:
the route; a signal coverage map; and environmental conditions.

3 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing the pre-fetched data in a memory;
determining, using the processor system, a portion of the route that includes a dead zone, wherein the dead zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets another predetermined criterion; and
based at least in part on a determination that the vehicle is within the dead zone, accessing the pre-fetched data from the memory.

4 . The computer implemented method of claim 3 , wherein determining the portion of the route that includes the dead zone is based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of:
the route; a signal coverage map; and environmental conditions.

5 . The computer implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the portion of the route that includes the dead zone is further along the route than the portion of the route that includes the buffering zone.

6 . The computer implemented method of claim 3 further comprising:
determining, using the processor system, an amount of data to pre-fetch based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of:
an estimated period of time that the vehicle will be in the dead zone;
an estimate period of time that the vehicle will be in the buffering zone;
an estimated period of time that it will take the vehicle to travel from the buffering zone to the dead zone;
an estimated distance on the route from the buffering zone to the dead zone. duration of time the route;
an estimated distance on the route from a beginning of the buffering zone to an end of the buffering zone; and
an estimated distance on the route from a beginning of the dead zone to an end of the dead zone.

7 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined criterion comprises meeting or exceeding a level of correlation between the portion of the route and the strength of signals transmitted over the network.

8 . The computer implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the level of correlation comprises a correlation coefficient.

9 . The computer implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the correlation coefficient comprises a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.

10 . The computer implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the another predetermined criterion comprises meeting or falling below a level of correlation between the portion of the route and the strength of signals transmitted over the network.

11 . The computer implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the level of correlation comprises a correlation coefficient.

12 . The computer implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the correlation coefficient comprises a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.

13 . A computer implemented method of evaluating potential routes of a vehicle having control electronics configured to wirelessly couple a processor system of the vehicle to a network, the method comprising:
for each one of multiple possible routes, determining, using the processor system, portions of the possible routes that include a dead zone, wherein the dead zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets a predetermined criterion; and selecting one of the multiple possible routes based at least in part on the portions of the possible routes that include a dead zone.

14 . The computer implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:
selecting one of the multiple possible routes based at least in part on an estimated period of time that the vehicle will be in the dead zones of each one of the multiple possible routes.

15 . A computer program product for receiving data at a vehicle having control circuitry configured to wirelessly couple a processor system of the vehicle to a network, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions readable by the processor system to cause the processor system to perform a method comprising: determining a route that is expected to be traveled by the vehicle; determining a portion of the route that includes a buffering zone, wherein the buffering zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets a predetermined criterion; and based at least in part on a determination that the vehicle is within the buffering zone, pre-fetching data from a source over the network.

16 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein determining the portion of the route that includes the buffering zone is based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of:
the route; a signal coverage map; and environmental conditions.

17 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the method performed by the processor system further comprises:
storing the pre-fetched data in a memory; determining, using the processor system, a portion of the route that includes a dead zone, wherein the dead zone comprises an area in which the strength of signals transmitted over the network meets another predetermined criterion; and based at least in part on a determination that the vehicle is within the dead zone, accessing the pre-fetched data from the memory.

18 . The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein determining the portion of the route that includes the dead zone is based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of:
the route; a signal coverage map; and environmental conditions.

19 . The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the portion of the route that includes the dead zone is further along the route than the portion of the route that includes the buffering zone.

20 . The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the method performed by the processor system further comprises:
determining an amount of data to pre-fetch based at least in part on a factor selected from the group consisting of: an estimated period of time that the vehicle will be in the dead zone; an estimate period of time that the vehicle will be in the buffering zone; an estimated period of time that it will take the vehicle to travel from the buffering zone to the dead zone; an estimated distance on the route from the buffering zone to the dead zone. duration of time the route; an estimated distance on the route from a beginning of the buffering zone to an end of the buffering zone; and an estim

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Hwang Jinho
• Rajagopalan Shriram

Classifications

• 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

• 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

• H04L67/2847 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/5681 Primary

  Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics · CPC title

• H04W4/44 Primary

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