System and method for autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019275892-A1
Application number	US-201815918601-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 12, 2018
Priority date	Mar 12, 2018
Publication date	Sep 12, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and methods for autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle. Specifically, the present disclosure describes an autonomous vehicle subsystem configured to evaluate vehicle charge, identify possible charging stations, interact with a user to confirm a charging station, navigate to the selected charging station, and initiate and receive of a charge from a charging port at the charging station. User interaction may be vehicle-driven or user-driven.

First claim

1 . A method for semi-autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle battery, comprising:
measuring a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery; determining, via a processing circuitry and based upon the measuring of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery; acquiring, via the processing circuitry, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determining of the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations; recommending, via the processing circuitry, a charging station based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations; querying, via a user interface, a selection by a user regarding the recommended charging station; reserving, via the processing circuitry and based upon the selection by the user regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station; navigating, via the processing circuitry, to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and receiving, via a charging subsystem, a charge from the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the charging subsystem comprises a charging arm disposed within a charging arm housing.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the charging arm, via the processing circuitry, is deployed based upon co-location of the charging arm with a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from current position, travel time from current position, estimated charging time, estimated cost of vehicle charging, or a combination thereof.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing, via the processing circuitry, a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and determining, via the processing circuitry, whether the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence, wherein determining whether the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence comprises estimating a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence, wherein receiving, via the charging subsystem, a charge from the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence.

6 . An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
an autonomous vehicle battery; a user interface; a charging subsystem; and a processing circuitry configured to:
measure a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery;
determine, based upon the measurement of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery;
acquire, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determination of the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;
recommend, based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations, a charging station;
reserve, based upon a selection by the user regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station; and
navigate to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station,
wherein the user interface is configured to receive the selection by the user regarding the recommended charging station in response to a query, wherein the charging subsystem is configured to receive a charge from the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

7 . The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the charging subsystem comprises a charging arm disposed within a charging arm housing.

8 . The autonomous vehicle according to claim 7 , wherein the charging arm, via the processing circuitry, is deployed based upon co-location of the charging arm with a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

9 . The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from current position, travel time from current position, estimated charging time, estimated cost of vehicle charging, or a combination thereof.

10 . The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
establish a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and determine whether the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence, wherein the determination of whether the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence comprises an estimation of a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence, wherein receipt of the charge from the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence.

11 . A method for semi-autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle battery, comprising:
receiving, via a user interface, a user command from a user; measuring, in response to the user command, a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery; determining, via a processing circuitry and based upon the measuring of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery; acquiring, via the processing circuitry, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determining of the battery charge residual capacity, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations; recommending, via the processing circuitry, a charging station based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations; querying, via the user interface, a selection by the user regarding the recommended charging station; reserving, via the processing circuitry and based upon the selection by the user regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station; navigating, via the processing circuitry, to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and receiving, via a charging subsystem, a charge from the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the charging subsystem comprises a charging arm disposed within a charging arm housing.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the charging arm, via the processing circuitry, is deployed based upon co-location of the charging arm with a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

14 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from current position, travel time from current position, estimated charging time, estimated cost of vehicle charging, or a combination thereof.

15 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
establishing, via the processing

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Williams Paxton S
• Williams Colby S
• Frederick Scott L

Classifications

• B60L53/64

  Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates · CPC title

• B60L53/66

  Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles · CPC title

• B60L58/12

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• B60L2240/62

  Vehicle position · CPC title

• B60L2260/32

  Auto pilot mode · CPC title