IP Library Granted Patent US 10,932,086
Granted Patent B2
US 10,932,086 · App. 16/263,739 · Granted Feb 23, 2021

Vehicle sensing and access control for on-demand services

Inventors: Siddharth Thakur (Fremont, CA); Gregory D. Dibb (Mountain View, CA); GianLuca Storti (San Jose, CA); Masahide Nakamura (Kanagawa, JP)
Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
H04W4/023H04L12/40H04Q9/00H04L2012/40215
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,932,086
App. No.
16/263,739
Granted
Feb 23, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, systems, and non-transitory computer readable storage media for providing on-demand services to vehicles are described. The disclosed technology determines information associated with a vehicle, generates a request for a fuel delivery on-demand service using the information, confirms identification of the vehicle using a wireless signal of the vehicle, provides access to the vehicle to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service and secures the vehicle after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

Claims (52)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving information associated with a vehicle;

receiving a request for the information from one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers;

transmitting the information to the one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers;

responsive to acceptance by the vehicle of a request to provide a fuel delivery on-demand service received from a service provider of the one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers, receiving location data of a delivery vehicle of the service provider;

determining that the delivery vehicle is within a predefined distance of the vehicle;

activating wireless scanning of the vehicle to determine signal strength data associated with the delivery vehicle;

determining that the signal strength data meets a predefined threshold;

instructing the vehicle to transmit a message to the service provider to confirm identification of the vehicle;

providing access to the vehicle to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service; and

securing the vehicle after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting a notification after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service to at least one of an operator of the vehicle, a service provider performing the fuel delivery on-demand service, or a third-party monitoring performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving data from a telematic control unit of the vehicle; and

determining the information associated with the vehicle using the data, the information including a location of the vehicle and a fuel level of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein receiving the data from the telematic control unit of the vehicle comprises:

receiving the data from the telematic control unit that is in communication with a fuel level sensor of the vehicle through a controller area network (CAN) bus, the fuel level sensor being configured to detect the fuel level of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the data is continuously detected by the telematic control unit that is in communication with a plurality of sensors of a plurality of sub-systems of the vehicle, the plurality of sensors including the fuel level sensor.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein access is provided to the vehicle and the vehicle is secured using the CAN bus.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message includes at least one of flashing lights, horn signals, turn signals, token exchanges, text communications, or graphical images.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing access to the vehicle to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service comprises:

providing access to a gas tank of the vehicle by remotely unlocking the gas tank to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein securing the vehicle after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service comprises:

securing the gas tank remotely after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including instructions executed by the processor to:

receive information associated with a vehicle;

receive a request for the information from one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers;

transmit the information to the one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers;

responsive to acceptance by the vehicle of a request to provide a fuel delivery on-demand service received from a service provider of the one or more authorized fuel delivery on-demand service providers, receive location data of a delivery vehicle of the service provider;

determine that the delivery vehicle is within a predefined distance of the vehicle;

activate wireless scanning of the vehicle to determine signal strength data associated with the delivery vehicle;

determine that the signal strength data meets a predefined threshold;

instruct the vehicle to transmit a message to the delivery vehicle to confirm identification of the vehicle;

provide access to the vehicle to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service; and

secure the vehicle after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

11. The system of claim 10 , further including instructions executed by the processor to:

transmit a notification after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service to at least one of a user of the vehicle, a service provider performing the fuel delivery on-demand service, or a third-party monitoring performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

12. The system of claim 10 , further including instructions executed by the processor to:

receive data from a telematic control unit of the vehicle; and

determine the information associated with the vehicle using the data, the information including a location of the vehicle and a fuel level of the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein to receive the data from the telematic control unit of the vehicle comprises to:

receive the data from the telematic control unit that is in communication with a fuel level sensor of the vehicle through a controller area network (CAN) bus, the fuel level sensor being configured to detect the fuel level of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the data is continuously detected by the telematic control unit that is in communication with a plurality of sensors of a plurality of sub-systems of the vehicle, the plurality of sensors including the fuel level sensor.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein access is provided to the vehicle and the vehicle is secured using the CAN bus.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the message includes at least one of flashing lights, horn signals, turn signals, token exchanges, text communications, or graphical images.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein to provide access to the vehicle to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service comprises to:

provide access to a gas tank of the vehicle by remotely unlocking the gas tank to enable performance of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein to secure the vehicle after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service comprises to:

secure the gas tank remotely after completion of the fuel delivery on-demand service.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 26, 2021
From: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
To: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 056038/0293 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 31, 2019
From: THAKUR, SIDDHARTH; DIBB, GREGORY D.; STORTI, GIANLUCA; NAKAMURA, MASAHIDE
To: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Reel/Frame 048210/0459 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 15636010 · Jun 28, 2017
Related Publication 20190166460A1 · May 30, 2019