Method, apparatus and computer readable storage medium having instructions for processing data collected by a motor vehicle

1. A method for processing data captured by a transportation vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a position of the transportation vehicle;

comparing the received position with one or more measurement orders stored in an order memory, the one or more measurement orders having been commissioned by a backend for defined positions;

requesting a datum from the transportation vehicle in response to the comparison determining that the position of the transportation vehicle fits one of the defined positions of one of the orders stored in the order memory;

receiving the datum captured by the transportation vehicle;

applying location-oriented or time-oriented masking to the received datum or separating the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle; and

forwarding the masked or separated datum for evaluation,

wherein an extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking is determined based on data captured by the transportation vehicle pertaining to a flow of transportation vehicle traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle, or the separating of the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle is performed such that no further captured data are transmitted by this transportation vehicle for a predefined period of time, and

wherein the location-oriented or time-oriented masking or the separating of the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle is performed inside the transportation vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the degree of location-oriented or time-oriented masking is increased for a personal link of the received datum.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking involves taking a correction factor into consideration that is determined by the proportion of those transportation vehicles in the overall stock of vehicles that transmit data for processing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the degree of location-oriented or time-oriented masking is decreased for the flow of traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flow of traffic is determined by an onboard sensor system of the transportation vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-oriented masking is performed by assigning the received datum to a raster.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time-oriented masking is performed by a random shift in the measurement time of the received datum.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the random shift in the measurement time is based on an asymmetric distribution.

9. An apparatus for processing data captured by a transportation vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

an input for receiving a position of the transportation vehicle;

an order memory for comparing the received position with one or more measurement orders stored in the order memory, the one or more measurement orders having been commissioned by a backend for defined positions, and for requesting a datum from the transportation vehicle in response to the comparison determining that the position of the transportation vehicle fits one of the defined positions of one of the orders stored in the order memory;

a data masking unit having a non-transitory computer readable medium with a stored program including program code that, when executed, applies location-oriented or time-oriented masking to the requested datum received by the input or a data separation unit having a non-transitory computer readable medium with a stored program including program code that, when executed, separates the requested datum received by the input from other data received from the transportation vehicle; and

an output for forwarding the masked or separated datum for evaluation;

wherein the data masking unit determines an extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking based on data captured by the transportation vehicle pertaining to a flow of transportation vehicle traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle, or performs the separating of the requested datum received by the input from other data captured by the transportation vehicle such that no further captured data are transmitted by this transportation vehicle for a predefined period of time, and

wherein the location-oriented or time-oriented masking or the separating of the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle is performed inside the transportation vehicle.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a computer, prompt the computer to carry out a method for processing data captured by a transportation vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a position of the transportation vehicle;

comparing the received position with one or more measurement orders stored in an order memory, the one or more measurement orders having been commissioned by a backend for defined positions;

requesting a datum from the transportation vehicle in response to the comparison determining that the position of the transportation vehicle fits one of the defined positions of one of the orders stored in the order memory;

receiving the datum captured by the transportation vehicle;

applying location-oriented or time-oriented masking to the received datum or separating the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle; and

forwarding the masked or separated datum for evaluation,

wherein an extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking is determined based on data captured by the transportation vehicle pertaining to a flow of transportation vehicle traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle, or the separating of the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle is performed such that no further captured data are transmitted by this transportation vehicle for a predefined period of time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the degree of location-oriented or time-oriented masking is increased for a personal link of the received datum.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, determining the extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking involves taking a correction factor into consideration that is determined by the proportion of those transportation vehicles in the overall stock of vehicles that transmit data for processing.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the degree of location-oriented or time-oriented masking is decreased for the flow of traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the flow of traffic is determined by an onboard sensor system of the transportation vehicle.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the location-oriented masking is performed by assigning the received datum to a raster.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the time-oriented masking is performed by a random shift in the measurement time of the received datum.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein, in the method, the random shift in the measurement time is based on an asymmetric distribution.

18. A transportation vehicle comprising an apparatus for processing data captured by the transportation vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

an input for receiving a position of the transportation vehicle;

an order memory for comparing the received position with one or more measurement orders stored in the order memory, the one or more measurement orders having been commissioned by a backend for defined positions, and for requesting a datum from the transportation vehicle in response to the comparison determining that the position of the transportation vehicle fits one of the defined positions of one of the orders stored in the order memory;

a data masking unit having a non-transitory computer readable medium with a stored program including program code that, when executed, applies location-oriented or time-oriented masking to the requested datum received by the input or a data separation unit having a non-transitory computer readable medium with a stored program including program code that, when executed, separates the requested datum received by the input from other data received from the transportation vehicle; and

an output for forwarding the masked or separated datum for evaluation;

wherein the data masking unit determines an extent of the location-oriented or time-oriented masking based on data captured by the transportation vehicle pertaining to a flow of transportation vehicle traffic relevant to the received position or time of capture of the datum by the transportation vehicle, or performs the separating of the requested datum received by the input from other data captured by the transportation vehicle such that no further captured data are transmitted by this transportation vehicle for a predefined period of time, and

wherein the location-oriented or time-oriented masking or the separating of the received datum from other data captured by the transportation vehicle is performed inside the transportation vehicle.