Information gathering system using multi-radio telematics devices

1. A method, or intelligent procurement of data from a plurality of automotive vehicles, comprising:

determining, by a central server using a computer processor, a plurality of data-aggregation areas;

determining a group leader vehicle for each data-aggregation area determined; and

receiving, from the group leader vehicle of each data-aggregation area, a consensus report generated by the group leader vehicle using data collected, by the group leader vehicle, from other vehicles in the data-aggregation area, using short-range communications, until the group leader vehicle determined to cease collecting the data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle is performed according to a data-aggregation protocol, including according to a distinguishing arbitrary characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle according to the distinguishing arbitrary characteristic includes determining the group leader vehicle as a vehicle being associated with a most-extreme unique identification number, being a highest or lowest identification number.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the group leader is performed according to a data-aggregation protocol, including according to a strategic characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area and a pre-determined benefit.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle according to the strategic characteristic includes determining the group leader vehicle as a vehicle having a most-extreme communications-plan usage quality.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle as the vehicle having the most-extreme communications quality includes determining the group leader vehicle as the vehicle having one of:

a highest number of minutes remaining on account in a long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle;

a lowest use of an allocation in the long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle; and

a lowest percentage or ratio of use in the long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group leader vehicle of each data-aggregation area determines to cease collecting data in response to determining that a pre-determined threshold value has been met.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the group leader vehicle determining that the pre-determined threshold value has been met includes the group leader vehicle determining that a result of a relative-standard-error calculation has been lower than a relative-standard-error threshold.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the group leader vehicle determining that the pre-determined threshold value has been met includes the group leader vehicle determining that:

data has been received from a pre-determined number of vehicles; or

a pre-set amount of time has passed.

10. A tangible computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that include a data-aggregation protocol and, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, for intelligent procurement of data from a plurality of automotive vehicles positioned in a data-aggregation region, comprising:

determining a plurality of data-aggregation areas;

determining a group leader vehicle, for each data-aggregation area, of the vehicles positioned in the data-aggregation area; and

receiving from the group leader vehicle of each data-aggregation area, a consensus report generated by the group leader vehicle using data collected by the group leader vehicle, using the data-aggregation protocol and short-range communications, from other vehicles in the data-aggregation area, until the group leader vehicle determined to cease collecting the data.

11. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein the group leader vehicle determines, according to the data-aggregation protocol, to cease collecting data by determining that a pre-determined threshold value has been met.

12. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein the operation of determining the group leader vehicle for each data-aggregation area comprises determining the group leader according to a characteristic selected from a group consisting of:

a distinguishing arbitrary characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area; and

a strategic characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area and a pre-determined benefit.

13. The method, for intelligent procurement of data, of claim 1 , wherein, to determine the areas and group leader vehicle, the processor of the central server executes a data-aggregation protocol stored at a memory of the central server, and to generate and transmit, to the central server, the consensus report, a processor of the group leader vehicle executes the data-aggregation protocol, being stored at a memory of the group leader vehicle.

14. A tangible computer-readable storage device, for use at an automotive vehicle when positioned in a pre-defined data-aggregation area, comprising instructions that include a data-aggregation protocol and, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining a group leader vehicle for the data-aggregation area by communicating with processors of other automotive vehicles positioned in the data-aggregation area and executing the data-aggregation protocol; and

responsive to determining that the automotive vehicle is the group leader vehicle for the data-aggregation area:

collecting data from processors of other vehicles in the data-aggregation area using short-range communications;

determining to cease collecting data from the other vehicles in the data-aggregation area; and

generating a consensus report using the data collected from the other vehicles in its data-aggregation area.

15. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the operation of determining the group leader vehicle comprises determining the group leader vehicle according to a characteristic selected from a group consisting of:

a distinguishing arbitrary characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area; and

a strategic characteristic associated with the vehicles in the data-aggregation area and a pre-determined benefit.

16. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle according to the distinguishing arbitrary characteristic includes determining the group leader vehicle as a vehicle being associated with a most-extreme unique identification number, being a highest or lowest identification number.

17. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle according to the strategic characteristic includes determining the group leader vehicle as a vehicle having a most-extreme communications-plan usage quality.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein determining the group leader vehicle as the vehicle having the most-extreme communications quality includes determining the group leader vehicle as the vehicle having a quality selected from a group consisting of:

a highest number of minutes remaining on account in a long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle;

a lowest use of an allocation in the long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle; and

a lowest percentage or ratio of use in the long-range communications plan associated with the vehicle.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the operation of determining to cease collecting data includes determining that a pre-determined threshold value has been met.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 19 , wherein:

the operation of determining that the pre-determined threshold value has been met comprises making a determination, selected from a group of determinations consisting of:

determining that a result of a relative-standard-error (RSE) calculation has been lower than a relative-standard-error (RSE) threshold, the RSE calculation being given by:

rse

=

s

m

_

=

n

n

-

1

⁢

∑

i

=

1

n

⁢

(

x

i

-

m

_

)

∑

i

=

1

n

⁢

x

i

where n is the number of vehicles from which data has been received, s is a standard error, and m is a mean;

determining that data has been received from a pre-determined number of vehicles; and

determining that a pre-set amount of time has passed.