Signal transmission control for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication

Abstract

The invention relates to signal transmission control for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. A method of controlling communication signal transmission in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication includes: obtaining a prohibited V2X communication map including locations of a plurality of geo-fencing boundaries in an area in which V2X communication signal transmission is prohibited; obtaining a current position of the vehicle; determining a distance of the vehicle from a nearest one of the plurality of geo-fence boundaries; and in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is less than the specified boundary distance threshold, prohibiting transmission of the V2X communication signal from the at least one antenna of the vehicle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The information provided in this section is for the purpose of generally introducing the context of the present disclosure. The work of the presently named inventors, to the extent that it is described in this section, and aspects of the description that may not otherwise be identified as prior art at the time of filing, are neither explicitly nor implicitly admitted to be prior art against the present disclosure.

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to signal transmission control for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, including geo-fence boundaries for prohibited V2X communications. Background Art

[0003] Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications allow vehicles to communicate with each other. For example, a V2X system may send / broadcast basic safety messages at, for example, 10 Hz. However, V2X signal transmissions may not be allowed in certain places, such as V2X-sensitive areas (e.g., V2X signals may interfere with defense communications and other priority communications), and countries / regions that do not authorize V2X transmissions (such as border crossings). Summary of the invention

[0004] A method for controlling communication signal transmission in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication includes: obtaining a prohibited V2X communication map, the prohibited V2X communication map including the locations of multiple geo-fence boundaries of areas in which V2X communication signal transmission is prohibited; obtaining a current location of a vehicle; determining a distance between the vehicle and a nearest one of the multiple geo-fence boundaries; and in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is less than a specified boundary distance threshold, prohibiting transmission of V2X communication signals from at least one antenna of the vehicle.

[0005] In other features, the designated boundary distance threshold is a first designated boundary distance threshold, and the method includes allowing transmission of the V2X communication signal when the distance of the vehicles is greater than a second designated boundary distance threshold, the second designated boundary distance threshold being greater than the first designated boundary distance threshold.

[0006] In other features, the method includes: determining whether the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal; in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between a first specified boundary distance threshold and a second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is not currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, prohibiting the transmission of the V2X communication signal; and in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between the first specified boundary distance threshold and the second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, allowing the transmission of the V2X communication signal.

[0007] In other features, the method includes adjusting at least one of a transmission strength of a V2X communication signal and a transmission direction of the V2X communication signal in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between a first specified boundary distance threshold and a second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently transmitting or receiving an active event V2X communication signal.

[0008] In other features, adjusting the transmission strength of the V2X communication signal includes reducing the strength of the signal transmission based on the distance of the vehicle from a nearest one of the plurality of geo-fence boundaries.

[0009] In other features, reducing the strength of the signal transmission includes: obtaining a minimum transmission power of the V2X communication signal and a maximum transmission power of the V2X communication signal; determining a number of power increments between the minimum transmission power and the maximum transmission power; and reducing the strength of the signal transmission to a transmission value associated with one of the power increments corresponding to the distance of the vehicle based on a first specified boundary distance threshold and a second specified boundary distance threshold.

[0010] In other features, adjusting the transmission direction of the V2X communication signals includes disabling transmission from at least one of a front vehicle V2X antenna and a rear vehicle V2X antenna based on a direction of travel of the vehicle relative to a nearest one of a plurality of geo-fence boundaries.

[0011] In other features, the method includes, in response to determining that the vehicle is moving away from a nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries, prohibiting transmission of V2X communication signals until a distance between the vehicle and the nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries exceeds a specified boundary distance threshold.

[0012] In other features, the method includes, in response to determining that the distance between the vehicle and a nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries is greater than a distance check threshold, prohibiting a next distance calculation between the vehicle and the nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries for at least a first specified distance check time period.

[0013] In other features, the method includes, in response to determining that the distance between the vehicle and a nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries is less than a distance check threshold, prohibiting a next distance calculation between the vehicle and the nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries for at least a second specified distance check time period, wherein the second specified distance check time period is shorter than the first specified distance check time period.

[0014] In other features, obtaining the prohibited V2X communication map includes communicating with a remote computing device to obtain an updated prohibited V2X communication map from a prohibited V2X communication geo-fence database.

[0015] In other features, the first designated boundary distance threshold is at least seven hundred meters and the second designated boundary distance threshold is at least three hundred meters.

[0016] In other features, the V2X communication signals include at least one of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, or vehicle-to-device (V2D) communication.

[0017] In other features, the at least one antenna of the vehicle includes at least one of a front vehicle V2X communication antenna, a rear vehicle V2X communication antenna, or a side vehicle V2X communication antenna.

[0018] In other features, the locations of the plurality of geo-fenced boundaries of the area in which V2X communication signal transmission is prohibited include at least one of a military prohibited V2X communication area, a law enforcement prohibited V2X communication area, and a geopolitical boundary prohibited V2X communication area. In other features, the method includes transmitting the V2X communication signal at a frequency of 5.9 GHz.

[0019] A vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication system for a vehicle includes: at least one antenna of the vehicle, the at least one antenna configured to transmit V2X communication signals; a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to determine the location of the vehicle; a memory configured to store a prohibited V2X communication map, the prohibited V2X communication map including the locations of multiple geo-fence boundaries of areas in which V2X communication signal transmission is prohibited; and at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to: obtain the current location of the vehicle via the GPS module; determine the distance between the vehicle and the closest one of the multiple geo-fence boundaries; and in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is less than a specified boundary distance threshold, prohibit the transmission of V2X communication signals from the at least one antenna of the vehicle.

[0020] In other features, the designated boundary distance threshold is a first designated boundary distance threshold, and at least one processor is configured to allow transmission of the V2X communication signal when the distance of the vehicle is greater than a second designated boundary distance threshold, the second designated boundary distance threshold being greater than the first designated boundary distance threshold.

[0021] In other features, at least one processor is configured to: determine whether the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal; in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between a value and a second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is not currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, prohibit the transmission of the V2X communication signal; and in response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between a first specified boundary distance threshold and a second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, allow the transmission of the V2X communication signal.

[0022] In other features, at least one processor is configured to adjust at least one of a transmission strength of a V2X communication signal and a transmission direction of the V2X communication signal in response to determining that a distance of the vehicle is between a first specified boundary distance threshold and a second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal.

[0023] Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, claims and drawings.The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The present disclosure will be more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

[0025] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of an example embodiment of a vehicle including an antenna for V2X communications.

[0026] Figure 2 is a block diagram of an example system for controlling transmission of V2X communication signals for a prohibited V2X communication area.

[0027] Figure 3 is a flow chart depicting an example method for determining a distance of a vehicle from a geo-fence boundary.

[0028] Figure 4 is a flow chart depicting an example method for controlling transmission of V2X communication signals based on proximity to a geo-fence of a prohibited V2X communication area.

[0029] Figure 5 is a flow chart depicting an example method of adjusting transmission of V2X communication signals.

[0030] Reference numerals may be repeated among the drawings to identify similar and / or identical elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Some example embodiments include systems and methods for dynamically determining whether a vehicle is approaching a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) sensitive / unauthorized area where V2X communications are prohibited, such as an area defined by a geofence, and determining when the vehicle should stop transmitting V2X communication signals based on a distance from a geofence boundary of the area. For example, a vehicle control module may be configured to obtain a current vehicle position and a current V2X signal transmission state, and determine when to stop transmitting V2X communication signals based on one or more distance thresholds from a geofence boundary, wherein different distance thresholds may be used depending on whether the vehicle is currently transmitting V2X communication signals related to a safety event.

[0032] In some example embodiments, the system may be configured to efficiently determine how often geofence calculations are performed. For example, when the nearest geofence boundary is more than a specified distance from the vehicle (e.g., at least one mile away, at least ten miles away, at least fifty miles away, etc.), the vehicle control module may only check the nearest geofence boundary every minute, every ten minutes, etc.

[0033] When the vehicle is within a specified threshold distance, the vehicle control module may calculate the distance to the nearest geofence boundary more frequently (such as every 30 seconds, every 1 second, every 500 milliseconds, etc.). Performing distance checks at periodic intervals in an intelligent / dynamic manner may reduce or minimize overheating for calculating the distance to the nearest geofence boundary. For example, by reducing the redundancy of checking the geofence prior to each V2X signal transmission, on-board calculations performed by, for example, a vehicle control module may be reduced.

[0034] The system may use vehicle position sensing (e.g., via a global positioning system antenna, etc.) to determine whether the vehicle is approaching or leaving a V2X unauthorized area. For example, different threshold distances may be used depending on whether the vehicle is approaching a V2X unauthorized area or leaving a V2X unauthorized area.

[0035] In some example embodiments, the vehicle control module may be configured to determine whether any V2X safety application is in an "active" state before it stops receiving V2X messages. For example, the vehicle control module of a host vehicle (HV) may determine whether any neighboring vehicle has an "active" V2X safety application state due to the location, dynamics, etc. of the HV.

[0036] The "active" state may refer to, for example: a current transmission of V2X information to another vehicle, a current vehicle safety event that needs to be sent or is currently being sent between vehicles, etc. The vehicle control module may be configured to determine if there are any active V2X authorities with which the vehicle control module needs to communicate.

[0037] Checking for active V2X applications before stopping transmission of V2X signals can facilitate performance of vehicle safety applications. For example, a vehicle control module can be configured to not stop receiving V2X messages when one or more V2X applications are active, such as receiving V2X communication signals from an approaching vehicle.

[0038] Similarly, the vehicle control module may be configured to not stop transmitting V2X communication signals while a V2X application is active, such as to signal that the vehicle is currently performing hard braking. Depending on whether a V2X application is active, the system may use different distance thresholds. For example, if no safety application is active, the system may stop transmitting V2X communication signals at a first threshold distance from a geofence boundary, while allowing the vehicle to continue transmitting V2X communication signals during an active safety event until a second threshold distance from a geofence boundary that is closer than the first threshold distance.

[0039] In some example embodiments, the vehicle control module may periodically obtain current geo-fence boundaries, which may indicate boundaries where V2X communication signal transmission is prohibited. For example, V2X communication signal transmission may not be permitted in certain areas that are sensitive to V2X communication signals (such as areas where V2X communication signals may interfere with national defense communication signals, other priority signals, etc.). Some countries / regions may not authorize V2X communication signal transmission, so the geo-fence boundaries may correspond to the crossing of geopolitical boundaries.

[0040] Reference now Figure 1 , the vehicle 10 includes front wheels 12 and rear wheels 13. Figure 1 , the drive unit 14 selectively outputs torque to the front wheels 12 and / or the rear wheels 13 via drive lines 16, 18, respectively. The vehicle 10 may include different types of drive units. For example, the vehicle may be an electric vehicle, such as a battery electric vehicle (BEV), a hybrid vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle, a vehicle including an internal combustion engine (ICE), or other types of vehicles.

[0041] Some examples of drive unit 14 may include any suitable electric motor, a power inverter, and a motor controller configured to control power switches within the power inverter to adjust the motor speed and torque during propulsion and / or regeneration. The battery system provides power to or receives power from the electric motor of drive unit 14 via the power inverter during propulsion or regeneration.

[0042] Despite Figure 1The vehicle 10 includes one drive unit 14, but the vehicle 10 may have other configurations. For example, two separate drive units may drive the front wheels 12 and the rear wheels 13, one or more individual drive units may drive individual wheels, etc. As can be appreciated, other vehicle configurations and / or drive units may be used.

[0043] The vehicle control module 20 may be configured to control the operation of one or more vehicle components, such as the drive unit 14 (e.g., by commanding torque settings of the electric motor of the drive unit 14). The vehicle control module 20 may receive inputs for controlling components of the vehicle, such as signals received from a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, etc. The vehicle control module 20 may monitor the vehicle's telematics for safety purposes, such as vehicle speed, vehicle location, vehicle braking and acceleration, etc.

[0044] The vehicle control module 20 may receive signals from any suitable components for monitoring one or more aspects of the vehicle, including one or more vehicle sensors 24 (such as cameras, microphones, pressure sensors, wheel position sensors, position sensors such as global positioning system (GPS) antennas, etc.). The vehicle control module 20 may communicate with another device via a wireless communication interface, which may include one or more wireless antennas for sending and / or receiving wireless communication signals.

[0045] For example, the wireless communication interface may communicate via any suitable wireless communication protocol, including but not limited to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, Wi-Fi communication, wireless local area network (WAN) communication, cellular communication, personal area network (PAN) communication, short-range wireless communication (e.g., Bluetooth), etc. The wireless communication interface may communicate with a remote computing device via one or more wireless and / or wired networks.

[0046] With respect to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications, the vehicle 10 may include one or more V2X transceivers (e.g., V2X signal transmission and / or reception antennas). Figure 1 As shown, the vehicle 10 includes a vehicle rear V2X transceiver 26, a vehicle front V2X transceiver 28, and a vehicle side V2X transceiver 30. Other example embodiments may include more or fewer V2X antennas, V2X antennas at other locations on the vehicle, and so forth.

[0047] As used herein, V2X communications may include any suitable subset or sub-portion of V2X communications. For example, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications may include communications between a vehicle and any entity that may affect the vehicle or may be affected by the vehicle. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications may include one or more specific types of communications, such as V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2N (vehicle-to-network), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2D (vehicle-to-device), and the like.

[0048] V2X communications may be used for any suitable communication purpose, such as road safety, traffic efficiency, energy conservation, vehicle monitoring and surveillance, etc. Additional example descriptions of subcategories of V2X communications may include vehicle-to-device (V2D), such as Bluetooth / WiFi Direct, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) (including information exchange with smart grids to more efficiently balance loads), vehicle-to-building (V2B), vehicle-to-home (V2H), and vehicle-to-load (V2L).

[0049] Additional examples of V2X communications may include, but are not limited to, vehicle-to-network (V2N) (including cellular (3GPP) / 8.11p-based communications), vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) (including OTA updates and remote vehicle diagnostics (DoIP)), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) (including communications with traffic lights, lane markings, and parking meters), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) (including communications with wheelchairs and bicycles), and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) (including real-time data exchange with nearby vehicles). As used herein, V2X communications may refer to systems capable of communicating in only one of the above example subcategories, systems capable of communicating using multiple of the above subcategories, and the like.

[0050] like Figure 1 As shown, the vehicle control module 20 can control one or more of the vehicle rear V2X transceiver 26, the vehicle front V2X transceiver 28, and the vehicle side V2X transceiver 30. For example, the vehicle control module 20 can obtain the current location of the vehicle 10 via the GPS receiver of the vehicle sensor 24, and selectively prohibit signal transmission at one or more of the vehicle rear V2X transceiver 26, the vehicle front V2X transceiver 28, and the vehicle side V2X transceiver 30 based on the determined distance of the vehicle 10 from the geo-fence boundary of the prohibited V2X communication area.

[0051] Figure 2 1 is a block diagram of an example system 100 for controlling transmission of V2X communication signals relative to a prohibited V2X communication area. Figure 2 As shown, the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 104 are approaching the V2X unauthorized area 110 .

[0052] The first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 104 are currently communicating with each other via V2X communication 108 , which may include one or more subcategories of V2X communication types. The third vehicle 106 is leaving the V2X unauthorized area 110 .

[0053] like Figure 2 As shown, various V2X communication signal distance thresholds may be implemented based on the direction of travel of the vehicle, whether safety-related V2X communication is currently active, etc. For example, the default distance threshold 114 may specify a distance at which V2X communication will be stopped if the second vehicle 104 is approaching a V2X unauthorized area and the second vehicle 102 does not currently have any active safety-related V2X communication.

[0054] The active event distance threshold 112 may specify a distance at which V2X communication is stopped even if the second vehicle 104 is currently transmitting a V2X communication signal for an active application. The value of the active event distance threshold 112 may be less than the value of the default distance threshold 114 (e.g., the active event distance threshold 112 is closer to the V2X unauthorized area 110 than the active event distance threshold 112).

[0055] For example, the default distance threshold 114 may include a value above which the transmission of the V2X communication signal is unlikely to significantly affect the V2X unlicensed area 110, such as at least 500 meters, at least 700 meters, at least two kilometers, etc. The active event distance threshold 112 may include a value above which the transmission of the V2X communication signal may be controlled with reduced power or a change in directionality, but distances less than the active event distance threshold 112 may have a significant impact of the V2X communication signal on the V2X unlicensed area 110, such as 100 meters, 300 meters, etc.

[0056] The start distance threshold 116 may include a value above which a vehicle leaving the V2X unauthorized area 110 may resume transmission of V2X communication signal transmissions without significantly impacting the V2X unauthorized area 110. The start distance threshold 116 may be similar to the active event distance threshold 112 or the default distance threshold 114, or may be different.

[0057] Figure 3 is a flow chart depicting an example method for determining the distance of a vehicle from a geofence boundary. The process may be performed by, for example, Figure 1The method begins at 304 by obtaining the prohibited V2X communication geofence boundary. For example, the vehicle control module may periodically check with a database (such as a cloud database service) to determine if there are any updated or more recent maps indicating the location of the prohibited V2X communication area. The control may download an updated map to determine the distance of the vehicle from the current or most recently updated geofence boundary.

[0058] At 308, control obtains the current vehicle location. For example, the vehicle control module 20 may determine the location of the vehicle using a GPS receiver of the vehicle sensors 24. At 312, control determines the distance from the vehicle to the nearest geo-fence boundary.

[0059] At 316 , control determines whether the distance between the vehicle and the nearest geo-fence boundary is greater than a specified short distance threshold. If so, control proceeds to 320 to suspend distance determination for a specified long distance period.

[0060] As an example, if control determines that the vehicle is at least one mile from the nearest geofence boundary, at least ten miles from the nearest geofence boundary, at least fifty miles from the nearest geofence boundary, etc., control may determine that the system can wait for a longer period of time before making another distance calculation.

[0061] For example, if the vehicle is far enough from the nearest geofence boundary, the vehicle control module may wait at least one minute, wait at least ten minutes, and so on before calculating the distance again because the vehicle will not be able to reach the geofence boundary within the specified long-range time period.

[0062] If control determines that the distance between the vehicle and the nearest geofence boundary is less than a specified distance threshold (eg, the vehicle is approaching a nearby geofence boundary), control proceeds to 324 to suspend distance determination for a specified short distance period.

[0063] The short distance time period may be shorter than the long distance timer period. For example, if the vehicle control module determines that the vehicle is within a specified short distance threshold of a nearby geo-fence boundary, the vehicle control module may be configured to recalculate the distance of the vehicle from the geo-fence boundary every thirty seconds, every second, every hundred milliseconds, etc. Using a shorter time period as the vehicle is closer to the geo-fence boundary may help avoid situations where the vehicle enters a prohibited V2X communication area before the next distance calculation occurs.

[0064] After pausing for a specified short distance period at 324 or for a specified long distance period at 320 , control returns to 308 to obtain another current vehicle position in order to update the calculated distance of the vehicle from the nearest geo-fence boundary.

[0065] Figure 4is a flow chart depicting an example method for controlling the transmission of V2X communication signals based on proximity to a geofence of a prohibited V2X communication area. The process may be performed by, for example Figure 1 The vehicle control module 20 executes.

[0066] At 404, the process begins by obtaining the distance of the vehicle to the nearest prohibited V2X communication geofence boundary. At 408, control determines whether the distance of the vehicle is less than a default transmit (Tx) distance threshold. The default transmit distance threshold may correspond to Figure 1 The default distance threshold is 114.

[0067] If at 408, the vehicle distance is not less than the default transmission distance threshold (e.g., because the vehicle is still far enough from the boundary), control proceeds to 412 to continue transmitting the V2X communication signal. In this example case, the vehicle can continue to transmit the V2X communication signal because the vehicle is still far enough from the geo-fence boundary that the V2X communication signal should not significantly affect the prohibited V2X communication area.

[0068] If at 408, the vehicle is within the default transmission distance threshold, then at 416, the vehicle control module is configured to determine whether there is an active V2X event. For example, control may determine whether any safety-related application is currently transmitting safety information to another vehicle.

[0069] If at 420, the vehicle does not have any active safety-related applications using V2X communications, then at 424, control stops V2X signal transmission. For example, once the vehicle passes a first distance threshold (e.g., Figure 2 If there is no safety application currently using V2X signal transmission, the vehicle control module can safely stop the transmission of V2X communication signals.

[0070] If at 420 , a safety-related application or other designated application is currently using V2X communications, control proceeds to 428 to determine whether the distance of the vehicle is less than an active event distance threshold, such as Figure 2 If so, control stops transmission of V2X communication signals at 428 even if the activity event is not over. For example, control may determine that passing a closer activity event distance threshold means the vehicle is too close to the geofence boundary and therefore transmission of V2X communication signals should be stopped at 424 to avoid interfering with the prohibited V2X communication area.

[0071] If control determines at 428 that the distance of the vehicle from the prohibited V2X communication area is still greater than the specified active event distance threshold, control may adjust V2X signal transmission at 432. Figure 5Example embodiments for adjusting V2X signal transmissions are further described.

[0072] After adjusting the V2X signal transmission at 432, control allows the V2X signal transmission to continue at 412 and obtains a new distance between the vehicle and the prohibited V2X geofence boundary at 404. Similarly, after stopping the V2X signal transmission at 424, control returns to 404 to obtain a new distance between the vehicle and the prohibited V2X geofence boundary to determine whether the vehicle can resume sending V2X communication signals.

[0073] Figure 5 is a flow chart depicting an example method for adjusting the transmission of V2X communication signals. The process may be performed by, for example Figure 1 The vehicle control module 20 is executed. For example, if the vehicle is currently between another normally specified distance threshold and a closer active V2X event distance threshold, and an active V2X event is currently occurring, the vehicle control module may be configured to determine to reduce the signal strength and / or change the direction of the transmitted V2X communication signal so as to reduce the possible impact of the transmitted V2X communication signal on the geo-fence boundary area when the vehicle approaches the geo-fence boundary area.

[0074] The vehicle control module obtains a signal adjustment protocol at 504. For example, the vehicle settings may specify whether the vehicle control module should adjust the transmission of V2X signals by reducing transmit power, changing the direction of signal transmission, or both.

[0075] If the adjustment protocol includes a reduction in transmission power at 508, control obtains minimum and maximum power transmission values ​​at 512. Then, at 516, control determines a power adjustment value based on the minimum and maximum power values ​​and the number of power increments between the minimum and maximum power transmission values.

[0076] For example, the size of each power increment may be calculated by taking the difference between the minimum and maximum transmit power values ​​and dividing the difference by the number of power increments.A range of distances between a normal distance threshold and an active V2X communication distance threshold may be calculated.

[0077] A distance bin may be calculated by taking, for example, an upper limit of the distance to the geofence boundary, divided by the distance range, and multiplied by the size of each power increment. The power transmission level may then be reduced based on the calculated distance bin values. In this manner, the transmission power may be reduced as the vehicle gets closer to the geofence boundary (e.g., closer to the active V2X communication distance threshold). At 520, control adjusts the transmission power of the V2X communication signal according to the adjustment value.

[0078] After adjusting the transmission power at 520, or after determining at 508 that the power reduction setting is not selected, control determines whether the transmission adjustment protocol specifies a change in the selected transmit antenna at 524. If so, control proceeds to 528 to disable the front V2X antenna if the vehicle is approaching a geofence boundary (e.g., so that only the rear V2X antenna or the side V2X antenna can transmit V2X communication signals away from the geofence boundary).

[0079] At 532, if the vehicle is leaving the geofence boundary, control disables the rear V2X antenna (e.g., so that only the front V2X antenna or the side V2X antenna can transmit V2X communication signals away from the geofence boundary). In this manner, control can adjust V2X signal transmission by reducing transmission power, changing the direction of V2X signal transmission, or both.

[0080] The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature and is by no means intended to limit the present disclosure, its application or use. The broad teachings of the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms. Therefore, although the present disclosure includes specific examples, the true scope of the present disclosure should not be so limited, because after studying the drawings, the specification and the appended claims, other modifications will become apparent. It should be understood that, without changing the principles of the present disclosure, one or more steps in the method can be performed in different orders (or simultaneously). In addition, although each of the embodiments is described above as having certain features, any one or more of those features described for any embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented in any one of the other embodiments, and / or combined with the features of any one of the other embodiments, even if the combination is not explicitly described. In other words, the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and the replacement of one or more embodiments with each other is still within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0081] Various terms including "connected," "engaged," "coupled," "adjacent," "beside," "on top of," "above," "below," and "disposed" are used to describe spatial and functional relationships between elements (e.g., between modules, circuit elements, semiconductor layers, etc.). Unless explicitly described as "directly," when describing a relationship between a first and a second element in the above disclosure, the relationship can be a direct relationship in which there are no other intervening elements between the first and second elements, but can also be an indirect relationship in which there are one or more intervening elements (either spatially or functionally) between the first and second elements. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (AORB OR C) using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean "at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C."

[0082] In a diagram, the direction of the arrow indicated by the arrow head generally represents the flow of information (such as data or instructions) of interest to the diagram. For example, when element A and element B exchange various information, but the information sent from element A to element B is relevant to the diagram, the arrow may point from element A to element B. This unidirectional arrow does not imply that no other information is sent from element B to element A. In addition, for information sent from element A to element B, element B may send a request for the information or a confirmation of receipt of the information to element A.

[0083] In this application, including the following definitions, the term "module" or the term "controller" may be replaced with the term "circuit". The term "module" may refer to, be part of, or include: an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC); a digital, analog, or mixed analog / digital discrete circuit; a digital, analog, or mixed analog / digital integrated circuit; a combinational logic circuit; a field programmable gate array (FPGA); a processor circuit (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes code; a memory circuit (shared, dedicated, or group) that stores code executed by the processor circuit; other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality; or a combination of some or all of the above, such as a combination in a system on a chip.

[0084] The module may include one or more interface circuits. In some examples, the interface circuit may include a wired or wireless interface connected to a local area network (LAN), the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), or a combination thereof. The functions of any given module of the present disclosure may be distributed between multiple modules connected via the interface circuit. For example, multiple modules may allow load balancing. In another example, a server (also referred to as a remote or cloud) module may implement some functions on behalf of a client module.

[0085] The term code as used above may include software, firmware, and / or microcode, and may refer to a program, a routine, a function, a class, a data structure, and / or an object. The term shared processor circuit includes a single processor circuit that executes some or all of the code from multiple modules. The term group processor circuit includes a processor circuit that is combined with additional processor circuits to execute some or all of the code from one or more modules. References to multiple processor circuits include multiple processor circuits on discrete dies, multiple processor circuits on a single die, multiple cores of a single processor circuit, multiple threads of a single processor circuit, or a combination of the above. The term shared memory circuit includes a single memory circuit that stores some or all of the code from multiple modules. The term group memory circuit includes a memory circuit that is combined with additional memory to store some or all of the code from one or more modules.

[0086] The term memory circuit is a subset of the term computer-readable medium. The term computer-readable medium as used herein does not include transient electrical or electromagnetic signals propagated through a medium (e.g., on a carrier wave); the term computer-readable medium may therefore be considered to be tangible and non-transitory. Non-limiting examples of non-transitory, tangible computer-readable media are non-volatile memory circuits (such as flash memory circuits, erasable programmable read-only memory circuits, or mask read-only memory circuits), volatile storage circuits (such as static random access memory circuits, or dynamic random access memory circuits), magnetic storage media (such as analog or digital magnetic tape or hard drives), and optical storage media (such as CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs).

[0087] The apparatus and methods described in this application may be implemented in part or in whole by a special-purpose computer created by configuring a general-purpose computer to perform one or more specific functions embodied in a computer program. The functional blocks, flow chart components, and other elements described above serve as software specifications that can be converted into computer programs by routine work of a skilled technician or programmer.

[0088] The computer program includes processor executable instructions stored on at least one non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium. The computer program may also include or rely on stored data. The computer program may include a basic input / output system (BIOS) that interacts with the hardware of the special-purpose computer, device drivers that interact with specific devices of the special-purpose computer, one or more operating systems, user applications, background services, background applications, and the like.

[0089] A computer program may include: (i) descriptive text to be parsed, such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation); (ii) assembly code; (iii) object code generated by a compiler from source code; (iv) source code for execution by an interpreter; (v) source code for compilation and execution by a just-in-time compiler, etc. By way of example only, source code may be written using syntax from a language including: C, C++, C#, Objective C, Swift, Haskell, Go, SQL, R, Lisp, Fortran, Perl, Pascal, Curl, OCaml, HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language Fifth Edition), Ada, ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), Scala, Eiffel, Smalltalk, Erlang, Ruby, Lua, MATLAB, SIMULINK, and

Claims

1. A method for controlling communication signal transmission in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, the method comprising: obtaining a prohibited V2X communication map, the prohibited V2X communication map comprising locations of a plurality of geo-fence boundaries of areas in which V2X communication signal transmissions are prohibited; Get the current position of the vehicle; determining a distance between the vehicle and a nearest geofence boundary of the plurality of geofence boundaries; as well as In response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is less than a specified boundary distance threshold, transmitting V2X communication signals from at least one antenna of the vehicle is prohibited.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: The specified boundary distance threshold is a first specified boundary distance threshold, and the method further includes: Transmission of the V2X communication signal is allowed when the distance between the vehicles is greater than a second specified boundary distance threshold, and the second specified boundary distance threshold is greater than the first specified boundary distance threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining whether the vehicle is currently sending or receiving an active event V2X communication signal; In response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between the first specified boundary distance threshold and the second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is not currently transmitting or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, prohibiting transmission of a V2X communication signal; as well as In response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between the first specified boundary distance threshold and the second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently transmitting or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, transmission of a V2X communication signal is permitted.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: In response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is between the first specified boundary distance threshold and the second specified boundary distance threshold and the vehicle is currently transmitting or receiving an active event V2X communication signal, adjusting at least one of a transmission strength of the V2X communication signal and a transmission direction of the V2X communication signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein: Adjusting the transmission strength of the V2X communication signal includes reducing the strength of signal transmission according to the distance between the vehicle and the nearest geo-fence boundary among the multiple geo-fence boundaries.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein: Ways to reduce the strength of signal transmission include: Obtaining a minimum transmission power of the V2X communication signal and a maximum transmission power of the V2X communication signal; determining a number of power increments between the minimum transmission power and the maximum transmission power; and Based on the first specified boundary distance threshold and the second specified boundary distance threshold, the strength of the signal transmission is reduced to a transmission value associated with one of the power increments corresponding to the distance of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein: Adjusting the transmission direction of the V2X communication signal includes disabling transmission from at least one of the front vehicle V2X antenna and the rear vehicle V2X antenna based on the driving direction of the vehicle relative to a nearest one of the multiple geo-fence boundaries.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: In response to determining that the vehicle is moving away from a nearest one of the multiple geo-fence boundaries, transmission of V2X communication signals is prohibited until the distance between the vehicle and the nearest one of the multiple geo-fence boundaries exceeds the specified boundary distance threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: In response to determining that the distance between the vehicle and a nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries is greater than a distance check threshold, prohibiting a next distance calculation between the vehicle and the nearest one of the plurality of geofence boundaries for at least a first specified distance check time period.

10. A vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication system for a vehicle, the system comprising: at least one antenna of the vehicle, the at least one antenna configured to transmit V2X communication signals; a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to determine the location of the vehicle; a memory configured to store a prohibited V2X communication map including locations of a plurality of geo-fence boundaries of areas in which V2X communication signal transmissions are prohibited; as well as At least one processor configured to: Obtaining the current location of the vehicle via the GPS module; determining a distance between the vehicle and a nearest geofence boundary of the plurality of geofence boundaries; as well as In response to determining that the distance of the vehicle is less than a specified boundary distance threshold, transmitting V2X communication signals from at least one antenna of the vehicle is prohibited.

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