Universal controller for micro-mobilities

Abstract

A universal controller device for controlling a plurality of different types of micro-mobilities has a chassis having a mount for attachment to a frame of a micro- mobility. The universal controller d

Description

FIELD

[0001] The present specification relates generally to micro-mobilities and more particularly to a universal micro-mobility controller. BACKGROUND

[0002] Micro-mobility has become a prominent solution in many urban and suburban environments, addressing the "last mile" problem that many commuters face daily. These lightweight vehicles include electric scooters, e-bikes, Electric scooters (e-scooters), Electric skateboards, bicycles, self-balancing scooters, shared pedal bikes, electric passenger vehicles such as golf carts, and other similar vehicles, offer a convenient way to cover short distances, bridging the gap between primary transportation hubs and final destinations. SUMMARY

[0003] An aspect of the specification provides a universal controller device for controlling a plurality of different types of micro-mobilities including: a chassis having a mount for attachment to a frame of a micro-mobility; a board assembly within the chassis having: a memory for storing programming instructions; a processor in communication with the memory for executing the programming instructions; a first communication interface connected to the processor and for connection to an activation and management unit (AMU) of the micro-mobility; a second communication interface connected to the processor for communication with a remote computing device; the programming instructions for configuring the processor to: (a) determine a type of the micro-mobility and associated AMU; (b) based on the type, establish a range of instructions to the associated AMU for controlling the micro-mobility; (c) receive a control instruction from within the range of instructions from the remote computing device; and, (d) send the control instruction to the AMU to cause the micro-mobility to operate according to the instruction according to the type of the micro-mobility.

[0004] An aspect of the specification provides a universal controller device further wherein the board assembly further or the remote computing device includes a location positioning module for determining a location the programming instructions for further configuring the processor to: send an override control instruction to the AMU to cease movement of the micro-mobility if the location is outside of a geo-fence.

[0005] An aspect of the specification provides a universal controller device further wherein the programming instructions for further configuring the processor to interact with an application on the remote computing device regardless of the type of the micro-mobility.

[0006] An aspect of the specification provides a universal controller device wherein remote computing device is configured to execute an application that can receive control instructions for each of the different types.

[0007] An aspect of the specification provides a universal controller device wherein the application is configured to authenticate with at least one micro-mobility fleet management engine that is respective to different micro-mobilities of the same or different types; the application being further configured to accept control instructions for a given micro-mobility only after authentication.

[0008] The device can be physically connected to various vehicles. It includes an Application Programming Interface (API) for software integration.

[0009] The device's form factor is not particularly limited. The following components can be used:

[0010] Chip: Utilizes a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) chip from Nordic, supporting BLE and NFC communication.

[0011] Module: Equipped with a 7600 GA global module.

[0012] Microcontroller: Incorporates a microcontroller from the NOTON M031 series.

[0013] Antenna: Features a dedicated antenna for GPS functionality.

[0014] Power Supply: Includes an independent power supply system.

[0015] Serial Communication: Facilitates Type-C connection for serial communication with vehicles.

[0016] Storage: Contains an EPROM with an 8 MB capacity.

[0017] SIM Card Slot: Features a slot for SIM card insertion.

[0018] Secondary Board: An additional board is available for vehicles with unique communication protocols, capable of mimicking a controller or acting as a simple switch.

[0019] The device can be compatible with vehicles having serial communication or other communication systems.

[0020] A secondary board can be provided for adaptability for unique vehicle communication protocols or "dumb" vehicles.

[0021] Employs TCP for communication with the Joyride server.

[0022] Third-party access to loT capabilities via a REST API.

[0023] The device can be incorporated into Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) having specific vehicle protocols.

[0024] The device can be capable of locking and unlocking vehicles based on communication types (serial or CAN).

[0025] A secondary board can substitute as a controller for vehicles lacking an inherent one.

[0026] The device can used for shared mobility (e.g. rental fleets) with features like offline geofencing. The device can offer a keyless experience, enhancing user convenience in vehicle rentals.

[0027] The device can contemplate the incorporation of NFC for efficient payment processes.

[0028] Various safety and compliance features including driver verification through an application and Age restriction enforcement and alcohol consumption checks for safety compliance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0029] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for universal control for micromobilities.

[0030] Figure 2 is a block diagram of example internal components of the engine of Figure 1.

[0031] Figure 3 shows a flowchart depicting a method for controlling a micro-mobility. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Figure 1 shows a system for universal control for micro-mobilities indicated generally at 100. System 100 comprises a plurality of micro-mobility fleet management engines 104-1, 104-2 ... 104-n. (Collectively, engines 104-1, 104-2 ... 104-n are referred to as engines 104, and generically, as engine 104. This nomenclature is used elsewhere herein.) In system 100, engines 104 connect to a network 108. Network 108 interconnects micro-mobility fleet management engines 104 with a plurality of universal controllers 116, a plurality of computing device 118 and an interface repository engine 120. As will be discussed further below, engine 120 maintains programming instructions respective.

[0033] Network 108 is not particularly limited and indeed while devices 118 can each connect to controllers 116 via a wide area network such as the Internet, it is also contemplated that a single device 118 can connect to a single controller 116 via a peer-to-peer connection such as Bluetooth or near field communication (NFC) and thus in that sense network 108 can be such a peer to peer link. Network 108 can also be one or more of these types of links, to thereby generally convey that controllers 116, device 118, engines 104 and engine 120 can each include communication hardware such as network interfaces that allow for one or more different types of communication links to be effected, be they wired, wireless, local area network, wide area network, Internet based, private networks or public networks. In other words, network 108 represents the fact that the ways in which electronic communication is effected amongst the various nodes in system 100 is not particularly limited.

[0034] System 100 thus contemplates that each universal controller 116 can be connected to different types of micro-mobilities 126. System 100 shows an electric scooter micro-mobility 126-1, an electric wheelchair micro-mobility 126-2 and an electric golf card micro-mobility 126-0. Other types of micro-mobilities are contemplated, be they electric or otherwise powered, including electric scooters (e-scooters), electric bicycles (e-bikes), electric skateboards, electric hoverboards, electric unicycles, electric roller skates, Segways™, kick scooters, shared bicycle systems, low speed vehicles golf-carts, personnel carriers. Generally but not always, these vehicles are low speed and electric. Micro-mobilities 126 each include activation and management unit (AMU). The AMU can be primitive and simply control whether the vehicle is “off or on”, such as an electronic key or equivalent. The AMU can also be more sophisticated such as an electronic control unit (ECU) that controls more than vehicle access, but can also control speed, battery, traction, stability or other.

[0035] Micro-mobility fleet management engines 104 can be based on any present or future electronic servers or computing architectures that, amongst other things, manage fleets of micro-mobilities 126.

[0036] Engine 120 can be any type of electronic server or computing architecture that maintains a library of programming interfaces that can be loaded onto different universal controllers 116 so that a given controller 116 can uniquely communicate with and control its respective micro-mobility 126.

[0037] Universal controllers 116 are substantially the same device in terms of form factor and hardware. Each universal controllers 116 includes a chassis having a mount for attachment to a frame of its respective micro-mobility 126. Each universal controllers 116 includes a board assembly within the chassis having: a memory for storing programming instructions; a processor in communication with the memory for executing the programming instructions; a first communication interface connected to the processor and for connection to an activation and management unit (AMU) of the micro-mobility 126; a second communication interface connected to the processor for communication with one or more computing devices 118 via network 108.

[0038] Thus each computing device 118 is, itself, associated with different users 130. As will be appreciated from these teachings universal controllers 116 allow for a given user 130 operating their device 118 to avail themself of transport via a micro-mobility 126 respective to its universal controller 116.

[0039] The programming instructions on each universal controller 116 configuring the processor to:

[0040] determine a type of the micro-mobility 126 and associated AMU;

[0041] based on the type, establish a range of instructions to the associated AMU for controlling the micro-mobility 116. (This range of instructions can be stored on engine 120.)

[0042] receive a control instruction from within the range of instructions from a given device 118; and,

[0043] send the control instruction to the AMU to cause the micro-mobility 126 to operate according to the instruction according to the type of the micro-mobility 126.

[0044] In this manner, each user 130 can access an application from their device 118 and be given access to different micro-mobilities 126 via communications between the application and respective universal controller 116.

[0045] In a present example embodiment, engines 104 can be based on servers hosted by different fleet providers of micro-mobilities 126. Thus for example electric scooter micro-mobility 126-1 may be provided by micro-mobility fleet management engine 104-1; electric wheelchair micro-mobility 126-2 may be provided by micro-mobility fleet management engine 104-2; an electric golf card micro-mobility 126-0 may be provided by micro-mobility fleet management engine 104-2. And, of course, each engines 104 would typically manage a plurality of micro-mobility 126, not just the single micro-mobility 126 per this illustrative example.

[0046] Having described an overview of system 100, it is useful to comment on the hardware infrastructure of system 100. Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a nonlimiting example of internal components of engine 120.

[0047] In this example, engine 120 includes at least one input device 204. Input from device 204 is received at a processor 208 which in turn controls an output device 212. Input device 204 can be a traditional keyboard and / or mouse to provide physical input. Likewise output device 212 can be a display. In variants, additional and / or other input devices 204 or output devices 212 are contemplated or may be omitted altogether as the context requires.

[0048] Processor 208 may be implemented as a plurality of processors or one or more multi-core processors. The processor 208 may be configured to execute different programing instructions responsive to the input received via the one or more input devices 204 and to control one or more output devices 212 to generate output on those devices.

[0049] To fulfill its programming functions, the processor 208 is configured to communicate with one or more memory units, including non-volatile memory 216 and volatile memory 220. Non-volatile memory 216 can be based on any persistent memory technology, such as an Erasable Electronic Programmable Read Only Memory (“EEPROM”), flash memory, solid-state hard disk (SSD), other type of hard-disk, or combinations of them. Non-volatile memory 216 may also be described as a non-transitory computer readable media. Also, more than one type of non-volatile memory 216 may be provided.

[0050] Volatile memory 220 is based on any random access memory (RAM) technology. For example, volatile memory 220 can be based on a Double Data Rate (DDR) Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (SDRAM). Other types of volatile memory 220 are contemplated.

[0051] Processor 208 also connects to network 108 via a network interface 232. Network interface 232 can also be used to connect another computing device that has an input and output device, thereby obviating the need for input device 204 and / or output device 212 altogether.

[0052] Programming instructions in the form of applications 224 are typically maintained, persistently, in non-volatile memory 216 and used by the processor 208 which reads from and writes to volatile memory 220 during the execution of applications 224. Various methods discussed herein can be coded as one or more applications 224. One or more tables or databases 228 are maintained in non-volatile memory 216 for use by applications 224. Thus, for example, databases 228 may maintain the libraries of programming instructions unique to each micro-mobility 126, such that those instructions can be downloaded onto universal controllers 116 and thereby fulfill the universality of each universal controllers 116, allowing a single type of universal controllers 116 to control different types of micro-mobility 126, and also allowing for one application to be deployed across computing devices 118 that can be used to allow access to different micro-mobilities 126.

[0053] Such an application can also be coordinated with different engines 104 to authenticate different users 130 and control access of individual users 130 to specific micro-mobilities 126. Payment processing functions can also be provided.

[0054] The infrastructure of engine 120, or a variant thereon, can be used to implement any of the computing nodes in system 100, including micro-mobility fleet management engines 104. Furthermore, engine 120 and micro-mobility fleet management engines 104 may also be implemented as virtual machines and / or with mirror images to provide load balancing. Functions of engine 120 may also be distributed amongst different micromobility fleet management engines 104 and / or platforms 114, thereby obviating the need for a central engine 120. By the same token, a plurality of engines 120 may be provided.

[0055] Furthermore, a person of skill in the art will recognize that the core elements of processor 208, input device 204, output device 212, non-volatile memory 216, volatile memory 220 and network interface 232, as described in relation to the server environment of engine 120, have analogues in the different form factors of client machines such as those that can be used to implement universal controllers 116 and computing devices 118.

[0056] Notably, however, universal controllers 116 can have common hardware include changeable programming instructions to allow the common hardware of each universal controllers 116 to control different micro-mobilities 126 according to programming instructions maintained on engine 120.

[0057] Figure 3 shows a flowchart depicting a method for controlling a micro-mobility indicated generally at 300. Method 300 can be implemented on system 100. Persons skilled in the art may choose to implement method 300 on system 100 or variants thereon, or with certain blocks omitted, performed in parallel or in a different order than shown. Method 300 can thus also be varied. However, for purposes of explanation, method 300 will be described in relation to its performance on system 100 with a specific focus on treating method 300 as, for example, programming instructions stored on which can be executed on the processor on each universal controller 116.

[0058] Block 304 comprises determining the type of micro-mobility and AMU (Autonomous Mobility Unit).

[0059] Block 308 comprises determining the range of instructions for the identified type of micro-mobility and AMU.

[0060] Block 312 comprises receiving control instructions from a remote computing device.

[0061] Block 316 comprises sending the control instructions to the AMU.

[0062] In view of the above it will now be apparent that variants, combinations, and subsets of the foregoing embodiments are contemplated.

[0063] A person skilled in the art will now appreciate that the teachings herein can provide certain advantages over the prior art. For example, the present invention's universality and versatility enable it to control a variety of micro-mobilities, which can be especially useful for entities or individuals that use or own multiple types of micro-mobilities, thereby reducing the need for multiple controllers. Ease of installation is facilitated by the design, which includes a mount for seamless attachment to micro-mobility frames, allowing users to effortlessly switch between different vehicles. Furthermore, the device's ability to promptly identify the type of micro-mobility and its associated AMU streamlines the setup process, decreasing the likelihood of user errors and ensuring a more efficient initialization. The inclusion of a secondary communication interface in the device broadens its capabilities, enabling remote communication with computing devices operated by users. This innovative feature not only permits remote control but also provides avenues for diagnostics and monitoring of the micro-mobility, potentially enhancing fleet management or emergency response scenarios. Precision in the control of micro-mobilities is emphasized as the device can establish a tailored range of instructions specific to the detected AMU. This ensures that operations remain within the micro-mobility's intended parameters, effectively minimizing operational errors. The universal controller an accommodate potential software updates, thereby maintaining its relevance with the ever-evolving micro-mobility landscape. Standardization, a key advantage, becomes feasible especially for organizations that manage diverse micromobilities. Such standardization simplifies training processes, maintenance routines, and inventory management. From an economic standpoint, this universal approach might also offer more efficiency compared to managing individual controllers for each micro-mobility type. Safety, an imperative in design, is bolstered by the device's capability to dispatch apt control instructions congruent with the specific micro-mobility type. Overall, the use of micro-mobilities is encouraged which can also help reduce carbon emissions as micromobilities are used over other more carbon intensive vehicles. Further advantages may be considered when used in tandem with other systems. Its communication capabilities, when synergized with complementary technologies, open the possibility of data collection on micro-mobility usage patterns and performance. Such amassed data holds promise for detailed analysis, research, and optimization, offering a comprehensive view of micromobility dynamics. In essence, the functionalities embedded within this invention provide a multifaceted advantage in the micro-mobility controller domain, harmonizing versatility, safety, and technological integration.

[0064] It should be recognized that features and aspects of the various examples provided above can be combined into further examples that also fall within the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the figures are not to scale and may have size and shape exaggerated for illustrative purposes.

Claims

1. A universal controller device for controlling a plurality of different types of micromobilities comprising:a chassis having a mount for attachment to a frame of a micro-mobility;a board assembly within the chassis having:a memory for storing programming instructions;a processor in communication with the memory for executing the programming instructions;a first communication interface connected to the processor and for connection to an activation and management unit (AMU) of the micro-mobility;a second communication interface connected to the processor for communication with a remote computing device;the programming instructions for configuring the processor to:a) determine a type of the micro-mobility and associated AMU;b) based on the type, establish a range of instructions to the associated AMU for controlling the micro-mobility;c) receive a control instruction from within the range of instructions from the remote computing device; and,d) send the control instruction to the AMU to cause the micromobility to operate according to the instruction according to the type of the micro-mobility.

2. The universal controller device of claim 1 further wherein the board assembly further or the remote computing device includes a location positioning module fordetermining a location the programming instructions for further configuring the processor to:send an override control instruction to the AMU to cease movement of the micro-mobility if the location is outside of a geo-fence.

3. The universal controller device of claim 1 further wherein the programming instructions for further configuring the processor to interact with an application on the remote computing device regardless of the type of the micro-mobility.

4. The universal controller device of claim 1 wherein remote computing device is configured to execute an application that can receive control instructions for each of the different types.

5. The universal controller device of claim 3 wherein the application is configured to authenticate with at least one micro-mobility fleet management engine that is respective to different micro-mobilities of the same or different types; the application being further configured to accept control instructions for a given micro-mobility only after authentication.

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