Autonomous Vehicle Driving Condition Buffering for Poor Connectivity

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Solution Overview

Problem

Autonomous vehicles face operational challenges due to intermittent or poor communication connections while traveling between different communication coverage areas, affecting their ability to receive and transmit essential driving condition information.

Innovation Solution

An autonomous vehicle system that includes sensors for detecting driving conditions, a communication interface for connecting to a network, and logic for determining connection ratings, allowing it to gather, process, and store data for subsequent transmission or storage when connections are poor, ensuring continuous operation and data availability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If the autonomous vehicle continuously transmits driving condition information to the database, then data availability is improved, but communication reliability deteriorates due to intermittent connections

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata availabilityVSAvoidcommunication reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing driving condition information locally in the autonomous vehicle's database before transmission occurs. When connections are available, data is pre-stored and prepared for transmission. This ensures data availability is maintained even when communication interruptions occur later, resolving the contradiction between continuous data availability and communication reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The autonomous vehicle's local database acts as an intermediary between the sensors and the remote driving condition database. Instead of requiring continuous direct communication between sensors and the remote database, the local database buffers and manages data transmission, allowing the system to maintain data availability while accommodating intermittent communication reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Duration of action of stationary object

If the vehicle operates autonomously without real-time communication, then operational continuity is improved, but information accuracy deteriorates due to lack of real-time data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperational continuityVSAvoidinformation accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Duration of action of stationary objectVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system maintains continuity of useful action by enabling the autonomous vehicle to operate continuously using locally stored driving condition information when communication is unavailable. The vehicle can navigate and make decisions based on historical data, ensuring operational continuity is maintained without requiring constant real-time communication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback by periodically transmitting accumulated driving condition information to the remote database when connections are available. This feedback loop allows the system to update and refine its local database with real-time data, improving information accuracy while maintaining operational continuity during periods without communication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Loss of information

If the vehicle stores all sensor data locally, then data availability is improved, but device complexity increases due to storage and processing requirements

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata availabilityVSAvoidstorage and processing complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential driving condition information from sensor data for local storage and transmission, rather than storing all raw sensor data. This selective extraction approach maintains data availability for critical driving conditions while reducing the storage and processing complexity requirements of the autonomous vehicle's system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS11989019B1Systems and methods for detecting and transmitting driving condition information related to an autonomous vehicle

Publication Date: 2024.05.21 UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (USAA)

AI summary

An autonomous vehicle includes vehicle sensors that detect driving conditions and a communication interface communicatively coupled with a driving condition database via a communication network. The driving condition database stores vehicle sensor information indicative of first driving conditions and mobile device sensor information indicative of second driving conditions. Additionally, in response to a connection rating determination logic determining that a connection rating between the communication interface and the communication network below a threshold, a controller of the autonomous vehicle gathers, processes, and stores the vehicle sensor information and the mobile device sensor information for subsequent communication to the driving condition database and operates the autonomous vehicle based on the vehicle sensor information and the mobile device sensor information.