Vehicular Micro Cloud Data Recovery via Segment Overhearing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing solutions for vehicular micro clouds face challenges in reliably recovering lost data during data handover functions due to factors like packet collisions and insufficient network connectivity, leading to inefficiencies in data storage and redundancy.

Innovation Solution

A Vehicular Micro Cloud (VMC) maintenance system that partitions data into segments, allows overhearing vehicles to cache these segments, and enables recovery of lost data by collecting missing segments from overhearing vehicles, thereby reducing the need for complete data copies on all micro cloud members.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If data is transmitted during handover in a vehicular micro cloud, then data is transferred between vehicles, but packet loss occurs due to collisions and insufficient network connectivity

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata transfer reliabilityVSAvoidpacket loss
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having vehicles proactively cache data segments before handover occurs. When a vehicle is about to leave a geographic area, its data is divided into segments and distributed to multiple destination vehicles in advance, so that if packet loss occurs during transmission, the data can still be recovered from cached segments.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements beforehand cushioning by creating redundant copies of data segments across multiple vehicles before handover. This redundancy acts as a cushion against packet loss, ensuring that even if some transmissions fail due to collisions or poor connectivity, the complete data can be reconstructed from the remaining segments.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

2Reliability

If multiple copies of data are stored in the vehicular micro cloud, then data recovery reliability is improved, but storage redundancy increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata recovery reliabilityVSAvoiddata storage redundancy
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies segmentation by dividing data into multiple segments and distributing them across different vehicles. Instead of storing complete copies of the entire data set, each vehicle stores only specific segments. This reduces overall storage redundancy while maintaining reliability, as long as enough segments are successfully transmitted or cached to reconstruct the original data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements local quality by assigning different data segments to different destination vehicles based on their characteristics, storage capacity, and proximity. This creates a non-uniform distribution where each vehicle holds a specific portion of the data, optimizing storage efficiency while ensuring that the collective system maintains complete data redundancy for recovery purposes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Quantity of substance

If data is divided into segments and distributed, then storage efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestorage efficiencyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies universality by designing a segment caching mechanism that serves multiple functions: it enables data recovery from packet loss, reduces storage redundancy, and facilitates efficient data distribution. The same infrastructure of vehicles and communication channels performs both normal data transmission and redundant segment caching, eliminating the need for separate specialized systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements self-service by enabling vehicles to automatically cache data segments and participate in the distributed storage system without requiring centralized coordination for each operation. Vehicles autonomously determine which segments to cache based on handover events and network conditions, reducing the complexity of centralized control while maintaining system efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3657828B1Lost data recovery for vehicle-to-vehicle distributed data storage systems
Publication Date: 2021.12.29 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP3657828B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP3657828B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP3657828B1 patent drawingFigure 1C

AI summary

The disclosure includes embodiments for recovering lost data in a vehicular micro cloud. In some embodiments, a method for a connected vehicle that is a member of the vehicular micro cloud includes detecting that one or more data segments of a data set are lost during a first data handover function transmitted over a Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) network. The data set is partitioned into multiple data segments including the one or more data segments during a previous data handover function performed prior to the first data handover function. The method includes modifying an operation of a communication unit of the connected vehicle to collect the one or more data segments from a set of overhearing vehicles that overhears the one or more data segments during the previous data handover function so that the data set is recovered on the connected vehicle.