Automotive telemetry protocol

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of conveying vehicle operation data from a vehicle to a remote monitoring recipient, comprising the steps of establishing a data link between the vehicle and the remote monitoring recipient; collecting vehicle operation data from data sources in the vehicle; packaging the vehicle operation data in a data packet using protocol derived from SNMP; and conveying the data packet over the data link.

1 . A method of collecting vehicle operation data from a vehicle for later transmission to a remote monitoring recipient in a manner to minimize the bandwidth requirements for the later transmission, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a vehicle on-board computing device;    providing a number of data acquisition modules, each to measure one or more operating characteristics of the vehicle, the operating characteristics corresponding to current values of a set of managed objects;    interfacing the vehicle on-board computing device with each of the data acquisition modules;    configuring the vehicle on-board computing device to: 
 a) form a diagnostic information base for receiving and storing values for each of the managed objects from each of the corresponding data acquisition modules;  
 b) assemble an event report based on information contained in the diagnostic information base; and  
 c) package the event report in a protocol data unit according to an SNMP-derived protocol.  
   
     
     
         2 . A method as defined in  claim 1  wherein the operating characteristics include GPS position, engine speed, road speed, or engine temperature, or an OBD-II parameter related to vehicle emissions.  
     
     
         3 . A method as defined in  claim 2  wherein the OBD-II parameter includes misfire detection.  
     
     
         4 . A method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising the step of enabling the vehicle on-board computing device to: 
 a) establish a data link with the remote monitoring recipient; and    b) convey the protocol data unit over the data link.    
     
     
         5 . A method as defined in  claim 4 , further comprising the step of enabling the remote monitoring recipient to issue a GET protocol data unit to retrieve the current values for a specific set of managed objects from the vehicle on-board computing device.  
     
     
         6 . A method as defined in  claim 5  further comprising the step of enabling the remote monitoring recipient to wait for an acknowledgement to the GET protocol data unit by the vehicle on-board computing device.  
     
     
         7 . A method as defined in  claim 4 , further comprising the step enabling the vehicle on-board computing device to issue a TRAP protocol data unit to report a vehicular event.  
     
     
         8 . A method as defined in  claim 7  further comprising the step of enabling the vehicle on-board computing device to: 
 a) store threshold values or a reporting interval for each vehicular event; and  
 b) issue each TRAP protocol data unit, either when a threshold value has been exceeded or at a corresponding reporting interval.  
 
     
     
         9 . A method as defined in  claim 8  wherein the TRAP protocol data unit reports a GPS position.  
     
     
         10 . A method as defined in  claim 4 , further comprising the step of issuing an INFORM protocol data unit from the vehicle to report an exceptional vehicular event.  
     
     
         11 . A method as defined in  claim 10 , further comprising the step of enabling the vehicle on-board computing device to: 
 a) store any one of a plurality of specified exceptional vehicular events in the diagnostic information base, including one or more regulatory exceptions, maintenance exceptions or operational exceptions; and    b) issue the INFORM protocol data unit when any one of the specified events occurs.    
     
     
         12 . A method as defined in  claim 11  wherein the INFORM protocol data unit is sent as a result of a regulatory threshold level being exceeded.  
     
     
         13 . A method as defined in  claim 11  further comprising the step of enabling the vehicular onboard computing device to wait for a confirmation that a previous INFORM protocol data unit has been logged in a data base by the remote monitoring recipient.  
     
     
         14 . A method as defined in  claim 13 , further comprising the step of re-transmitting the INFORM protocol data unit in the absence of a confirmation that a previous INFORM protocol data unit has been logged in a database by the remote monitoring recipient.  
     
     
         15 . A method as defined in  claim 4 , further comprising the step of enabling the remote monitoring recipient to issue a SET protocol data unit to the vehicle on-board computing device to set one or more of the managed objects.  
     
     
         16 . A method as defined in  claim 4 , wherein the data link is wireless and includes an radio frequency band under the IEEE 802.11 standard, a satellite RF packet network or a terrestrial RF packet network.  
     
     
         17 . A method as defined in  claim 4  wherein the protocol data unit is a REQUEST protocol data unit, the protocol data unit excluding the ERROR STATUS and ERROR INDEX fields of the SNMP protocol.  
     
     
         18 . A method as defined in  claim 4  wherein the protocol data unit excludes the LENGTH field of each variable binding of the SNMP protocol.  
     
     
         19 . A method of conveying vehicle operation data from a vehicle to a remote monitoring recipient, comprising the steps of: 
 establishing a data link between the vehicle and the remote monitoring recipient;    collecting vehicle operation data from data sources in the vehicle;    packaging the vehicle operation data in a data packet using protocol derived from SNMP; and    conveying the data packet over the data link, the protocol data unit being issued in response to a request by the remote monitoring recipient and containing both the request and requested values in the request and being encapsulated within a single message and in a single unfragmented network packet.    
     
     
         20 . A computer implemented system for conveying vehicle operation data from a vehicle to a remote monitoring recipient, comprising: 
 an vehicle on-board computing device in communication with a number of vehicle operation data sources in the vehicle;    a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless data link with the vehicle on-board computing device and the remote monitoring recipient;    the vehicle on-board computing device being enabled to package the vehicle operation data in a data packet using protocol derived from SNMP for transmission to the remote monitoring recipient over the wireless data link.