System and method for measuring and reducing vehicle fuel waste
AssigneeVnomics Corp.
InventorsDavid Charles Chauncey, Edward Charles McCarthy, Peter Joseph Roth, Nicholas Allen Elliott
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One way to improve fuel efficiency of a vehicle is to detect the vehicle operational shortcomings related to fuel consumption by determining whether fuel used during operation of the vehicle is normal fuel use or wasted fuel use. Considerations of idling, speeding and inappropriate gear shifts are some ways to measure the amount of fuel wasted due to operator shortcomings. Communicating this information to the operator in real-time so adjustments can be made will improve vehicle fuel efficiency. These techniques are applicable to tracking employment of other driving best practices as well.
Claims18
A method of detecting vehicle operational shortcomings related to fuel consumption, comprising:
- sensing information about operation of a vehicle from at least one sensor positioned on the vehicle;
- recording, on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the sensed information;
- determining, from the information, whether fuel used during operation of the vehicle is normal fuel use or wasted fuel use;
- categorizing the fuel used by the vehicle into one of a plurality of normal fuel use categories when the fuel used is determined to be normal fuel use, or into one of a plurality of wasted fuel use categories when the fuel used is determined to be wasted fuel use;
- recording, on the non-transitory computer readable medium, the categorized fuel use;
- determining performance information related to the vehicle from the recorded categorized fuel used;
- and
- presenting the performance information which comprises an amount of fuel wasted.
A system for detecting vehicle operational shortcomings, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to sense information about operation of a vehicle and positioned on the vehicle;
- a data storage device configured to record the sensed information;
- a determination module configured to determine, from the sensed information, whether fuel used during operation of the vehicle is normal fuel use or wasted fuel use;
- a categorization module configured to categorize the fuel used by the vehicle into one of a plurality of normal fuel use categories when the fuel used is determined to be normal fuel use, and into one of a plurality of wasted fuel use categories when the fuel used is determined to be wasted fuel use;
- and
- an apparatus configured to present performance information comprising an amount of fuel wasted related to the vehicle,
- the determination module further configured to determine the performance information from the categorized fuel used.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.