# US 2020/0288374 A1 · Mobile data dynamic grouping for connected vehicle and in-vehicle networking > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2020/0288374 A1 - Document ID: US20200288374A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/293,245 - Filed: 2019-03-05 - Published: 2020-09-10 - Earliest claimed: 2019-03-05 - Assignees: Cisco Technology, Inc. - Applicants: Cisco Technology, Inc. - Inventors: Jerome Henry; Robert Edgar Barton; John George Apostolopoulos; John Martin Graybeal - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200288374A1 ## CPC - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - H04W 4/46: for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V] - G05D 1/0022: {characterised by the communication link (data switching networks in general H04L12/00)} - G05D 1/0027: {involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00)} - G05D 1/0293: {Convoy travelling} - G05D 1/0295: {by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet} - H04L 67/52: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal - H04L 69/40: for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection (management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06) - H04W 4/44: for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] - H04W 12/55: involving three or more devices, e.g. group pairing - H04W 40/026: {Route selection considering the moving speed of individual devices} - H04W 40/20: based on geographic position or location - H04W 40/22: using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point - H04W 40/24: Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update - H04W 40/248: {Connectivity information update} - H04W 40/32: for defining a routing cluster membership - H04W 76/10: Connection setup - G08G 1/22: {Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) ## Abstract In one embodiment, a technique for information sharing among dynamically grouped vehicles is provided that illustratively comprises making, by a first vehicle of a first plurality of vehicles, a determination that the first plurality of vehicles is a convoy of vehicles traveling as a group; sending, by the first vehicle, a group identifier that is indicative of the convoy and of each of the plurality of vehicles to an access point in communication with the first vehicle; authenticating, by the first vehicle, with the access point using the group identifier; and exchanging, by the first vehicle, first vehicular data with the access point using a first connection of a plurality of connections assigned to the group identifier. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: making, by a first vehicle of a first plurality of vehicles, a determination that the first plurality of vehicles is a convoy of vehicles traveling as a group; sending, by the first vehicle, a group identifier that is indicative of the convoy and of each of the plurality of vehicles to an access point in communication with the first vehicle; authenticating, by the first vehicle, with the access point using the group identifier; exchanging, by the first vehicle, first vehicular data with the access point using a first connection of a plurality of connections assigned to the group identifier; and sending, by the first vehicle and in response to identifying communication degradation interrupting an exchange of data between the first vehicle and the access point, a relay request to the access point, wherein the relay request is indicative of request for relayed vehicular data to complete the exchange of data. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the access point assigns a virtual media access control (MAC) address to the convoy of vehicles, the virtual MAC address associated with the plurality of connections and indicative of a hierarchal structure of the convoy of vehicles. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the first vehicle, authentication credentials associated with the access point to a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles using a secure connection; and exchanging, by the second vehicle, second vehicular data with the access point using a second connection of the plurality of connections. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: authenticating, by a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, with the access point using the group identifier; and exchanging, by the second vehicle, second vehicular data with the access point using a second connection of the plurality of connections. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the group identifier is selected from a group consisting of: a media access control (MAC) address, an internet protocol (IP) address, an information centric networking (ICN) label, or a named data networking (NDN) label. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the access point is a millimeter wave (mmWave) access point. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying, by the first vehicle, the communication degradation; and receiving, by the first vehicle, the relayed vehicular data from a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, the relayed vehicular data completing the exchange of data. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the relay request includes additional information that is selected from a group consisting of: a criticality index, an emergency flag, and a time flag. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first vehicle, a relay ability request from the access point; sending, by the first vehicle, a relay ability response to the access point based on a transmission budget of the first vehicle; and sending, by the first vehicle, relayed vehicular data to a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, the relayed vehicular data completing an exchange of data between the second vehicle and the access point that is interrupted by communication degradation. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the relay ability response includes ability information that is selected from the group consisting of a cannot relay ability flag, a can relay beyond AP flag, or a can relay flag. ### Claim 11 An apparatus, comprising: one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network; a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to: make a determination that a first plurality of vehicles is a convoy of vehicles traveling as a group; send a group identifier that is indicative of the convoy and of each of the plurality of vehicles to an access point in communication with a first vehicle; authenticate the first vehicle with the access point using the group identifier; exchange first vehicular data with the access point using a first connection of a plurality of connections assigned to the group identifier; and send, in response to identifying communication degradation interrupting an exchange of data between the first vehicle and the access point, a relay request to the access point, wherein the relay request is indicative of request for relayed vehicular data to complete the exchange of data. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the access point assigns a virtual media access control (MAC) address to the convoy of vehicles, the virtual MAC address associated with the plurality of connections and indicative of a hierarchal structure of the convoy of vehicles. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The apparatus of claim 11, the process when executed further operable to: send authentication credentials associated with the access point to a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles using a secure connection, wherein the second vehicle exchanges second vehicular data with the access point using a second connection of the plurality of connections. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the group identifier is selected from a group consisting of: a media access control (MAC) address, an internet protocol (IP) address, an information centric networking (ICN) label, and a named data networking (NDN) label. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the access point is a millimeter wave (mmWave) access point. ### Claim 16 A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a device in a network to execute a process comprising: making, by a first vehicle of a first plurality of vehicles, a determination that the first plurality of vehicles is a convoy of vehicles traveling as a group; sending, by the first vehicle, a group identifier that is indicative of the convoy and of each of the plurality of vehicles to an access point in communication with the first vehicle; authenticating, by the first vehicle, with the access point using the group identifier; exchanging, by the first vehicle, first vehicular data with the access point using a first connection of a plurality of connections assigned to the group identifier; and sending, by the first vehicle and in response to identifying communication degradation interrupting an exchange of data between the first vehicle and the access point, a relay request to the access point, wherein the relay request is indicative of request for relayed vehicular data to complete the exchange of data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the access point assigns a virtual media access control (MAC) address to the convoy of vehicles, the virtual MAC address associated with the plurality of connections and indicative of a hierarchal structure of the convoy of vehicles. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, the process further comprising: sending, by the first vehicle, authentication credentials associated with the access point to a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles using a secure connection, wherein the second vehicle exchanges second vehicular data with the access point using a second connection of the plurality of connections. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the group identifier is selected from a group consisting of: a media access control (MAC) address, an internet protocol (IP) address, an information centric networking (ICN) label, and a named data networking (NDN) label. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the access point is a millimeter wave (mmWave) access point.