FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
Title of invention: AUTONOMOUS COLLABORATION OF VEHICLES
Applicant
TATA Consultancy Services Limited A company Incorporated in India under The Companies Act, 1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building, 9th Floor,
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021,
Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to the field of autonomic computing and, more particularly, to an autonomic collaboration between vehicles based on certain configurable parameters.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Vehicles are simple machines that usually operate under control of the owner. Currently, the vehicles are known to have intelligence by way of intelligent vehicle technologies that can measure Various aspects of the vehicle besides enabling them to communicate with the owner or service agencies. Moreover, the intelligent technologies usually apply to car safety systems and commercial communications between the vehicles or between a vehicle and a sensor. The ability to autonomously interact with other vehicles in an intelligent and purposeful manner is missing.
Explicitly, machine-machine collaboration in an autonomous manner with Human supervisory control is missing in the field on road travel. There are quite a few challenges pertaining to road transportation which need attention, namely, vehicular collision, theft, aid, routing, fleet management, social car-pooling et cetra. This requires the vehicle to behave more than a machine such that a level of autonomy can be given to the vehicle for interaction, seeking assistance and for creating social fleets.
US Patent Application US20090170434 teaches a method of communication between vehicles via short range communication link. However this formation of link between the cars is just based on proximity and interests at a given moment. The application appears to present a pre-set trusted network of vehicles among which communication can take place unlike the present invention wherein a registry of vehicles is maintained and the trusted relation is gradually built over time. Moreover, this gradual build of trust in the present invention, is done autonomously by the vehicles to much extent by autonomic computing. Also, US20090170434 involves information transfer of essentially internet

data and data of owner's interest. However, focus of the present invention is transfer of data of vehicle's interest. This allows the vehicles to autonomously collaborate with each other to take decisions without complete dependence on the owner.
US Patent Application US20010023 8009 provides robust and reliable event scoring and reporting method wherein event score and historical confidence is collected, but all together for a prediction of events and informing the driver. The invention does not mention any vehicle to vehicle communication, and doesn't specifically involve autonomic computing. On contrary, the present invention introduces autonomous concept which achieves its objectives with the help of sensors and stored policies and rules towards building a trusted relationship between the vehicles. OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
The principle object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method of enabling autonomous collaboration between vehicles based on trusted social network established amongst vehicles under human authorization.
Another object of the present invention is to provide vehicle with a level of autonomy to detect, interact and build collaborative associations with other vehicles.
Another significant object of the invention is to provide a system that empowers the vehicle owner to control the autonomic capability of the vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method that allows vehicles separated over a long distance to communicate and autonomically collaborate.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system that enables self monitoring, self adjusting and self managing feature in a vehicle for subsequent decision making.

Other object of the present invention is to provide the vehicle with autonomy to seek aid in case of any mishap, establish new social relationships, share resources for task achievement, dynamic car pooling or fleet management.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Before the present methods, systems, and hardware enablement are described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular systems, and methodologies described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments of the present invention which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention which will be limited only by the appended claims.
The present invention envisages a system and method of effecting autonomous vehicle to vehicle collaboration based on a set of configurable parameters which overcomes all of the disadvantages discussed in the prior art.
An embodiment contemplates a system for managing a vehicular network that comprises a plurality of vehicles equipped with communicating device(s). These communication device(s) integrated with the system enables both short range and long range communication with the other vehicle. The vehicles within the vehicular network are further configured with a program code that allows the vehicle to autonomously collaborate with other vehicles based on a set of defined configurable parameters that specifies a minimal threshold for controlling autonomically collaborating capability of the vehicle. The centralized server of the system reposits the profiles of the vehicles within the network and is accessed by the vehicles via a wireless communication network for communication.
An embodiment contemplates a method for effecting autonomous collaboration between a principal vehicle and other vehicles communicating over a vehicular network. The

method herein comprises the following steps. Firstly, the set of configurable parameters that specifies a minimal threshold for controlling autonomically collaborating capability of the vehicle are defined. The presence of other vehicles is then detected and their profiles are stored in a localized database of the principal vehicle for vehicles that are detected over a short range and the vehicular information is stored in a centralized server for vehicles that are detected over a long range. Upon establishing a communication link between the vehicles via their integrated communication devices, autonomous collaboration is enabled. The capability of the vehicles to autonomically collaborate is based upon establishment of a social network which in further is determined by setting the minimal threshold against the set of defined parameters. For the vehicles reaching the minimal threshold and upon the commendation of the vehicle owner, allowance to enter the trosted social network of the principal rehicle is given and the vehicles are given an authority to autonomically interact, create social fleet and seek assistance thereon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, are better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like elements are given like reference numerals. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings example constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and system disclosed. In the drawings:
Figure 1 depicts a block diagram showing an overall view of the system in accordance with one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a detailed representation of the components of the system in accordance with one of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Some embodiments of this invention, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in
detail.
The words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other forms
thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or
items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such
item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.
It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, the preferred systems and methods are now described.
The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms.Software programming code, which embodies aspects of the present invention, is typically maintained in a permanent storage such as a computer readable medium. The software programming code may be embodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a data processing system. This includes, but is not limited to, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, compact discs (CD's), digital video discs (DVD's), and computer instruction signals embodied in a transmission medium with or without a carrier wave upon which the signals are modulated. For example, the transmission medium may include a communication network, such as the Internet. Further, a computerized method refers to a method whose steps are performed by a computing system containing a suitable combination of one or more processors, memory means and storage means.
The proposed system of the present invention describes a digital network of vehicles with an autonomic capability of detecting, interacting and building collaborative associations or relationships with other vehicles. The vehicles have integrated autonomic capability to

compute, decide, and take action based on a set of configurable parameters. The present system involves a vehicular network with plurality of vehicles, autonomic computing, human intervention and social networking between communicating and collaborating vehicles, the key factors being that the interaction between the vehicles is autonomous-including the act of computing and deciding of relationships with other vehicles, also autonomous.
The vehicular network facilitates interaction between the autonomous vehicles in accordance with a predetermined set of configurable parameters to perform a specified function. In one of the embodiments of the present invention, the vehicles autonomously collaborate to form links or relationships on a social network.
In accordance with one embodiment, the decision making capability of the vehicle to autonomously form a social network is restricted via configuration in order to protect privacy of the vehicle owner and to safeguard the human. Hence, the owner is configured to control the level of autonomy in certain critical aspects to protect privacy.
With reference now to Figure 1, an exemplary block diagram of the system is provided in which illustrative embodiments of the proposed invention may be implemented. It should be appreciated that Figure 1 is only exemplary and not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made. The system 100 of Figure 1 comprises of a communicating network of computer modules that are communicatively linked by a networking system like wires, wireless communication links or fiber optic cables. The network system here refers to the internet representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicate with one another. The internet enables high speed communication between the network computers and gets implemented either by intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).

As mentioned earlier the proposed system 100 is a combination and coordination of different modules or entities that autonomously perform the task including, but not limited to:
a) Detecting the presence of other vehicles in a vehicular network via communicating device. Each vehicle is integrated with proximity sensors to receive and transmit signals for acknowledging each other's presence, request for assistance, communicate spatial conditions, traffic conditions or navigation information. The sensors are also configured to identify that the vehicle is in proximity of a vehicle that it has not met ever before. The sensor data is thereon analyzed by the system integrated with the system. The vehicles detected by proximity sensors communicate wirelessly with other vehicles using GSM/GPRS/WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS capabilities.
b) Establishing a trusted relationship with the detected vehicle based on a set of configurable parameters. The governing parameters are configurable and include the following set: frequency of detected vehicle or the other vehicle parked in the vicinity, frequency of other vehicles frequently following the same route/destination as the owner, vehicles of owners related to the owner's human social network (clubs, friends, and relatives), vehicle models or vehicles of the same make, frequency of communication between the vehicles and the like. These parameters are illustrated for the purposes of the present invention and are no where limited.
In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the autonomous collaboration of vehicles requires the communicating vehicles to take owner's permission before the vehicles can trust each other and form a part of a social network. The owner is also authorized to configure policies. The trusted relation between the vehicles is established only upon the owner's approval which allows the vehicle to exchange its privileged communication among the vehicles, which can have various applications.

c) Publishing and updating the vehicle status vis a vis location, speed, distress situation, traffic conditions, navigation information or other such interesting news. The vehicles can suggest to the owner about the alternative routes based upon the received inputs (from the sensors or centralized server). The system further allows the interacting vehicles to communicate with the service providers, say for the purposes of maintenance. Also, the system enables the vehicle in reducing the cost by way of sharing their resources and hence providing alternative means for task achievement. For e.g. Updating sensor data from one crashed vehicle to the backend server via a normal functioning vehicle. The autonomous behavior of vehicle can also assist in dynamic car pooling based on online assessment of fuel and collaboration between trusted vehicles. Also fleet management of vehicles belonging to one organizational unit can be realized.
In accordance with one of the embodiments of the present invention, the system 100 of the present invention presents a network of vehicles 101(a) and (b) that autonomously collaborate to perform specified activities discussed above. The owner of the vehicle can configure certain policies to protect privacy. The vehicles 101(a) and (b) are further integrated with a localized database that may comprise the entire vehicular information including the vehicular profile and owner configured policies. The vehicular information includes, though not limited to, information pertaining to the vehicle make, set of configurable parameters, information gathered (sensed) and analyzed against the set of configurable parameters that forms privileged vehicular information while the owner configured policies can be private information. On the contrary, the vehicular profile refers to the spatial configuration that the vehicle continuously adjusts and updates with changing environmental conditions etc. This information is a public information that be shared with other vehicles at any time and remains hosted at the site of centralized server.Thus, multiple nearby vehicles can share, discuss, compute optimum alternatives based on the regularly stored and updated information in their localized database.
In one of the other embodiments of the present invention, in order to enable the vehicle provide these services to other communicating vehicle, the server system at the

centralized server 102(b) that is at a fixed location, is engaged. The server 102(b) acts a repository of the vehicular profile for providing positioning information or spatial configuration that serves as a reference for estimating the location of vehicles in absolute terms. In particular, the integrated computing, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and networking capabilities are provided for estimating location via a system such as Android based board. The vehicles are also connected via packet data to a centralized server 102(b) that alternatively acts as a computing and communication mediation facility for vehicles detected over long distances. The communication is enabled over protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC).
Furthermore, the centralized server 102(b) performs required computations based on the vehicle's input so that needed actions can be taken. For example, based on daily feeds of various vehicles about their location, the server can compute that a vehicle can form a relationship with another vehicle. This is fed to the vehicles. The vehicles can decide if they wish to form a relationship, interact with each other, and also take permission of their owners before actually forming their relationship. The centralized server also aids in pushing personalized content such as services and advertisements to the vehicles. In an alternative embodiment, the centralized server suggests optimum routes based on inputs from the vehicles.
For short range communication, the presence of vehicles is detected by the proximity sensor. The vehicles autonomously communicate and keep a record, in their localized database, of the frequency of interaction with the other vehicle. At this point, the interacting vehicles can share their public information such as model/make, identity, routes and stops, etc. This information is also stored and updated in the localized database of vehicle's computing system.
When the frequency of interaction and all other configurable parameters reaches a threshold value, as determined by the vehicle owner, the vehicle becomes a candidate to form a link in the social network. Finally, the vehicle is made to enter the network upon

the permission of their owners. Now the vehicle is considered as trusted. The vehicles can have public data, privileged data and private data, as discussed above. While the public data (vehicular profile) is available to all other vehicles, privileged data can be availed when the trusted social network is established with the vehicle. However, the private data which can be vehicles rules and policies remains private to any vehicle.
Once the vehicle enters the trusted network, they can share their privileged information such as data from sensors- fuel level, electronics, owner's social network or other data. The trusted vehicle can also be added to particular groups of networks-e.g. Home, workspace, route and club. This can be useful in scenarios where assistance from a particular group has to be sought.
In case of long distance communication, the centralized server 102(b) mediates communication between the vehicles. In case of vicinities such as parking lots of a large (office) campus, the short range communication system is not always viable. In such a case, the centralized server 102(b) keeps track of the GPS based locations of the vehicles and communicates suggestions to the vehicles.
In case the vehicle is broken down, the vehicle can autonomously detect other vehicles from the network (from its group) and request for assistance. It can also request assistance from the owner's own human social network.
BEST MODE/EXAMPLE OF WORKING OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Referring to Figure 2, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. A principal vehicle 101 (a) is considered that does not have any trusted relationship with other
vehicle 101 (b), (c), (d) and so on, in the vehicular network. The vehicles are
considered to be integrated with the novel system of the present invention.
Assuming a scenario wherein the vehicle owner 103 takes the vehicle 101 (a) to office everyday and parks it in the parking lot. Another vehicle, for say, 101(b) is usually

parked in its vicinity. The vehicles 101 (a) and 101 (b) detect the presence of each other by using proximity sensors, and this sensory input is provided to their respective autonomic computing elements. The centralized server 102 is fixed at a particular location that acts as a repository of the vehicles in the network and maintains the entire registry.
Now, the vehicle 101(a) makes an authentication by means of central registry via wireless communication network. The computing element of the vehicle's system updates its localized database to record the frequency of interaction parameter, along with the set of other configurable parameters. The vehicle consults the policies and rules configured therein to realize the minimum threshold value that the other vehicle 101 (b) is desired tomeet in order to form a part of vehicle 101(a) 's trusted social network.
Assuming that the configured policy of the vehicle 101(a) mandates as high as 50 interactions to happen as the minimal threshold value, the vehicle 101(b) can form a part of the trusted network only if the frequency of interaction has reached 50 or above 50 along with other governing parameters. During the course, the vehicles are allowed to share the public data as well as the data available on the centralized server 102, placed remotely.
Once the threshold is reached, the computing elements of the interacting vehicles, say 101 (a) and 101(b) makes a decision based on the threshold and the public data registered at the centralized server, whether to request for a trusted relationship. The vehicles then notify their owners of the request received, which the owner can either accept or request. On acceptance, a trusted relationship is established and the privileged data is made accessible to each other, which in further can assist other decisions such as seeking assistance from other vehicles or services.
If rejected, no further communication is made between the vehicles except for detection of proximity with respect to each other. Furthermore, the owner is enabled to configure certain rules and policies for the corresponding vehicles. The vehicle owner consults and

follows these policies before giving confirmation to the other vehicle for entering a trusted relation. However, the two vehicles can communicate with each other autonomously to an extent specified by these policies.
In one other embodiment of the present invention wherein the two vehicles, say 101(a) and 101(b) have a trusted relationship, assume that vehicle 101(a) breaks down and the owner needs pick up or assistance. Using its proximity sensors, vehicle 101(a) detects the presence of trusted vehicles in its network. Based on the severity of situation, the vehicle 101(a) can also use long range signals to reach out to service centers or near ones of the owner. Now, say vehicle 101(b) is passing by and is detected by vehicle 101(a). The vehicle 101(a) notifies its owner of the detected vehicle that it has sought help. The owner can also abort if he so wills. Upon receiving the assistance request, vehicle 101(b) suggests to its owner to help the vehicle 101(a).
The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents. The listing of steps within method claims do not imply any particular order to performing the steps, unless explicitly stated in the claim.

We claim:
1) A distributed computing system for managing a vehicular network, said system
embodied on at least one memory and executed by at least one processor,
comprising:
a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle equipped with a communicating device
adapted to transmit and receive information from other vehicle, and including a
program code configured to autonomously collaborate with other vehicles in the
vehicular network bas ed on a set of configurable parameters that specifies a
minimal threshold for controlling autonomically collaborating capability of the
vehicle;
a centralized server being configured to reposit vehicular profile corresponding to
the vehicle; and
the network that facilitates communication between the vehicles and the
centralized server.
2) The system of claim 1, wherein the communicating device for short distance communication includes a set of sensor units adapted to sense information from other vehicles.
3) The system of claim 1, wherein the communication over long distance is enabled by communicating device integrated with GPRS/GSM technologies.
4) The system of claim 1, wherein the set of configurable parameters includes frequency of vehicles being parked in vicinity, frequency of communication, frequency with which the other vehicle specifies the same spatial configuration, make of the other vehicle or relation between vehicle owners over a social networking platform.

5) The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicular profile includes vehicle spatial configuration that the vehicle continuously adjusts and updates with changing environmental conditions.
6) The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is further integrated with a local database for storing and updating vehicular information that includes information against the set of configurable parameters, frequency of communication with the other vehicle in the vehicular network along with the vehicular profile and owner configured policies.
7) The system of claim 1, wherein the communicating vehicles form a trusted social network that allows vehicles to autonomously collaborate based on the set of configurable parameters and the vehicular information stored in the local database.
8) The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomically collaborating capability of the vehicles is further based on prior confirmation of the vehicle owner in accordance with the owner configured plurality of policies.
9) The system of claim 1, wherein the other vehicle enters the trusted social network whenever the minimal threshold determined against the set of configurable parameters is reached.
10) The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized server is configured to assist in autonomous collaboration of vehicles by using the vehicular profile.
11) The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized server facilitates long range communication between the vehicles via the wireless communication network, said server tracks and notifies GPS based spatial configuration of the other vehiclesover the network.

12) A computer implemented method for effecting autonomous collaboration between
a principal vehicle and plurality of other vehicles over a vehicular network based
on a set of configurable parameters, the method comprising:
defining the set of configurable parameters that specifies a minimal threshold for
controlling autonomically collaborating capability of the vehicle;
detecting the other vehicles and storing vehicular information thereof, in a
localized database of the principal vehicle for vehicles detected over a short
distance, and vehicular profile thereof, in a centralized server for vehicles
detected over a long distance;
establishing a communication link between the principal vehicle and the other
vehicles using communicating device integrated with the vehicles; and
enabling autonomous collaboration among the vehicles in the vehicular network,
the social network being formed whenever the minimal threshold determined
against the set of configurable parameters is reached, and upon vehicle owner
commendation.
13) The method of claim 12, wherein the localized database stores the vehicular information comprising information against the set of configurable parameters, frequency of communication with the other vehicle in the vehicular network along with vehicular profile and owner configured policies.
14) The method of claim 12, wherein the set of configurable parameters includes frequency of vehicles being parked in vicinity, frequency of communication, frequency with which the other vehicle specifies the same spatial configuration, make of the other vehicle or relation between vehicle owners over a social networking platform.
15) The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicular profile includes vehicle spatial configuration that the vehicle continuously adjusts and updates with changing environmental conditions.

16) The method of claim 12, wherein the autonomically collaborating capability of the vehicles is based on prior owner commendation in accordance with the owner configured plurality of policies.
17) The method of claim 12, wherein the short distance communication is enabled by a set of sensor units adapted to sense information from other vehicles, Bluetooth or WiFi.
18) The method of claim 12, wherein the long distance communication is enabled by GPRS or GSM technology.