Dynamic status update solicitation
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10103996
A system and method of providing status updates to one or more mobile devices. The method includes receiving a vehicle action request from the mobile device at a central office, determining a status update frequency based upon at least one real-time characteristic, and instructing the mobile device to request status updates on the vehicle action request to the central office at the status update frequency. In an alternative method, a plurality of mobile devices may be instructed to use…
Timing delivery of over-the-air data to a vehicle
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10028133
A mobile vehicle communications system and a method of using that system to provide over-the-air (OTA) data from a vehicle backend system to a target vehicle. The method includes the steps of: receiving wireless carrier system (WCS)-associated data from a plurality of vehicles that are associated with the backend system; in response to the receiving step, determining a preferred geographic communication region from among a plurality of geographic communication regions, wherein the…
Connection management for a vehicle telematics unit
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10027805
A connection management system and method manages connections between a vehicle telematics unit and a call center. A connection is established between the vehicle telematics unit and the call center over a wireless network. A first service is provided to the vehicle telematics unit during which a request for a second service is recognized for the vehicle telematics unit. A connection between the vehicle telematics unit and the call center is provided in response to the request for the…
Method and system for enabling after-hours vehicle pick up
Granted: July 10, 2018
Patent Number:
10019771
In an example of a method for enabling after-hours vehicle pick up, a server recognizes that a service payment request is outstanding for a serviced vehicle. In response to the recognizing, the server transmits an ignition block command to the serviced vehicle. The ignition block command triggers a powertrain control module of the serviced vehicle to enter a disengaged state that electrically prohibits the powertrain control module from providing tractive power to a vehicle drive wheel.…
Identifying a vehicle using a mobile device
Granted: July 10, 2018
Patent Number:
10019621
A communication system and a method of identifying a target vehicle using application software on a mobile device. The method includes the steps of receiving at the mobile device a wireless signal transmitted from a transmitter at the target vehicle, wherein the wireless signal is received using an imaging detector in the mobile device; identifying that the target vehicle is a source of the wireless signal based on characteristics of the wireless signal; and in response to the…
Cloud-based in-car HVAC system
Granted: July 3, 2018
Patent Number:
10011156
A method for controlling a vehicle cabin climate is provided. The method includes the steps of receiving and aggregating data relating to one or more inputs, wherein at least some of the data is acquired at the vehicle and some of the data is acquired from sources located remotely from the vehicle. The method further includes using a climate control module to determine an optimal cabin climate based on the aggregated data, and controlling one or more climate features according to the…
In-vehicle nametag choice using speech recognition
Granted: June 26, 2018
Patent Number:
10008205
A method of choosing a nametag using automatic speech recognition (ASR) includes: receiving a spoken nametag via a microphone; performing a first speech recognition analysis on the spoken nametag; determining that the first speech recognition analysis outputs only handheld wireless device nametags; performing a second speech recognition analysis that excludes the handheld wireless device nametags stored at the handheld wireless device; and combining the results of the first speech…
Determining vehicle location via signal strength and signal drop event
Granted: June 12, 2018
Patent Number:
9998869
A method for determining vehicle location via a mobile computing device includes: determining, by an application of the mobile computing device, a first signal strength corresponding to a communications component of a vehicle and a first mobile device location corresponding to the first signal strength; detecting, by the application, a signal drop event corresponding to a loss of the signal corresponding to the communications component of the vehicle; determining, by the application, in…
Optimizing vehicle recharging to maximize use of energy generated from particular identified sources
Granted: June 12, 2018
Patent Number:
9994118
Implementations of the present invention contemplate utilizing a communicative infrastructure represented by a telematics unit of an electric vehicle and a telematics service provider (TSP) communicatively coupled to the telematics unit to control an amount of power reserved for a charging event of the vehicle. Specifically, the TSP utilizes information provided by the telematics unit, electrical power utilities, and electrical power metering devices to determine the characteristics of…
Cell selection and reselection using a vehicle antenna
Granted: June 5, 2018
Patent Number:
9992724
A mobile vehicle communications system adapted to perform a method of cellular reselection using vehicle telematics unit coupled to a vehicle antenna. The method includes: performing a measurement of a reference signal from a serving cell that is connected to the telematics unit; determining whether to perform a measurement of a target cell based on both a serving cell signal strength value (Srxlev) and a measured serving cell signal quality value (Qqualmeas); and when the measurement of…
Passenger presence indication system and method
Granted: June 5, 2018
Patent Number:
9992224
A system to indicate the presence of one or more bystanders during wireless communications is herein presented. The system includes: a memory, controller, one or more bystander sensors, and a first transceiver device. The memory is configured to include one or more executable instructions. The controller is configured to execute the executable instructions. Each bystander sensor is configured to produce bystander information. The first transceiver device is capable of communicating with…
Authenticating a vehicle user
Granted: May 15, 2018
Patent Number:
9972153
A system includes a vehicle, a vehicle communications platform (VCP), and an in-vehicle biometric system. The VCP is programmed to recognize a sequence of events. The sequence of events includes a transmission of the vehicle shifting from drive to park, an engine of the vehicle is on, and the transmission of the vehicle shifting back from park to drive. The VCP is further programmed to, in response to the sequence of events, monitor a distance that the vehicle travels or monitor a time…
System and method to dynamically determine status of vehicle to be used by mobile application
Granted: April 24, 2018
Patent Number:
9955240
A system and method are provided for facilitating remote communications with a vehicle using a wireless device. The method includes automatically receiving data from at least one vehicle control module, receiving a request from the wireless device to perform a task relating to the vehicle, determining a status of a vehicle function based on the data received from the at least one vehicle control module, determining whether the task is redundant based on the status of the vehicle…
Vehicle telematics services in coordination with a handheld wireless device
Granted: April 17, 2018
Patent Number:
9949267
A system and method of performing vehicle navigation services in coordination with a handheld wireless device that involves determining a vehicle location at a vehicle using a vehicle telematics unit of the vehicle; identifying a plurality of points-of-interest (POIs) within a predetermined range of the vehicle location; detecting a vehicle occupant has exited the vehicle; sending an instruction from the vehicle that directs a handheld wireless device associated with the vehicle occupant…
Customer vehicle data security method
Granted: April 17, 2018
Patent Number:
9946744
A database system and method for managing and storing sensitive and non-sensitive vehicle data. Received vehicle data messages are processed to separate out sensitive and non-sensitive data. The data is stored in a database having: an encrypted table, a plain-text table, and an identification mapping table. The encrypted table contains the sensitive data entries in an encrypted format. The plain-text table contains the non-sensitive data entries in a plaintext form. The identification…
Method of operating an internal combustion engine with a turbocharger based on change in gas flow quantity over time
Granted: April 10, 2018
Patent Number:
9938911
The present disclosure relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle, in particular a passenger car having a turbocharger with a compressor and a turbine. The method includes determining a change quantity of a gas flow quantity of a gas flow through the internal combustion engine and regulating the compressor based on this change quantity.
Vehicle connectivity using a desired access point name
Granted: March 20, 2018
Patent Number:
9924548
A communication system and method of using the communication system to determine whether to maintain a connection between a wireless carrier system and a telematics unit in a vehicle. The method includes the steps of: providing a connection request between the vehicle and the wireless carrier system (WCS), wherein the connection request includes a first connectivity identifier; receiving a connection response from the WCS indicating a vehicle-WCS connection, wherein the connection…
Controlling vehicle telematics unit data transmission based on call center location
Granted: March 13, 2018
Patent Number:
9918208
A method and system that inhibits transmission of location information by a telematics unit outside of a geographic region in which such transmission is prohibited. The method includes identifying the relative location of the vehicle and a call center to which the information is to be sent. If the vehicle is in a country or other geographic region that prohibits transmission of vehicle location data outside of the region and, if the call center is determined by the vehicle to be outside…
Dynamic speech system tuning
Granted: March 6, 2018
Patent Number:
9911408
A system and method of tuning speech recognition systems includes performing text-to-speech conversion of text data; detecting the accuracy of speech converted from text data; determining that the detected accuracy is below a predetermined threshold; recording a user recitation of the text data in response to the determination; and storing the user recitation in an exception database located at a vehicle.
Enhancing DNS availability
Granted: March 6, 2018
Patent Number:
9912634
A system and method for providing an address for a Domain Name System (DNS) server to a consumer device, wherein the consumer device connects to the Internet through a vehicle, includes providing an address for a default DNS server to the consumer device; receiving a request from the consumer device to convert a domain name to an Internet Protocol (IP) address using the default DNS server; forwarding the request to the default DNS server; determining if the request has been resolved by…
