TYY interface module signal to communicate equipment disruption to call center
Granted: November 19, 2013
Patent Number:
8588731
The described method and system provide for determining whether to immediately contact a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) or attempt to communicate with a telematics services subscriber before contacting the PSAP in the event of an emergency. If a subscriber associated with the telematics unit is deaf and/or mute, and a TIM (TTY (TeleTYpewriter) Interface Module) or TTY device is not available to the subscriber, the subscriber may not be able to communicate with a call center…
Electrically variable transmission
Granted: November 19, 2013
Patent Number:
8585520
A hybrid transmission having an input member, an output member, and a single motor/generator is characterized by a plurality of fixed-ratio modes of operation and at least one electrically variable mode of operation. In the fixed-ratio modes of operation, the speed ratio between the input member and the output member is independent of the speed of the motor/generator. In the electrically variable mode of operation, the speed ratio between the input member and the output member is…
Identifying a network record corresponding to a particular routing event
Granted: November 12, 2013
Patent Number:
8583370
A method for associating routing event records with network records in a system including a GPS device, the method including: receiving, from the GPS device, a route request; sending, to the GPS device, route information corresponding to a route calculated based on the route request; storing, in a database, a routing event record corresponding to the sending of the route information; comparing a parameter of the routing event record with a corresponding parameter of a network record…
Method for conducting vehicle-related survey
Granted: November 12, 2013
Patent Number:
8583318
A method for conducting a vehicle-related survey that gathers information regarding a specific area of interest from a vehicle user or vehicle hardware. In general, this method utilizes vehicle data to generate a survey having a variety of questions and instructions that are generally directed towards the area of interest. The instructions can be designed to place the vehicle into a predetermined configuration in an attempt to recreate a known vehicle problem or condition. Once the…
Telematics systems and methods with multiple antennas
Granted: November 12, 2013
Patent Number:
8583199
Vehicle telematics systems and methods for vehicle telematics systems are provided. The telematics system includes a first antenna, a second antenna, and a processing device. The first antenna is disposed at a first location on the vehicle. The second antenna is disposed at a second location on the vehicle. The second location is remote from the first location. The processing device is coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna. The processing device is configured to monitor a…
Method of securing and authenticating data using micro-certificates
Granted: November 12, 2013
Patent Number:
8582775
A method of securing wireless communications includes storing a recipient's micro-certificate at a vehicle, a call center, or a certificate authority, transmitting the micro-certificate from its place of storage, extracting the public key from the micro-certificate, encrypting the vehicle communication using the public key, transmitting the encrypted vehicle communication to the recipient, and decrypting the vehicle communication using a private key after receiving the vehicle…
Method for controlling the timing of wireless communications involving telematics-equipped vehicles
Granted: November 12, 2013
Patent Number:
8582499
A timing control method for use with wireless communications involving telematics-equipped vehicles. The timing control method generally determines a temporally-distributed sequence of message response times for a group of telematics-equipped vehicles, and then includes these different response times in wireless messages that are sent to the vehicles. In reply, the vehicles use the various message response times to respond in an apportioned or distributed fashion that generally…
Navigation system for hearing-impaired operators
Granted: November 5, 2013
Patent Number:
8577593
A method for producing navigation instructions is disclosed. The method includes generating a navigation route. The generated navigation route is translated from textual instructions and/or audio prompts to sign language symbols, and the sign language symbols are provided to a vehicle.
Method and system to calculate historical traffic data
Granted: November 5, 2013
Patent Number:
8577599
A system for a vehicle navigation accurately calculates travel times between locations and serves a vehicle driver request for the shortest time route. A navigation server compiles data of common road segments between two locations that are contained in route requests and subsequently calculates travel time between the two locations. When subsequent route requests contain further information pertaining to the same locations, the navigation server updates the travel time. Consequently,…
Vehicle mirror and telematics system
Granted: October 29, 2013
Patent Number:
8571752
Vehicle mirrors and telematics systems are provided. A vehicle mirror comprises a mirror housing and an accelerometer. The mirror housing is configured to be mounted within a vehicle. The accelerometer is disposed within the mirror housing, and is configured to measure an acceleration of the vehicle. A diagnostics device is configured to provide diagnostics information pertaining to the vehicle. A navigation device is configured to provide navigation information as to a position of the…
Hands free calling system for telematics users using a network-based pre-pay system
Granted: October 22, 2013
Patent Number:
8565837
The described invention provides a method and system for allowing subscribers of a telematics service provider (TSP) to make hands-free phone calls within their vehicles through a telematics unit over a network or hardware-based pre-pay system, wherein the telematics unit or a wireless network provider associated with the TSP controls the ingoing and outgoing hands-free calling (HFC) processes. The wireless network provider, through its system at a remote call center or through the…
Method for controlling mobile communications
Granted: October 22, 2013
Patent Number:
8565838
A method for controlling mobile communications involves identifying an operator of the mobile vehicle, where the operator is associated with a mobile communications device. Via a telematics unit disposed in the mobile vehicle, the method further involves recognizing, while the vehicle is in motion, that the mobile communications device is not located in a predefined location inside a cabin area of the vehicle, and in response to a command generated by the telematics unit based on the…
Energy consumption comparison method
Granted: October 22, 2013
Patent Number:
8565948
A method and system for determining comparative performance of an alternative fuel vehicle, such as an electric or hybrid vehicle, based on actual use of an existing gasoline or diesel fuel vehicle. The method includes obtaining trip data from an existing vehicle, determining performance metrics of the vehicle based on the trip data, determining simulated performance metrics of an alternative fuel vehicle based on the trip data, comparing the performance metrics of the existing vehicle…
Transient noise rejection for speech recognition
Granted: October 15, 2013
Patent Number:
8560313
A method of and system for transient noise rejection for improved speech recognition. The method comprises the steps of (a) receiving audio including user speech and at least some transient noise associated with the speech, (b) converting the received audio into digital data, (c) segmenting the digital data into acoustic frames, and (d) extracting acoustic feature vectors from the acoustic frames. The method also comprises the steps of (e) evaluating the acoustic frames for transient…
OTA initiation method for telematics system in 2G GSM/3G WCDMA network
Granted: October 15, 2013
Patent Number:
8559910
The described method and system provide for over-the-air configuration of a telematics-equipped vehicle by wireless carriers and telematics service providers (TSPs). Regardless of whether a telematics-equipped vehicle has been provisioned for cellular service or not, the TSP and wireless carrier may control undesirable location updating from the vehicle, for example, by setting certain triggers or conditions upon the telematics unit before processing location updates provided by the…
Method and process for activating a telematics device without a pre-activated MDN
Granted: October 8, 2013
Patent Number:
8554189
The described principles provide a method and system for circumventing the use of live MDNs and nongeographic prefixes in new vehicle-hosted telematics devices, while allowing the purchaser/user convenient use of the vehicle-hosted telematics device. The telematics unit is programmed or configured from the manufacturer with the same parameters as a cancelled or deactivated unit, with a cleared number for re-acquisition. A geographically specific MIN/MDN is later programmed into the…
Method of identifying telematics calls
Granted: October 1, 2013
Patent Number:
8548508
A method of identifying telematics calls includes the steps of receiving at a vehicle telematics unit a paging message used to connect a call over a wireless carrier system; determining at the vehicle telematics unit if the paging message used to connect the call includes a Mobile Identification Number (MIN) or a Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID); and establishing the call and, if the vehicle telematics unit determines that the paging message includes the MEID, entering into a mode in…
Method and system for telematics services redirect
Granted: September 24, 2013
Patent Number:
8543170
The present invention provides a method of operating a telematics device within a mobile vehicle communication system. The method includes receiving a request to initiate communication and identifying a request type based on the received request. The method further includes associating the identified request type with at least one service type within a service type table, wherein the service type table maps one or more request types to a corresponding service type within the service type…
Packet data origination for vehicle communication with a call center
Granted: September 17, 2013
Patent Number:
8537747
A system and method for making vehicle originated calls to a telematics service provider or other call center. The method includes identifying a call type associated with a desired wireless communication of speech or data to the call center, and then carrying out one of a number of different call connection processes depending on the call type. For voice channel cellular connections, an in-band modem cellular connection is preferably established in most instances using a connection retry…
Charge reminder notification to increase electric only efficiency
Granted: September 17, 2013
Patent Number:
8538621
The described method and system provide a reminder to an electric vehicle user to charge a battery of the electric vehicle to optimize electric-only driving opportunities. The electric vehicle includes a telematics unit, and the vehicle user is associated with a mobile communications device remote from the vehicle. The described technique includes determining a location of the vehicle, comparing the location to a home location of the vehicle user, and retrieving vehicle battery charge…
