General Motors Patent Grants

Automated distortion classification

Granted: May 7, 2013
Patent Number: 8438030
A method of and system for automated distortion classification. The method includes steps of (a) receiving audio including a user speech signal and at least some distortion associated with the signal; (b) pre-processing the received audio to generate acoustic feature vectors; (c) decoding the generated acoustic feature vectors to produce a plurality of hypotheses for the distortion; and (d) post-processing the plurality of hypotheses to identify at least one distortion hypothesis of the…

Nametag confusability determination

Granted: May 7, 2013
Patent Number: 8438028
A method of and system for managing nametags including receiving a command from a user to store a nametag, prompting the user to input a number to be stored in association with the nametag, receiving an input for the number from the user, prompting the user to input the nametag to be stored in association with the number, receiving an input for the nametag from the user, processing the nametag input, and calculating confusability of the nametag input in multiple individual domains…

Method and system for providing wireless connection conditions along a navigation route

Granted: May 7, 2013
Patent Number: 8437958
A method for providing wireless connection conditions to a mobile vehicle, including receiving navigation route information at a call center; determining wireless connection conditions associated with the received route; and transmitting a message including wireless connection conditions associated with the navigation route to the mobile vehicle. Another example provides a computer usable medium and program code, including program code for receiving navigation route information at a call…

Method of recognizing speech

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8433570
A method for recognizing speech involves presenting an utterance to a speech recognition system and determining, via the speech recognition system, that the utterance contains a particular expression, where the particular expression is capable of being associated with at least two different meanings. The method further involves splitting the utterance into a plurality of speech frames, where each frame is assigned a predetermined time segment and a frame number, and indexing the…

Pre-filling vehicle data check

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8433471
A pre-filling vehicle data check method and system are disclosed herein. One example of the method includes receiving, at a financial institution, an authorization request from a filling station for initiating a filling event, where the authorization request includes a financial code. Via a computing device at the financial institution, the financial code is recognized as being associated with at least one of a vehicle identification number or a station identification associated with a…

System and method for disabling a vehicle

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8432269
Systems and methods are provided for disabling a vehicle. An exemplary system includes, but is not limited to an antenna that is adapted to be attached to the vehicle. The antenna is configured to transmit and receive communication transmissions. A telematics unit is communicatively connected to the antenna. The telematics unit is adapted for attachment to the vehicle and is configured to communicatively connect to a necessary sub-system of the vehicle, to receive telecommunications from…

Multiple near field communication tags in a pairing domain

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8432262
A system and method for simply and securely pairing multiple Bluetooth or other wireless electronic devices in a network. Multiple Near Field Communication (NFC) read-only tags are places in a vehicle or other defined space, such that users of NFC-enabled electronic devices can pass their device near one of the NFC tags, which then transfers encryption key data to the user's device, allowing that device to be automatically joined to a small, secure wireless network. Various embodiments…

Simplified device pairing employing near field communication tags

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8432261
A system and method for simply and securely pairing two Bluetooth devices. A Near Field Communication (NFC) read-only tag is placed in a first Bluetooth device such that a user of a second Bluetooth device can pass the second device near the tag, which then transfers encryption key data for the first Bluetooth device to the second Bluetooth device. An algorithm is employed for initiating the pairing process with the first Bluetooth device, which can ordinarily remain in a silent mode for…

Simplified vehicle bluetooth pairing employing near field communication tags

Granted: April 30, 2013
Patent Number: 8432260
A system and method for simply and securely pairing Bluetooth devices in a vehicle. A Near Field Communication (NFC) read-only tag is placed in the vehicle such that a user can pass an NFC-enabled Bluetooth device near the tag, which then transfers encryption key data for the vehicle's Bluetooth device to the user's Bluetooth device. Various embodiments are disclosed for initiating the pairing process with the vehicle's Bluetooth device, which ordinarily remains in a silent mode for…

MDN switching between telematics devices

Granted: April 23, 2013
Patent Number: 8428569
Aspects of the present invention provide for a telematics subscriber and provider to facilitate a wireless carrier to associate a cellular telephone number from a subscriber's previous telematics unit to a subscriber's newly purchased telematics unit. In addition, the telematics provider reconfigures a new telematics device in a newly purchased vehicle to retain the same cellular phone number as the subscriber's previous telematics device.

Automatic updating of a preferred roaming list stored in a vehicle telematics unit

Granted: April 16, 2013
Patent Number: 8423017
A method of updating a preferred roaming list (PRL) onboard a vehicle that wirelessly communicates with a call center and with a communications center over a wireless network. A communication link is established between the vehicle and the call center. A onboard PRL version number is transmitted from the vehicle to the call center where it is compared to a PRL version number stored at the call center. When the call center PRL version number differs from the onboard PRL version number, a…

Geo-coded spatialized audio in vehicles

Granted: April 16, 2013
Patent Number: 8422693
A three dimensional audio playback system in which the audio clips are determined by location. The audio playback system being located within a vehicle to aid in navigation or for entertainment or informational or safety purposes.

Method for managing data transmissions in a subscriber pool

Granted: April 16, 2013
Patent Number: 8422407
A method for managing data transmissions in a subscriber pool involves receiving a telematics unit call at a call center on a channel other than a packet data channel, and from the call and at the call center, recognizing that the packet data channel is unavailable in a predetermined coverage region. A notification is transmitted to the telematics unit and/or to a plurality of telematics units in the predetermined coverage region indicating that the packet data channel is unavailable for…

System for providing information to an operator of a vehicle

Granted: April 9, 2013
Patent Number: 8417452
Methods and apparatus are provided for a system that provides information to an operator of a vehicle. The system includes, but is not limited to a call center that configured to provide the operator with route guidance to a location. The system also includes a plurality of internet websites. Each internet website relates to a vehicle lifecycle event and is configured to permit the operator to electronically transmit a location associated with the vehicle lifecycle event to the call…

Methods for providing emergency services to a mobile vehicle

Granted: April 9, 2013
Patent Number: 8417212
Methods for providing emergency service to a mobile vehicle are disclosed herein. One method involves monitoring a network country code broadcast from a communications network provider and comparing the network country code with a list of country codes stored in the telematics unit. This method further includes determining where to direct an emergency call by the telematics unit based on the comparing. Another method involves notifying a telematics service provider of a need for…

System serving a remotely accessible page and method for requesting navigation related information

Granted: April 2, 2013
Patent Number: 8412452
A system serving a remotely accessible page includes a server and the remotely accessible page operatively connected to the server. The remotely accessible page includes a first activation option for initiating a navigation function utilizing no starting point or a starting point entered by a user, and a second activation option for initiating a navigation function utilizing a starting point obtained by the system from a vehicle.

Method and system for initiating a vehicle data upload function at a plurality of mobile vehicles

Granted: March 26, 2013
Patent Number: 8406683
A system and method of initiating a vehicle data upload function at a plurality of mobile vehicles. A satellite radio system broadcast channel is monitored for a call center initiated vehicle data upload command signal at the plurality of mobile vehicles. A determination is made, at the plurality of mobile vehicles, whether the vehicle data upload command signal corresponds to a mobile vehicle. The vehicle data upload command signal is extracted from the broadcast channel based on the…

Method for collecting data and system for accomplishing the same

Granted: March 5, 2013
Patent Number: 8390474
A method for collecting data is disclosed herein. The method involves selecting, via a processor associated with a telematics service center, a mobile vehicle to collect data from a sensor configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more selected vehicles and, via a telematics unit disposed in the selected mobile vehicle, receiving data collected by the sensor. The method further involves, via the telematics unit, transmitting the data from the telematics unit to a data aggregator…

Outbound call correction for non-telematic mobile directory number dialed by telematic operator

Granted: March 5, 2013
Patent Number: 8391849
The described principles provide a method and system for enabling a telematic operator to determine that an outbound call has been placed to a non-telematic mobile directory number by the telematic operator in error. In one aspect, the invention allows the telematic operator to create an identification of all non-telematic MDN's stored by the wireless carrier which the telematic operator continues to believe are active and are associated with a pending transaction. Improved…

Remote vehicle data access during a multi-way call with a vehicle telematics unit

Granted: March 5, 2013
Patent Number: 8391829
A system and method for obtaining data during a multi-way call involving at least a vehicle telematics unit, call center, and third party such as a public safety answering point (PSAP). While connected together in at least a three-way voice call, the connection from the telematics unit is switched out of the call and connected to a data modem to receive vehicle data uploaded from the telematics unit. This can be used to provide vehicle location and other vehicle information such as…