Determining mobile phone number assignment
Granted: April 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8160620
The present invention detects whether an initial mobile number assignment is suboptimal, resulting in excessive roaming. If excessive roaming is encountered, the telematics service provider determines the effective home area of the telematics unit and assigns an appropriate replacement number to the unit. In this way, the disclosed principles allow a telematics service provider to decrease its roaming charges, and/or those of its users, and more optimally manage its mobile phone number…
System and method for correcting a mobile identification number
Granted: April 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8160581
A system for correcting or updating a mobile identification number in a cellular telephone portion of a telematics unit installed in a vehicle allows service providers to resolve duplicate entries. A wireless service provider stores a triplicate entry in their HLR for cellular telephones associated with a number of telematics unit. The triplicate entry includes a MDN, a MIN, and an ESN. If a telematics unit's triplicate entry is an invalid combination, resulting, e.g., in call failure,…
Vehicle maintenance event reporting system
Granted: April 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8155817
A vehicle maintenance event reporting system and method that utilizes a vehicle email notification system in which triggers are used to initiate the generation and transmission of email messages that provide diverse types of dynamic vehicle information to the owner or other authorized subscriber. The email notifications are triggered by different events, some of which are independent of the vehicle (e.g., a monthly trigger), and others of which occur at the vehicle, such as a mileage or…
Method and system for automatically updating traffic incident data for in-vehicle navigation
Granted: April 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8155865
Aspects of the invention disclose a method and system for automatically updating traffic incident data for in-vehicle navigation. This includes, but is not limited to, a method and system of notifying one or more traffic providers of a traffic accident when a telematics provider receives an automated accident notification from a vehicle. The notification prompts the traffic provider to investigate the traffic accident immediately using manual techniques (monitoring police scanners,…
System and method for communicating with a vehicle about then-current vehicle operating conditions using a telematics unit
Granted: April 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8155867
A method for communicating with a vehicle about then-current vehicle operating conditions is disclosed herein. The method includes real-time monitoring, via a telematics unit in a vehicle, of vehicle data when the vehicle is traveling on a road segment, comparing the real-time monitored vehicle data with previously stored data of one or more other vehicles that previously traveled the road segment, and based on the comparison, determining an operation of the vehicle in order to achieve…
Vehicle originated cellular communication to a call center
Granted: March 27, 2012
Patent Number:
8145225
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…
System and method for communicating vehicle diagnostic data
Granted: March 27, 2012
Patent Number:
8145379
A system and method for communicating vehicle diagnostic data via an inactive telematics unit. A serious diagnostic condition detected in the vehicle is used to trigger a call from the telematics unit to a call center using a cleared number. During the call, diagnostic data can be transmitted to the call center and a temporary number can be provided by the call center to the telematics unit to permit temporary communication. Additional diagnostics can be run and reported using this…
Method of generating vehicle noise
Granted: March 20, 2012
Patent Number:
8138897
A method of generating vehicle noise includes recognizing a geographic location requiring a minimum operating noise level of the vehicle, and notifying the telematics unit operatively associated with the vehicle that a then-current location of the vehicle coincides with the recognized geographic location. When the telematics unit is notified, the method further includes triggering a noise generator to generate an amount of noise external to the vehicle, where the generated noise is…
Method and system for providing vehicle-directed services
Granted: March 20, 2012
Patent Number:
8140138
The present invention provides a method, system, and computer usable medium for directing service in a vehicle. A service request is received at a service management application from the vehicle. A vehicle location is also received. Vehicle delivery-enabling information is determined based on the service request and the vehicle location. The service corresponding to the service request is configured based on the vehicle delivery-enabling information. The configured service is sent to the…
System for facilitating use of a single telecommunication device by multiple users
Granted: March 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8131255
A system for facilitating the use of a single telecommunication device by multiple users is disclosed herein. The system includes, but is not limited to, a telecommunication component that is adapted for attachment to a vehicle and that is configured to utilize a telecommunication network that is configured to allot a predetermined amount of usage time units to the telecommunication component. The system also includes an electronic processing device that is associated with the…
Web-enabled configurable quality data collection tool
Granted: March 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8131419
A method and system for configuring trigger parameters for captured test fleet vehicle data collection. The method includes selecting at least one vehicle identifier from a captured test fleet database, associating at least one trigger condition with the at least one selected vehicle identifier in the database, associating at least one vehicle parameter to be collected at an occurrence of the at least one associated trigger condition with the selected vehicle identifier in the database,…
XM radio satellite reception without degrading coverage in XM terrestrial markets
Granted: March 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8131211
A system is provided for enhancing coverage for a mobile satellite service, the system comprising a signal threshold comparator module for monitoring a predetermined threshold for a satellite service signal received on a first frequency band, a signal gain block operable to vary amplification of the satellite service signal received on a second frequency band in response to the threshold, and a satellite receiver for decoding the satellite service signal received on the first and second…
Vehicle telematics unit data upload deferral
Granted: February 21, 2012
Patent Number:
8121628
A method for deferring a telematics data upload from a vehicle equipped with wireless telephony and wireless networking communications devices. The method steps include detecting the availability of a connection to one or more wireless networks along with an associated time of day during which the connection is available, determining that one of the one or more wireless networks is periodically available at a particular time of day, receiving a request to upload data from the vehicle to…
Method and system for routing calls to an advisor from mobile customers within a mobile vehicle communications system
Granted: January 24, 2012
Patent Number:
8103256
A method is disclosed for enhancing call center services. The method comprises: receiving at the call center a call from a user; analyzing a phone number associated with the call, a location of a vehicle associated with the call, a current request of the user, a previous request of the user, and a time period between the previous request and the current request; presenting a list of menu options to the user based on the analysis; and routing the call to an advisor based on a received…
Vehicle telematics data logging
Granted: January 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8099111
A system and method for data logging of telematics events by a vehicle telematics unit. Upon detection of a telematics event, checks are made to determine if location data logging is enabled and if the telematics event is an incoming personal call. If the location data logging is enabled and the telematics event is not an incoming personal call, then a data log entry is created that includes the current vehicle location; otherwise, a data log entry without any location information is…
Telematics unit number provisioning
Granted: January 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8094798
Examples of the invention are used to provide a system and method for provisioning a telematics unit number based on a phone number already used by a customer. In examples, the telematics unit is provisioned with a number that aligns with a rate center plan, which is likely to result in a number that is local to a number the customer uses for dialing the unit and/or matches the area code of a number on the customer's account. In example a wireless telephone number is assigned to a…
Enhanced passenger pickup via telematics synchronization
Granted: December 20, 2011
Patent Number:
8082095
A system is provided for facilitating passenger pickup via telematic routing. The system includes a call center for receiving a plurality of data feeds indicative of passenger arrival time and location, a vehicle telematics unit for receiving vehicle routing instructions from the call center based at least in part on the passenger arrival time and location, the vehicle routing instructions directed to guiding a vehicle to a passenger meeting location. The system further includes a mobile…
Method of managing multiple vehicle antennas
Granted: November 22, 2011
Patent Number:
8064960
A system and method of managing multiple vehicle antennas. Wireless signals to and from the vehicle are communicated via a primary antenna system having one or more antennas mounted in a housing on the vehicle. Operation of the primary antenna system is monitored so that, if the primary antenna system is broken or otherwise stops working properly, the system switches to a secondary antenna system housed in a separate location on the vehicle.
System and method for estimating an emergency level of a vehicular accident
Granted: November 8, 2011
Patent Number:
8054168
A method for estimating an emergency level of a vehicular accident includes detecting an event associated with the vehicular accident, initiating a video recording of an interior and/or exterior of the vehicle in response to the detecting of the event, uploading the video recording on a remotely accessible page, and reviewing the uploaded video recording to estimate the emergency level of the vehicular accident. Also disclosed herein is a system for accomplishing the same.
Data transmission method with phase shift error correction
Granted: November 8, 2011
Patent Number:
8054924
A data transmission method with phase shift error correction comprising: transmitting through a network a transmission signal, wherein the transmission signal comprises a reference signal component having a predetermined frequency and a data signal component; receiving the transmission signal, wherein the received transmission signal includes a phase shift error caused by the network, wherein the phase shift error is in both the received reference signal component and the received data…
