Interactive access to vehicle information
Granted: October 11, 2016
Patent Number:
9466158
Implementations of the present invention contemplate utilizing the communicative connections between a telematics service provider (TSP), a communication device, and a telematics unit in a vehicle to interactively provide information pertaining to various components of a vehicle. Implementations contemplate that an image capture device is communicatively connected to the telematics unit in a vehicle and an operations control center of the TSP. Image data pertaining to an image captured…
Method and apparatus for sensor synthesis and arbitration between mobile devices and vehicles
Granted: October 4, 2016
Patent Number:
9462319
A system and method for using data that is external to a vehicle in vehicular applications. The system and method include determining data that is external to the vehicle is available for use, comparing the external data to data that is available from a vehicle system, and determining whether the external data has a higher utility function compared to data that is available from a vehicle system. The system and method further include using the external data to enhance a vehicular…
First-responder notification for alternative fuel vehicles
Granted: September 20, 2016
Patent Number:
9449494
A method for notifying parties in close proximity to a vehicle of a potential vehicle hazard includes detecting that the vehicle has been in a collision, determining the type of propulsion system used by the vehicle, generating a warning or other notification relating to the propulsion system, and communicating the notification to a party located within a predetermined range of the vehicle. Communication of the notification can be carried out by renaming the telematics unit with a device…
Managing traditional Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi direct connections using a wireless device
Granted: September 6, 2016
Patent Number:
9439232
A method of managing short-range wireless links between a primary wireless device and a plurality of secondary wireless devices includes initiating a short-range wireless link between the primary wireless device and a secondary wireless device configured to communicate using a traditional Wi-Fi protocol; providing the short-range wireless link between the primary wireless device and the secondary wireless device using a Wi-Fi direct protocol, wherein the primary wireless device acts as a…
Vehicle telematics communication for providing hands-free wireless communication
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9420431
A system and method for providing a vehicle occupant with hands-free usage of text messaging services over a mobile phone via a vehicle telematics unit. The method enables a vehicle occupant to send and receive communication messages such as text messages in a hands-free manner. For sending text messages, a spoken communication message is received from the occupant at the vehicle and sent to a call center for conversion to a text message using a speech to text server. The converted text…
Managing wireless voice and data communications
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9420410
A method of controlling wireless voice and data communications includes identifying a radio access technology (RAT) in use at a vehicle telematics unit; establishing a wireless connection between the vehicle telematics unit and a central facility; wirelessly transmitting the identity of the RAT from the vehicle telematics unit to the central facility; receiving a message at the vehicle telematics unit from the central facility based on the identity of the RAT causing the vehicle…
Remotely controlling a vehicle telematics unit
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9420405
A method and a system for providing control of a vehicle telematics unit using a mobile device. The method carried out by the system includes the steps of: determining a mobile device is configured to control a vehicle telematics unit; receiving at a call center a vehicle telematics unit (VTU) command from the mobile device instructing the telematics unit to provide vehicle data using short range wireless communication (SRWC); sending the VTU command from the call center to the…
Providing cellular data to a vehicle over different data channels
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9418489
A method and a system for providing vehicle data services to communication devices located at a remote vehicle. The method includes the steps of: establishing data communication between a telematics backend system and one of a plurality of communication devices located at the remote vehicle; determining at the telematics backend system an access point name (APN) for at least one of the plurality of communication devices, a type of vehicle services data for the at least one of the…
Detecting the presence of a handheld communication device in a vehicle
Granted: August 2, 2016
Patent Number:
9408043
A system and method for determining whether a handheld communication device (HCD) is located inside a vehicle includes: receiving at a central facility a request to locate the HCD; sending a message to the vehicle with an instruction to determine if the HCD is present in the vehicle; receiving a response from the vehicle that indicates whether or not the HCD is present in the vehicle; and transmitting a message to a user of the HCD indicating whether the HCD is located inside of the…
Automatic proximity-based adjustments to energy management routines
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9395798
A method is provided for energy management for a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle. The method includes: determining, by a processor, that a mobile device is co-located with the telematics unit while vehicle ignition of the vehicle is on, wherein the mobile device is registered as being associated with the telematics unit; determining, by the processor, that the vehicle ignition has been turned off; determining, by the processor, a location of the vehicle corresponding to…
Method and system of using turn-by-turn server based reroutes data to improve a navigation user interface
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9395196
A navigation server as part of a vehicle navigation system provides a set of turn-by-turn directions to a vehicle driver from the vehicle's current location to a destination chosen by the driver. Further, a navigation server receives new route requests because a vehicle driver disregards a previous a maneuver contained in a previous set of turn-by-turn directions. The navigation server tracks vehicle locations whereat new routes have been requested. If a large number of new route…
Telematics-based system for protecting against vehicle battery drain
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9393920
Systems and methods are provided for detecting low vehicle battery charge and responding appropriately to prevent complete vehicle battery drainage. One method includes: monitoring the charge of the vehicle battery; determining, by a telematics unit, that the charge of the vehicle battery has reached a low battery charge threshold while the vehicle engine is off; and providing, by the telematics unit, a notification to a telematics subscriber that the vehicle battery has low charge.…
Optimizing vehicle recharging to limit use of electricity generated from non-renewable sources
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9393879
Implementations of the present invention contemplate using the communication infrastructure represented by a network of telematics units communicatively coupled to a telematics service provider (TSP) to implement procedures designed to curtail the load placed on electricity suppliers by electric vehicles during periods of critically high demand for electricity. The present invention contemplates monitoring charging related information for multiple electric vehicles through the telematics…
Processing electronic messages wirelessly sent to a vehicle
Granted: July 12, 2016
Patent Number:
9392452
A processing system and method for controlling the distribution of certain types of electronic messages, such as SMS messages, instant messages, emails, etc., that are wirelessly sent to a vehicle. In one embodiment, a messaging application installed on a communication device diverts to a call center outgoing messages destined for the vehicle. Once the electronic message is properly checked and authenticated at the call center, it is wirelessly forwarded on to the vehicle where its…
Telematics support for mobile wireless network service swapping
Granted: June 21, 2016
Patent Number:
9374772
A method for implementation at a processor of a vehicular telematics unit is described. The method allows data structures formatted to store one or more wireless network communication parameters to be updated in response to a swap of a subscription with one network service provider for a subscription with a different network service provider. The method includes receiving, from a network access device of the vehicular telematics unit, a home public land mobile network (HPLMN) identifier…
Methods and systems for base station detection
Granted: June 21, 2016
Patent Number:
9374709
Methods and systems for unauthorized base station detection are disclosed herein. In an example of the method, an in-vehicle controller of a vehicle or an application of a mobile communications device scans a cellular radio environment to identify an available base station. By a signal detection unit in operative communication with the in-vehicle controller or the application, a strength of a signal of the available base station is detected. The in-vehicle controller or the application…
Systems and methods for odometer monitoring
Granted: June 14, 2016
Patent Number:
9367967
Systems and methods for odometer monitoring are disclosed herein. One example method includes storing an odometer value and a vehicle position in response to an initial triggering event, and determining a second odometer value and a second vehicle position in response to a subsequent triggering event. The odometer value is compared with the second odometer value to detect any odometer value change from the initial triggering event to the subsequent triggering event. The vehicle position…
Vehicular GPS/DR navigation with environmental-adaptive kalman filter gain
Granted: June 14, 2016
Patent Number:
9366764
A method is provided for estimating position using an integrated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)/dead reckoning (DR) (GNSS/DR) navigation system in a vehicle. The method includes: determining a current environment of the vehicle from a plurality of environments based on at least one parameter; calculating a Kalman filter-related parameter based on the determined current environment, wherein the Kalman filter-related parameter corresponds to a representation of weight given to…
Receiving a service in a vehicle based on location data of a mobile device within the vehicle
Granted: June 7, 2016
Patent Number:
9363646
A method and a system for providing a vehicle service to a vehicle based on the location data of a mobile device. The method carried out by the system includes a step of receiving at a call center vehicle location data from a vehicle. After receiving vehicle location data, the method may then include receiving at the call center mobile device location data from the mobile device. The method may include determining whether the mobile device is located within the vehicle based upon the…
Configuring Global Navigation Satellite System receiver units via over-the-air communications with control center
Granted: May 31, 2016
Patent Number:
9354322
A telematics unit incorporating an antenna for receiving Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals from GNSS signal sources, and a GNSS receiver supporting over-the-air configuration is described herein. The telematics unit is configured with a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for facilitating the over-the-air configuration of the GNSS receiver by acquiring GNSS status information relating to multiple supported…
