Method and system for displaying a position of a vehicle at a remotely located device

• US 10,388,156 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cansino, Don E., Chu, Stephen H., Shah, Bhavyank V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Nabil H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eustaquio, Cal J
• Application Number:
  US14/983,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20170188201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/38 Electronic maps specially adapted for navigation; Updating thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09626 where the origin of the information is within the own vehicle, e.g. a local storage device, digital map
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3833 Hand-held transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2146 located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication

Abstract

A system and method for displaying a vehicle location on a user device includes an in-vehicle infotainment system and the user device coupled to the in-vehicle infotainment system of a vehicle. A global positioning system generates a vehicle position signal at the vehicle. The in-vehicle infotainment system communicates the vehicle position signal to a user device. The user device generates a display comprising the current vehicle position.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating a mobile device identifier from a mobile device to an in-vehicle infotainment system;

generating a vehicle position signal at a vehicle;

repeatedly communicating the vehicle position signal corresponding to a current vehicle position to a set top box through a head end, the set top box separate from the mobile device and the in-vehicle infotainment system, the set top box controllable by inputs from a user through a user interface display associated with a user interface of the set top box;

repeatedly communicating the mobile device identifier to the set top box from the in-vehicle infotainment system through the head end;

generating a map display at the set top box, the map display displaying a map comprising a representation of the vehicle at the current vehicle position and the mobile device identifier of the mobile device; and

communicating a voice-over-IP signal from the set top box to the in-vehicle infotainment system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the vehicle position signal to the set top box comprises communicating the current vehicle position to the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the vehicle position signal to the set top box comprises communicating the vehicle position signal to a wearable device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the map display comprises generating the map display comprising past vehicle position on the map display.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein coupling the mobile device comprises coupling a plurality of mobile devices, each comprising respective identifiers and further comprising displaying the respective identifiers on the map display.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the vehicle position signal comprises generating the vehicle position signal at a global positioning system of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the vehicle position signal comprises generating the vehicle position signal at a global positioning system of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, at the in-vehicle infotainment system, advertisement signals from an advertisement source through the head end.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a recommendation list comprising at least one recommendation determined in response to the vehicle position signal.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising communicating advertisement signals to the in-vehicle infotainment system from an advertisement source.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating a voice-over-IP signal from the in-vehicle infotainment system to the set top box.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the map display comprises generating the map display as an overlay to a content signal generated by the set top box.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating vehicle data to the in-vehicle infotainment system and displaying vehicle data at the map display.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a transmission selector signal and communicating the vehicle position signal to the set top box in response to the transmission selector signal.

15. A system comprising:

a mobile device having a mobile device identifier associated therewith;

an in-vehicle infotainment system;

the mobile device repeatedly communicating the mobile device identifier to the in vehicle infotainment system through a head end;

a set top box coupled to the in-vehicle infotainment system of a vehicle, the set top box controllable by inputs from a user though a user interface display associated with a user interface of the set top box;

a global positioning system generating a vehicle position signal at the vehicle, the set top box separate from the in-vehicle infotainment system and the global positioning system;

the in-vehicle infotainment system repeatedly communicating the vehicle position signal corresponding to a current vehicle position and the mobile device identifier to the set top box through the head end;

the set top box generating a map display displaying a map comprising a representation of the vehicle at the current vehicle position and the mobile device identifier of the mobile device; and

the set top box communicating a voice-over-IP signal to the in-vehicle infotainment system.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the set top box generates the map display comprising the current vehicle position and a past vehicle position on the map display.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the mobile device comprises a plurality of mobile devices, each of the mobile devices comprising respective identifiers and wherein the map display displays the respective identifiers.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the global positioning system comprises a vehicle global positioning system.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the global positioning system comprises a mobile device global positioning system.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein a head end communicates advertisement signals to the in-vehicle infotainment system from an advertisement source.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein a head end generates a recommendation list comprising at least one recommendation determined in response to the vehicle position signal.

22. The system of claim 15 further comprising an advertisement source communicating advertisement signals to the in-vehicle infotainment system based on the vehicle position signal.

23. The system of claim 15 wherein the in-vehicle infotainment system communicates a voice-over-IP signal to the set top box.

24. The system of claim 15 wherein the map display is overlayed on a content signal.

25. The system of claim 15 further comprising a vehicle diagnostic system communicating vehicle data to the in-vehicle infotainment system and wherein the user interface display of the set top box displays the vehicle data.

26. The system of claim 15 further comprising a transmission selector generating a transmission selector signal and the in-vehicle infotainment system communicating the vehicle position signal to the set top box in response to the transmission selector signal.

27. A method comprising:

coupling a mobile device having an identifier to an in-vehicle infotainment system;

generating a vehicle position signal at a vehicle;

communicating the vehicle position signal corresponding to a current vehicle position to a set top box, the set top box separate from the mobile device and the in-vehicle infotainment system, the set top box controllable by inputs from a user though a user interface display associated with a user interface of the set top box;

communicating the identifier to the set top box from the in-vehicle infotainment system;

enabling the set top box to generate a map display comprising a representation of the vehicle at the current vehicle position and the identifier of the mobile device; and

communicating a voice-over-IP signal to the in-vehicle infotainment system from the set top box.