Method and system for communicating telematics messages

• US 20030083079A1
• Filed: 10/15/2001
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ent Services Development Corporation LP (DXC Technology Company)
• Original Assignee: Electronic Data Systems Corporation (Perspecta, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clark, Noel E., Sinicki, Steven J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,871,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/64 Hybrid switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• 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: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and system for communicating standardized telematic messages among a plurality of telematic devices. A telematic message is received by a message router from one of the telematic devices. The message router selects a destination device and transmits the message to the destination device, where the message is processed. In one embodiment, the message router determines whether the destination device is available to receive a message before transmitting the message. If the destination device is not available, the message is maintained in memory. In another embodiment, a time-to-live parameter is assigned to the message and the message is removed from memory of the time-to-live expires before the destination device becomes available. In a further embodiment, a priority parameter is assigned to the message and the processing of a prior message is interrupted if a new message is received that has a higher priority parameter than the previously received message.

Claims

1. A method for communicating telematic messages among a plurality of telematic devices for generating and receiving telematic messages, coupled together by a message router, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving by the message router a telematic message generated by one of said telematic devices;

(b) selecting by the message router at least one of said plurality of telematic devices as a destination device to which to communicate the telematic message based on a characteristic of the telematic message;

(c) transmitting by the message router the telematic message to said selected destination device; and

(d) processing said telematic message by said selected destination device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said message router has an associated memory, further comprising, before said transmitting step:

(e) determining whether said selected destination device is available to accept said telematic message, and

(f) if the result of said determining step is that said selected destination device is not available, maintaining said message in said memory associated with said message router until said selected destination device becomes available.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said selected destination device is not available, further comprising:

(g) assigning a time-to-live parameter to said telematic message; and

(h) removing said telematic message from said memory if said time-to-live expires before said selected destination device becomes available to accept said telematic message.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising before said determining whether said destination device is available, assigning a priority parameter to said telematic message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said selected destination device is unavailable to accept said telematic message because it has not completed processing a previously received telematic message, further comprising:

(i) determining whether said telematic message stored in said memory has a higher priority parameter than said previously received telematic message; and

(j) if the result of said determining whether said telematic message stored in said memory has a higher priority parameter than said previously received telematic message is that said telematic message stored in said memory has a higher priority parameter than said previously received telematic message, interrupting said processing of said previously received telematic message and transmitting said telematic message stored in said memory to said selected destination device for processing.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting a destination device is based on the type of said telematic message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting a destination device is based on the content of said telematic message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of telematic devices is a wireless transceiver capable of communicating with at least one device attached to a terrestrial network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said terrestrial network is the Internet.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said at least one device attached to said terrestrial network is a computer server providing at least one telematic service.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of telematic devices is a user interface device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said user interface device includes an audio interface.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said user interface includes a visual display.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of telematic devices is a vehicle data bus.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said plurality of telematic devices is a navigation system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of said plurality of telematic devices is a wireless transceiver capable of communicating with at least one device attached to a terrestrial network and wherein said navigation system utilizes data stored on a computer readable storage medium attached to said terrestrial network.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising, following said selecting step, modifying by said message router said telematic message and wherein said transmitting step comprises transmitting said modified telematic message to said selected destination device.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said message router has an associated memory, further comprising, before said receiving step, (k) initializing at least one of said telematic devices including the steps of:

communicating by said at least one telematic device to said message router at least one desired message type; and

storing said at least one desired message type in said associated memory, and wherein said selecting step (b) is based on said initializing step (k).

19. A telematic message routing system comprising:

at least one input for accepting a telematic message from at least one telematic device;

a processor, coupled to said at least one input, including functionality for receiving said telematic message and selecting a destination telematic device to which to route said telematic message based on a characteristic of the telematic message; and

at least one output coupled to said processor and coupled to at least one telematic device.

20. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said processor further includes functionality for determining whether said selected destination device is available to accept said telematic message, further comprising a memory accessible by said processor for storing said telematic message until said selected destination device becomes available.

21. The telematic message routing system of claim 20, wherein said processor further includes functionality for assigning a time-to-live parameter to said telematic message stored in said memory and for removing said telematic message from said memory if said time-to-live expires before said selected destination device becomes available to accept said telematic message.

22. The telematic message routing system of claim 20, wherein said processor further includes functionality for assigning a priority parameter to said telematic message.

23. The telematic message routing system of claim 22, wherein said processor further includes functionality for:

determining whether said selected destination device is unavailable because it has not completed processing a previously received telematic message;

determining whether said telematic message stored in said memory has a higher priority parameter than said previously received telematic message; and

interrupting said processing of said previously received telematic message and transmitting said telematic message stored in said memory to said selected destination device for processing if said telematic message stored in said memory has a higher priority parameter than previously received telematic message.

24. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said processor selects a destination device based on the type of said telematic message

25. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said processor selects a destination device based on the content of said telematic message.

26. The telematic routing system of claim 19, further comprising a terrestrial network and at least one device attached to said terrestrial network, wherein said at least one telematic device is a wireless transceiver capable of communicating with said at least one device via said terrestrial network.

27. The telematic message routing system of claim 26, wherein said terrestrial network is the Internet.

28. The telematic message routing system of claim 26, wherein said at least one device attached to said terrestrial network is a computer server providing at least one telematic service.

29. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said at least one telematic device is a user interface.

30. The telematic message routing system of claim 29, wherein said user interface comprises an audio interface.

31. The telematic message routing system of claim 29, wherein said user interface comprises a visual display.

32. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said at least one telematic device is a vehicle data bus.

33. The telematic message routing system of claim 19, wherein said at least one telematic device is a navigation system.

34. The telematic routing system of claim 33, further comprising a terrestrial network and at least one device attached to said terrestrial network, wherein said at least one telematic device is a wireless transceiver capable of communicating with said at least one device via said terrestrial network and wherein said navigation system utilizes data stored on said at least one device attached to said terrestrial network.

35. The telematic routing system of claim 19, wherein said processor further includes functionality for modifying said telematic message and transmitting said modified telematic message to said selected destination device.

36. The telematic routing system of claim 19, wherein said processor further includes functionality for receiving initialization data from said at least one telematic device, said initialization data comprising at least one desired message type, wherein said functionality for selecting a destination telematic device is based on said initialization data.