METHOD OF VEHICLE TO VEHICLE COMMUNICATION

• US 20090170434A1
• Filed: 12/31/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Wasson, Ryan J., Tengler, Steven C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,213,861 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• 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: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

A method of communicating information that has been formatted for Internet publication from a principal vehicle using short range wireless communication components to communicate with a second vehicle. The method includes storing a web page (blog, social networking page, etc.) or other information formatted for Internet publication in the principal vehicle. An introductory signal is transmitted to the second vehicle. A communication link is established between the principal vehicle and the second vehicle using the respective short range wireless communication components. The second vehicle is then queried for authorization to transmit the information and, if given, the information is then transmitted to the second vehicle via the communications link. User-selected categories can be used to identify common interests between users of the two vehicles. The method can be used to share user information with other potentially interested drivers to facilitate human interactions and relationships.

Claims

1. A method for communicating information that has been formatted for Internet publication from a principal vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components to a second vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components, the method comprising the steps of:

storing the information formatted for Internet publication in the principal vehicle;

transmitting an introductory signal to the second vehicle;

establishing a communication link between the principal vehicle and the second vehicle using the respective short range wireless communication components;

querying the second vehicle for authorization to transmit the information formatted for Internet publication; and

transmitting the information formatted for Internet publication to the short range wireless communication components on the second vehicle via the communications link between the principal vehicle and the second vehicle.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 including the step of receiving communication from the second vehicle in response to receiving the information formatted for Internet publication.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2 including the step of terminating the step of transmitting the information formatted for Internet publication after receiving communication from the second vehicle.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 including the step of establishing a dialog communication over the communication link after the transmission of the information formatted for Internet publication.

5. A method as set forth in claim 4 including the step of creating communication information from the dialog communication.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 including the step of transmitting the communication from the principal vehicle to a land network to update the information formatted for Internet publication.

7. A method for communicating information that has been formatted for Internet publication from a principal vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components to a second vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components, the method comprising the steps of:

storing the information formatted for Internet publication in the principal vehicle;

transmitting an introductory signal to the second vehicle;

establishing a communication link between the principal vehicle and the second vehicle using the respective short range wireless communication components; and

transmitting the information formatted for Internet publication to the short range wireless communication components on the second vehicle via the communications link between the principal vehicle and the second vehicle.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7 including the step of receiving communication from the second vehicle in response to receiving the information formatted for Internet publication.

9. A method as set forth in claim 8 including the step of terminating the step of transmitting the information formatted for Internet publication after receiving communication from the second vehicle.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 including the step of establishing a dialog communication over the communication link after the transmission of the information formatted for Internet publication has terminated.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10 including the step of creating communication information from the dialog communication.

12. A method for communicating user information from a principal vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components to a secondary vehicle equipped with short range wireless communication components, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) accessing a third party website containing information provided by the user;

(b) identifying user information from the website to be supplied to one or more secondary vehicles;

(c) transmitting the user information to a central facility operated by a telematics service provider;

(d) downloading the user information from the central facility to a principal vehicle;

(e) storing the user information at the principal vehicle;

(f) detecting a nearby secondary vehicle that is wirelessly accessible to the principal vehicle;

(g) transmitting the user information from the principal vehicle to the secondary vehicle; and

(h) presenting the user information to a user of the secondary vehicle.

13. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the user information includes information that has been formatted for Internet publication.

14. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the user information comprises at least a portion of a blog maintained by the user of the principal vehicle.

15. A method as set forth in claim 12 further comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more categories of interest via the website;

transmitting the one or more categories to the central facility;

downloading the one or more categories from the central facility to the principal vehicle;

transmitting the one or more categories from the principal vehicle to the secondary vehicle; and

carrying out steps (g) and (h) when the categories transmitted to the secondary vehicle match one or more existing categories stored at the secondary vehicle.

16. A method as set forth in claim 15 further comprising, prior to step (f), the steps of:

the user of the secondary vehicle selecting the one or more existing categories; and

downloading the one or more existing categories to the secondary vehicle.