SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING VEHICLE COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20090247132A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Krause, Kevin R., Sumcad, Anthony J., Sidhu, Navjot
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,234 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.100
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A system and a method for improving wireless communications between a call center and a vehicle. The system and method can reduce the number of wireless connections needed between a call center and a vehicle by using multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages to convey information therebetween. This obviates the need for the call center to make an initial wireless connection simply to alert the vehicle that it wishes to communicate. Instead, the system and method can convey information or push down content to the vehicle on a very first connection, which can reduce wireless connections and improve reliability.

Claims

1. A system for processing vehicle communications, comprising:

a vehicle telematics unit that sends and receives wireless communications and includes a multimedia messaging service (MMS) client; and

a vehicle component that is coupled to the vehicle telematics unit, wherein, in response to the vehicle telematics unit receiving a wireless communication in the form of an MMS message having a payload section, the MMS client;

i) processes the MMS message and extracts an MMS message part from the payload section;

ii) evaluates the vehicle component and determines its ability to process the extracted MMS message part; and

iii) based on the evaluation of the vehicle component, sends the MMS message part to the vehicle component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the MMS client includes an authentication manager that authenticates the MMS message, a parser that parses the payload section into one or more MMS message parts, and a distribution manager that distributes the MMS message parts.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the MMS message includes a first MMS message part embedded within a second MMS message part, and the authentication manager uses the second MMS message part as an authentication key.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first MMS message part is a text file and the second MMS message part is either an image file, a video file, or an audio file.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the distribution manager evaluates the vehicle component by requesting information from the vehicle component via a communications bus.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the distribution manager determines the ability of the vehicle component to process the extracted MMS message part by applying a set of rules maintained at the vehicle telematics unit.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle component is a vehicle system module (VSM) that is coupled to the vehicle telematics unit via a communications bus.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted MMS message part is a text-based command to perform a diagnostic check with one or more vehicle system modules (VSMs).

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted MMS message part is an image-based message to convey a message to a vehicle occupant via a visual display.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the extracted MMS message part is an audio-based message to convey a message to a vehicle occupant via an audio system.

11. A system for processing vehicle communications, comprising:

a call center that sends and receives wireless communications and includes a multimedia messaging service (MMS) client; and

a vehicle that sends and receives wireless communications and includes an MMS client, wherein;

i) the MMS client of either the call center or the vehicle constructs an MMS message, and an MMS message part is included in a payload section of the MMS message;

ii) the MMS message is wirelessly sent between the vehicle and the call center over a packet-switched connection; and

iii) the MMS client of the other of the call center and the vehicle processes the MMS message, and the MMS message part is removed from the payload section of the MMS message.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the MMS client of the vehicle includes an authentication manager that authenticates the MMS message, a parser that parses the payload section into one or more MMS message parts, and a distribution manager that distributes the MMS message parts.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the MMS message includes a first MMS message part embedded within a second MMS message part, and the authentication manager uses the second MMS message part as an authentication key.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first MMS message part is a text file and the second MMS message part is either an image file, a video file, or an audio file.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the distribution manager evaluates a vehicle component and determines its ability to process the removed MMS message part and, based on the evaluation of the vehicle component, sends the removed MMS message part to the vehicle component.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the distribution manager determines the ability of the vehicle component to process the removed MMS message part by applying a set of rules maintained at the vehicle telematics unit.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the removed MMS message part is a text-based command to perform a diagnostic check with one or more vehicle system modules (VSMs).

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the removed MMS message part is an image-based message to convey a message to a vehicle occupant via a visual display.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the removed MMS message part is an audio-based message to convey a message to a vehicle occupant via an audio system.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the MMS client of the call center constructs an MMS message and wirelessly sends the MMS message to a plurality of vehicles.

21. A method for processing vehicle communications, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a wireless communication at a vehicle telematics unit, wherein the wireless communication is in the form of a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message having a payload section that includes an executable script;

(b) processing the MMS message with an MMS client maintained at the vehicle telematics unit and extracting the executable script from the payload section of the MMS message;

(c) sending the executable script to a vehicle component; and

(e) carrying out the executable script at the vehicle component.