ADDRESS BOOK SHARING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR NON-VERBALLY ADDING ADDRESS BOOK CONTENTS USING THE SAME

• US 20090249323A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Nixon, Timothy R., Stewart, Gregory B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,521,235 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

An address book sharing system includes a vehicle, a short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit embedded in the vehicle, and a short-range enabled wireless device. The short-range enabled wireless device is configured to be paired with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit when positioned in the vehicle, and to download an address book to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit in response to an address book request trigger generated by the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit. Methods for non-verbally adding address book contents using the address book sharing system are also disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for non-verbally adding address book contents to an in-vehicle address book, the method comprising:

positioning a short-range enabled wireless device in a vehicle containing a short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit;

pairing the short-range enabled wireless device with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit;

generating an address book request trigger from the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit; and

downloading, in response to the address book request trigger, an address book from the short-range enabled wireless device to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing the downloaded address book in the in-vehicle address book.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further comprising removing the short-range enabled wireless device from the vehicle.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, further comprising:

repositioning the short-range enabled wireless device in the vehicle containing the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit;

pairing the short-range enabled wireless device with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit again;

determining whether the address book from the short-range enabled wireless device includes an update;

if the address book from the short-range enabled wireless device includes the update, then generating an other address book request trigger from the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit; and

downloading, in response to the other address book request trigger, the update from the short-range enabled wireless device to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising rendering the downloaded address book available to a user via grapheme-to-phoneme conversion.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, further comprising overwriting the grapheme-to-phoneme conversion with verbally created voice models.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

positioning a second short-range enabled wireless device in the vehicle;

pairing the second short-range enabled wireless device with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit;

generating an other address book request trigger from the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit; and

downloading, in response to the other address book request trigger, an address book from the second short-range enabled wireless device to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

8. The method as defined in claim 7, further comprising storing the address book from the short-range enabled wireless device and the address book from the second short-range enabled wireless device in the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit as personalized and separate address books.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising subsequently accessing, via the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit, at least one of the personalized and separate address books.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising blocking an other short-range enabled wireless device from downloading its address book to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

11. An address book sharing system, comprising:

a vehicle;

a short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit embedded in the vehicle; and

a short-range enabled wireless device configured i) to be paired with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit when positioned in the vehicle, and ii) to download an address book to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit in response to an address book request trigger generated by the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

12. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 11 wherein the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit includes a memory configured to store the downloaded address book in the in-vehicle address book.

13. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 11, further comprising a call center in operative communication with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

14. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 11 wherein the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit is configured to render the downloaded address book available to a user via grapheme-to-phoneme conversion.

15. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 11, further comprising a second short-range enabled wireless device configured i) to be paired with the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit when positioned in the vehicle, and ii) to download a second address book to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit in response to an other address book request trigger generated by the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.

16. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 15 wherein the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit includes a memory configured to store the address book from the short-range enabled wireless device and the address book from the second short-range enabled wireless device in the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit as personalized and separate address books.

17. The address book sharing system as defined in claim 11, further comprising a blocking system in the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit configured to block an other short-range enabled wireless device from downloading its address book to the short-range enabled in-vehicle telematics unit.