LOCATION BASED SERVICES PRIVACY KEY

• US 20110001638A1
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Pudar, Nikola J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,212,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/988
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries

Abstract

A method for controlling location-based services for a vehicle that includes establishing a user-selected location-based service preference for a vehicle, linking a portable privacy key to the vehicle, communicating the presence of the portable privacy key from the vehicle to a call center, sending the user-selected location-based service preference from the call center to the vehicle, and activating at least one location-based service in response to linking of the portable privacy key to the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for controlling location-based services for a vehicle, the steps comprising:

(a) establishing a user-selected location-based service preference for a vehicle;

(b) linking a portable privacy key to the vehicle;

(c) communicating the presence of the portable privacy key from the vehicle to a call center;

(d) sending the user-selected location-based service preference from the call center to the vehicle; and

(e) activating at least one location-based service in response to linking of the portable privacy key to the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service further comprises one or more of:

breadcrumbing, geofencing, a curfew alert, or a speed limit alert.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing at least one threshold for each user-selected location-based service preference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein thresholds further comprise at least one or more of:

a speed value, a plurality of latitude and longitude global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, or a plurality of latitude and longitude GPS coordinates associated with a time interval.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a subscriber can establish at least one threshold at a call center using a web portal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle alerts a vehicle occupant when the portable privacy key is linked or unlinked to the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable privacy key includes a visual signal that indicates that illuminates when location-based services are enabled or stops illuminating when location-based services are disabled.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle activates an audible alert when the location-based services have been activated or deactivated.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein location-based services further comprises breadcrumbing by recording a plurality of latitude and longitude GPS coordinates;

establishing a log of the past route traveled by the vehicle using the plurality of coordinates; and

uploading the log to a call center.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein location-based services further comprises:

establishing a threshold speed value;

recording a plurality of latitude and longitude GPS coordinates and the time the GPS coordinates are recorded;

calculating an average speed based on the plurality of GPS coordinates and the time they are recorded; and

determining if the average speed exceeds the threshold speed value.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a speed limit threshold and linking the speed limit threshold to a type of road.

12. A method for controlling location-based services for a vehicle, the steps comprising:

(a) linking a portable privacy key to a vehicle;

(b) activating at least one location-based service;

(c) signaling to a vehicle occupant that the portable privacy key has enabled a location-based service;

(d) monitoring vehicle latitude and longitude, vehicle speed, or time of day during which the vehicle is operating for a value exceeding a predetermined threshold;

(f) sending a message from a telematics device to a subscriber of the location-based service if the portable privacy key is unlinked from the vehicle; and

(g) sending a message from the telematics device to the subscriber if the value exceeds the preset threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the location-based service further comprises one or more of:

breadcrumbing, geofencing, a curfew alert, or a speed limit alert.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the predetermined threshold further comprises at least one or more of:

a speed value, a plurality of latitude and longitude global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, or a plurality of latitude and longitude GPS coordinates associated with a time interval.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein a subscriber can establish the predetermined threshold at a call center using a web portal.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the portable privacy key includes a visual signal that illuminates when location-based services are enabled or stops illuminating when location-based services are disabled.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicle activates an audible alert when the location-based services have been activated or deactivated.

18. A method for controlling location-based services for a vehicle, the steps comprising:

(a) establishing a subscriber account that a contains a unique code, a location-based service, and a threshold not to be exceeded;

(b) encoding a portable privacy key with the unique code;

(c) placing the portable privacy key in communication with a vehicle telematics unit;

(d) extracting the unique code from the portable privacy key using the vehicle telematics unit;

(e) transmitting the unique code from the vehicle telematics unit to a call center;

(f) receiving the unique code at the call center;

(g) determining if the unique code of the portable privacy key is associated with an active subscriber account;

(h) if the unique code is associated with an active subscriber account, transmitting a confirmation signal that indicates the location-based service and the threshold contained in the vehicle owner account from the call center to the vehicle;

(i) activating the location-based service;

(j) monitoring the location-based service for values that exceed the threshold; and

(k) if the threshold is exceeded, notifying the subscriber.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the location-based service further comprises one or more of:

breadcrumbing, geofencing, a curfew alert, or a speed limit alert.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein a threshold further comprises at least one or more of:

a speed value, a plurality of latitude and longitude global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, or a plurality of latitude and longitude GPS coordinates associated with a time interval.