VEHICLE TELEMATICS DATA LOGGING

• US 20110039528A1
• Filed: 08/14/2009
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Company
• Inventors: Madhavan, Sethu K., Yi, Ki Hak
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• 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: H04M 3/2218 Call detail recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

A system and method for data logging of telematics events by a vehicle telematics unit. Upon detection of a telematics event, checks are made to determine if location data logging is enabled and if the telematics event is an incoming personal call. If the location data logging is enabled and the telematics event is not an incoming personal call, then a data log entry is created that includes the current vehicle location; otherwise, a data log entry without any location information is created. Thereafter, the data log entries can be uploaded to a call center for analysis. Procedures for handling data logging during a standby mode of the telematics unit are also provided.

Claims

1. A data logging method for use in a vehicle telematics system, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a telematics event involving communication between a vehicle telematics unit and a wireless carrier system;

(b) determining if the telematics event is an incoming personal call to the telematics unit;

(c) determining if location data logging is enabled;

(d) creating a data log entry identifying the telematics event if the event is something other than an incoming personal call; and

(e) including vehicle location data with the data log entry if enabled.

2. A data logging method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of determining if the telematics unit is in a standby mode and, if so, then storing the data log entry for subsequent transmission to a call center.

3. A data logging method as defined in claim 2, wherein, following a change in state from the standby mode to an active mode, the method further comprises sending the data log entry to the call center via the wireless carrier system.

4. A data logging method as defined in claim 3, further comprising the step of setting a standby flag associated with storing of the data log entry indicating that the data log entry was recorded during the standby mode, and wherein the sending step further comprises sending the data log entry based on the standby flag following the change in state to the active mode.

5. A data logging method as defined in claim 3, wherein the sending step further comprises sending the data log entry to a vehicle data upload process in the telematics unit following the change in state to the active mode, and then subsequently uploading the data log entry to the call center by the vehicle data upload process along with other data.

6. A data logging method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of determining if wireless data logging is enabled and, if so, carrying out at least steps (b) through (e).

7. A data logging method as defined in claim 6, wherein the step of determining if wireless data logging is enabled further comprises checking a stored vehicle data upload record indicating whether wireless data logging is enabled for the telematics unit.

8. A data logging method as defined in claim 7, wherein step (c) further comprises determining from the vehicle data upload record whether location data logging is enabled.

9. A data logging method as defined in claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises detecting a call processing trigger relating to use of the telematics unit for communication with the wireless carrier system and carrying out steps (b) through (e) in response to the detected call processing trigger.

10. A data logging method as defined in claim 9, wherein the data log entry includes a plurality of fields including an identifier associated with the telematics unit and a call request type indicative of content communicated between the telematics unit and call center during a call associated with the call processing trigger.

11. A data logging method as defined in claim 1, wherein, when location data logging is enabled, step (e) further comprises obtaining GPS data from a GPS receiver on-board the vehicle and recording the GPS data with the data log entry.

12. A data logging method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of sending the data log entry to a call center via the telematics unit.

13. A data logging method for use in a vehicle telematics system, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a telematics event at a vehicle telematics unit;

(b) determining if location data logging is enabled;

(c) determining if the telematics unit is in a standby mode;

(d) creating a data log entry identifying the telematics event and including vehicle location data if enabled;

(e) storing the data log entry for subsequent upload once the telematics unit switches from the standby mode to an active mode; and

(f) sending the data log entry from the telematics unit to a call center following the switch from standby mode to the active mode.

14. A data logging method as defined in claim 13, wherein step (a) further comprises detecting a call processing trigger relating to use of the telematics unit for communication with a wireless carrier system and carrying out steps (b) through (f) in response to the detected call processing trigger.

15. A data logging method as defined in claim 14, wherein the data log entry includes a plurality of fields including an identifier associated with the telematics unit and a call request type indicative of content communicated between the telematics unit and call center during a call associated with the call processing trigger.

16. A data logging method as defined in claim 13, wherein step (d) further comprises creating the data log if the telematics event is something other than an incoming personal call