SMS ORIGINATION FOR VEHICLE COMMUNICATION WITH A CALL CENTER

• US 20110039586A1
• 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: Yi, Ki Yak, Madhavan, Sethu K., Chesnutt, Elizabeth
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure

Abstract

A system and method for making vehicle originated calls to a telematics service provider or other call center. The method includes identifying a call type associated with a desired wireless communication of speech or data to the call center, and then carrying out one of a number of different call connection processes depending on the call type. For voice channel cellular connections, an in-band modem cellular connection is preferably established in most instances using a connection retry strategy that includes primary, secondary, and possibly tertiary connection attempts each of which utilize at least one of a number of different voice and data call origination processes. The system and method can be carried out in connection with various cellular system technologies, but is especially suited for use with GSM systems.

Claims

1. A cellular SMS origination method for use by a vehicle telematics unit to send an SMS message to a short message service center (SMSC) via wireless system network equipment, comprising the steps of:

carrying out an outer loop iterative process in which the telematics unit attempts to establish a successful SMS connection to the wireless system network equipment; and

in response to achieving a successful SMS connection, carrying out an inner loop iterative process in which the telematics unit monitors for receipt of an acknowledgement that an SMS message was received by the SMSC and re-attempts sending of the SMS message if no acknowledgement is received.

2. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 1, wherein the outer loop iterative process has a first counter that counts the number of failed attempts at a successful connection to the network equipment and a second counter that counts the number of times that the inner loop iterative process is carried out unsuccessfully.

3. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 2, wherein the inner loop iterative process includes the step of starting a timer and incrementing the second counter if the timer expires prior to receiving the acknowledgement.

4. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 2, further comprising the step of resetting the second counter each time the first counter is incremented.

5. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 2, further comprising the steps of comparing the second counter to a specified maximum limit and incrementing the first counter if the second counter reaches the maximum limit.

6. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 2, further comprising the steps of comparing the second counter to a specified maximum limit and carrying out another iteration of the inner loop iterative process if the maximum limit has not been reached.

7. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 6, further comprising the steps of determining if there is an active voice call in progress after an iteration of the inner loop iterative process, and if so, resending the SMS message over a channel assignment being used for the active voice call.

8. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 2, wherein the outer loop iterative process further comprises the steps of comparing the first counter to a specified maximum limit and repeating the outer loop iterative process if the first counter has not reached the maximum limit.

9. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 1, wherein, following receipt of the acknowledgement, the inner loop iterative process further comprises the steps of examining an error cause received with the acknowledgement and repeating the inner loop iterative process if the error cause is a temporary cause type.

10. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 1, wherein the outer loop iterative process includes the steps of:

attempting a radio resource connection from the telematics unit to the wireless system;

establishing wireless system access over an assigned channel received from the wireless system network equipment;

sending the SMS message over the assigned channel to the wireless system network equipment; and

receiving acknowledgement of receipt of the SMS message from the wireless system network equipment.

11. A cellular SMS origination method for use by a vehicle telematics unit on a GSM network to send an SMS message, comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a wireless connection between the telematics unit and GSM network;

(b) sending an SMS message over the established connection;

(c) determining that the SMS message failed to reach its destination address;

(d) determining whether the telematics unit is engaged in an active voice call over the established connection; and

(e) if so, then re-sending the SMS message over the established connection.

12. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 11, further comprising the step of establishing a new connection with the GSM network if the telematics unit is not engaged in an active voice call.

13. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 12, wherein the step of establishing a new connection comprises the steps of:

attempting a radio resource connection from the telematics unit to the GSM network;

establishing wireless system access over an assigned channel received from the GSM network;

sending the SMS message over the assigned channel to the GSM network; and

receiving acknowledgement of receipt of the SMS message from the GSM network.

14. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 11, wherein step (c) further comprises determining if an acknowledgement is received by the telematics unit before expiration of a timer started during establishment of the wireless connection.

15. An SMS origination method as defined in claim 11, wherein step (c) further comprises receiving an acknowledgement signal after sending the SMS message that includes a temporary error cause.