VEHICLE SYSTEM INTERACTION USING REMOTE DEVICE

• US 20110273279A1
• Filed: 05/10/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Schondorf, Steven Yellin, Van Wiemeersch, John Robert, Kleve, Robert Bruce, Aldighieri, Paul, Vandivier, Karl Douglas
• Application Number:
  US12/776,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20110273279A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.4
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A method for querying a vehicle system from a remote wireless device includes receiving an inquiry at a cellular transceiver included in a vehicle. The inquiry is sent from a remote server in communication with the remote wireless device and initiated by the remote wireless device. The method includes accessing one or more vehicle systems in accordance with the inquiry and querying the accessed one or more systems in accordance with the inquiry. The method also includes receiving information in accordance with the query from the one or more systems that were queried and transmitting the received information to the remote server through the cellular transceiver, for further transmission to the remote wireless device.

Claims

1. A method for vehicle querying comprising:

receiving an inquiry, initiated at a remote wireless device, at a vehicle-based transceiver;

querying one or more systems in accordance with the inquiry;

receiving information in accordance with the inquiry from the one or more systems;

transmitting the received information to the remote wireless device, wherein the one or more systems include at least one of a hazard light status, an oil level, a VIN and an odometer reading.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the inquiry is sent from a remote server in communication with the remote wireless device and is initiated by the remote wireless device.

3. The method of claim 1, where the transmitting further includes transmitting the received information to a remote server through the transceiver, for further transmission to the remote wireless device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the inquiry into a new format, wherein the new format is readable by a microprocessor included in the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the received information into a new format, wherein the new format is readable by a cellular device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying one or more systems includes accessing a vehicle system bus.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying one or more systems includes accessing an RF transceiver in communication with a vehicle system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more systems include a connected status of one or more safety harnesses.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a hazard light inquiry further includes a command instructing a desired state of the hazard lights, and wherein the method further includes:

processing the desired command such that a state of the hazard lights is changed to the desired state.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing stored data relating to a recommended oil type; and

including the stored data relating to the recommended oil type for transmission to the remote server.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing stored data relating to a oil life remaining; and

including the stored data relating to the oil life remaining for transmission to the remote server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the systems capable of being queried further include a bulb status inquiry.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

accessing stored data relating to a recommended bulb replacement; and

including the stored data relating to the recommended bulb replacement for transmission to the remote server.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing stored data relating to a replaceable and/or repairable vehicle component; and

including the stored data relating to the replaceable and/or repairable vehicle component for transmission to the remote server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data relating to a replaceable and/or repairable vehicle component includes at least one of a paint color, a spark-plug identification, a washer-fluid level and/or a washer-fluid type.

16. A method comprising:

receiving an update command, sent from a remote server in communication with a remote wireless device and initiated at the wireless device, at a vehicle-based cellular transceiver;

accessing one or more vehicle systems in accordance with the update command; and

updating the one or more accessed systems in accordance with the update command.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising converting the update command into a new format, wherein the new format is readable by a microprocessor included in the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the update command includes one or more GPS coordinates.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, upon receiving a GPS coordinate set with instructions to navigate to a location designated by the coordinate set, the method further includes:

updating a GPS system with the coordinate set as a destination coordinate set.

20. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more instructions executable by a processor in machine-readable format, wherein, upon execution of the instructions by a processor, the processor is caused to perform the steps comprising:

receiving an inquiry at a cellular transceiver included in a vehicle, the inquiry having been sent from a remote server in communication with the remote wireless device, the inquiry having been initiated by the remote wireless device;

accessing one or more vehicle systems in accordance with the inquiry;

querying the accessed one or more systems in accordance with the inquiry;

receiving information in accordance with the query from the one or more systems that were queried; and

transmitting the received information to the remote server through the cellular transceiver, for further transmission to the remote wireless device, wherein the systems capable of being queried include at least one of a hazard light status inquiry, an oil level inquiry, a VIN inquiry, a bulb status inquiry, and oil life inquiry and/or an odometer reading inquiry.