METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20120071140A1
• Filed: 09/21/2010
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Oesterling, Christopher L., Mirle, Sanjeev C., Correia, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed

Abstract

A method for controlling mobile communications involves identifying an operator of the mobile vehicle, where the operator is associated with the mobile communications device. The method further includes recognizing, via a telematics unit in the mobile vehicle, a first in-vehicle trigger to initiate a vehicle data upload event with a telematics service center. The vehicle data for the vehicle data upload event includes information of the mobile vehicle and of the operator of the mobile vehicle. Upon receiving the vehicle data at the telematics service center, transmitting a request from the service center to a mobile communications service provider to disable at least one of an incoming communication for the mobile communications device or an outgoing communication from the mobile communications device. The method further involves disabling the incoming and/or outgoing communication.

Claims

1. A method for controlling mobile communications, the method comprising:

identifying an operator of the mobile vehicle, the operator being associated with a mobile communications device;

via a telematics unit in the mobile vehicle, recognizing a first in-vehicle trigger, the recognizing initiating a vehicle data upload event with a telematics service center, wherein vehicle data for the vehicle data upload event includes identification information of the mobile vehicle and of the operator of the mobile vehicle;

upon receiving the vehicle data at the telematics service center, transmitting, via a communications module operatively associated with the telematics service center, a request to a mobile communications service provider to disable at least one of an incoming or an outgoing communication for the mobile communications device; and

disabling the at least one of the incoming or the outgoing communication.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the identifying of the operator of the mobile vehicle includes:

detecting a key fob upon initiating at least one vehicle function with the key fob; and

identifying the operator who has previously been associated with the key fob.

3. The method as defined in claim 2 wherein prior to the detecting and the identifying, the method further comprises associating the key fob with the operator of the mobile vehicle by registering the key fob utilizing a remotely accessible page, the telematics unit, an in-vehicle module, or combinations thereof.

4. The method as defined in claim 2 wherein the mobile vehicle has more than one key fob associated therewith, wherein each of the key fobs is respectively associated with a different vehicle operator, and wherein the method further comprises:

via the telematics unit, querying an in-vehicle module requesting an identification of which key fob is then-currently initiating the at least one vehicle function;

via the in-vehicle module, identifying a rolling code of the key fob initiating the at least one vehicle function;

via the in-vehicle module, synchronizing the rolling code with an identifier of the key fob; and

transmitting the identifier of the key fob to the telematics unit.

5. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the identifying of the operator of the mobile vehicle is accomplished by pairing the mobile communications device with the telematics unit, the pairing being accomplished using short range wireless communication between the mobile communications device and the telematics unit.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the first in-vehicle trigger is selected from an ignition on state of the mobile vehicle or a shift of a transmission system of the mobile vehicle into a drive mode.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein upon receiving the vehicle data during the vehicle data upload event and prior to transmitting the request to the mobile communications service provider, the method further comprises, via a processor at the telematics service center:

associating the identification information of the mobile vehicle with the operator of the mobile vehicle;

accessing a profile of the operator stored in a database at the telematics service center; and

extracting i) at least one preset condition from the profile, the at least one preset condition including a restriction related to the at least one feature of the operator'"'"'s mobile communications device, and ii) an identifier of the operator'"'"'s mobile communications device.

8. The method as defined in claim 7 wherein the request to disable the at least one feature associated with the mobile communications device includes the at least one preset condition and the identifier extracted from the profile.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

forwarding the request to a processing facility associated with the mobile communications service provider; and

processing the request via computer equipment associated with the processing facility.

10. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the incoming communication is a short messaging service (SMS) message, a multimedia message service (MMS) message, an e-mail, or a voice message.

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

via the telematics unit, recognizing a second in-vehicle trigger, the recognizing initiating a second vehicle data upload event with the telematics service center, vehicle data for the second vehicle data upload event including a notice that the second in-vehicle trigger has occurred; and

in response to the second vehicle data upload event, transmitting, via the communications module operatively associated with the telematics service center, a request to the mobile communications service provider to re-enable the at least one of the incoming or outgoing communication for the mobile communications device of the operator.

12. The method as defined in claim 11 wherein the second in-vehicle trigger is selected from an ignition off state of the mobile vehicle and a shift of the transmission system of the mobile vehicle into a park mode.

13. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein after the at least one of the incoming or the outgoing communication has been disabled, the method further comprises:

receiving the incoming communication for the mobile communications device at the mobile communications service provider; and

via a processing facility associated with the mobile communications service provider, sending a reply to the incoming message, the reply including an indication that the operator is unavailable to respond to the incoming communication at the then-current time.

14. The method as defined in claim 13 wherein the sending of the reply is accomplished in response to an occurrence of at least one of a pairing of the communications device to the telematics unit via a short range wireless connection or detecting movement of the mobile vehicle in excess of a predefined vehicle speed.

15. The method as defined in claim 14 wherein the sending of the reply is accomplished automatically immediately upon receiving the incoming message.

16. A system for controlling mobile communications, comprising:

a mobile communications device associated with an operator of a mobile vehicle, the mobile communications device configured to receive and send messages;

a module operatively disposed in the mobile vehicle, the module configured to identify the operator of the mobile vehicle;

a telematics unit operatively associated with the module, the telematics unit configured to recognize a first in-vehicle trigger and, upon making the recognition, initiate a vehicle data upload event with a telematics service center, wherein vehicle data for the vehicle data upload event includes identification information of the mobile vehicle and the operator of the mobile vehicle;

a processor operatively associated with the telematics service provider and configured to receive and process the vehicle data during the vehicle data upload event; and

a communications module operatively associated with the telematics service center, the communications module configured to transmit a request to a mobile communications service provider to disable at least one of an incoming or an outgoing message for the mobile communications device.

17. The system as defined in claim 16, further comprising a key fob associated with the operator of the mobile vehicle and, when actuated to initiate at least one vehicle function, is configured to be detected by the module to identify the operator.

18. The system as defined in claim 17, further comprising a remotely accessible page for registering the key fob such that the key fob is associated with the operator of the mobile vehicle.

19. The system as defined in claim 17 wherein at least one of the telematics unit or the module is further configured to register the key fob such that the key fob is associated with the operator of the mobile vehicle.

20. The system as defined in claim 16 wherein:

the telematics unit is further configured to recognize a second in-vehicle trigger, and upon making the recognition, to initiate a second vehicle data upload event with the telematics service center, wherein vehicle data for the second vehicle data upload event includes a notice that the second in-vehicle trigger has occurred;

the communications module associated with the telematics service center is further configured to transmit a request to the mobile communications service provider in response to the second vehicle data upload event to re-enable the at least one of the incoming or outgoing message for the mobile communications device.