SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING PROFILE INFORMATION

• US 20120225634A1
• Filed: 03/02/2011
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Gee, Robert, Seymour, Shafer
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A system and method for providing profile information for occupants of a vehicle to a service provider. The system may communicate with at least one mobile device to receive an identification from each mobile device. The system may store profile information of an occupant associated with each identification. The system may communicate with the service provider to transmit the profile information associated with the mobile devices if a crash condition is identified and communication with the mobile device occurred during a time period just prior to the crash condition.

Claims

1. A system for providing profile information to a service provider for occupants of a vehicle having mobile devices, the system comprising:

a telematics controller having a first transceiver configured to communicate with at least one mobile device, the telematics controller being configured to receive an identification from the at least one mobile device and store profile information of an occupant associated with the identification;

a network access device having a second transceiver configured to communicate with the service provider, wherein the network access device is configured to transmit the profile information associated with the at least one mobile device if a crash condition is identified and the at least one mobile device is was in communication with the telematics controller during a time period just prior to the crash condition.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile device is a mobile phone and the request initiates a phone call between the service provider and the mobile phone.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface connected to the telematics controller, wherein user interface allows entry of the profile information.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the user interface prompts a user to enter the user profile information upon detecting an unknown mobile device.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the user profile includes age, gender, and health information.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the profile information includes seating information.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the seating information is determined periodically and stored by the telematics controller.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of transceivers located at different locations in the vehicle to determine a seating location of the occupants.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein at least one transceiver of the plurality of transceivers is located in the back seat area of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is in the back seat area of the vehicle based on signal strength from a corresponding mobile device of the at least one mobile device.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein at least one transceiver of the plurality of receivers is located in the right side of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is seated on the right side of the vehicle based on signal strength from a corresponding mobile device of the at least one mobile device.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the service provider is configured to automatically place a call to one of the at least one mobile devices detected in the vehicle after the crash condition is detected.

12. A system for providing profile information for occupants of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a mobile phone;

a telematics controller having a first transceiver configured to communicate with at least one mobile phone, the telematics controller being configured to receive an identification from the mobile phone and store profile information of an occupant associated with the identification;

a network access device having a second transceiver;

a service provider, the network access device being configured to communicate with the service provider through the second transceiver, wherein the network access device is configured to transmit the profile information associated with the at least one mobile phone to the service provider if a crash condition is identified and the mobile phone was in communication with the telematics controller during a time period just prior to the crash condition.

13. The system according to claim 12, further comprising a user interface connected to the telematics controller, wherein the user interface prompts a user to enter the user profile information including age, gender, and health information upon detecting an unknown mobile device.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the profile information includes seating information, the seating information being determined periodically using a plurality of transceivers located at different locations in the vehicle and stored by the telematics controller.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein at least one first transceiver of the plurality of transceivers is located in the back seat area of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is in the back seat area of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone and at least one second transceiver of the plurality of receivers is located in the right side of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is seated on the right side of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone.

16. A method for providing profile information for occupants of a vehicle, the method comprising:

communicating with at least one mobile device

receiving an identification from each of the at least one mobile device

storing profile information of an occupant associated with each identification;

communicating the service provider;

transmitting the profile information associated with the at least one mobile device if a crash condition is identified and communication with the mobile device occurred during a time period just prior to the crash condition.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising prompting a user to enter the user profile information including age, gender, and health information upon detecting an unknown mobile device.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the profile information includes seating information, the seating information being determined periodically using a plurality of transceivers located at different locations in the vehicle.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein at least one first transceiver of the plurality of transceivers is located in the back seat area of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is in the back seat area of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone and at least one second transceiver of the plurality of receivers is located in the right side of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is seated on the right side of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone.

20. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions executable by a programmed processor for providing profile information for occupants of a vehicle, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

communicating with at least one mobile device

receiving an identification from each of the at least one mobile device

storing profile information of an occupant associated with each identification;

communicating with the service provider;

transmitting the profile information associated with the at least one mobile device if a crash condition is identified and the mobile device is was in communication with the telematics controller during a time period just prior to the crash condition.

21. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 20, further comprising instructions for prompting a user to enter the user profile information including age, gender, and health information upon detecting an unknown mobile device.

22. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the profile information includes seating information, the seating information being determined periodically using a plurality of transceivers located at different locations in the vehicle.

23. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 22, wherein at least one first transceiver of the plurality of transceivers is located in the back seat area of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is in the back seat area of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone and at least one second transceiver of the plurality of receivers is located in the right side of the vehicle to determine if an occupant is seated on the right side of the vehicle based on signal strength from the mobile phone.