MEID-BASED PAGING TO REACH DE-ACTIVATED TELEMATICS MODULES

• US 20120244850A1
• Filed: 03/24/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Doherty, James, Yi, Ki Hak
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,979 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• 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: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication

Abstract

A method of operating a telematics unit includes replacing a mobile identification number (MIN) or a mobile dialed number (MDN) stored in a telematics unit with a temporary geographical mobile identification number (GMIN) that prevents the telematics unit from using all of its features; associating the GMIN with a mobile equipment identification number (MEID) of the vehicle telematics unit; storing the associated GMIN and MEID at a central facility; paging the telematics unit using the associated GMIN and MEID; and instructing the telematics unit via the page to communicate with the central facility over a wireless data connection.

Claims

1. A method of operating a vehicle telematics unit, comprising the steps of:

(a) replacing a mobile identification number (MIN) or a mobile dialed number (MDN) stored in a telematics unit with a temporary geographical mobile identification number (GMIN) that prevents the telematics unit from using all of its features;

(b) associating the GMIN with a mobile equipment identification number (MEID) of the telematics device;

(c) storing the associated GMIN and MEID at a central facility;

(d) paging the telematics unit using the associated GMIN and MEID; and

(e) instructing the telematics unit via the page to communicate with the central facility over a wireless data connection.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining that the vehicle has moved outside of a geographical area serviced by the GMIN; and

replacing the GMIN with a new GMIN based on the location of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on a system identification code (SID) or a network identification code (NID).

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on global positioning system (GPS) coordinates sent from the vehicle to the central facility.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on a periodic update of the last known pointer provided by a home location register (HLR) or a visitor location register (VLR) that services the GMIN in the telematics unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the GMIN is a 500-prefix number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the GMIN services a geographical area covering two or more area codes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein replacing the MIN or MDN is carried out wirelessly from the central facility.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of instructing the telematics unit to communicate using a short-message service (SMS) shoulder tap sent by the central facility.

10. A method of operating a vehicle telematics unit, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining that a wireless communication service has not been renewed for a vehicle having a telematics unit;

(b) identifying the location of the vehicle;

(c) associating a temporary geographic mobile identification number (GMIN) with a mobile equipment identification number (MEID) of the telematics unit based on the location of the vehicle;

(d) storing the associated GMIN and MEID at a central facility;

(e) wirelessly transmitting the GMIN to the vehicle;

(f) programming the telematics unit with the GMIN; and

(g) communicating with the telematics unit using the associated GMIN and MEID.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

determining that the vehicle has moved outside of a geographical area serviced by the GMIN; and

replacing the GMIN with a new GMIN based on the location of the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on a system identification code (SID) or a network identification code (NID).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on global positioning system (GPS) coordinates sent from the vehicle to the central facility.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the location of the vehicle is determined based on a periodic update of the last known pointer provided by a home location register (HLR) or a visitor location register (VLR) that services the GMIN programmed in the telematics unit.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the GMIN is a 500-prefix number.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the GMIN services a geographical area covering two or more area codes.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of instructing the telematics unit to communicate using a short-message service (SMS) shoulder tap sent by the central facility.

18. A method of operating a vehicle telematics unit, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining a system identification number (SID) or a network identification number (NID) of a wireless carrier system at the location of a vehicle that includes a telematics unit;

(b) selecting a temporary geographical mobile identification number (GMIN) based on the SID or NID;

(c) replacing a mobile identification number (MIN) or mobile dialed number (MDN) of the telematics unit with the selected GMIN;

(d) associating the GMIN with a mobile equipment identification number (MEID) of the telematics unit;

(e) storing the associated GMIN and MEID at a central facility;

(f) if the vehicle detects that the SID or NID of the wireless carrier system at the location of the vehicle has changed, then;

(f1) establishing a data connection via the wireless carrier system between the vehicle and the central facility;

(f2) sending the SID or NID detected in step (f) to the central facility;

(f3) selecting a new GMIN based on the changed SID or NID sent to the central facility;

(f4) programming the telematics unit with the new GMIN;

(f5) associating the new GMIN with the MEID of the vehicle telematics unit; and

(f6) storing the associated new GMIN and MEID at the central facility.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the GMIN is a 500-prefix number.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the GMIN services a geographical area covering two or more area codes.