SELECTIVE VEHICLE WI-FI ACCESS

• US 20150063329A1
• Filed: 08/28/2013
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Frye, Mark S., Pebbles, Paul H., Elnajjar, Hassan, Zakhem, Samer
• Application Number:
  US14/011,938
• Publication Number:
  US 20150063329A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

A method and system of selectively permitting access to a vehicle Wi-Fi network includes establishing a plurality of vehicular Wi-Fi access levels each of which provide access to different features at a vehicle; generating a short-range wireless signal that provides Wi-Fi network access at the vehicle; associating a wireless device with one of the established vehicular Wi-Fi access levels; receiving an identity of the wireless device at the vehicle via the short-range wireless signal; determining the level of Wi-Fi access associated with the received identity using the vehicle telematics unit; and controlling access to the different features according to the determined level of Wi-Fi access level associated with the received identity.

Claims

1. A method of selectively permitting access to a vehicle Wi-Fi network, comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a plurality of vehicular Wi-Fi access levels each of which provide access to different features at a vehicle;

(b) generating a short-range wireless signal that provides Wi-Fi network access at the vehicle;

(c) associating a wireless device with one of the established vehicular Wi-Fi access levels;

(d) receiving an identity of the wireless device at the vehicle via the short-range wireless signal;

(e) determining the level of Wi-Fi access associated with the received identity using the vehicle telematics unit; and

(f) controlling access to the different features according to the determined level of Wi-Fi access level associated with the received identity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of establishing a first vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to the Internet and excludes access to all vehicle features.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein access to the Internet is password-protected

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of establishing a second vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to a limited number of vehicle features as well as access to the Internet.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of establishing a third vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to all vehicle features as well as access to the Internet.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing Wi-Fi network access via a single network name, wherein the vehicle telematics unit controls access to different features based on a wireless identity that is associated with a vehicular Wi-Fi access level and is stored with the vehicular Wi-Fi access level at the vehicle telematics unit.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing Wi-Fi network access via multiple network names, wherein each network name corresponds to a different vehicular Wi-Fi access level.

8. A method of selectively permitting access to a vehicle Wi-Fi network, comprising the steps of:

(a) accessing a Wi-Fi network provided by a vehicle via a short-range wireless signal;

(b) transmitting a wireless device identity to the vehicle via the short-range wireless signal;

(c) receiving one of a plurality of vehicular Wi-Fi access levels that has been assigned to the wireless device identity, wherein each level provides access to different features at the vehicle based on the transmitted wireless device identity.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of receiving a first vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to the Internet and excludes access to vehicle features.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein access to the Internet is password-protected

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of receiving a second vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to a limited number of vehicle features as well as access to the Internet.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of receiving a third vehicular Wi-Fi access level that provides access to all vehicle features as well as access to the Internet.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of accessing the Wi-Fi network via a single network name, wherein the vehicle telematics unit controls access to different features based on a wireless identity that is associated with a vehicular Wi-Fi access level and is stored with the vehicular Wi-Fi access level at the vehicle telematics unit.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of providing Wi-Fi network access via multiple network names, wherein each network name corresponds to a different vehicular Wi-Fi access level.

15. A system of selectively permitting access to a vehicle Wi-Fi network, comprising:

a vehicle telematics unit comprising a processor, a computer-readable medium, and a short-range wireless antenna, wherein the vehicle telematics unit;

receives a plurality of wireless identities via a Wi-Fi network generated by the vehicle telematics unit through the short-range wireless antenna;

correlates each of the plurality of wireless identities with one of a plurality of vehicular Wi-Fi access levels that each provide access to different features at the vehicle;

storing the correlated wireless identities and vehicular Wi-Fi access levels in the computer-readable medium; and

controlling access to features available through the Wi-Fi network based on the vehicular Wi-Fi access levels correlated with the wireless identity requesting the features.