METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE COMPUTING SYSTEM COMMUNICATING TO A SOCIAL MEDIA SITE

• US 20150334506A1
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Published: 11/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: RAO, Manoharprasad K., PRAKAH-ASANTE, Kwaku O., CUDDIHY, Mark A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,420,401 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• 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 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A vehicle computing system comprising at least one controller configured with a transceiver to connect with a server via a communication network connection. The controller may be configured to login to the server via a vehicle identification comprising at least one of a user-name and password for access to profile data. The controller is further configured to transmit at least one of contact identification, a message to communicate with a contact, and vehicle information. The controller is further configured to receive at least a portion of a contact and vehicle profile based on at least one of the contact and vehicle identification. The controller is further configured to transmit the at least a portion of the contact and vehicle profile to one or more systems.

Claims

1. A vehicle computing system comprising;

at least one controller configured with a transceiver to connect with a server via a communication network connection, the at least one controller configured to;

login to the server via a vehicle identification comprising at least one of a user-name and password for access to profile data;

transmit at least one of contact identification, a message to communicate with a contact, and vehicle information;

receive at least a portion of a contact and vehicle profile based on at least one of the contact and vehicle identification; and

transmit the at least a portion of the contact and vehicle profile to one or more systems.

2. The vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle profile at the server is configured to accept or reject a connection request from at least one contact.

3. The vehicle computing system of claim 2, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to recognize an occupant in a cabin of the vehicle, transmit the contact identification based on the occupant, and receive a portion of the contact profile including at least one of basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events from the occupant via the server.

4. The vehicle computing system of claim 3, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to receive a portion of the at least one basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events and transmit them to one or more vehicle features or functions in communication with the one or more systems.

5. The vehicle computing system of claim 4 wherein the basic information is at least one of age, gender, weight, and height.

6. The vehicle computing system of claim 5, wherein the basic information is used by the one or more systems to calibrate a vehicle restraint system for the occupant.

7. The vehicle computing system of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle such that a restraint device for the occupant is calibrated by the vehicle restraint system.

8. The vehicle computing system of claim 7, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to output a message to confirm the location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to enable a security firewall to prevent data received from the server to be transmitted to a restricted system.

10. The vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of vehicle information is at least one of vehicle location, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in the vehicle.

11. The vehicle computing system of claim 10, wherein the safety restraint status is an indicator to determine if a seat belt is engaged or disengaged for the occupant.

12. The vehicle computing system of claim 10, wherein the maintenance data is at least one of oil life, tire pressure, and enabled diagnostic codes.

13. The vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the server is a social media site.

14. A method comprising:

generating a vehicle profile at a server;

establishing, via a communication network, communication between a vehicle computing system (VCS) and the vehicle profile;

receiving a use request to reserve a predefined period of time at the vehicle profile from a first user;

receiving a car-sharing characteristic variable from a second user based on the use request; and

monitoring the car sharing characteristic via the VCS during the predefined period of time.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting car sharing characteristic variable to the server during the predefined period of time.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the car sharing characteristics variable is at least one of vehicle location, geofence, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in a vehicle.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting a message to the server to output the car sharing characteristics variable to a newsfeed of the vehicle profile.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the geofence is a predefined driving area approved by an administrator of the vehicle profile to monitor the vehicle traveling during the predefined period of time of the use request.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating a message to the server to notify the administrator of the vehicle profile that the vehicle has driven outside the geofence.

20. A computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that is programmed for communicating profile data to a vehicle computing system for configuration of one or more functions of a vehicle, the computer-program product comprising instructions for:

logging-in to a server via a vehicle identification comprising at least one of a user-name and password for access to profile data;

transmitting at least one of contact identification, a message to communicate with a contact, and vehicle information;

receiving at least a portion of a contact profile and vehicle profile based on at least one of the contact and vehicle identification; and

transmitting the at least a portion of the contact and vehicle profile to one or more systems.

21. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the server is configured to accept or reject a connection request from a contact.

22. The computer-program product of claim 21, further comprising addition instructions for recognizing an occupant in a cabin of the vehicle, transmitting the contact identification based on the occupant, and receiving a portion of at least one of basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events from the contact.

23. The computer-program product of claim 22, further comprising addition instructions for receiving the portion of the at least one basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events and transmitting them to one or more vehicle functions in communication with the one or more systems.

24. The computer-program product of claim 23 wherein the basic information is at least one of age, gender, weight, and height.

25. The computer-program product of claim 24, wherein the basic information is used by the one or more vehicle functions to calibrate a vehicle restraint system for the occupant.

26. The computer-program product of claim 25, further comprising addition instructions for determining location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle such that a restraint device for the contact is calibrated by the vehicle restraint system.

27. The computer-program product of claim 26, further comprising addition instructions for outputting a message to confirm the location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle.

28. The computer-program product of claim 20, further comprising addition instructions for enabling a security firewall for preventing data received from the server to be transmitted to a safety critical system.

29. The computer-program product of claim 20, wherein the at least a portion of vehicle profile is at least one of vehicle location, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in the vehicle.

30. The computer-program product of claim 29, wherein the safety restraint status is an indicator to determine if a seat belt is engaged for the occupant.

31. The computer-program product of claim 29, wherein the maintenance data is at least one of oil life, tire pressure, and enabled diagnostic codes.