Methods and Systems for a Vehicle Computing System to Wirelessly Communicate Data

• US 20170066389A1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: MCCAFFREY, Kenneth James, ALEXANDER, Stephen, TREMAN, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 10,708,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• 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 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A vehicle system has a first communication processor connected to a vehicle network, a second communication processor connected to the first communication processor, and a vehicle processor configured to communicate with the first and second communication processors. The vehicle processor is programmed to, in response to received vehicle data via the vehicle network, communicate the vehicle data to a server via the first communication processor. The vehicle processor is further programmed to, in response to received infotainment data via the second communication processor, output the infotainment data to a display.

Claims

1. A vehicle system comprising:

a first communication processor (FCP) connected to a vehicle network;

a second communication processor (SCP) connected to the FCP; and

a vehicle processor configured to communicate with the FCP and SCP, and programmed to,

in response to received vehicle data via the vehicle network, communicate the vehicle data to a server via the FCP; and

in response to received infotainment data via the SCP, output the infotainment data to a display.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle processor is further programmed to, in response to received information from the server via the FCP, output a portion of the information to the display.

3. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the FCP is an embedded processor and transceiver having at least one of a WiFi modem or cellular modem.

4. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the SCP is at least one of a WiFi, cellular, and BLUETOOTH transceiver.

5. The vehicle system of claim 4, wherein the vehicle processor is further programmed to communicate with a public server using an application program interface at the FCP through a smartphone connection via the BLUETOOTH transceiver at the SCP.

6. The vehicle system of claim 5, wherein the vehicle processor is further programmed to, in response to the infotainment data received from the smartphone via the BLUETOOTH transceiver, configure one or more settings of an infotainment system.

7. The vehicle system of claim 6, wherein the one or more settings is at least one of climate control, music, navigation, and phone settings.

8. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data is received from one or more processors connected to the vehicle network.

9. The vehicle system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors is at least one of a body control module, brake control module, battery management system, transmission control module, powertrain control module, and telematics control unit.

10. The vehicle system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle processor is further programmed to, in response to received brake data from the brake control module via the vehicle network, transmit the brake data to the server.

11. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the FCP is in communication with the server via a private cellular carrier virtual network.

12. The vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the SCP communicates with the FCP based on at least one of an application program interface and a circuit configuration.

13. A vehicle communication method comprising:

in response to received vehicle data from one or more processors via a vehicle network, transmitting the vehicle data to a pre-identified server via a first communication processor (FCP);

receiving infotainment data in a predefined application program interface from a public server via a second communication processor connected to the FCP; and

outputting, via a vehicle processor, at least one of the vehicle data and infotainment data to a display.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in response to received information from the pre-identified server via the FCP, outputting the information to the display.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting drive performance data to the pre-identified server based on the one or more processors being at least one of a brake control module, battery management system, transmission control module, and engine control module.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in response to the second communication processor being a BLUETOOTH transceiver, communicating with the public server through a smartphone connection via the BLUETOOTH transceiver.

17. A computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored instructions for programming a processor, comprising instructions for:

communicating vehicle data received from one or more processors connected to a vehicle network to a server via a first communication processor on a private cellular carrier virtual network;

communicating infotainment data to a remote device via a second communication processor connected to the first communication processor; and

outputting at least a portion of the infotainment and vehicle data to a display.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17, the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprising instructions for:

in response to the second communication processor being a Bluetooth transceiver, communicating with a public server through the remote device via the Bluetooth transceiver.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, the non-transitory computer readable medium further comprising instructions for, in response to received information from the public server through the remote device, configuring one or more settings of a vehicle infotainment system.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the second communication processor is a WiFi modem configured to provide a WiFi hotspot.