Method and system for managing in-vehicle telephony

• US 7,308,289 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2003
• Issued: 12/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Sychta, Brian V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Duc M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phuong; Dai
• Application Number:
  US10/691,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20040151285A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,511 Days
• Field of Search: 4555691-5692, 455/99, 455/41, 455/297, 455/575.9, 701/1, 701/36, 701/211
• US Class Current: 455/569.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

A technique for processing telephone calls from a plurality of telephone sources in a vehicle audio system suitably includes providing a first call using a first one of the telephone sources to a user via the vehicle audio system, notifying the user of a second call received via a second one of the telephone sources while the first call is active, and processing an instruction from the user to either suspend the first call and accept the second call or to continue providing the first call. The technique may be implemented in a vehicle audio system that includes an onboard telephone, and may be adapted to work with wireless or other portable telephones carried by drivers and passengers in the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of processing telephone calls using a first telephone and a second telephone each located within a vehicle and each interoperating with a vehicle audio system that is also located within the vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a first call handled by the first telephone to a user via the vehicle audio system;

notifying the user of a second call handled by the second telephone while the first call is active;

processing an instruction from the user to suspend the first call and to provide the second call on the vehicle audio system, wherein the first call is placed in a hold queue within the vehicle audio system without terminating the first call;

maintaining a connection between the hold queue in the vehicle audio system and the first telephone while the second call remains active to thereby continue the first call even though the first and second calls are handled by different telephones that are each located within the vehicle; and

in response to a subsequent instruction from the user, restoring the first call from the hold queue and again providing the first call to the user via the vehicle audio system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the notifying step comprises providing an audible prompt using the vehicle audio system.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the audible prompt comprises an indication of the priority of the second call.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing step comprises placing the first call on hold while the user accepts the second call.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing step comprises routing audio information from the first telephone to the vehicle audio system, and routing output from a vehicle microphone to an input of the first telephone.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the processing step comprises routing audio information from the second telephone to the vehicle audio system and routing output from a vehicle microphone to an input of the second telephone in response to the instruction from the user to suspend the first call.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the subsequent instruction from the user comprises an instruction to terminate the second call.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the hold queue is further configured to maintain connections with any of the plurality of telephone sources to thereby continue calls received from any one of the plurality of telephone sources while calls from any other one of the plurality of telephone sources are active.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first call is placed between the first telephone and a first remote communicant external to the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second call is placed between the second telephone and a second remote communicant external to the vehicle.

11. A vehicle audio system located within a vehicle for processing telephone calls using a first telephone and a second telephone each located within the vehicle, the system comprising:

means for providing a first call handled by the first telephone to a user via the vehicle audio system;

means for notifying the user of a second call handled by the second telephone while the first call remains active;

means for processing an instruction from the user to suspend the first call and to provide the second call on the vehicle audio system, wherein the first call is placed in a hold queue within the vehicle audio system without terminating the first call;

means for maintaining a connection between the hold queue in the vehicle audio system and the first telephone while the second call remains active to thereby continue the first call even though the first and second calls are handled by different telephones that are each located within the vehicle; and

means for restoring the first call from the hold queue and for again providing the first call to the user via the vehicle audio system in response to a subsequent instruction from the user.

12. An audio system for processing telephone calls using a first telephone and a second telephone that are each located within a vehicle, the system comprising at least one audio speaker, a user interface and a controller communicating with each of the first and second telephones, wherein the controller is configured to provide a first call from a first telephone to a user via the at least one audio speaker, to notify the user of a second call handled by the second telephone while the first call is active, and to process an instruction received from the user at the user interface to suspend the first call and accept the second call over the at least one audio speaker, wherein the first call is suspended by placing the first call in a hold queue without terminating the first call, and wherein the first call is restored from the hold queue in response to a subsequent instruction from the user and is again provided to the user via the at least one audio speaker, wherein the hold queue is configured to maintain a connection with the first telephone while the second call remains active to thereby continue the first call even though the first and second calls are handled by different telephones each located within the vehicle.

13. The audio system of claim 12 further comprising a first interface to the first telephone and a second interface to the second telephone.

14. The audio system of claim 13 wherein the first telephone is a portable wireless telephone and the first interface is a wireless interface to the portable wireless telephone.

15. The audio system of claim 14 wherein the second telephone is an onboard satellite telephony system located within the vehicle.

16. The audio system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to override any calls on the first telephone to automatically place a call on the second telephone in the event of an emergency.

17. The audio system of claim 14 wherein the wireless interface is a Bluetooth interface.

18. The audio system of claim 14 wherein the controller is further configured to place the first call into a private mode on the first telephone when instructed by the user.

19. The audio system of claim 12 wherein the controller is further configured to place the second call into a queue if the user continues the first call.

20. The audio system of claim 12 further comprising a voice recording subsystem in communication with the controller.

21. The audio system of claim 12 wherein the user interface comprises a SEND button, a REJECT button, and an END button.