Method of using telematics units to place courtesy notifications

• US 7,312,697 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2005
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Kamdar, Hitan S., Veliu, Shpetim S., Sumcad, Anthony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland; Donnie L.
• Application Number:
  US11/110,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20060238320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 455/412.2, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A method of providing courtesy notifications from a mobile vehicle including receiving courtesy notification user input at a vehicle telematics unit, receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit, determining whether the courtesy date and the courtesy time correspond respectively to the received date and the received time and initiating a call to the courtesy number based on the determination. The courtesy notification user input includes a courtesy date, a courtesy time, a courtesy location and a courtesy number.

Claims

1. A method of providing courtesy notifications from a mobile vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a courtesy notification user input at a vehicle telematics unit, the courtesy notification user input including a courtesy date, a courtesy time, a first courtesy number, a second courtesy number, and a number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit;

determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date;

initiating at least one call to the first courtesy number based on the determination and in accordance with the number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

determining whether a response is received at the first courtesy number; and

initiating at least one call to the second courtesy number if it is determined that no response is received at the first courtesy number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second courtesy numbers are selected from the group consisting of a home phone number, a wireless cell phone number, a pager phone number, a portable wireless communication device number, a personal digital assistant number, an email address, a landline phone number, a hotel phone number, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit comprises:

receiving a global positioning system signal at the vehicle telematics unit, the global positioning system signal including a local global positioning system time and a local global positioning system date.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date comprises:

determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the time at the courtesy location and the date at the courtesy location based on the received local global positioning system time and local global positioning system date.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit comprises:

receiving a local cellular time signal and a local cellular date signal at the vehicle telematics unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date comprises:

determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the time at the courtesy location and the date at the courtesy location based on the local cellular time signal and local cellular date signal received at the vehicle telematics unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the courtesy notification user input further comprises data selected from the group consisting of a number of days to call, a number of times to retry the second courtesy number, a hotel indicator, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

announcing the courtesy message to the user at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying the courtesy message to the user on a display on a portable communication device at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the courtesy notification user input is received at the telematics unit via an input mechanism, wherein the input mechanism is selected from the group consisting of a voice recognition system in the telematics unit, an advisor in a telematics system, a computer in communication with the telematics system, a wireless portable communication device, a personal digital assistant, and combinations thereof.

11. A computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising:

computer readable code for receiving courtesy notification user input at a vehicle telematics unit, the courtesy notification user input including a courtesy date, a courtesy time, a first courtesy number, a second courtesy number, and a number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

computer readable code for receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit;

computer readable code for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date;

computer readable code for initiating at least one call to the first courtesy number based on the determination and in accordance with the number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

computer readable code for determining whether a response is received at the first courtesy number; and

computer readable code for initiating at least one call to the second courtesy number if it is determined that no response is received at the first courtesy number.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the computer readable code for receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit comprises:

computer readable code for receiving a global positioning system signal at the vehicle telematics unit, the global positioning system signal including a local global positioning system time and a local global positioning system date.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein the computer readable code for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date comprises:

computer readable code for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the time at the courtesy location and the date at the courtesy location based on the received local global positioning system time and local global positioning system date.

14. The medium of claim 11, wherein the computer readable code for receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit comprises:

computer readable code for receiving a local cellular time signal and local cellular date signal at the vehicle telematics unit.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the computer readable code for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date comprises:

computer readable code for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the time at the courtesy location and the date at the courtesy location based on the local cellular time signal and local cellular date signal received at the vehicle telematics unit.

16. The medium of claim 11, wherein the courtesy notification user input further comprises a courtesy message and the computer readable code for providing courtesy notifications from a mobile vehicle further comprises:

computer readable code for announcing the courtesy message to the user at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.

17. The medium of claim 11, wherein the courtesy notification user input further comprises a courtesy message and the computer readable code for providing courtesy notifications from a mobile vehicle further comprises:

computer readable code for displaying the courtesy message to the user on a display on a portable communication device at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.

18. A system of providing courtesy notifications from a mobile vehicle, the system comprising:

means for receiving courtesy notification user input at a vehicle telematics unit, the courtesy notification user input including a courtesy date, a courtesy time, a first courtesy number, a second courtesy number, and a number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

means for receiving a time and a date at the telematics unit;

means for determining whether the courtesy time and the courtesy date correspond respectively to the received time and the received date;

means for initiating at least one call to the first courtesy number based on the determination and in accordance with the number of times to retry the first courtesy number;

means for determining whether a response is received at the first courtesy number; and

means for initiating at least one call to the second courtesy number if it is determined that no response is received at the first courtesy number.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for announcing a courtesy message to the user at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the system further comprises:

means for displaying a courtesy message to the user on a display on a portable communication device at the courtesy time and courtesy date at the courtesy location.