Remote vehicle-related notification

• US 7,835,691 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Gault, Thomas, Videtich, Matt C., Groskreutz, Bruce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro; Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lebassi; Amanuel
• Application Number:
  US11/047,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20060047415A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,115 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/29, 701/30, 701/31, 701/32, 701/36, 701/201, 342/357.1, 455/12.1, 455/13.1, 370/316
• US Class Current: 455/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/57 for mobile receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/90 specially adapted for satellite broadcast receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/16 on playing information
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages

Abstract

A vehicle notification method comprising: receiving a remotely transmitted message at a mobile vehicle; after receiving the transmitted message and in response thereto, setting, within a module in the mobile vehicle, a code retrievable by a vehicle diagnostic check, and alerting a user of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle notification method for automatically providing a self-contained vehicle repair instruction package comprising:

receiving at a vehicle a remotely transmitted message, the remotely transmitted message including both a VIN range and a set of vehicle service instructions;

determining at the vehicle whether a VIN of the vehicle falls within the VIN range of the remotely transmitted message;

discarding the remotely transmitted message if it is determined that the vehicle VIN does not fall within the VIN range of the remotely transmitted message and otherwise providing the set of vehicle service instructions to a vehicle memory for storage;

alerting a user of the vehicle to render the vehicle for service, at which time the set of vehicle service instructions is retrievable from the vehicle memory; and

servicing the mobile vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing the set of vehicle service instructions to a vehicle memory for storage includes the substeps of:

formulating a vehicle network command for the module; and

transmitting the vehicle network command over an in-vehicle network to the vehicle memory.

3. The method of claim 1, also including the step of:

setting a value in the vehicle memory identifying the transmitted message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle service instructions are wirelessly retrievable from the vehicle memory during servicing.

5. In a mobile communication network that detects a presence of a wireless transceiver on the network, receives a message targeted to the wireless transceiver, and transmits the message to the wireless transceiver responsive to the detection of the presence of the wireless transceiver on the network, the improvement comprising:

attaching a non-transceiver-specific vehicle-related notification to the message, the vehicle-related notification comprising vehicle service instructions directed to vehicle service personnel;

transmitting-the notification with the message to the network;

transmitting the notification with the message over the network to the wireless transceiver responsive to the detection of the presence of the wireless transceiver on the network without separately transmitting the message to the vehicle service personnel, wherein the wireless transceiver is coupled to a vehicle;

communicating with an in-vehicle module responsive to the received notification; and

setting, within the module, a code retrievable by a vehicle diagnostic check.

6. The method of claim 5, also comprising the step of alerting a user of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein communicating with the in-vehicle module includes sending at least a part of the notification to the in-vehicle module.

8. A vehicle notification system comprising:

a node on a vehicle for receiving a remotely transmitted message, the remotely transmitted message including both a VIN range and a set of vehicle service instructions;

a control unit coupled to the node receiving the transmitted message for determining whether a VIN of the vehicle falls within the VIN range of the remotely transmitted message, and discarding the remotely transmitted message if it is determined that the vehicle VIN does not fall within the VIN range of the remotely transmitted message and otherwise providing the set of vehicle service instructions for storage;

a vehicle memory accessible by the control unit for storing the set of vehicle service instructions; and

an alert device for alerting a user of the vehicle responsive to the receiving transmitted message;

wherein the vehicle also includes a network, wherein the memory is within a system control module coupled to the network, and wherein the control unit transmits commands over the network to the control module.

9. The vehicle notification system of claim 8, also comprising a voice user interface, wherein the voice user interface is responsive to the received message.

10. The vehicle notification system of claim 9, wherein the voice user interface provides information to the user of the vehicle responsive to the message.