Vehicle-based message control using cellular IP

• US 7,986,914 B1
• Filed: 06/01/2007
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gazzard, Daryl, Henry, Coulter C. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan; Yuwen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hai V
• Application Number:
  US11/757,170
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.06
• US Class Current: 455/3.06
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• 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

Abstract

Architecture for playing back personal text-based messages such as email and voicemail over a vehicle-based media system. The user can use a cell phone that registers over a cellular network to an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) to obtain an associated IP address. The personal messages are then converted into audio signals using a remote text-to-voice (TTV) converter and transmitted to the phone based on the IP address. The phone then transmits the audio signals to the vehicle media system for playback using an unlicensed wireless technology (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.). Other alternative embodiments include transmitting converted message directly to the media system, via a satellite channel, converting the messages via a TTV converter on the cell phone, and streaming the converted messages to the phone and/or the media system for playback.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

a media system of a vehicle for presenting at least one of visual information and audio information to a user;

a communications component for receiving an IP-based personal message wirelessly from a cell phone, via unlicensed wireless radio frequency (RF) signals, for presentation via the media system;

a text-to-voice converter component; and

an IP multimedia subsystem of a cellular network configured to register the cell phone with the text-to-voice converter component by;

receiving a first registration request from the cell phone;

subsequent to receiving the first registration request, registering the cell phone with the IP multimedia subsystem;

transmitting to the cell phone a confirmation of registration of the cell phone to the IP multimedia subsystem;

subsequent to receiving the first registration request, submitting a second registration request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone;

subsequent to submitting the second registration request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, receiving confirmation from the text-to-voice converter component of registration of the cell phone to the text-to-voice converter component;

receiving a first subscribe request from the cell phone;

subsequent to receiving the first subscribe request from the cell phone, submitting a second subscribe request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone;

subsequent to submitting the second subscribe request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, receiving a second subscription notification with respect to the cell phone from the text-to-voice converter component; and

subsequent to receiving the second subscription notice from the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, transmitting a first subscription notice to the cell phone.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is an email message converted to an audio format for presentation over the media system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is a voicemail message converted to an audio format for presentation over the media system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component is part of the vehicle media system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the messages are encrypted from the cell phone to the media system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component receives the messages via a satellite communications system for presentation by the media system.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the text-to-voice converter component is configured to send a converted text message directly to the communications component for presentation by the media system as audio.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the text-to-voice converter component is configured to transmit converted text as streaming audio directly to the communications component for presentation by the media system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the media system outputs multimedia content.

10. A method for presenting messages in a communications system, comprising:

a vehicle-based media subsystem registering with an IP subsystem via a cellular network, for an IP address associated with the vehicle-based media subsystem;

accessing the cellular network to download a personal message for playback based on the IP address; and

the vehicle-based media subsystem presenting at least one of audio information and visual information associated with the personal message;

an IP multimedia system IMS registering a cell phone with a text-to-voice converter component, the registering including;

receiving a first registration request from the cell phone;

subsequent to receiving the first registration request, registering the cell phone with the IP multimedia subsystem;

transmitting to the cell phone a confirmation of registration of the cell phone to the IP multimedia subsystem;

subsequent to receiving the first registration request, submitting a second registration request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone;

subsequent to submitting the second registration request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, receiving confirmation from the text-to-voice converter component of registration of the cell phone to the text-to-voice converter component;

receiving a first subscribe request from the cell phone;

subsequent to receiving the first subscribe request from the cell phone, submitting a second subscribe request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone;

subsequent to submitting the second subscribe request to the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, receiving a second subscription notification with respect to the cell phone from the text-to-voice converter component; and

subsequent to receiving the second subscription notice from the text-to-voice converter component with respect to the cell phone, transmitting a first subscription notice to the cell phone.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the personal message, which is a text-based message, into the audio information, and transmitting the audio information to the cell phone for transmitting to the media subsystem for presentation.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

converting the personal message into audio information;

downloading the audio information to the cell phone; and

transmitting the audio information to the media subsystem via the unlicensed wireless technology for playback via the media subsystem.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

downloading the personal message to the cell phone;

converting the personal message into audio information on the cell phone; and

transmitting the audio information to the media subsystem via the unlicensed wireless technology for playback via the media system.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

converting the personal message into audio information;

transmitting the audio information to a satellite radio system; and

transmitting the audio information to the media system for playback over a dedicated satellite channel based on the IP address.