Vehicular communication system

• US 8,600,579 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2011
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Furuta, Seiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Jabr, Fadey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Soofi, Yazan A
• Application Number:
  US13/199,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20120046808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2, 701/36, 455/41.1, 455/569.2, 455/420, 455/415
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

Under a state where an in-vehicle navigation apparatus and a cellular phone intercommunicate with each other by connecting a Bluetooth communication link, when a changeover relative to an application program is determined in one of the in-vehicle navigation apparatus and the cellular phone, an application program synchronization operation is executed such that the application program stored in the in-vehicle navigation apparatus and the application program stored in the cellular phone become identical to each other.

Claims

1. A vehicular communication system including (i) an in-vehicle apparatus in a vehicle and (ii) a portable apparatus held by an occupant of the vehicle,

the in-vehicle apparatus containing a database storage device to store an application program and an activation section to activate the application program in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus,

the portable apparatus containing a database storage device to store an application program and an activation section to activate the application program in the database storage device of the portable apparatus,

the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus intercommunicating with each other when a short range wireless communication link is connected,

the vehicular communication system comprising:

a change determination section to determine whether a change operation is made based on a manipulation by the occupant to cause a change to an application program in the database storage device of one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus; and

a synchronization section to perform an application program synchronization operation in cases that the change determination section determines that the change operation is made in the one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus under a state that the short range communication link is connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus,

the application program synchronization operation ensuring that the application program stored in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program stored in the database storage device of the portable apparatus become identical to each other;

wherein

the application program to which the application program synchronization operation is applied is an application program for cooperative processing,

the application program for cooperative processing enables cooperative processing in the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus when (i) each of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus stores the application program for cooperative processing and (ii) the activation section of each of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus activates concurrently the application program for cooperative processing.

2. The vehicular communication system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a collation section to execute a collation to determine whether the application program in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program in the database storage device of the portable apparatus are identical to each other,

wherein the application program synchronization operation by the synchronization section is performed in cases that the collation section determines that the application program in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program in the database storage device of the portable apparatus are not identical under the state that the short range communication link is connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus.

3. The vehicular communication system according to claim 1, wherein

the application program synchronization operation executed by the synchronization section includes at least one of an addition of the application program into the database storage device and a deletion of the application program from the database storage device.

4. The vehicular communication system according to claim 3, further comprising:

a short range wireless communication device to receive an application program transmitted from one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus under the state that the short range communication link is connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus,

wherein the synchronization section performs the application program synchronization operation by performing the addition of the application program into the database storage device,

the addition of the application program being performed by causing the short range wireless communication device to receive the application program transmitted from the one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus under the state where the short range wireless communication link is connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the cellular phone.

5. The vehicular communication system according to claim 3, further comprising:

a wide area wireless communication device to receive an application program transmitted from a center server via a wide area wireless communication link under a state where the wide area wireless communication link is connected between the center server and one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus,

wherein in cases that the synchronization section performs the application program synchronization operation by performing the addition of the application program into the database storage device, the wide area wireless communication device is caused to receive the application program transmitted from the center server under the state where the wide area wireless communication link is connected between the center server and the one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus.

6. The vehicular communication system according to claim 1, wherein

the application program synchronization operation by the synchronization section is performed by changing the application program in the database storage device of at least one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus.

7. The vehicular communication system according to claim 2, wherein

in cases that the collation section executes the collation to determine whether the application program in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program in the database storage device of the portable apparatus are identical to each other, the collation section collates between (i) identification information identifying an application program stored in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and (ii) identification information identifying an application program stored in the database storage device of the portable apparatus.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change to the application includes at least one of downloading a new application program, deleting a current application program and downloading an updated version of a stored application program.

8. A method in a vehicular communication system including an in-vehicle apparatus in a vehicle and a portable apparatus held by an occupant of the vehicle, the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus intercommunicating with each other when a short range wireless communication link is connected therebetween in the vehicle,

the in-vehicle apparatus having a database storage device storing an application program group containing different application programs in association with identification information of the different application programs,

the portable apparatus having a database storage device storing an application program group containing different application programs in association with identification information of the different application programs,

the method for synchronizing between the application program group of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program group of the portable apparatus,

the method comprising:

determining, by a computer, that a change operation is made based on a manipulation by the occupant to cause a change to an application program group in a database storage device of one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus;

performing, by the computer upon the determining, a collation to collate between the application program group of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program group of the portable apparatus, to determine a difference therebetween;

applying, by the controller based on the difference determined in the collation, an application program synchronization operation to an other of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus,

the application program synchronization operation ensuring that the different application programs stored in the in-vehicle apparatus and the different application programs stored in the portable apparatus become identical to each other; and

activating concurrently a first application program stored in the in-vehicle apparatus and a second application program stored in the portable apparatus, the second application program being identical to the first application program to enable cooperative processing in two of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus via the short range wireless communication link connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the change to the application includes at least one of downloading a new application program, deleting a current application program and downloading an updated version of a stored application program.

11. A vehicular communication system including (i) an in-vehicle apparatus in a vehicle and (ii) a portable apparatus held by an occupant of the vehicle,

the in-vehicle apparatus containing a database storage device to store an application program and an activation section to activate the application program in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus,

the portable apparatus containing a database storage device to store an application program and an activation section to activate the application program in the database storage device of the portable apparatus,

the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus intercommunicating with each other when a short range wireless communication link is connected,

the vehicular communication system comprising:

a change determination section to determine whether a change operation is made based on a manipulation by the occupant to cause a change to an application program in the database storage device of one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus; and

a synchronization section to perform an application program synchronization operation in cases that the change determination section determines that the change operation is made in the one of the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus under a state that the short range communication link is connected between the in-vehicle apparatus and the portable apparatus,

the application program synchronization operation ensuring that the application program stored in the database storage device of the in-vehicle apparatus and the application program stored in the database storage device of the portable apparatus become identical to each other;

wherein

the change to the application includes at least one of downloading a new application program, deleting a current application program and downloading an updated version of a stored application program.