Telematics unit and mobile device pairing with missing device notifications

• US 8,849,238 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2012
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Cepuran, Lawrence D., Schwinke, Steven P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elhag, Magdi
• Application Number:
  US13/363,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20130196612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/421, 455423-425, 455/426.1, 455/41.2, 455/554.2, 455/555, 455/569.2, 455/575.9
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0213 System disabling if a separation threshold is exceeded disabling electrical appliances in case of unplugging G08B13/1409
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0238 adding new units to the system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/025 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses absence of reply signal after an elapsed time
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0255 System arrangements wherein the parent unit emits, i.e. the parent unit incorporates the emitter
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0277 Communication between units on a local network, e.g. Bluetooth, piconet, zigbee, Wireless Personal Area Networks [WPAN]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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

The described method and system provide for forgotten phone notification and vehicle theft notification. A method includes: activating a configurable device pairing program module associated with a short-range wireless unit of the telematics unit when a triggering condition is satisfied; determining, using the configurable device pairing program module and short-range wireless unit, whether the paired mobile device is within range of the short-range wireless unit; and providing, in response to a determination that the paired mobile device is not within range of the short-range wireless unit, a notification to the paired mobile device that the vehicle is being operated in the exception state that is based, at least in part, upon the paired mobile device not being detected during the determining step.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a user of telematics services that a vehicle is being operated in an exception state relating to lack of detection of a mobile device previously paired with a telematics unit of the vehicle (paired mobile device), the method comprising:

activating a configurable device pairing program module associated with a short-range wireless unit of the telematics unit when a triggering condition is satisfied;

determining, using the configurable device pairing program module and short-range wireless unit, whether the paired mobile device is within range of the short-range wireless unit; and

providing a notification to the paired mobile device that the vehicle is being operated in the exception state, and providing an in-vehicle notification that the paired mobile device is not present, wherein the in-vehicle notification is provided through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle;

wherein providing the notification to the paired mobile device and providing the in-vehicle notification through the HMI are in response to only a single detected condition, the single detected condition being a determination that the paired mobile device is not within range of the short-range wireless unit;

wherein providing the notification to the paired mobile device further comprises;

sending, by the telematics unit, a wireless communication to the paired mobile device, wherein the wireless communication is one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call;

or

notifying, by the telematics unit, a call center that the vehicle is being operated without the paired mobile device being detected so as to cause the call center to send a wireless communication to the paired mobile device, wherein the wireless communication is one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the triggering condition is satisfied when the telematics unit is turned on.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless unit is a Bluetooth unit that communicates with the paired mobile device utilizing Bluetooth protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the paired mobile device is within range of the short-range wireless unit further comprises:

scanning for any mobile device within range of the short-range wireless unit; and

identifying a mobile device within range of the short-range wireless unit as the paired mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a notification to the paired mobile device is further based on configuration parameters of a notification list.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein more than one mobile device is paired with the telematics unit.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein driving operation of the vehicle is disabled in response to a determination that the paired mobile device is not within range of the short-range wireless unit.

7. A telematics unit having a short-range wireless unit and a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions for notifying a user of telematics services that a vehicle is being operated in an exception state relating to lack of detection of a mobile device previously paired with a telematics unit of the vehicle (paired mobile device) stored thereon, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to perform the steps of:

activating a configurable device pairing program module associated with a short-range wireless unit of the telematics unit when a triggering condition is satisfied;

determining, using the configurable device pairing program module and short-range wireless unit, whether the paired mobile device is within range of the short-range wireless unit; and

providing a notification to the paired mobile device that the vehicle is being operated in the exception state, and providing an in-vehicle notification that the paired mobile device is not present, wherein the in-vehicle notification is provided through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle;

wherein providing the notification to the paired mobile device and providing the in-vehicle notification through the HMI are in response to only a single detected condition, the single detected condition being a determination that the paired mobile device is not within range of the short-range wireless unit;

wherein providing the notification to the paired mobile device further comprises;

sending a wireless communication to the paired mobile device, wherein the wireless communication is one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call;

or

notifying a call center that the vehicle is being operated without the paired mobile device being detected so as to cause the call center to send a wireless communication to the paired mobile device, wherein the wireless communication is one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call.

8. The telematics unit of claim 7, wherein the triggering condition is satisfied when the telematics unit is turned on.

9. The telematics unit of claim 7, wherein the short-range wireless unit is a Bluetooth unit that communicates with the paired mobile device utilizing Bluetooth protocol.

10. The telematics unit of claim 7, wherein the step of determining whether the paired mobile device is within range of the short-range wireless unit further comprises:

scanning for any mobile device within range of the short-range wireless unit; and

identifying a mobile device within range of the short-range wireless unit as the paired mobile device.

11. The telematics unit of claim 7, wherein providing a notification to the paired mobile device is based on configuration parameters of a notification list.

12. The telematics unit of claim 7, wherein more than one mobile device is paired with the telematics unit.

14. A method for notifying users of telematics services that a vehicle is being operated in an exception state relating to lack of detection of mobile devices previously paired with a telematics unit of the vehicle (paired mobile devices), the method comprising:

activating a configurable device pairing program module associated with a short-range wireless unit of the telematics unit when a triggering condition is satisfied;

determining, using the configurable device pairing program module and short-range wireless unit, whether a first paired mobile device and whether a second paired mobile device are within range of the short-range wireless unit, wherein both the first and second paired mobile devices are classified as primary mobile devices; and

providing a notification to both the first and second paired mobile devices that the vehicle is being operated in the exception state, and providing an in-vehicle notification that the paired mobile device is not present, wherein the in-vehicle notification is provided through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle;

wherein providing the notifications to the first and second paired mobile devices and providing the in-vehicle notification through the HMI are in response to only a single detected condition, the single detected condition being a determination that both the first and second mobile devices are not within range of the short-range wireless unit;

wherein providing the notification to the first and second paired mobile devices further comprises;

sending wireless communications to the first and second paired mobile devices, wherein the wireless communications are each one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call;

or

notifying a call center that the vehicle is being operated without the paired mobile device being detected so as to cause the call center to send wireless communications to the first and second paired mobile devices, wherein the wireless communications are each one of the group consisting of;

a text message, an e-mail, and a call.