Providing wireless mobile device information to a call center

• US 8,948,727 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Tang, Jin, Yi, Ki Hak, MacDonald, Andrew J., Madhavan, Sethu K.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAHEED, KHALID W
• Application Number:
  US12/789,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20110294466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 455/426.1, 455/41.2, 455/411, 455/12.2, 455/456.6, 455/456.1, 455/414.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.4, 455/456.2
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• 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

A method and system for providing wireless mobile device information from a vehicle to a call center. The method includes the steps of (a) detecting the presence of a personal mobile device at the vehicle, (b) receiving at a vehicle interface module a mobile device identifier from the personal mobile device, and (c) sending the mobile device identifier from the vehicle interface module to a call center via the mobile device. The mobile device identifier received at the call center can be used for various purposes such as to provide a callback number in the event of a dropped call, or to validate that services are authorized for the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of providing wireless mobile device information from a vehicle for use by a call center in providing services at the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a vehicle interface module an indication of a vehicle operation by an operator;

(b) based on the indication, determining at the vehicle interface module that at least one mobile device is available for Bluetooth pairing via the vehicle interface module using a Bluetooth transmission, wherein when a plurality of mobile devices is determined to be available, then selecting one of the plurality of mobile devices having the highest priority from a list of mobile devices;

thereafter

(c) pairing the mobile device with the vehicle interface module via Bluetooth communication;

(d) obtaining at the vehicle interface module via Bluetooth communication a mobile identifier associated with the mobile device;

(e) establishing a first call between a call center and the mobile device;

(f) sending the mobile identifier from the vehicle interface module to the call center over the first call via the mobile device;

(g) experiencing a disconnection event of the first call; and

(h) using the mobile identifier and the mobile device to provide services at the vehicle from the call center over a second, subsequent call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mobile identifier includes a telephone number for the mobile phone.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

placing the second, subsequent call from the call center to the mobile device using the telephone number; and

communicating with an occupant of the vehicle over the second, subsequent call via the vehicle interface module and the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) comprises receiving the mobile device identifier via a data session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data session is a packetized data connection established between the vehicle interface module and the call center via the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the data session comprises a data connection established over a voice channel of a wireless communication network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data session includes use of an in-band modem within the vehicle interface module.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) comprises receiving the mobile device identifier using dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tones.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (f) further comprises:

determining that the mobile identifier is already stored at the call center in association with the vehicle;

then

validating the mobile identifier at the call center; and

identifying the mobile identifier as a current mobile identifier for placing future calls from the call center to the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

replacing a previously stored mobile identifier with the current mobile identifier,

wherein the previously stored mobile identifier is different than the current mobile identifier.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises receiving at the call center a vehicle identifier that uniquely identifies the vehicle along with the mobile device identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein step (f) further comprises validating at the call center the mobile device identifier based on the vehicle identifier.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the mobile device having the highest priority from a priority list when a plurality of mobile devices is determined to be available in step (b).

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the priority list is stored at the vehicle interface module.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising commanding the mobile device at the vehicle interface module to place the first call prior to step (e).

17. A method of providing wireless mobile device information from a vehicle for use by a call center in providing services at the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a vehicle interface module an indication of a vehicle operation by an operator;

(b) based on the indication, determining at the vehicle interface module that at least one mobile device is available for Bluetooth pairing via the vehicle interface module using a Bluetooth transmission, wherein when a plurality of mobile devices is determined to be available, then selecting the mobile device having the highest priority from a priority list of mobile devices, wherein the priority list is stored at the vehicle interface module;

thereafter

(c) pairing the mobile device with the vehicle interface module via Bluetooth communication;

(d) obtaining at the vehicle interface module via Bluetooth communication a mobile identifier associated with the mobile device;

(e) receiving at a call center a call from the mobile device;

(f) sending the mobile identifier from the vehicle interface module to the call center over the call via the mobile device; and

(g) subsequently using the mobile identifier and the mobile device to provide services at the vehicle from the call center.