Methods and apparatus for lost connection handling

• US 8,972,098 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Elliott, Doron M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Application Number:
  US14/474,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20140370815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 182 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/29.6, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/41.2, 455/423, 455/41.1, 340/5.72, 340/13.2
• US Class Current: 701/29.6
• 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 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, executable by a vehicle computing system (VCS), includes determining that a connection between a wireless device and a VCS has been lost. The method further includes determining if a driver is present in the vehicle, upon a lost link detection. The method additionally includes waiting until an enter-event occurs and then attempting to re-establish a connection between the wireless device and the VCS. This last step may be conditional upon a determination that a driver is not present.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining if a connectable device, not currently connected to a vehicle computing system (VCS), is available for connection, once a transmission is in park;

detecting an occupant exit-event;

detecting a connection loss between a first connected device and the VCS; and

conditional on the connectable device being available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected, re-establishing the lost connection with the connectable device to resume the lost connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the re-establishing the connection further comprises transferring control of any previously ongoing data transfer to the connectable device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conditional on the determination that the connectable device is not available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected, pausing an ongoing data transfer;

detecting an enter-event;

re-connecting to the first connected device following the enter-event; and

resuming the paused data transfer following the enter-event.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising preparing the ongoing data transfer to be gracefully paused upon detecting that the transmission is in park.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an enter-event; and

following the detection of an enter-event, transferring the connection from the connectable device back to the first connected device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the enter-event is a driver-related event.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a vehicle-based processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

determining if a connectable device, not currently connected to a vehicle computing system (VCS), is available for connection, once a transmission is in park;

detecting an occupant exit-event;

detecting a connection loss between a first connected device and the VCS; and

conditional on the connectable device being available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected, re-establishing the lost connection with the connectable device to resume the lost connection.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the re-establishing the connection further comprises transferring control of any previously ongoing data transfer to the connectable device.

9. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the method further includes:

conditional on the determination that the connectable device is not available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected, pausing an ongoing data transfer;

detecting an enter-event;

re-connecting to the first connected device following the enter-event; and

resuming the paused data transfer following the enter-event.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further includes preparing the ongoing data transfer to be gracefully paused upon detecting that the transmission is in park.

11. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the method further includes:

detecting an enter-event; and

following the detection of an enter-event, transferring the connection from the connectable device back to the first connected device.

12. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the enter-event is a driver-related event.

13. A system comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine if a connectable device, not currently connected to a vehicle computing system (VCS), is available for connection, once a transmission is in park;

detect an occupant exit-event;

detect a connection loss between a first connected device and the VCS; and

re-establishing the lost connection with the connectable device to resume the lost connection, conditional on the connectable device being available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the re-establishing the connection further includes the processor being configured to transfer control of any previously ongoing data transfer to the connectable device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

pause an ongoing data transfer, conditional on the determination that the connectable device is not available, once the exit-event and the connection loss have been detected;

detect an enter-event;

re-connect to the first connected device following the enter-event; and

resume the paused data transfer following the enter-event.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to prepare the ongoing data transfer to be gracefully paused upon detecting that the transmission is in park.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect an enter-event; and

transfer the connection from the connectable device back to the first connected device, following the detection of an enter-event.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the enter-event is a driver-related event.