Methods and systems for interfacing with a vehicle computing system over multiple data transport channels

• US 9,094,436 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Westra, Michael Raymond, Schanerberger, Michael J., Wadhwa, Sukhwinder, Waraich, Sandeep Singh, Marchwicki, Julius, Alcodray, Tahrik, Ostrowski, Jeffrey Raymond, Elliott, Doron M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US12/788,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,888 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-230, 709/238, 709/231, 719330-336, 370210-226, 370/338, 370/469
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• 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: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface

Abstract

In one or more embodiments, two or more devices may interface with a computing system over multiple communication channels. A connection may be established between a computing system and two or more devices communicating data using different communication protocols. The communication protocol of the two or more devices may be determined and a general transport protocol for communicating data with the two or more devices based on the respective communication protocols may be imposed on the communication protocol of the two or more devices. Data may be communicated with the two or more devices based on the general transport protocol. An event may be performed at the vehicle computing system or the two or more devices based on the data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving multiple application requests, from multiple devices using different communication protocols, to connect with a vehicle computing system (VCS);

determining the devices'"'"' communication protocols;

imposing a general transport protocol, transport agnostic of each device'"'"'s native communication protocol, on the multiple devices'"'"' communication protocols, for application request-related communication between the devices and the VCS; and

communicating data payloads based on the general transport protocol, over different channels corresponding to different communication protocols.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication protocols are selected from the group consisting of Internet protocols, BLUETOOTH protocols, proprietary protocols, 802.11 protocols, and mass storage device protocols.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data payloads include instructions to operate one or more application programs installed on the two or more devices.

4. A system comprising:

a vehicle computer configured to;

facilitate application request-related communication between the computer and multiple devices using different communication protocols;

determine the devices'"'"' communication protocols;

impose a general data transport protocol, transport agnostic of each device'"'"'s native communication protocols, on the multiple device'"'"'s communication protocols, for application request-related communication between the devices and the computer; and

communicate data payloads based on the general transport protocol, over different channels corresponding to different communication protocols.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the data processor is a vehicle computer.

6. A non-transitory computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium for interfacing two or more devices and a vehicle computing system (VCS), the computer program product comprising instructions for:

establishing a connection with multiple devices, using different communication protocols for data communication;

determining the multiple devices'"'"' communication protocols;

imposing a general transport protocol, transport agnostic of each device'"'"'s native communication protocol, on the multiple devices'"'"' communication protocols, for application request-related communication between the devices and the VCS; and

communicating data payloads based on the general transport protocol, over different channels corresponding to different communication protocols.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the connection is a simultaneous connection.