Method and system for a vehicle computing system communicating to a social media site

• US 9,420,401 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Rao, Manoharprasad K., Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Cuddihy, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): MEHRA, INDER P
• Application Number:
  US14/279,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20150334506A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 340/442, 340/443, 455/404.2, 455/456.6, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• 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 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A vehicle computing system comprising at least one controller configured with a transceiver to connect with a server via a communication network connection. The controller may be configured to login to the server via a vehicle identification comprising at least one of a user-name and password for access to profile data. The controller is further configured to transmit at least one of contact identification, a message to communicate with a contact, and vehicle information. The controller is further configured to receive at least a portion of a contact and vehicle profile based on at least one of the contact and vehicle identification. The controller is further configured to transmit the at least a portion of the contact and vehicle profile to one or more systems.

Claims

1. A system comprising;

a controller communicating with a server via a transceiver and programmed to;

in response to a server login for a vehicle profile configured to reject a contact connection request, transmit a message to an accepted contact via the vehicle profile;

in response to a recognized occupant, receive at least a portion of a contact and vehicle profile based on the occupant; and

transmit the contact and vehicle profile to a vehicle module.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein the controller is further programmed to recognize the occupant in a cabin of the vehicle, transmit contact identification based on the occupant, and receive a portion of the contact profile including at least one of basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events from the occupant via the server.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller is further programmed to receive a portion of the at least one basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events and transmit the portion to one or more vehicle features or functions in communication with the vehicle module.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the basic information is at least one of age, gender, weight, and height.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the basic information is used by the vehicle module to calibrate a vehicle restraint system for the occupant.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the controller is further programmed to determine location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle such that a restraint device for the occupant is calibrated by the vehicle restraint system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller is further programmed to output a message to confirm the location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to enable a security firewall to prevent data received from the server to be transmitted to a restricted system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the profile data is at least one of vehicle location, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the safety restraint status is an indicator to determine if a seat belt is engaged or disengaged for the occupant.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the maintenance data is at least one of oil life, tire pressure, and stored diagnostic codes.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is a social media site.

13. A method comprising:

establishing, via a communication network, communication between a vehicle computing system (VCS) and a vehicle profile at a server;

receiving a request to reserve a predefined time at the vehicle profile from a first user;

receiving a car sharing variable from a second user based on the request;

monitoring the car sharing variable via the VCS during the predefined time; and

transmitting the car sharing variable to the server during the predefined time.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the car sharing variable is at least one of vehicle location, geofence, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in a vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting a message to the server to output the car sharing variable to a newsfeed of the vehicle profile.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the geofence is a predefined driving area approved by an administrator of the vehicle profile to monitor the vehicle traveling during the predefined time of the use request.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating a message to the server to notify the administrator of the vehicle profile that the vehicle has driven outside the geofence.

18. A computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored instructions for programming a processor, comprising instructions for:

in response to a vehicle profile login at a server, transmitting a contact identification and vehicle information;

receiving a contact profile and vehicle profile based on the contact identification and vehicle information;

transmitting the contact and vehicle profile to a system; and

adjusting a vehicle function at the system based on the contact profile.

19. The computer-program product of claim 18, wherein the server is configured to accept or reject a connection request from a contact.

20. The computer-program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions for recognizing an occupant in a cabin of the vehicle, transmitting the contact identification based on the occupant, and receiving a portion of at least one of basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events from the contact.

21. The computer-program product of claim 20, further comprising instructions for receiving the portion of the at least one basic information, music preference, entertainment preferences, and scheduled events and transmitting the portion to one or more vehicle functions in communication with the system.

22. The computer-program product of claim 21 wherein the basic information is at least one of age, gender, weight, and height.

23. The computer-program product of claim 22, wherein the basic information is used by the one or more vehicle functions to calibrate a vehicle restraint system for the occupant.

24. The computer-program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions for determining location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle such that a restraint device for the contact is calibrated by the vehicle restraint system.

25. The computer-program product of claim 24, further comprising instructions for outputting a message to confirm the location of the occupant in the cabin of the vehicle.

26. The computer-program product of claim 18, further comprising instructions for enabling a security firewall for preventing data received from the server to be transmitted to a safety system.

27. The computer-program product of claim 18, wherein the vehicle profile is at least one of vehicle location, speed, maintenance data, safety restraint status, and number of occupants in the vehicle.

28. The computer-program product of claim 27, wherein the safety restraint status is an indicator to determine if a seat belt is engaged for the occupant.

29. The computer-program product of claim 27, wherein the maintenance data is at least one of oil life, tire pressure, and enabled diagnostic codes.