Mobile terminal control apparatus

• US 9,451,384 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2013
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kawase, Kazushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US14/383,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20150079969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 455/419, 455/418, 455/420, 455/456, 455/457
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/34 Context aware guidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6083 by interfacing with the vehicle audio system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The objective of the invention is to arrange that, when a plurality of mobile terminals are connected to, for example, a vehicle-mounted device, a to-be-controlled application be automatically determined in accordance with the connection history and the types of applications on the mobile terminals. A mobile terminal control apparatus (1) comprises: a device control unit (12) that detects whether a plurality of mobile terminals (2) are connected or not and that holds device information and application information into a connection history (11); and an application control unit (14) that determines, out of a plurality of applications held by connected mobile terminals (2), a to-be-controlled application on the basis of the connection history (11) and an application DB (13). In this way, when a plurality of mobile terminals are connected to a vehicle-mounted device, a to-be-controlled application can be automatically determined in accordance with the connection history and the types of applications on the mobile terminals.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal control apparatus comprising:

a device controller that detects whether a plurality of mobile terminals with device IDs are connected and that holds device information and application information of each of the plurality of mobile terminals in a connection history; and

an application controller, wherein if the device controller determines that a second mobile terminal is connected after connection of a first mobile terminal with a device ID different from that of the second mobile terminal, the application controller;

acquires a controlled application ID of an application that is under control of the second mobile terminal and a held application ID of an application that is held on the first mobile terminal from the connection history,

determines whether a category of the held application ID matches a category of the controlled application ID, and

decides a held application ID whose category does not match the category of the controlled application ID as a control target.

2. The mobile terminal control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the application controller determines whether the category of the held application matches the category of the controlled application in an application database where controllable applications are classified and recorded by category, and if the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID belong to the same category, it is determined that the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID, and if the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID do not belong to the same category, it is determined that the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID do not match.

3. The mobile terminal control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the application controller acquiring the held application ID of the application that is held on the first mobile terminal from the connection history comprises the application controller acquiring a held application ID of a last application that is used in previous control of the first mobile terminal from the connection history; and

the application controller determining whether the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID comprises the application controller first determines whether a category of the held application of the last application matches the category of the controlled application ID.

4. The mobile terminal control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the application controller further acquires a number of times of control in the past of the held application ID of the first mobile terminal from the connection history;

and determines whether the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID in order starting from an acquired held application ID with the largest number of times of control in the past.

5. A mobile terminal control method performed with a controller of a mobile terminal control apparatus, the control method comprising:

determining if a second mobile terminal is connected after connection of a first mobile terminal with a device ID different from that of the second mobile terminal,

acquiring a controlled application ID of an application that is under control of the second mobile terminal;

acquiring a held application ID of an application that is held on the first mobile terminal from a connection history held in the mobile terminal control apparatus;

determining whether a category of the held application ID matches a category of the controlled application ID; and

deciding the held application ID whose category does not match the category of the controlled application ID as a control target.

6. The mobile terminal control method according to claim 5, wherein determining whether the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID occurs in an application database where controllable applications are classified and recorded by category, and if the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID belong to the same category, it is determined that the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID, and if the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID do not belong to the same category, it is determined that the category of the held application ID and the category of the controlled application ID do not match.

7. The mobile terminal control method according to claim 6, wherein acquiring the held application ID of the application that is held on the first mobile terminal from the connection history held in the mobile terminal control apparatus comprises acquiring a held application ID of a last application that is used in previous control of the first mobile terminal from the connection history;

and

determining whether the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID comprises determining whether a category of the held application of the last application matches the category of the controlled application ID.

8. The mobile terminal control method according to claim 7, wherein acquiring the held application ID of the application that is held on the first mobile terminal from the connection history held in the mobile terminal control apparatus comprises acquiring a number of times of control in the past of held applications of the first mobile terminal from the connection history;

and

determining whether the category of the held application ID matches the category of the controlled application ID is conducted in order starting from an acquired held application ID with the largest number of times of control in the past.