Vehicle remote operations control

• US 9,649,999 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Amireddy, Sridhar Reddy, Haugh, David A., Oyler, Alex J., Turner, Joshua D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwari, Maceeh
• Application Number:
  US14/698,522
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/77 using wireless control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A head unit for a motor vehicle. The head unit comprises a processor, a memory, a radio frequency transceiver, a backup camera application, a navigation application, a remote operations event handling application stored in the memory that handles remote operation commands received via the radio frequency transceiver, and a boot-loader application. When executed by the processor the boot-loader application causes the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application and, after causing the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application, causes the processor to initiate execution of the backup camera application and execution of the navigation application.

Claims

1. A head unit for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory memory;

a radio frequency transceiver, where the radio frequency transceiver is coupled to the processor via a universal serial bus (USB) protocol;

a backup camera application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present a backup camera image on a display in the motor vehicle;

a navigation application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present road navigation information on a display in the motor vehicle;

a remote operations event handling application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, handles remote operation commands received via the radio frequency transceiver without establishment of a communication link directly between the head unit and a user equipment associated with the remote operation commands; and

a boot-loader application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor;

determines a head unit wake-up reason to be reception of a high priority short message service (SMS) message,

determines a key lock state of the motor vehicle to be locked,

performs a discovery of USB devices coupled to the processor, wherein the radio frequency transceiver comprises one of the discovered USB devices,

in response to the determination that the key lock state of the motor vehicle is locked, initiates a wireless data communication link with a wireless communication network via the radio frequency transceiver,

after initiating the wireless data communication link via the radio frequency transceiver, causes the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application, and

after initiating execution of the remote operations event handling application, causes the processor to initiate execution of the backup camera application and execution of the navigation application,

wherein initiation of the backup camera application and the navigation application after initiation of the remote operations event handling application is based on the determination of the head unit wake-up reason to be reception of the high priority SMS message and based on the determination that the key lock state of the motor vehicle is locked.

2. The head unit of claim 1, wherein the remote operations event handling application, when executed by the processor, receives a remote operation message via the radio frequency transceiver and transmits a command via a controller area network (CAN) bus to an electro-mechanical device in the motor vehicle to perform an operation identified in the remote operation message.

3. The head unit of claim 2, wherein the operation identified in the remote operation message is one of a vehicle access remote operation command, a vehicle environment control remote operation, and a vehicle light and horn control remote operation.

4. The head unit of claim 2, wherein the operation identified in the remote operation message is one of a door lock operation, a door unlock operation, an engine on operation, an engine off operation, a light and horn operation, a defroster on operation, a defroster off operation, a heater on operation, a heater off operation, an air conditioning on operation, an air conditioning off operation, a seat heater on operation, or a seat heater off operation.

5. The head unit of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency transceiver is configured to communicate according to at least one of a code division multiple access (CDMA), a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a long term evolution (LTE), or a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) radio transceiver.

6. The head unit of claim 1, further comprising a graphics application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present information on a display in the motor vehicle, wherein after initiating execution of the remote operations event handling application, the boot-loader application further causes the processor to initiate execution of the backup camera application, execution of the navigation application, and execution of the graphics application, wherein an initiation order of initiating execution of the graphics application after initiating the remote operations event handling application is based on the determination of the head unit wake-up reason to be reception of the high priority SMS message and based on the determination that the key lock state of the motor vehicle is locked.

7. The head unit of claim 1, wherein the boot-loader application further monitors an in-progress wireless data communication link set-up and transmits a ping message over the wireless data communication link.

8. A head unit for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory memory;

a radio frequency transceiver, where the radio frequency transceiver is coupled to the processor and is configured to establish a wireless data communication link with a messaging gateway via a wireless communication network;

a backup camera application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present a backup camera image on a display in the motor vehicle;

a navigation application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present road navigation information on a display in the motor vehicle;

a graphics application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present information on a display in the motor vehicle;

a remote operations event handling application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor,

subscribes to the messaging gateway to receive remote operations event messages via the radio frequency transceiver according to a publish-subscribe mechanism that omits exchanges of acknowledgements and omits high frequency handshaking between the head unit and the messaging gateway,

in response to the subscription that omits exchanges of acknowledgements and omits high frequency handshaking between the head unit and the messaging gateway, receives, from the message gateway, a remote operation message via the radio frequency transceiver without establishment of a communication link directly between the head unit and a user equipment associated with the remote operation message, and

based on the remote operation message, transmits a command via a controller area network (CAN) bus to an electro-mechanical device in the motor vehicle to perform an operation identified in the remote operation message; and

a boot-loader application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor;

determines a head unit wake-up reason to be reception of a high priority short message service (SMS) message,

determines a key lock state of the motor vehicle to be locked,

based on the determination of the head unit wake-up reason to be reception of the high priority SMS message and based on the determination that the key lock state of the motor vehicle is locked, causes the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application, and

after initiating execution of the remote operations event handling application, causes the processor to initiate execution of the backup camera application, the navigation application, and the graphics application.

9. The head unit of claim 8, wherein the publish-subscribe mechanism is one of a message queue telemetry transport (MQTT), an advanced message queuing protocol (AMQP), and an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP) messaging protocol.

10. The head unit of claim 8, wherein the operation identified in the remote operation message includes at least one of a door lock operation, a door unlock operation, an engine on operation, an engine off operation, a light and horn operation, a defroster on operation, a defroster off operation, a heater on operation, a heater off operation, an air conditioning on operation, an air conditioning off operation, a seat heater on operation, a seat heater off operation, or any combination thereof.

11. The head unit of claim 8, wherein the remote operations event handling application transmits a head unit sleep state message via the radio frequency transceiver when the head unit prepares to enter a low power consumption operation mode.

12. The head unit of claim 8, wherein the remote operation message received via the radio frequency transceiver is originated by a vehicle remote operation client executing on a user equipment (UE), is transmitted by the UE to the messaging gateway, and is transmitted to the head unit by the messaging gateway.

13. The head unit of claim 8, wherein the motor vehicle includes at least one of an automobile, a pick-up truck, a sports utility vehicle, a mini-van, a van, a delivery truck, a motorhome, a bus, a tractor-truck, or any combination thereof.

14. The head unit of claim 8,

wherein the boot-loader application, when executed by the processor:

determines a head unit wake-up reason to be reception of a low priority short message service (SMS) message or determines a key lock state of the motor vehicle to be unlocked,

based on the determination of the head unit wake-up reason to be reception of the low priority SMS message or the determination that the key lock state of the motor vehicle is unlocked, causes the processor to initiate execution of the backup camera application, the navigation application, and the graphics application, and

after initiating execution of the backup camera application, the navigation application, and the graphics application, causes the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application.

15. A head unit for a motor vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory memory;

a radio frequency transceiver, where the radio frequency transceiver is coupled to the processor via a universal serial bus (USB) protocol;

a backup camera application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present a backup camera image on a display in the motor vehicle;

a navigation application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present road navigation information on a display in the motor vehicle;

a graphics application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, is configured to present information on a display in the motor vehicle;

a remote operations event handling application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor,

subscribes to a messaging gateway to receive remote operations event messages via the radio frequency transceiver according to a low-overhead publish-subscribe mechanism,

receives a remote operation message via the radio frequency transceiver without establishment of a communication link directly between the head unit and a user equipment associated with the remote operation message, and

based on the remote operation message, transmits a command via a controller area network (CAN) bus to an electro-mechanical device in the motor vehicle to perform an operation identified in the remote operation message; and

a boot-loader application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor,

performs a discovery of USB devices coupled to the processor, wherein the radio frequency transceiver comprises one of the discovered USB devices,

initiates a wireless data communication link with a wireless communication network via the radio frequency transceiver,

after initiating the wireless data communication link via the radio frequency transceiver, causes the processor to initiate execution of the remote operations event handling application, and

after initiating execution of the remote operations event handling application, causes the processor to initiate execution of the back-up imaging application, execution of the navigation application, and execution of the graphics application.

16. The head unit of claim 15, wherein the operation identified in the remote operation message is one of a door lock operation, a door unlock operation, an engine on operation, an engine off operation, a light and horn operation, a defroster on operation, a defroster off operation, a heater on operation, a heater off operation, an air conditioning on operation, an air conditioning off operation, a seat heater on operation, and a seat heater off operation.

17. The head unit of claim 15, wherein the radio frequency transceiver is configured to communicate according to at least one of a code division multiple access (CDMA), a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a long term evolution (LTE), or a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) radio transceiver.

18. The head unit of claim 15, wherein the boot-loader application further monitors an in-progress wireless data communication link set-up and transmits a ping message over the wireless data communication link.

19. The head unit of claim 15, wherein the remote operations event handling application transmits a head unit sleep state message via the radio frequency transceiver when the head unit prepares to enter a low power consumption operation mode.