Connection preservation and timeout in remote vehicle telematics

• US 9,676,385 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2014
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kang, Daniel D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): MERLINO, DAVID P
• Application Number:
  US14/490,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20160082952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• 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 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Disclosed herein are computer devices, systems, and methods for enabling persistent data connections with a vehicle and low-latency vehicle commands. A driver can use an app installed on a mobile device to send commands to a vehicle'"'"'s DCM, which can execute such commands on one or more vehicle systems, such as remote ignition and door lock systems. Upon app initialization, a wakeup command can be sent to the DCM through one or more intermediary servers to establish a persistent data connection between a data center server and the DCM. Then, when the driver issues a command from the app, the command can be communicated between the data center server and the DCM directly over the persistent data connection, with lower latency. After a predetermined timeout period in which the driver has not used the mobile app, the persistent data connection can be terminated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a persistent data connection between a server computer and a vehicle computing device associated with a vehicle upon initialization of a mobile app running on a mobile device in communication with the server computer;

presenting to a user of the mobile app, after the persistent data connection is established, an option to select a command for a vehicle system in communication with the vehicle computing device, the vehicle system controlling at least one of a vehicle ignition, one or more vehicles windows, or a vehicle door lock;

sending to the vehicle computing device, by the server computer using the persistent data connection, a command selected by the user, the command being at least one of starting the vehicle ignition, stopping the vehicle ignition, locking the vehicle door lock, unlocking the vehicle door lock, or adjusting a position of one or more vehicle windows;

executing, by the vehicle computing device, the selected command on the vehicle system to cause at least one of the vehicle ignition to be started, the vehicle ignition to be stopped, the vehicle door lock to be locked, the vehicle door lock to be unlocked, or the position of one or more vehicle windows to be adjusted; and

terminating the persistent data connection if a timeout period has elapsed without any usage on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent data connection is established using one or more intermediary servers, but once established, the persistent data connection is a direct connection between the server computer and the vehicle computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent data connection is established by sending a wakeup command to the vehicle computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the wakeup command comprises an SMS message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the initialization of the mobile app comprises authenticating the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the persistent data connection is maintained using long polling.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the vehicle computing device to the server computer, information relating to a status of the vehicle.

8. A system comprising:

a server computer;

a mobile device in communication with the server computer;

a vehicle computing device in communication with the server computer; and

a vehicle system in communication with the vehicle computing device, the vehicle system controlling at least one of a vehicle ignition, one or more vehicle windows, or a vehicle door lock;

wherein the server computer is configured to;

establish a persistent data connection with the vehicle computing device upon initialization of a mobile app running on the mobile device;

cause the mobile app to present to a user of the mobile app, after the persistent data connection is established, an option to select a command for the vehicle system, the command being at least one of starting the vehicle ignition, stopping the vehicle ignition, locking the vehicle door lock, unlocking the vehicle door lock, or adjusting a position of one or more vehicles windows;

receive from the mobile device a selected command;

send, using the persistent data connection, the selected command to the vehicle computing device to execute on the vehicle system to cause at least one of the vehicle ignition to be started, the vehicle ignition to be stopped, the vehicle door to be locked, the vehicle door lock to be unlocked, or a position of one or more vehicle windows to be adjusted; and

terminate the persistent data connection if a timeout period has elapsed without any usage on the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server computer establishes the persistent data connection using one or more intermediary servers, but once established, the persistent data connection is a direct connection between the server computer and the vehicle computing device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the server computer establishes the persistent data connection by sending a wakeup command to the vehicle computing device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the wakeup command comprises an SMS message.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the persistent data connection is maintained using long polling.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the server computer further receives from the vehicle computing device information relating to a status of the vehicle.

14. A computing device for a vehicle comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

receive a wakeup command from a server computer upon initialization of a mobile app running on a mobile device in communication with the server computer;

connect to the server computer using a persistent data connection;

receive from the server computer using the persistent data connection a command selected by a user of the mobile app, the command being at least one of starting a vehicle ignition, stopping the vehicle ignition, locking a vehicle door lock, unlocking the vehicle door lock, or adjusting a position of one or more vehicle windows;

execute the selected command on a vehicle system to cause at least one of the vehicle ignition to be started, the vehicle ignition to be stopped, the vehicle door lock to be locked, the vehicle door lock to be unlocked, or the position of one or more vehicle windows to be adjusted; and

terminate the persistent data connection if a timeout period has elapsed without any usage on the mobile device.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the wakeup command is received from the server computer via one or more intermediary servers, and wherein the persistent data connection is a direct connection with the server computer.

16. A computing device for a vehicle comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

receive a wakeup command from a server computer upon initialization of a mobile app running on a mobile device in communication with the server computer;

connect to the server computer using a persistent data connection;

receive from the server computer using the persistent data connection a command selected by a user of the mobile app, the command including changing a driving setting of the vehicle, the driving setting being one of a traction setting or a steering setting;

execute the selected command on a driving control system of the vehicle to cause the driving setting to be changed, the driving control system being one of a traction control system or a steering control system; and

terminate the persistent data connection if a timeout period has elapsed without any usage on the mobile device.

17. A computing device for a vehicle comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device;

one or more sensors operatively connected to the one or more processors, the one or more sensors being configured to acquire vehicle information; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

receive a wakeup command from a server computer upon initialization of a mobile app running on a mobile device in communication with the server computer;

connect to the server computer using a persistent data connection;

receive from the server computer using the persistent data connection a command selected by a user of the mobile app, the command including a request for vehicle information;

execute the selected command on a vehicle system to cause at least one of;

the one or more sensors to acquire the requested vehicle information, or

the requested vehicle information to be sent to at least one of the mobile device or the server computer; and

terminate the persistent data connection if a timeout period has elapsed without any usage on the mobile device.