Establishing a local vehicle communication group

• US 9,906,924 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2014
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Azmat, Syed K.
• Primary Examiner(s): DEAN, RAYMOND S
• Application Number:
  US14/510,239
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412, 455518-519, 709238, 709244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1046 Joining mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• 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: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A system and method of wirelessly communicating voice conversations between a plurality of vehicles includes: initiating at a host vehicle a voice communication group that facilitates voice communications between a plurality of vehicles; identifying one or more client vehicles for inclusion with the voice communication group; transmitting a broadcast identifier or a vehicle identifier for the host vehicle and each client vehicle to a vehicle telematics service provider via a wireless carrier system; and communicating voice data between the host vehicle and each client vehicle included in the voice communication group via the wireless carrier system and the vehicle telematics service provider.

Claims

1. A method of wirelessly communicating voice conversations between a plurality of vehicles, comprising the steps of:

(a) initiating at a host vehicle a voice communication group that facilitates voice communications between a plurality of vehicles;

(b) identifying one or more client vehicles for inclusion with the voice communication group in response to step (a);

(c) transmitting a broadcast identifier or a vehicle identifier for the host vehicle and each client vehicle to a central facility of a vehicle telematics service provider via a wireless carrier system

(d) establishing communication links between vehicles in the voice communication group and the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider; and

(e) communicating voice data between the host vehicle and each client vehicle included in the voice communication group via the wireless carrier system and the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of establishing the voice communication group by contacting the client vehicles from the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting the identity of one or more client vehicles from a short-range wireless signal broadcast from the client vehicles.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice communication group is initiated via a button press inside the host vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of identifying the client vehicles based on broadcast identifiers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the broadcast identifiers are generated by wireless access points (WAP).

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving a computer-readable instruction from the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider instructing a vehicle in the voice communication group to establish a short-range wireless link with another vehicle in the voice communication group that has lost a wireless link with the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of matching the broadcast identifier with a vehicle identifier at the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating voice data between a handheld wireless device and the voice communication group via a short-range wireless link with one of the vehicles in the voice communication group.

10. A method of wirelessly communicating voice conversations between a plurality of vehicles, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a broadcast identifier or vehicle identifiers for a host vehicle and one or more client vehicles at a central facility of a vehicle telematics service provider

(b) establishing communication links between the vehicles in a voice communication group and the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider;

(c) communicating voice data between the host vehicle and each client vehicle included in the voice communication group via the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider;

(d) detecting at the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider that a vehicle has left the voice communication group; and

(e) transmitting an instruction to the voice communication group to initiate a short-range wireless link with the vehicle that left the voice communication group.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

(f) linking a handheld wireless device with a host vehicle or a client vehicle via a short-range wireless link;

(g) communicating voice data between the handheld wireless device and the voice communication group via the short-range wireless link, the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider, and the wireless carrier system.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of detecting the identity of one or more client vehicles from a short-range wireless signal broadcast from the client vehicles.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the voice communication group is initiated via a button press inside the host vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of identifying the host vehicle and client vehicles based on broadcast identifiers.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the broadcast identifiers are generated by a wireless access point (WAP).

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of matching the broadcast identifier with a vehicle identifier at the central facility of the vehicle telematics service provider.