Systems and methods for radio access interfaces

• US 10,645,551 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2019
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Original Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Inventors: Hergesheimer, Peter, Nornberg, Thomas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Figueroa, Marisol
• Application Number:
  US16/284,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20190281428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• 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 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

Systems and methods for radio access interfaces in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiments, a vehicle telematics device includes a processor, a communications device, and a memory, wherein the vehicle telematics device communicates with a mobile communications device using the communications device, wherein the mobile communications device is in communication with a remote server system via a mobile network connection, and wherein the vehicle telematics device provides data to the mobile communications device, where the data is to be transmitted to the remote server system, provides command data to the mobile communications device, where the command data instructs the mobile communication device to transmit the data to the remote server system using at least one communication protocol, and causes the mobile communications device to transmit the data to the remote server system using the at least one communication protocol based on the command data.

Claims

1. A vehicle telematics device, comprising:

a processor;

a communications interface coupled to the processor; and

a memory connected to the processor;

wherein, in response to one or more instructions stored in the memory, the vehicle telematics device;

communicates with a mobile communications device using the communications interface;

wherein the mobile communications device is in communication with a remote server system via a wireless network connection

provides data to the mobile communications device to generate provided data, wherein the provided data is to be transmitted to the remote server system;

provides command data to the mobile communications device, where different types of command data are provided for different types of communication protocols and where the command data instructs the mobile communication device to;

process the provided data to generate formatted data based on the command data and the type of communication protocol;

transmit the formatted data to the remote server systems using at least one communication protocol from a plurality of communication protocols based on the command data.

2. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the mobile communications device comprises a smart phone.

3. The vehicle telematics device of claim 2, wherein:

the smart phone comprises an application executing within an operating system installed on the smart phone;

the application provides access to a file system provided by the operating system; and

the application provides access to cellular data services via the operating system.

4. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the mobile communications device is integrated into a vehicle.

5. The vehicle telematics device of claim 4, wherein:

the mobile communications device is accessible via a vehicle data bus installed in the vehicle;

the vehicle telematics device is connected to a diagnostic port within the vehicle, where the diagnostic port provides access to the vehicle data bus; and

the vehicle telematics device communicates with the mobile communications device using the vehicle data bus.

6. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the communications interface comprises a Bluetooth radio.

7. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the communications interface comprises a wired connection.

8. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the communications interface comprises a wireless network device.

9. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the command data further comprises metadata describing when the mobile communications device is to transmit the data to the remote server system.

10. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is selected from the group consisting of a IP/User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a IP/Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), a Short Messaging Service (SMS), a file transfer protocol, and a serial data stream protocol.

11. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is a UDP protocol, wherein the vehicle telematics device manages a UDP transmit buffer to avoid UDP datagram collisions and allows the use of Ack messages to control the flow of data between the vehicle telematics device and the mobile communications device.

12. The vehicle telematics device of claim 11, further comprising the vehicle telematics device detecting an error condition during a transfer of a UDP datagram and discarding the UDP datagram.

13. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is a TCP protocol, wherein the vehicle telematics device detects an error condition based on a message from the mobile communications device and provides command data to the mobile communication device to close its TCP service.

14. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is a file transfer protocol, wherein the communication interface converts an HTTP request to a file service request for sending to the mobile communications device and a HTTP response to the vehicle telematics device.

15. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is an SMS protocol, wherein the vehicle telematics device sends a SMS service request message when communication is established with the mobile communications device.

16. The vehicle telematics device of claim 15, where SMS data includes a serial number, wherein a serial number received by the vehicle telematics device in an SMS notify message is sent back in the Ack message to confirm delivery of a particular SMS message.

17. The vehicle telematics device of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication protocol is a serial stream protocol, wherein the vehicle telematics device maps a serial stream service provided via the communications interface to a physical serial interface.

18. The vehicle telematics device of claim 17, wherein the serial stream protocol is used to transmit data directly from a serial interface.