METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INTERFACING WITH A VEHICLE COMPUTING SYSTEM OVER MULTIPLE DATA TRANSPORT CHANNELS

• US 20110296037A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Ostrowski, Jeffrey Raymond, Alcodray, Tahrik, Elliott, Doron M., Waraich, Sandeep Singh, Wadhwa, Sukhwinder, Westra, Michael Raymond, Schanerberger, Michael J., Marchwicki, Julius
• Granted Patent: US 9,094,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• 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: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface

Abstract

In one or more embodiments, two or more devices may interface with a computing system over multiple communication channels. A connection may be established between a computing system and two or more devices communicating data using different communication protocols. The communication protocol of the two or more devices may be determined and a general transport protocol for communicating data with the two or more devices based on the respective communication protocols may be imposed on the communication protocol of the two or more devices. Data may be communicated with the two or more devices based on the general transport protocol. An event may be performed at the vehicle computing system or the two or more devices based on the data.

Claims

1. A method for interfacing two or more devices and a vehicle computing system, the method comprising:

receiving from two or more devices a request to connect with a vehicle computing system, the two or more devices communicating data using different communication protocols;

establishing a connection with the two or more devices based on the connection request;

determining the communication protocol of the two or more devices;

imposing on the communication protocol of the two or more devices a general transport protocol embodied in a computer readable medium for communicating data with the two or more devices based on the respective communication protocols;

communicating data with the two or more devices based on the general transport protocol; and

performing an event at the vehicle computing system or the two or more devices based on the data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the connection is a simultaneous connection.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the general transport protocol is transport agnostic of the communication protocols of the two or more devices.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the communication protocols are selected from the group consisting of Internet protocols, BLUETOOTH protocols, proprietary protocols, 802.11 protocols, and mass storage device protocols.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data comprise instructions to operate one or more application programs installed on the two or more devices.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving application session information over the connection;

based on the application session information, establishing one or more application sessions over the connection.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein multiple applications sessions are multiplexed over the connection.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the data comprises instructions for performing the event based on one or more service types.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the service type is a remote procedure call.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the service type is a bulk transport service.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the service type is media streaming.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a connection with the two or more devices includes:

monitoring at the vehicle computing system for the connection request from the two or more devices; and

upon establishing the connection, generating identifying information defining the connection.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining the communication protocol of the two or more devices includes:

receiving the identifying information defining the connection for the two or more devices; and

determining the communication protocol of the two or more devices based on the identifying information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the identifying information is at least one of a communication protocol name and a device name.

15. A system comprising a data processor configured to:

connect with two or more devices communicating using different communication protocols;

determine the protocol(s) of the two or more devices;

impose a general protocol for communicating data with the two or more devices based on their respective communication protocols; and

communicate data with the device(s) for performing an event.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the data processor is a vehicle computer.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the two or more devices are configured to listen for a connection request from the data processor.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the two or more devices are simultaneously connected with the data processor.

19. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium for interfacing two or more devices and a vehicle computing system, the computer program product comprising instructions for:

establishing a connection with two or more devices, the two or more devices communicating data using different communication protocols;

determining the communication protocol of the two or more devices;

imposing on the communication protocol of the two or more devices a general transport protocol embodied in a computer readable medium for communicating data with the two or more devices based on the respective communication protocols;

communicating the data based on the general transport protocol for performing an event based on the data.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the connection is a simultaneous connection.

21. The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising instructions for receiving from the two or more devices a request to connect with the vehicle computing system.

22. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the event is at least one of playing media files, performing vehicle diagnostics, audibly outputting one or more messages, confirming an existence of an application session, and performing location based services.

23. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the data comprises instructions for performing the event based on one or more service types.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein the one or more service types have a predefined priority, the computer program product further comprising instructions for transporting the event instructions based on the service type priority.

25. The computer program product of claim 24 wherein the service type is at least one of a remote procedure call, bulk transport service, or a heartbeat.