SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MOBILE APPLICATIONS USING VEHICLE TELEMATICS DATA

• US 20140213238A1
• Filed: 01/24/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mojio Inc.
• Original Assignee: Mojio Inc.
• Inventors: GIRAUD, DAMON, SAINANEY, NARAYAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6083 by interfacing with the vehicle audio system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/205 Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

Operating state information is received at an on-board telematics control unit (TCU) from an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system of a vehicle. The TCU transmits an indication of vehicle state over at least a wireless data link component of a communications network for delivery to a mobile computing device. The mobile computing device receives the indication of vehicle state and utilizes the indication of vehicle state at a mobile application program. In one example, the mobile application program presents vehicle state information via a graphical display of the mobile computing device. In another example, the mobile application program augments a functionality of the mobile computing device responsive to the indication of vehicle state.

Claims

1. A method for a computing system, comprising:

receiving vehicle state information from an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system of a vehicle at a telematics control unit (TCU) residing on-board the vehicle and interfacing with the OBD system via an OBD protocol compliant diagnostic port connector;

transmitting an indication of vehicle state from the TCU for delivery to a mobile computing device over at least a wireless data link component of a communications network, the indication of vehicle state being based at least in part on the vehicle state information received at the TCU;

receiving the indication of vehicle state at the mobile computing device; and

utilizing the indication of vehicle state at a mobile application program of the mobile computing device by one or more of;

presenting the indication of vehicle state via a graphical display of the mobile computing device, and/or

augmenting a functionality of the mobile computing device responsive to the indication of vehicle state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of vehicle state includes whether the vehicle is in a drive state or a park state;

and

wherein the indication of vehicle state is utilized at the mobile application program to augment the functionality of the mobile computing device by;

responsive to the indication received at the mobile device identifying the vehicle as being in the drive state, block one or more of the transmission, reception, and/or notification at the mobile computing device of one or more telephone calls, text messages, and/or Internet browsing messages, and

responsive to the indication received at the mobile device identifying vehicle as being in the park state, allow the transmission, reception, and/or notification at the mobile computing device of one or more telephone calls, text messages, and/or Internet browsing messages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle state information received from the (OBD) system at the TCU includes an indication of whether a parking brake of the vehicle is engaged or disengaged, and wherein the vehicle is indicated to be in the park state by the TCU to the mobile computing device if the parking brake is indicated by the vehicle state information as being engaged.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless data link over which the indication is transmitted by the TCU includes a direct wireless data link established between the TCU and the mobile computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the direct wireless data link utilizes Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or a near-field communications protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless data link over which the indication is transmitted by the TCU includes a cellular data link established with a cellular network and through which the indication is communicated by at least the cellular network for delivery to the mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting the indication from the TCU for delivery to the mobile computing device includes directing the indication to a service platform over the cellular network, in which the service platform transmits the indication or a processed form of the indication for delivery to the mobile computing device over at least a second wireless data link component of the communications network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the service platform further processes the indication of vehicle state prior to delivering the indication to the mobile computing device in the processed form for utilization at the mobile application program of the mobile computing device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the service platform directs the indication or processed form of the indication to a third-party service over the communications network via an application programming interface, the third-party service being a service of the mobile application program in which the third-party service transmits the indication or the processed form of the indication for delivery to the mobile computing device over at least the second wireless data link component of the communications network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a history of the vehicle state information at the TCU; and

wherein the indication of vehicle state transmitted by the TCU includes the history of the vehicle state information.

11. The method of claim 1, and wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining additional vehicle state information from one or more sensors of the TCU; and

processing the vehicle state information received from the OBD in combination with the additional vehicle state information obtained from the one or more sensors to obtain the indication of vehicle state that is transmitted by the TCU over the wireless data link.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional vehicle state information includes one or more of GPS location data, acceleration data, direction of travel, and/or speed of travel of the TCU;

and

wherein the one or more sensors of the TCU include a GPS receiver and/or an accelerometer.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a vehicle identification number (VIN) from the OBD system at the TCU via the OBD protocol compliant diagnostic port connector; and

wherein transmitting the indication of vehicle state from the TCU for delivery to the mobile computing device includes transmitting the VIN with the indication of vehicle state or with an identifier associated with the VIN.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating a SIM card identifier of the TCU over another wireless communications link directed to a remote computing device; and

at the mobile computing device, receiving a manually entered user input via the mobile application program indicating a serial number identifier of the TCU;

obtaining the SIM card identifier and the serial number identifier; and

enabling operation of the TCU if a matched relationship is determined by the remote computing device to exist between the SIM card identifier and the serial number identifier.

15. A computing system, comprising:

a telematics control unit (TCU) configured to interface with an OBD system of a vehicle via an OBD protocol compliant diagnostic port connector, the TCU programmed with instructions executable by the TCU to;

receive vehicle state information from the on-board diagnostic (OBD) system of the vehicle via the OBD protocol compliant diagnostic port connector, and

transmit an indication of vehicle state from the TCU over at least a first wireless data link component of a communications network to a service platform for delivery to a mobile computing device, the indication of vehicle state being based at least in part on the vehicle state information received at the TCU; and

the service platform including one or more server devices programmed with instructions executable by the one or more server devices to;

receive the indication of vehicle state from the TCU, and

transmit the indication of vehicle state over a second wireless data link component of the communications network for delivery to the mobile computing device, the indication of vehicle state utilized at a mobile application program of the mobile computing device to;

present the indication of vehicle state via a graphical display of the mobile computing device, and/or

augment a functionality of the mobile computing device responsive to the indication of vehicle state.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the one or more server devices of the service platform are further programmed with instructions executable by the one or more server devices to:

receive a command from the mobile computing device issued by the mobile application program responsive to a user input; and

process the command by transmitting the command to the TCU over at least the first wireless data link component of the communications network, the command utilized by the TCU to control an operation of the vehicle via the OBD system.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the one or more server devices of the service platform are further programmed with instructions executable by the one or more server devices to:

transmit the indication of vehicle state over the second wireless data link component of the communications network for delivery to the mobile computing device by transmitting the indication of vehicle state to a third-party service via an application programming interface of the service platform in which the third-party service transmits the indication of vehicle state to the mobile computing device for use by the mobile application program over the second wireless data link.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the mobile application program is paired with or configured specifically for use with the third-party service.

19. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the TCU includes one or more sensors, and wherein the TCU is further programmed with instructions executable by the TCU to:

obtain additional vehicle state information from the one or more sensors of the TCU; and

process the vehicle state information received from the OBD system in combination with the additional vehicle state information obtained from the one or more sensors to obtain the indication of vehicle state that is transmitted by the TCU to the service platform.

20. A method for a service platform hosted at a server system including one or more server devices, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of telematics control units (TCUs) residing on-board respective vehicles and interfacing with respective OBD systems of those vehicles via an OBD protocol compliant diagnostic port connector, initializing each of the TCUs by;

receiving an identifier of a mobile computing device and an identifier of the TCU wirelessly transmitted over the communications network by the mobile computing device via a mobile application program, and

creating a user account that associates the TCU with the mobile computing device;

receiving vehicle state information from each of the TCUs, the vehicle state information received from each of the TCUs over a first wireless data link component of a communications network;

storing the vehicle state information received from each of the TCUs in a database system in association with respective user accounts created by said initializing;

receiving, via an application programming interface, requests from third-party services for vehicle state information stored in association with the respective user accounts; and

responding to the requests by transmitting vehicle state information to the third-party services over the communications network for the respective user accounts for delivery by the third-party services to respective mobile application programs of those third-party services via at least a second wireless data link component of the communications network.