VEHICLE TRAINABLE TRANSCEIVER FOR ALLOWING CLOUD-BASED TRANSFER OF DATA BETWEEN VEHICLES

• US 20170352286A1
• Filed: 06/07/2017
• Published: 12/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Gentex Corporation
• Inventors: Witkowski, Todd R., Klaver, Thomas D., Dorst, Jonathan E., Geerlings, Steven L., Wright, Thomas S.
• Granted Patent: US 11,024,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/16 in which transmission is by pulses
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/28 using pulse code
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/05 the view from a vehicle being simulated G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3827 Portable transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits

Abstract

A trainable transceiver is provided for a vehicle for transmitting signals to a device remote from the vehicle. The trainable transceiver includes an RF transceiver configured to receive an RF signal during a training mode in order to learn characteristics of the received RF signal, and to transmit an RF signal to the remote device in an operating mode where the transmitted RF signal includes the learned characteristics of the received RF signal; a local memory device for storing channel data representing the learned characteristics of the received RF signal; an interface configured to communicate with an Internet-connected device; and a controller coupled to the local memory device and the interface, the controller configured to retrieve the channel data from the local memory device and transfer the channel data for storage remote from the vehicle using the interface. The controller may also receive channel data from the remote memory device.

Claims

1. A trainable transceiver for transmitting signals to a remote device, the trainable transceiver comprising:

an RF transceiver configured to receive an RF signal during a training mode in order to learn characteristics of the received RF signal, and to transmit an RF signal to the remote device in an operating mode where the transmitted RF signal includes the learned characteristics of the received RF signal;

a local memory device for storing channel data representing the learned characteristics of the received RF signal;

an interface configured to communicate with an Internet-connected device; and

a controller coupled to the local memory device and the interface, the controller configured to retrieve the channel data from the local memory device and to transfer the channel data for remote storage using the interface.

2. The trainable transceiver of claim 1, wherein the learned characteristics of the received RF signal include channel header data and at least one of the following:

pulse timing, pulse sequence, a serial number, a rolling counter, and a function code.

3. The trainable transceiver of claim 2, wherein the channel header data includes type, manufacturer, modulation, frequency, and first level.

4. The trainable transceiver of claim 3, wherein the channel header data includes frequency deviation.

5. The trainable transceiver of claim 1, wherein the Internet-connected device is a mobile Internet-connected device and wherein the channel data is transferred from the local memory device to the mobile Internet-connected device.

6. The trainable transceiver of claim 5, wherein the mobile Internet-connected device transfers the channel data to a remote memory device accessible on the Internet.

7. The trainable transceiver of claim 5, wherein the mobile Internet-connected device transfers the channel data to a second trainable transceiver.

8. The trainable transceiver of claim 1, wherein the interface is a second transceiver for wirelessly communicating with the Internet-connected device.

9. The trainable transceiver of claim 8, wherein the second transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

10. The trainable transceiver of claim 1, wherein the interface is a vehicle bus interface coupled to a vehicle bus, and wherein the Internet-connected device is connected to the vehicle bus.

11. The trainable transceiver of claim 1, wherein the Internet-connected device is one of a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop, and wherein the remote storage is in the memory of the Internet-connected device.

12. The trainable transceiver of claim 1 and further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the user interface is integrated into a rearview assembly of a vehicle.

13. A trainable transceiver for transmitting signals to a remote device, the trainable transceiver comprising:

a local memory device;

an interface configured to communicate with an Internet-connected device capable of storing channel data in a remote memory device, the channel data representing characteristics of an RF signal;

a controller coupled to the local memory device and the interface, the controller configured to receive channel data from the remote memory device using the interface and to store the received channel data in the local memory device; and

an RF transceiver configured to transmit the RF signal to the remote device in an operating mode where the transmitted RF signal includes the characteristics stored as channel data in the local memory device.

14. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the RF transceiver is configured to receive an RF signal during a training mode in order to learn characteristics of the received RF signal, and wherein the controller stores the learned characteristics of the received RF signal as channel data in the local memory device.

15. The trainable transceiver of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to retrieve the learned characteristics of the received RF signal from the local memory device and to transmit the learned characteristics of the received RF signal for storage in the remote memory device using the interface.

16. The trainable transceiver of claim 13 and further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the user interface is integrated into a rearview assembly of a vehicle.

17. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the characteristics of the RF signal include channel header data and at least one of the following:

pulse timing, pulse sequence, a serial number, a rolling counter, and a function code.

18. The trainable transceiver of claim 17, wherein the channel header data includes type, manufacturer, modulation, frequency, and first level.

19. The trainable transceiver of claim 18, wherein the channel header data includes frequency deviation.

20. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the Internet-connected device is a mobile Internet-connected device and wherein the channel data is transferred from the remote memory device to the mobile Internet-connected device prior to transfer to the local memory device.

21. The trainable transceiver of claim 20, wherein the remote memory device is accessible on the Internet.

22. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the interface is a second transceiver for wirelessly communicating with the Internet-connected device.

23. The trainable transceiver of claim 22, wherein the second transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

24. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the interface is a vehicle bus interface coupled to a vehicle bus, and wherein the Internet-connected device is connected to the vehicle bus.

25. The trainable transceiver of claim 13, wherein the Internet-connected device is one of a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop, and wherein the remote memory device is memory of the Internet-connected device.

26. A method of transferring channel data from a first vehicle to a second vehicle, where the channel data representing characteristics of an RF signal used to control a remote device, the method comprising:

providing a trainable transceiver in the first vehicle and a second trainable transceiver in the second vehicle, each of the first and second trainable transceivers transmit RF signals to a remote device, and each trainable transceiver comprises;

a local memory device,

a controller coupled to the local memory device, the controller configured to store channel data in the local memory device, and

an RF transceiver configured to transmit the RF signal to the remote device in an operating mode where the transmitted RF signal includes the characteristics stored as channel data in the local memory device;

reading channel data from the local memory device of the first trainable transceiver; and

storing the channel data that is read from the local memory device of the first trainable transceiver in the local memory device of the second transceiver.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the step of reading the channel data comprises inputting a command to the controller of the first trainable transceiver to cause the controller to read the channel data from the local memory of the first trainable transceiver and to transfer the channel data to an intermediary memory device, and

the step of storing the channel data in the local memory device of the second trainable transceiver comprises inputting a command to the controller of the second trainable transceiver to cause the controller to read the channel data from the intermediary memory device and to store the channel data in the local memory device of the second trainable transceiver.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the intermediary memory device is that of a smartphone having a Bluetooth transceiver, and wherein each of the first and second trainable transceivers includes a Bluetooth transceiver paired with the Bluetooth transceiver of the smartphone.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein each of the first and second trainable transceivers includes an interface configured to communicate with the interface of the other of the first and second trainable transceiver,

wherein the step of reading the channel data comprises inputting a command to the controller of the first trainable transceiver to cause the controller to read the channel data from the local memory of the first trainable transceiver and to transfer the channel data through the interface to the controller of the second trainable transceiver,

wherein the step of storing the channel data in the local memory device of the second trainable transceiver comprises inputting a command to the controller of the second trainable transceiver to cause the controller to receive the channel data through the interface that is transferred from the controller of the first trainable transceiver and to store the channel data in the local memory device of the second trainable transceiver.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the interface of each of the first and second trainable transceivers is a second RF transceiver for wirelessly communicating with an Internet-connected device.

31. The trainable transceiver of claim 30, wherein the second RF transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver, and wherein the Bluetooth transceivers of each of the first and second trainable transceivers are paired with one another.