Method and system for providing telematics unit information

• US 7,400,876 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Issued: 07/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Freilich, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor; Barry W
• Application Number:
  US11/194,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20070026876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/461, 455/521, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 379/37, 379/45
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A method for providing telematics unit information includes generating an awareness message at a telematics unit, the awareness message including a subscriber status wherein the subscriber status includes location and state information, assigning a current value to the subscriber status, and sending the awareness message with the current value from the telematics unit to a telematics call center. A computer usable medium with suitable computer program code is employed for providing telematics unit information.

Claims

1. A method for providing telematics unit information, the method comprising:

generating an awareness message at a telematics unit, the awareness message including a session initiation protocol (SIP) request containing a subscriber status located in a header portion of the SIP request, wherein the subscriber status includes the operational status of the telematics unit; and

sending the awareness message with the SIP request from the telematics unit to a call center.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

modifying the subscriber status to include a plurality of data elements wherein the plurality of data elements include an identification field, a mode field, and a location field.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the plurality of data elements includes a field identifier and a corresponding field value wherein the field identifier and the corresponding field value are delimited by a field separator.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the field value associated with the mode field of the subscriber status identifies the operational status of the telematics unit and is selected from the group consisting of on, standby, sleep, in-session, out of session, and off.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the field value associated with the location field includes a plurality of data points corresponding to latitude, longitude, aged, speed, and direction.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the field value associated with the identification field includes a telematics unit identification number.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the field value corresponding to the location field is encrypted.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving services at the telematics unit from the call center based on the subscriber status.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the awareness message with the subscriber status from the telematics unit to a call center further comprises:

receiving a request from a call center to send the awareness message; and

sending the awareness message from the telematics unit to the call center responsive to the request.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscriber status is a user parameter of a session initiation protocol SIP register request.

11. A method of providing telematics unit information to a call center, comprising the steps of:

generating an awareness message at a telematics unit in accordance with a messaging protocol, the awareness message including a header and a payload;

inserting data elements into the header including an identification element and a mode element, the identification element including an identification of the telematics unit, and the mode element including an operational status of the telematics unit; and

sending the awareness message from the telematics unit to a call center.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of detecting a change in the state of the telematics unit.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of receiving a request from the call center to send the awareness message.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the data elements included into the header in the inserting step further include a location element, inserting data elements into the header including a location element, the location element including the telematics units location.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the messaging protocol is a session initiation protocol (SIP) and the awareness message is generated as a SIP request.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of data elements includes a field identifier and a corresponding field value delimited by a field separator.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the field value associated with the mode element identifies the operational status of the telematics unit and is selected from the group consisting of on, standby, sleep, in-session, out of session, and off.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the field value associated with the location element includes a plurality of data points corresponding to latitude, longitude, aged, speed, and direction.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the field value associated with the identification element includes a telematics unit identification number.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the field value corresponding to the location element is encrypted.

21. A method of providing telematics unit information to a call center, comprising the steps of:

generating an awareness message at a telematics unit in response to a change in the state of the telematics unit or a request by a call center to send the awareness message, the awareness message including a session initiation protocol (SIP) request containing a subscriber status located in the header of the SIP request, and wherein the subscriber status includes the operational status of the telematics unit;

inserting a plurality of data elements into the subscriber status, wherein the plurality of data elements include an identification field, a mode field, and a location field, and each of the plurality of data elements includes a field identifier and a corresponding field value; and

sending the awareness message with the SIP request from the telematics unit to a call center.