Methods and apparatus for remote activation of an application

• US 8,473,575 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2010
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Marchwicki, Julius, Ross, Joseph N., Schunder, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US12/869,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20120054300A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,034 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

An application activation method includes interfacing a vehicle computing system with a remote device using an interface protocol. The method also includes sending a query from the vehicle computing system to the remote device to determine applications and/or services available on the remote device that are capable of interaction with the vehicle computing system. Once the applications have been determined, the method includes selecting, at the vehicle computing system, an application or service from the determined available applications and/or services for interaction. The method also includes sending an instruction from the vehicle computing system to an agent on the remote device, the instruction including an indication that the selected application or service is to be activated. Finally, the method includes receiving confirmation, at the vehicle computing system, that the application or service has been activated.

Claims

1. An application activation method comprising:

interfacing a vehicle computing system with a remote device using an interface protocol;

sending a query from the vehicle computing system to the remote device to determine applications available on the remote device that are capable of interaction with the vehicle computing system;

selecting, at the vehicle computing system, an application from the determined available applications for interaction;

sending an instruction from the vehicle computing system to an agent application on the remote device, including an indication that the selected application is to be activated; and

receiving confirmation, at the vehicle computing system, that the application has been activated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface protocol is a wireless protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the wireless protocol is a BLUETOOTH protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the query is performed using the SDP BLUETOOTH protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction is directed at the selected application, and wherein the agent application activates the selected application based on a detection that an instruction to the selected application has been sent by the vehicle computing system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction is an instruction directed at the agent application to activate the selected application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the query is performed using a custom protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the confirmation is established by a response to the instruction sent from the selected application to the vehicle computing system.

9. A tangible computer readable storage medium storing instructions for an application activation method, such that when the instructions are processed, a vehicle computing system is caused to perform the steps comprising:

sending a query from the vehicle computing system to a remote device to determine applications available on the remote device that are capable of interaction with the vehicle computing system;

selecting, at the vehicle computing system, an application from the determined available applications for interaction;

sending an instruction from the vehicle computing system to an agent application on the remote device, the instruction including an indication that the selected application is to be activated; and

receiving confirmation, at the vehicle computing system, that the application has been activated.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the interface protocol is a wireless protocol.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the wireless protocol is a BLUETOOTH protocol.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the query is performed using the SDP BLUETOOTH protocol.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instruction is directed at the selected application, and wherein the agent application activates the selected application based on a detection that an instruction to the selected application has been sent by the vehicle computing system.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instruction is an instruction directed at the agent application to activate the selected application.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the confirmation is sent from the agent application to the vehicle computing system.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the confirmation is established by a response to the instruction sent from the selected application to the vehicle computing system.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, at a vehicle computing system (VCS), a list of applications available on a remote device for interaction with the VCS;

determining that one of the applications is desired for activation;

sending, from the VCS, an instruction to an agent application running on the remote device indicating that the one of the applications should be activated; and

receiving, at the VCS, confirmation that the one of the applications has been activated.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein communication between the VCS and the remote device is done using a wireless protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the wireless protocol is a BLUETOOTH protocol.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

querying, from the vehicle computing system, the remote device for the list of applications available on the remote device for interaction with the vehicle computing system.