Flexible feature deployment strategy

• US 9,524,156 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2014
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Pandya, Ritesh, Petersen, Brian, Rork, Joseph Paul, Yalavarty, Praveen
• Primary Examiner(s): APONTE, FRANCISCO JAVIER
• Application Number:
  US14/151,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20150193219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 701 1-541
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A vehicle may gather vehicle build configuration information, and provide a vehicle identifier and the vehicle information to a server. The server may determine a feature set configuration of a configurable module of the vehicle based on the vehicle information and vehicle feature associations retrieved from a vehicle data source, and provide, in a message topic of a topic tree associated with the vehicle identifier to which the vehicle is subscribed, a notification to configure the configurable module. The vehicle may update a feature set configuration of a configurable module supporting a plurality of features based on the notification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

subscribing a vehicle of a fleet to a message topic of a topic tree on a server, the message topic including notifications specific to a vehicle identifier of the vehicle; and

updating, based on a notification received by the vehicle from the message topic, published due to a change in fleet-specific settings triggered responsive to receipt to a data store of an update message indicating a change in association of the vehicle from association with the fleet to association with another fleet, a feature set configuration specific to the other fleet for a configurable module.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

gathering vehicle build configuration information by the vehicle; and

sending the vehicle build configuration information to the server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identifier includes at least one of a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle or subscriber identity module (SIM) information of a modem of the vehicle, and further comprising subscribing the vehicle to the message topic of the topic tree according to the vehicle identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module according to a change in at least one of (i) an owner of the vehicle, or (ii) a geographic region associated with the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module includes at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module, (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module, or (iii) adjusting a setting of a feature supported by the configurable module.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is subscribed to the feature, and (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is unsubscribed to the feature.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a default feature set configuration to the configurable module disabling at least one feature of the configurable module until the configurable module receives the notification in the message topic.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the change in fleet-specific settings includes a change in a number of minutes between GPS location updates provided by the vehicle.

9. A system comprising:

a configurable module of a vehicle, executing firmware supporting a plurality of features; and

a computing system of the vehicle in communication with the configurable module and a remote server, programmed to send a vehicle identifier to the server; and

update the configurable module, based on a notification from the server published to a topic of a topic tree corresponding to the vehicle identifier due to a change in vehicle fleet association or fleet-specific settings, the notification including a feature setting specific to a fleet with which the vehicle is identified as a member by the vehicle identifier,

wherein the change in fleet-specific settings is triggered responsive to receipt to a data store of an update message indicating a change in association of the vehicle from association with the fleet to association with another fleet, and the change in fleet association is triggered responsive to an update to the data store including records associating vehicles with fleets of which the vehicles are members.

10. The system of claim 9, the computing system further programmed to:

gather vehicle build configuration information; and

send the vehicle build configuration information to the server.

11. The system of claim 9, the configurable module further programmed to adjust the feature set configuration of the configurable module according to at least one of (i) an owner of the vehicle, (ii) a geographic region associated with the vehicle, and (iii) a software version of a vehicle component of the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module includes at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module, (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module, and (iii) adjusting a setting of a feature supported by the configurable module.

13. The system of claim 9, the configurable module further programmed to at least one of (i) enable a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is subscribed to the feature, and (ii) disable a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is unsubscribed to the feature.

14. The system of claim 9, the configurable module further programmed to utilize a default feature set configuration disabling at least one feature of the configurable module until the configurable module receives the notification.

15. A system comprising:

vehicle feature associations linking vehicle identifiers of vehicles with fleets with which the vehicles are members; and

a server programmed to

receive, from a vehicle, a vehicle identifier of the vehicle and vehicle build configuration information,

identify an update in a vehicle data store of a feature associations of the vehicle due to a change in vehicle fleet association or fleet-specific settings,

determine a feature set configuration of a configurable module of the vehicle based on the vehicle identifier, the vehicle build configuration information, the update, and the vehicle feature associations, the feature set configuration including at least one setting specific to a vehicle fleet of which the server determines the vehicle to be a member using the vehicle identifier and the vehicle feature associations, and

provide, in a message topic of a topic tree associated with the vehicle identifier to which the vehicle is subscribed, a notification to configure the configurable module according to the feature set configuration,

wherein the change in fleet-specific settings is triggered responsive to receipt to a data store of an update message indicating a change in association of the vehicle from association with the fleet to association with another fleet, and the change in fleet association is triggered responsive to an update to the data store including records associating vehicles with fleets of which the vehicles are members.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle identifier includes at least one of a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle and subscriber identity module (SIM) information of a modem of the vehicle, and the server is further programmed to perform operations comprising subscribing the vehicle to the message topic of the topic tree according to the vehicle identifier.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle feature associations include at least one of (i) an owner of the vehicle, (ii) a geographic region associated with the vehicle, and (iii) a software version of a vehicle component of the vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module includes at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module, (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module, and (iii) adjusting a setting of a feature supported by the configurable module.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification is configured to cause the vehicle to perform operations comprising performing at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is subscribed to the feature according to the vehicle feature associations, and (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is unsubscribed to the feature according to the vehicle feature associations.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification includes a configuration file specifying information to configure multiple portions of functionality of the configurable module.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising a configurable module configured to:

provide, from the vehicle to the server, the vehicle identifier and the vehicle build configuration information; and

update, based on the notification, the configuration of the configurable module.

22. A computer-implemented method comprising:

subscribing a vehicle of a fleet to a server-hosted message topic of a topic tree including notifications specific to the vehicle; and

updating, based on a notification received by the vehicle from the message topic, published due to a change in fleet association from the fleet to another fleet triggered by updating records of a fleet association database, a feature set configuration specific to the other fleet for a configurable module.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

gathering vehicle build configuration information by the vehicle; and

sending the vehicle build configuration information to the server.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the message topic is associated with the vehicle by vehicle identifier, wherein the vehicle identifier includes at least one of a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle or subscriber identity module (SIM) information of a modem of the vehicle, and further comprising subscribing the vehicle to the message topic of the topic tree according to the vehicle identifier.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module according to a change in at least one of (i) an owner of the vehicle, or (ii) a geographic region associated with the vehicle.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein adjusting the feature set configuration of the configurable module includes at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module, (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module, or (iii) adjusting a setting of a feature supported by the configurable module.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising at least one of (i) enabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is subscribed to the feature, and (ii) disabling a feature supported by the configurable module when the vehicle is unsubscribed to the feature.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising assigning a default feature set configuration to the configurable module disabling at least one feature of the configurable module until the configurable module receives the notification in the message topic.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the other fleet requires the change in a number of minutes between GPS location updates to be applied to the vehicle as being a member the other fleet.