Determining performance criteria of a vehicle communication network connection

• US 9,762,470 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2015
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Alam, Muhammad F., Price, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US14/686,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20160308743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 701 291, 370252, 34042615
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• 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

Abstract

A mobile vehicle communication system and a method carried out by the system to determine at a remotely-located vehicle a performance criteria of a communication network connection in the vehicle. Steps of the method include: monitoring the vehicle'"'"'s communication network connection for at least one of a plurality of parameters, wherein the plurality of parameters are associated with the performance criteria of the network connection; correlating a performance status test indicative of the performance criteria of the network connection with at least one of the plurality of parameters; and determining the performance criteria of the network connection based on the correlation.

Claims

1. A method of determining at a vehicle a performance criteria of a communication network connection in the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

monitoring at a vehicle system module (VSM) the vehicle'"'"'s intravehicular Ethernet network connection for at least one of a plurality of network connection parameters, wherein the plurality of network connection parameters are associated with the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection;

correlating at the VSM, at a mobile device located proximate to the vehicle, or both a performance status test indicative of the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection with at least one of the plurality of network connection parameters; and

determining at the VSM, at the mobile device, or both the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection based on the correlation,

wherein the vehicle'"'"'s intravehicular Ethernet network connection includes a wired or wireless intra-vehicle communication system for connecting a plurality of VSMs to one another.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step continues while the determining step occurs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining step occurs repeatedly.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the remotely-located vehicle is remotely-located from a vehicle service center during the monitoring step.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the correlating and determining steps are performed remotely from the vehicle service center.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the intravehicular Ethernet network connection includes an Audio Visual Bridging (AVB) network connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of VSMs include a vehicle telematics unit and a vehicle head unit.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the performance status test includes one of an Ethernet network connection status test, an AVB network connection status test, an AVB or Ethernet network port status test, an AVB or Ethernet frame status test, an AVB or Ethernet signal quality status test, an AVB or Ethernet network switch status test, an AVB or Ethernet network topology status test, an AVB or Ethernet network active service verification status test, or an AVB stream status test.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the VSM is one of a head unit in the vehicle or a telematics unit in the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the telematics unit and the mobile device have a private communication link with a backend system associated with a data service center.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing, at least temporarily, at least one of the plurality of network connection parameters in memory of the vehicle head unit, in memory of the telematics unit, or in memory of the mobile device; and

then using the at least one stored parameter in the determining step.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating a report based on the determined performance criteria; and

transmitting the report to a backend system from the telematics unit or from the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the report further comprises vehicle system module (VSM) data.

14. A method of determining at a remotely-located vehicle a performance criteria of an intravehicular Ethernet network connection in the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

establishing a private communication link between a backend system and one of a vehicle telematics unit or a mobile device associated with the telematics unit; and

receiving at the backend system a report generated by the telematics unit or the mobile device, wherein the generated report is based on performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection which was previously determined at the remotely-located vehicle, wherein the performance criteria was determined by a vehicle system module (VSM) or the mobile device which correlated a status test associated with the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection with at least one of a plurality of monitored parameters and then determined the performance criteria based on the correlation,

wherein the intravehicular Ethernet network connection in the remotely-located vehicle includes a wired or wireless intra-vehicle communication system for connecting a plurality of VSMs to one another.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the VSM which determined the performance criteria includes one of the vehicle telematics unit or a vehicle head unit.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determined performance criteria occurs while the vehicle was not electrically coupled to vehicle diagnostics equipment associated with a vehicle service center.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the status test includes one of an Ethernet network connection status test, an AVB network connection status test, an AVB or Ethernet network port status test, an AVB or Ethernet frame status test, an AVB or Ethernet signal quality status test, an AVB or Ethernet network switch status test, an AVB or Ethernet network topology status test, an AVB or Ethernet network active service verification status test, or an AVB stream status test.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving reports at the backend system from a plurality of other vehicles;

and based on the reports, identifying at the backend system an issue associated with a wireless carrier system or a wireless service provider.

19. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium in a mobile device that is configured to, when executed on the mobile device, determine a performance criteria of an intravehicular Ethernet network connection in a remotely-located vehicle, wherein the intravehicular Ethernet network connection in the vehicle includes a wired or wireless intra-vehicle communication system for connecting a plurality of vehicle system modules (VSMs) to one another, wherein the determination of the performance criteria comprises the steps of:

establishing a short-range wireless communication (SRWC) link between the mobile device and a vehicle electronics device equipped with SRWC-capability;

via the SRWC link, receiving at the mobile device at least one of a plurality of vehicle-monitored parameters associated with the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection;

correlating at the mobile device a performance status test indicative of the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection with the at least one of the plurality of vehicle-monitored parameters; and

at the mobile device, determining the performance criteria of the intravehicular Ethernet network connection based on the correlation.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the determination of the performance criteria further comprises:

at the mobile device, generating a report based on the determined performance criteria; and

transmitting the report from the mobile device to a backend system associated with the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is remotely-located with respect to the backend system.