Wireless device connection management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10419984-B2
Application number	US-201715627140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2017
Priority date	Jun 19, 2017
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

A system and method of managing short-range wireless communication connections at a vehicle, the method including: receiving a wireless signal from a personal mobile device at the vehicle, wherein the wireless signal is received using a first short-range wireless communication (SRWC) technology; determining whether to perform a connection handover based on the received wireless signal; when it is determined that the connection handover is to be performed, then carrying out the connection handover that includes establishing an alternative carrier connection between a wireless communications device and the personal mobile device using a second SRWC technology, wherein the wireless communications device is installed in the vehicle; and when it is determined that the connection handover is not to be performed, then setting the wireless communications device to operate in a discovery mode, wherein the discovery mode includes sending an inquiry message indicating availability of a connection to the wireless communications device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of managing short-range wireless communication connections at a vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving a wireless signal from a personal mobile device at the vehicle, wherein the wireless signal is received using a first short-range wireless communication (SRWC) technology, and wherein the first SRWC technology is a near field communication (NFC) technology;
in response to receiving the wireless signal from the personal mobile device at the vehicle, determining whether to perform a connection handover based on the received wireless signal, wherein the determination of whether to perform the connection handover is based on a determination of whether the personal mobile device supports connection handovers using NFC, and wherein the determination of whether the personal mobile device supports connection handovers using NFC is made based on information contained in the received wireless signal;
when it is determined that the connection handover is to be performed, then carrying out the connection handover that includes establishing an alternative carrier connection between a wireless communications device and the personal mobile device using a second SRWC technology, wherein the wireless communications device is installed in the vehicle, and wherein the second SRWC technology is one of the following: Wi-Fi™, WiMAX™, ZigBee™, Wi-Fi direct™, Bluetooth™, or Bluetooth Low Energy™ (BLE); and
when it is determined that the connection handover is not to be performed, then:
notifying a vehicle user that the personal mobile device is not enabled to perform the connection handover or that a connection handover will not be performed, wherein the notifying step includes transmitting a notification using at least one vehicle-user interface of the vehicle, and wherein the at least one vehicle-user interface of the vehicle includes either or both of an audio system or a display; and
setting the wireless communications device to operate in a discovery mode, wherein the discovery mode includes using the second SRWC technology of the wireless communications device to send an inquiry message, wherein the inquiry message indicates that the wireless communications device is available to connect to another device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal is a wireless near field communication (NFC) signal that is in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the NFC module is connected to the wireless communications device, and wherein the NFC module sends information included in or associated with the received wireless signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal is received at a NFC module installed in the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection handover further comprises sending a response message to the personal mobile device from the NFC module.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of establishing a SRWC connection using the second SRWC protocol after setting the wireless communications device to the discovery mode.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second SRWC technology is a Bluetooth™ or Wi-Fi™ technology.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless message includes Bluetooth™ Out-of-Band (OOB) data.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communications device comprises a first SRWC chipset that is used to carry out wireless communications via the first SRWC technology and wherein the wireless communications device comprises a second SRWC chipset that is used to carry out wireless communications via the second SRWC technology.

10. A method of managing short-range wireless communication connections at a vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving a wireless NFC message from a personal mobile device via near field communication (NFC) technology at a NFC module installed in the vehicle, wherein the wireless NFC message is in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), and wherein the personal mobile device includes an NFC chipset;
in response to receiving the wireless NFC message from the personal mobile device at the vehicle, determining whether to perform a connection handover based on the received wireless NFC message, wherein the determination of whether to perform the connection handover is based on a determination of whether the personal mobile device supports connection handovers using NFC, and wherein the determination of whether the personal mobile device supports connection handovers using NFC is made based on information contained in the received wireless NFC message;
when it is determined that the connection handover is to be performed, then automatically carrying out the connection handover, wherein the connection handover includes:
sending a NFC response message to the personal mobile device using the NFC module installed in the vehicle in response to the wireless NFC message received from the personal mobile device, wherein the NFC response message is in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), and wherein the NFC response message indicates at least one short-range wireless communication (SRWC) technology other than NFC that the vehicle is configured to carry out;
subsequently, establishing an alternative carrier connection between a wireless communications device and the personal mobile device using a second SRWC technology, wherein the wireless communications device is included in the vehicle, wherein the second SRWC technology is one of the at least one SRWC technologies indicated in the NFC response message, and wherein the second SRWC technology is one of the following: Wi-Fi™, WiMAX™, ZigBee™, Wi-Fi direct™, Bluetooth™, or Bluetooth Low Energy™ (BLE); and
after the alternative carrier connection is established between the wireless communications device and the personal mobile device using a second SRWC technology, then carrying out SRWC communications using the established alternative carrier connection; and

when it is determined that the connection handover should is not to be performed, then:
notifying a vehicle user that the personal mobile device is not enabled to perform the connection handover or that a connection handover will not be performed, wherein the notifying step includes transmitting a notification using at least one vehicle-user interface of the vehicle, and wherein the at least one vehicle-user interface of the vehicle includes either or both of an audio system or a display; and
setting the wireless communications device to operate in a discovery mode using one or more SRWC technologies including Bluetooth™, wherein the discovery mode includes using the second SRWC technology of the wireless communications device to send an inquiry message, wherein the inquiry message indicates that the wireless communications device is available to connect to another device.

11. A vehicle communications system, comprising:
a near field communications (NFC) module that includes a NFC chipset and an antenna;
at least one vehicle-user interface; and
a wireless communications device, comprising:
a short-range wireless communications (SRWC) chipset;
a memory device;
a processor;

wherein the vehicle communications system is configured to:
receive a NFC signal from a personal mobile device at the NFC module, wherein the NFC signal is in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF);
in response to receiving the NFC signal from the personal mobile device at the vehicle, determine whether to perform a connection handover based on the received NFC signal, wherein the determination of whether to perform the connection handover is based on a determination of whether the personal mobile device supports connection handovers using NFC, and wherein the determination of whether

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Hrabak Robert A
• Sergakis John
• Neti Nikhil N

Classifications

• H04W36/02

  Buffering or recovering information during reselection {; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off} · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W76/10 Primary

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W36/0005

  Control or signalling for completing the hand-off · CPC title