Indexing mobile device content using vehicle electronics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016088052-A1
Application number	US-201414495345-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 24, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2014
Publication date	Mar 24, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A communication system and various methods using that communication system, including a method of providing mobile device media content in a vehicle. One method includes the steps of: identifying one or more mobile devices at the vehicle using vehicle electronics that include a vehicle multi-tainment unit (VMU); determining whether any of the one or more mobile devices are connected via a non-legacy short-range wireless communication (SRWC) link; when the VMU determines a connected mobile device from among the one or more mobile devices, then indexing at the VMU media content on the connected mobile device; receiving a request from a vehicle user for media content; and providing the requested media content via vehicle electronics.

First claim

1 . A method of providing mobile device media content in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
(a) identifying one or more mobile devices at the vehicle using vehicle electronics that include a vehicle multi-tainment unit (VMU); (b) determining whether any of the one or more mobile devices are connected via a non-legacy short-range wireless communication (SRWC) link; (c) when the VMU determines a connected mobile device from among the one or more mobile devices, then indexing at the VMU media content on the connected mobile device; (d) receiving a request from a vehicle user for media content; and (e) providing the requested media content via vehicle electronics.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying step includes a pre-association technique that does not require connecting with the one or more mobile devices.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
(f) storing an identifier associated with each of the one or more mobile devices on memory of the VMU; and (g) based on the stored identifiers, creating a list of the one or more mobile devices capable of providing media content via the non-legacy SRWC.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c), indexing the media content, includes:
(c1) transmitting a request for media metadata to the connected mobile device; and (c2) receiving a response to the request that includes media metadata.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the media metadata includes at least one of the following parameters: a title, an author, a subject, a category, a date, a file type, or a file size.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-legacy SRWC link uses one of the following standards: an 802.11 standard or a Wi-Fi Direct standard.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle electronics further include: a vehicle display and a vehicle audio system.

8 . A method of providing mobile device media content in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
(a) configuring a vehicle multi-tainment unit (VMU) to operate using a short range wireless communication (SRWC) protocol capable of pre-association; (b) pre-associating with the VMU a first mobile device near the vehicle via the SRWC protocol; (c) when the first mobile device is connected with the VMU via the SRWC protocol, then indexing at the VMU media content on the first mobile device; (d) when the first mobile device is not connected with the VMU via the SRWC protocol, then:
(d1) connecting the first mobile device with the VMU; and
(d2) indexing at the VMU media content on the first mobile device; and
(e) providing the media content via one or more vehicle electronics components, wherein the components include the VMU, a vehicle display, and a vehicle audio system.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising step (f): receiving an indication from a vehicle user of a desire to receive the media content of the first mobile device prior to step (e).

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein steps (c) and (d2) include capturing media metadata associated with media content stored on the first mobile device.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein steps (c) and (d2) further comprise recording the time and date of the indexing.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the media metadata includes at least one of the following parameters: a title, an author, a subject, a category, a date, a file type, or a file size.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein step (b) further includes receiving at the VMU a unique identifier associated with the first mobile device.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising step (g): adding the unique identifier of the first mobile device to a listing of media service providers (MSPs) stored at the VMU.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising repeating steps (b), (c), (d), and (e) for a second mobile device, wherein the media content of step (e) is from the first mobile device or the second mobile device.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising step (h): presenting to a vehicle user a media content listing available via the first and second mobile devices and based on the indexing at the VMU.

17 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the SRWC protocol includes one of: an 802.11 standard or a Wi-Fi Direct standard.

18 . A computer program product, comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium for vehicle head unit, comprising one or more software programs stored on the computer readable medium that include program instructions that include:
pre-associating the vehicle head unit with a mobile device using a non-legacy short range wireless communication (SRWC) protocol; connecting with the mobile device via SRWC; indexing at the head unit media content metadata stored on the mobile device; and providing media content based on a vehicle user request.

19 . A computer program product configured for the mobile device of claim 18 , comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising one or more software programs stored on the computer readable medium that include program instructions that include:
pre-associating with the vehicle head unit using the non-legacy SRWC protocol; and permitting the head unit to index the media content metadata stored on the mobile device.

20 . The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the non-legacy SRWC is an 802.11 standard or a Wi-Fi Direct standard.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Inc

Inventors

• Juzswik Karen
• Thanayankizil Lakshmi V
• Pop David P
• Bai Fan

Classifications

• H04L65/4084

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/608 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F17/3002

  Physics · mapped topic