Granted Patent B2

US 9,014,910 · App. 11/952,853 · Granted Apr 21, 2015

Abstract

Claims (36)

1. A method for reporting vehicle data to a third party using an onboard telematics unit, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting from a vehicle owner the identity of one or more third parties other than the vehicle owner that are authorized to receive data from the vehicle;

receiving from the vehicle owner the identity of one or more authorized third parties other than the vehicle owner;

requesting the vehicle owner select one or more data types that correspond to each identified third party;

receiving from the vehicle owner at least one data type selection that corresponds to each identified third party;

receiving at the onboard telematics unit the data corresponding to the received data type(s);

creating a report that includes vehicle information and the received data that is authorized by the vehicle owner to be sent to each third party; and

transmitting the report from the onboard telematics unit directly to each identified third party in response to one or more triggers automatically initiated by at least some portion of vehicle electronics, wherein the identity of the one or more authorized third parties is determined based on the trigger.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 , including the step of receiving authorization to transmit the report prior to the step of transmitting the report.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 , including the step of establishing a transmission of the report to occur after an expiration of a predetermined time period.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 , including the step of setting a transmission of the report to occur after an occurrence of a predefined event.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 , including the step of subsequently changing each identified third party to another recipient.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the identity of one or more third parties that are authorized to receive data from the vehicle and the data type that corresponds to each identified third party are received via an access-restricted web page.

7. A method for reporting vehicle data to a plurality of third parties using an onboard telematics unit, the method comprising the steps of:

enrolling a user in a telematics subscriber service;

requesting from the user the identity of one or more third parties other than the vehicle owner that are authorized to receive data from the vehicle as part of enrolling the user in the telematics subscriber service;

receiving from the user the identity of one or more authorized third parties other than the vehicle owner;

requesting the user select one or more data types that correspond to each identified third party;

receiving from the user at least one data type selection that corresponds to each identified third party;

receiving at the onboard telematics unit the data type(s) that correspond to each identified third party;

detecting a trigger automatically initiated by at least some portion of vehicle electronics using the onboard telematics unit;

associating the trigger at the vehicle with one of the identified third parties;

creating a report using vehicle information and the received data type(s) corresponding to the identified third party associated with the trigger; and

transmitting the report to the identified third party associated with the trigger.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7 , including the step of transmitting the report to a call center.

9. A method as set forth in claim 7 , including the step of distributing a plurality of reports from the call center to more than one identified third party, wherein each of the plurality of reports includes different data types.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the step of transmitting includes the step of placing a cellular call by the onboard telematics unit to the call center.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10 , including the step of receiving authorization to transmit the report prior to the step of transmitting.

12. A method as set forth in claim 10 , including the step of establishing a predetermined time period after which the report will be transmitted.

13. A method as set forth in claim 10 , including the step of establishing a predefined event, the occurrence of which causes the transmission of each report to each identified third party.

14. A method as set forth in claim 7 , wherein the identity of one or more authorized third parties and the data type selection that corresponds to each identified third party are received via an access-restricted web page.

15. A system for reporting vehicle data to a third party, comprising:

a vehicle having an onboard telematics unit; and

a call center accessible by the telematics unit using wireless data communication via wireless carrier system, said call center including at least one computer configured to provide a website having at least one web page that enables configuration of third party data reporting by a vehicle owner, the web page enabling the vehicle owner to identify one or more types of data to be reported, and to identify one or more third parties other than the vehicle owner selected to receive vehicle data; wherein, in response to configuration of the third party data reporting by the vehicle owner, the on-board telematics unit monitors for a trigger that is automatically initiated by at least some portion of vehicle electronics and associated with one of the identified third parties, and upon detecting the trigger, vehicle data obtained by the telematics unit at the vehicle is sent to the identified third party associated with the detected trigger.

16. A system as defined in claim 15 , wherein the call center receives the vehicle data and sends it to the third party along with vehicle information that uniquely identifies the vehicle.

17. A system as defined in claim 15 , wherein, in response to configuration of the third party data reporting via the web site, the call center generates a trigger that is sent to the vehicle telematics unit, and wherein, in response to occurrence of the trigger, the vehicle telematics unit obtains the vehicle data and sends it to the call center for transmission to the third party.

Assignments (14)