Fault tolerant vehicle communication and control apparatus
View Patent ↗Medium-range and global network information and control for a vehicle is achieved with a portable wireless key fob, a user-provided nomadic device, and a vehicle-installed telematics unit including a medium-range RF transceiver and a wireless network transceiver. The fob includes a medium-range RF transceiver for bi-directional communication with the telematics unit, and a short-range wireless transceiver for bi-directional communication with the nomadic device. The fob communicates with the telematics unit in a conventional manner, and also relays information between the telematics unit and the nomadic device. If a communication initiated via the fob cannot be completed because the fob is out of range, the communication is sent to the nomadic device for network transmission to the telematics unit. If a communication initiated via the nomadic device cannot be completed due to inadequate signal reception, the communication is sent to the fob for RF transmission to the telematics unit.
1. Information and control apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle-installed telematics unit including a first wireless network transceiver and a first medium-range RF transceiver;
a nomadic device carried by a vehicle user, including a second wireless network transceiver for communicating with the telematics unit via a global network, and a first short-range wireless transceiver; and
a fob carried by the vehicle user including a second medium-range RF transceiver for communicating with the telematics unit, and a second short-range wireless transceiver for communicating with the nomadic device; where
the user selectively initiates a vehicle information request or command communication using the fob and the first and second medium-range RF transceivers, and the nomadic device using the global network and the first and second wireless network transceivers.
2. The information and control apparatus of claim 1 , where:
said nomadic device includes control means effective when the user uses the nomadic device to initiate a vehicle information request or command communication and the global network is unavailable for communicating the vehicle information request or command to the fob via the first and second short-range wireless transceivers.
3. The information and control apparatus of claim 2 , where:
said fob includes control means for receiving a vehicle information request or command communicated from said nomadic device via the first and second short-range wireless transceivers, and relaying the received vehicle information request or command to the telematics unit via the first and second medium-range RF transceivers.
4. The information and control apparatus of claim 1 , where:
said fob includes control means effective when the user uses the fob to initiate a vehicle information request or command communication and the fob is not within an RF range of the telematics unit for communicating the vehicle information request or command to the nomadic device via the first and second short-range wireless transceivers.
5. The information and control apparatus of claim 4 , where:
said nomadic device includes control means for receiving a vehicle information request or command communicated from said fob via the first and second short-range wireless transceivers, and relaying the received vehicle information request or command to the telematics unit via the first and second wireless network transceivers.