AUTOMATICALLY MANAGING A WIRELESS CONNECTION AT A MOBILE DEVICE

1 . A method of managing a wireless connection at a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a short-range wireless signal at a mobile device;

(b) determining whether the short-range wireless signal is broadcast from a vehicular short-range wireless device or a non-vehicular short-range wireless device; and

(c) restricting one or more services available at the mobile device based on whether the short-range wireless signal is broadcast from a vehicular short-range wireless device or a non-vehicular short-range wireless device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the short-range wireless signal includes a name of a short-range wireless device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of comparing a name of a short-range wireless device included in the short-range wireless signal with a list of vehicle-related words.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of connecting the mobile device to the vehicular short-range wireless device and storing the name of the vehicular short-range wireless device as part of the connection for future use.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicular short-range wireless device is a telematics unit.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-vehicular short-range wireless device is a local area network (LAN) or a Bluetooth mobile device headset.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of comparing a name of a short-range wireless device included in the short-range wireless signal with a list of non-vehicle-related words.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of detecting the creation or termination of a short-range wireless link and restricting the one or more services available based on the creation or termination of the short-range wireless link.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of maintaining a setting for a status of a short-range wireless link and restricting the one or more services available at the mobile device based on the setting.

10 . A method of managing a wireless connection at a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a creation or a termination of a short-range wireless link between a mobile device and a short-range wireless device;

(b) determining whether the short-range wireless device is vehicular or non-vehicular; and

(c) automatically restricting one or more services available at the mobile device based on the detected creation or termination of the short-range wireless link according to a first scheme if the short-range wireless device is vehicular and according to a second scheme if the short-range wireless device is non-vehicular.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of receiving a short-range wireless signal that includes a name of the short-range wireless device.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of comparing a name of the short-range wireless device included in a short-range wireless signal with a list of vehicle-related words.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising the steps of connecting the mobile device to a vehicular short-range wireless device and storing the name of the vehicular wireless device as part of that connection for future use.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a vehicular short-range wireless device is a telematics unit.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a non-vehicular short-range wireless device is a local area network (LAN) or a Bluetooth mobile device headset.

16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of comparing a name of a short-range wireless device included in a short-range wireless signal with a list of non-vehicle-related words.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of maintaining a setting for a status of the short-range wireless link and restricting one or more services available at the mobile device based on the setting.