Electronic glovebox for a vehicle

1. A method of cloud computing from a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

establishing a first cellular link between a telematics unit in the vehicle and a cloud server associated with a vehicle call center, wherein the telematics unit has a cellular chipset;

receiving via the first cellular link at least one first data member at the telematics unit from the cloud server, wherein the at least one first data member is stored at the cloud server in a user account associated with a vehicle user, wherein the at least one first data member comprises an electronic representation of a vehicle registration, an electronic representation of a vehicle insurance proof, or both;

providing the at least one first data member received via the cellular link from the telematics unit to an electronic glovebox (e-glovebox) device wherein the at least one first data member is provided via a wired vehicle connection or a short-range wireless vehicle connection, wherein the e-glovebox device receives the at least one first data member directly from the telematics unit without using a cellular chipset, and wherein the e-glovebox device is stowable within a cabin of the vehicle at a vehicle docking station; and

displaying data to the vehicle user at a display of the e-glovebox device, the data being associated with the at least one first data member.

2. A method of cloud computing from a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a first cellular link between a telematics unit in the vehicle and a cloud server associated with a vehicle call center, wherein the telematics unit has a cellular chipset;

(b) receiving via the first cellular link at least one first data member at the telematics unit from the cloud server, wherein the at least one first data member is stored at the cloud server in a user account associated with a vehicle user, wherein the at least one first data member comprises an electronic representation of a vehicle registration, an electronic representation of a vehicle insurance proof, or both;

(c) providing the at least one first data member received via the cellular link from the telematics unit to an electronic glovebox (e-glovebox) device wherein the at least one first data member is provided via a wired vehicle connection or a short-range wireless vehicle connection, wherein the e-glovebox device receives the at least one first data member directly from the telematics unit without using a cellular chipset, and wherein the e-glovebox device is stowable within a cabin of the vehicle at a vehicle docking station;

(d) receiving a user input from the vehicle user at an interface of the e-glovebox device; and

(e) displaying data to the vehicle user at a display of the e-glovebox device, the data being associated with the at least one first data member.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein steps (a), (b), (c), and (e) occur in response to receiving the user input.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one first data member is stored in memory of the e-glovebox device for displaying the data to the vehicle user at a later time without re-establishing the first cellular link.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one first data member comprises a plurality of first data members that includes an electronic representation of an advertisement directed to the vehicle user for discounting goods, services, or both.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one first data member comprises a plurality of first data members that includes at least one of: a technical manual application associated with the vehicle; application software associated with maintenance information for the vehicle; application software associated with the vehicle, a manufacturer, or a dealership; application software associated with receiving maintenance updates for the vehicle; application software associated with emergency information; or application software associated with entertainment and infotainment media.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein both the telematics unit and the e-glovebox device are original equipment provided by a vehicle manufacturer.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein, prior to the receiving step, the at least one first data member was provided to the cloud server by the vehicle user or an authorized user of the user account, wherein the authorized user is associated with the vehicle call center.

9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

storing at least one second data member at the e-glovebox device;

providing the at least one second data member from the e-glovebox device to the telematics unit via the wired vehicle connection or the short-range wireless vehicle connection;

establishing a second cellular link between the telematics unit and the cloud server; and

transmitting via the second cellular link the at least one second data member from the telematics unit to the cloud server for storage at the cloud server in the user's account.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first cellular link and the second cellular link are the same cellular link.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one second data member overwrites the at least one first data member at the cloud server.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one second data member is accessible from the cloud server by the vehicle user or another authorized user via a web portal at a personal computer, via a first mobile device associated with the vehicle user, or via another telematics unit in another vehicle.

13. The method of claim 2 , wherein additional data members may be uploaded to the user account at the cloud server via a web portal at a personal computer, via a first mobile device associated with the vehicle user, via a second mobile device by an authorized user associated with the user account, or via a second telematics unit in a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle is associated with the vehicle user, wherein after the additional data members thereafter are available for download to the e-glovebox device by:

establishing a second cellular link between the telematics unit in and the cloud server;

receiving at the telematics unit via the second cellular link at least one of the additional data members stored at the cloud server; and

providing the at least one of the additional data members received via the second cellular link from the telematics unit to the e-glovebox device via the wired vehicle connection or the short-range wireless vehicle connection.