Patent ID: 9635518
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: B60R,G06Q,G07C,G08C,G08G,H04L,H04Q,H04W

Claim:
1. A system for controlling the operational mode of vehicles in a vehicle fleet, comprising: a plurality of fleet vehicles, each vehicle with a make and model each including a telematics control unit, said telematics control unit including a processor to execute computer readable code embedded on a tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, a connection to the OBD II port of the vehicle to enable the control unit to receive vehicle sensor data and actuate a plurality of vehicle devices, a connection to a vehicle access device, and a cellular modem enabling transmission of vehicle data and receipt of programming via cellular networks; a fleet management system including a processor for receiving data from fleet vehicle telematics control units, associating each telematics unit and the data received therefrom with a specific fleet vehicle, and if the telematics vehicle specific programming on a particular telematics control unit does not match the make and model of the specific vehicle, transmitting vehicle specific programming matching the make and model of the specific vehicle to the associated particular telematics control unit; an application module associated with the fleet management system enabling the remote selection of a desired vehicle operational mode for a particular telematics control unit in a particular fleet vehicle from said plurality of available vehicle operational modes, wherein selection of a vehicle operational mode different from the vehicle operational mode with which the particular telematics control unit is programmed causes the fleet management system to transmit new programming associated with the selected operational mode from the management system to the particular telematics control unit in the selected fleet vehicle, such that, after transmission of the new programming, the selected vehicle and its particular telematics control unit may be operated in accordance with such selected operational mode without removal of the particular telematics control unit from the selected vehicle.