Automatic proximity-based adjustments to energy management routines

A method is provided for energy management for a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle. The method includes: determining, by a processor, that a mobile device is co-located with the telematics unit while vehicle ignition of the vehicle is on, wherein the mobile device is registered as being associated with the telematics unit; determining, by the processor, that the vehicle ignition has been turned off; determining, by the processor, a location of the vehicle corresponding to where the vehicle ignition was turned off and determining, by the processor, a location of the mobile device; and implementing, by the processor, situation-specific energy management based on the determined location of the vehicle and the determined location of the mobile device.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle telematics systems and more particularly to automatic adjustment of post-ignition-off energy management routines for telematics units.

BACKGROUND

Telematics units within mobile vehicles provide subscribers with connectivity to a telematics service provider (TSP). The TSP provides subscribers with an array of services ranging from emergency call handling and stolen vehicle recovery to diagnostics monitoring, global navigation system aided position identification, map services, and turn-by-turn navigation assistance. Telematics units are often provisioned and activated at a point of sale when a subscriber purchases a telematics-equipped vehicle. Upon activation, the telematics unit can be utilized to provide a subscriber with telematics services such as those described herein.

When the ignition of the mobile vehicle is off, the vehicle's telematics unit is placed into different states, such as a standby state, a discontinuous-reception (DRx) state having DRx cycles, and a powered-down state. Vehicle hardware, such as a telematics unit, may be placed into the standby state or DRx state to minimize power drain on the vehicle battery while maintaining at least partial availability for communication.

While the telematics unit is in a standby state, the network access device (NAD) of the telematics unit is active and able to receive wireless communications. While the telematics unit is in a DRx state, DRx cycles occur that include times where the NAD is off and unable to receive wireless communications, as well as times where the NAD is on and able to receive commands wirelessly. During standby and DRx periods, service requests—such as maintenance and diagnostic functions, system updates, vehicle position determination, unlocking of the doors, or vehicle alarm silencing—may be sent to the telematics unit when the NAD is on, and the telematics unit communicates with and/or causes appropriate vehicle hardware to be turned on to perform the requested service. DRx cycles consume power, and after a certain amount of time, the vehicle may end the DRx period and switch the telematics unit to an off state. After being switched to an off mode, the telematics unit and other vehicle hardware becomes unavailable for communication purposes.

Conventionally, vehicles are assigned a predetermined standby and DRx schedule that they follow each time the vehicle ignition is shut off, with the vehicles and corresponding telematics unit eventually being switched to an off state where communications with the telematics unit cannot be processed after duration for the DRx state is over. However, such predetermined standby and DRx schedules do not account for the variability of user behavior and the needs of particular users in particular situations and at particular times.

The above body of information is provided for the convenience of the reader. The foregoing describes a suitable environment for which the described system and method are provided, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art.

SUMMARY

In an implementation, the invention provides a method for energy management for a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle. The method includes: determining, by a processor, that a mobile device is co-located with the telematics unit while vehicle ignition of the vehicle is on, wherein the mobile device is registered as being associated with the telematics unit; determining, by the processor, that the vehicle ignition has been turned off; determining, by the processor, a location of the vehicle corresponding to where the vehicle ignition was turned off and determining, by the processor, a location of the mobile device; and implementing, by the processor, situation-specific energy management based on the determined location of the vehicle and the determined location of the mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before discussing the details of the invention and the environment wherein the invention may be used, a brief overview is given to guide the reader. In general terms, not intended to limit the claims, systems and methods are described herein for automatically adjusting post-ignition-off energy management routines for a vehicle telematics unit based on vehicle location and/or mobile device location (of a mobile device associated with a user of the telematics unit).

An exemplary computing and network communications environment is described hereinafter. It will be appreciated that the described environment is an example, and does not imply any limitation regarding the use of other environments to practice the invention. With reference toFIG. 1there is shown an example of a communication system100that may be used with the present method and system and generally includes a vehicle102, a mobile wireless network system104, a land network106and a communications center108. It should be appreciated that the overall architecture, setup and operation, as well as the individual components of the communication system100is generally known in the art. In accordance with an illustrative example, the communication center108includes a GNSS control center109incorporating functional components facilitating over-the-air configuration of GNSS receivers integrated with/within telematics units such as a telematics unit114. Thus, the following paragraphs provide a brief overview of an exemplary communication system100. However, other systems are contemplated that are capable of incorporating the described GNSS receiver and GNSS control center functionality described herein.

The vehicle102is, for example, a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a recreational vehicle (RV), a boat, a plane, etc. The vehicle102is equipped with suitable hardware and software that configures/adapts the vehicle102to facilitate communications with the communications center108via mobile wireless communications. The vehicle102includes hardware110such as, for example, the telematics unit114, a microphone116, a speaker118and buttons and/or controls120integrated with the telematics unit114.

The telematics unit114is communicatively coupled, via a hard wire connection and/or a wireless connection, to a vehicle bus122for supporting communications between electronic components within the vehicle102. Examples of suitable network technologies for implementing the vehicle bus122in-vehicle network include a controller area network (CAN), a media oriented system transfer (MOST), a local interconnection network (LIN), an Ethernet, and other appropriate connections such as those that conform with known ISO, SAE, and IEEE standards and specifications.

The telematics unit114provides a variety of services through communications with the communications center108(or “call center”). The telematics unit114includes an electronic processor128, electronic memory130, a mobile wireless component124including a mobile wireless chipset, a dual function antenna126(both GNSS and mobile wireless signal), and a GNSS component132including a GNSS chipset. In one example, the mobile wireless component124comprises an electronic memory storing a computer program and/or set of computer-executable instruction sets/routines that are transferred to, and executed by, the processing device128. The mobile wireless component124constitutes a network access device (NAD) component of the telematics unit114. These services may also be provided via the communications center108in combination with applications executed on a mobile device, such as a smartphone, or, alternatively, via communications between the telematics unit114and a mobile device that do not involve the communications center108.

The telematics unit114provides, for users, an extensive/extensible set of services. Examples of such services include: GNSS-based mapping/location identification, turn-by-turn directions and other navigation-related services provided in conjunction with the GNSS component132; and airbag deployment notification and other emergency or roadside assistance-related services provided in connection with various crash and or collision sensor interface modules156and crash sensors158located throughout the vehicle.

GNSS navigation services are, for example, implemented based on the geographic position information of the vehicle provided by the GNSS component132. A user of the telematics unit114enters a destination, for example, using inputs associated with the GNSS component132, and a route to a destination may be calculated based on the destination address and a current position of the vehicle determined at approximately the time of route calculation. Turn-by-turn (TBT) directions may further be provided on a display screen corresponding to the GNSS component and/or through vocal directions provided through a vehicle audio component154. It will be appreciated that the calculation-related processing may occur at the telematics unit or may occur at a communications center108.

The telematics unit114also supports infotainment-related services whereby music, Web pages, movies, television programs, video games and/or other content is downloaded by an infotainment center136operatively connected to the telematics unit114via the vehicle bus122and an audio bus112. In one example, downloaded content is stored for current or later playback.

The above-listed services are by no means an exhaustive list of the current and potential capabilities of the telematics unit114, as should be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The above examples are merely a small subset of the services that the telematics unit114is capable of offering to users. For example, other service include but are not limited to: vehicle door unlocking, diagnostic monitoring, firmware/software updating, emergency or theft-related services, etc. Moreover, the telematics unit114may include a number of known components in addition to those explicitly described above.

Vehicle communications may use radio transmissions to establish a communications channel with the mobile wireless network system104so that both voice and data signals can be sent and received via the communications channel. The mobile wireless component124enables both voice and data communications via the mobile wireless network system104. The mobile wireless component124applies encoding and/or modulation functions to convert voice and/or digital data into a signal transmitted via the dual function antenna126. Any suitable encoding or modulation technique that provides an acceptable data rate and bit error can be used. The dual function antenna126handles signals for both the mobile wireless component124and the GNSS component.

The microphone116provides the driver or other vehicle occupant with a way to input verbal or other auditory commands, and can be equipped with an embedded voice processing unit utilizing human/machine interface (HMI) technology. The speaker118provides verbal output to the vehicle occupants and can be either a stand-alone speaker specifically dedicated for use with the telematics unit114or can be part of an audio component154. In either case, the microphone116and the speaker118enable the hardware110and the communications center108to communicate with occupants of the vehicle102through audible speech.

The hardware110also includes the buttons and/or controls120for enabling a vehicle occupant to activate or engage one or more components of the hardware110within the vehicle102. For example, one of the buttons and/or controls120can be an electronic push button used to initiate voice communication with the communications center108(whether it be live advisors148or an automated call response system). In another example, one of the buttons and/or controls120initiates/activates emergency services supported/facilitated by the telematics unit114.

The audio component154is operatively connected to the vehicle bus122and the audio bus112. The audio component154receives analog information via the audio bus, and renders the received analog information as sound. The audio component154receives digital information via the vehicle bus122. The audio component154provides AM and FM radio, CD, DVD, and multimedia functionality independent of the infotainment center136. The audio component154may contain a speaker system155, or may utilize the speaker118via arbitration on the vehicle bus122and/or the audio bus112.

The vehicle crash and/or collision detection sensor interface156is operatively connected to the vehicle bus122. The crash sensors158provide information to the telematics unit114via the crash and/or collision detection sensor interface156regarding the severity of a vehicle collision, such as the angle of impact and the amount of force sustained.

A set of vehicle sensors162, connected to various ones of a set of sensor interface modules134are operatively connected to the vehicle bus122. Examples of the vehicle sensors162include but are not limited to gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, emission detection and/or control sensors, and the like. Examples of the sensor interface modules134include ones for power train control, climate control, and body control.

The mobile wireless network system104is, for example, a cellular telephone network system or any other suitable wireless system that transmits signals between mobile wireless devices, such as the telematics unit114of the vehicle102, and land networks, such as the land network106. In the illustrative example, the mobile wireless network system104includes a set of cell towers138, as well as base stations and/or mobile switching centers (MSCs)140, as well as other networking components facilitating/supporting communications between the mobile wireless network system104with the land network106. For example, the MSCs140may include remote data servers.

As appreciated by those skilled in the art, the mobile wireless network system includes various cell tower/base station/MSC arrangements. For example, a base station and a cell tower could be located at the same site or they could be remotely located, and a single base station could be coupled to various cell towers or various base stations could be coupled with a single MSC, to name but a few of the possible arrangements.

Land network106can be, for example, a conventional land-based telecommunications network connected to one or more landline end node devices (e.g., telephones) and connects the mobile wireless network system104to the communications center108. For example, land network106includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or an Internet protocol (IP) network, as is appreciated by those skilled in the art. Of course, one or more segments of the land network106can be implemented in the form of a standard wired network, a fiber or other optical network, a cable network, other wireless networks such as wireless local networks (WLANs) or networks providing broadband wireless access (BWA), or any combination thereof.

The communications center108is configured to provide a variety of back-end services and application functionality to the hardware110. The communications center108includes, by way of example, network switches142, servers144, databases146, live advisors148, as well as a variety of other telecommunications equipment150(including modems) and computer/communications equipment known to those skilled in the art. These various call center components are, for example, coupled to one another via a network link152(e.g., a physical local area network bus and/or a wireless local network, etc.). Switch142, which can be a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, routes incoming signals so that voice transmissions are, in general, sent to either the live advisors148or an automated response system, and data transmissions are passed on to a modem or other component of the telecommunications equipment150for processing (e.g., demodulation and further signal processing).

The telecommunications equipment150includes, for example, an encoder, and can be communicatively connected to various devices such as the servers144and the databases146. For example, the databases146comprise computer hardware and stored programs configured to store subscriber profile records, subscriber behavioral patterns, and other pertinent subscriber information. Although the illustrated example has been described as it would be used in conjunction with a manned version of the communications center108, it will be appreciated that the communications center108can be any of a variety of suitable central or remote facilities, which are manned/unmanned and mobile/fixed facilities, to or from which it is desirable to exchange voice and data.

It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the execution of the various machine-implemented processes and steps described herein may occur via the computerized execution of computer-executable instructions stored on a tangible computer-readable medium, e.g., RAM, ROM, PROM, volatile, nonvolatile, or other electronic memory mechanism. Thus, for example, the operations performed by the telematics unit may be carried out according to stored instructions and/or applications installed on the telematics unit, and operations performed at the communications center may be carried out according to stored instructions and/or applications installed at the communications center.

With further reference to the exemplary environment100illustrated inFIG. 1, and turning more specifically toFIG. 2, a simplified diagram200is depicted that illustrates components and devices that are specifically relevant to describing the general principles of exemplary implementations of the invention. These exemplary implementations of the invention relate to, for example, operations involving a telematics unit114and a mobile device205, operations involving a telematics unit114and a server or other computing device207, and/or operations involving a telematics unit114and a mobile device205facilitated by a server or other computing device207.

In an exemplary server-based implementation, the telematics unit114communicates with a server207to inform the server207as to status (including location) of a telematics-equipped vehicle, to receive information regarding status of a mobile device205(the mobile device also informs the server of its status, including location), and to receive notifications to implement and/or adjust certain energy management routines (i.e., energy management control is provided by the server). In one particular example, the telematics unit and NAD wake up periodically during a DRx mode (e.g., at an interval somewhere between every 3 minutes and every 30 minutes), and upon waking up, the telematics unit registers with the network, queries the server about the location of the mobile device, and the telematics unit is then instructed to modify its energy management routine accordingly by the server. The mobile device updates the server as to its position periodically or on an event-driven basis (e.g., triggered by a significant change in position or a significant change in proximity to the last known location of the vehicle).

In an exemplary mobile device-based implementation, the telematics unit114communicates with an application executed on the mobile device205to inform the mobile device205of the telematics unit's status (including location) and corresponding vehicle's status (e.g., ignition on or off), to receive information regarding location of the mobile device205, and to receive notifications to implement and/or adjust certain energy management routines (i.e., energy management control is provided by the mobile device application).

In yet another exemplary implementation, the telematics unit114determines whether to implement and/or adjust certain energy management routines based on mobile device location information received from the mobile device205or a server207, and further based on other information determined by the telematics unit114, including but not limited to other information received by or stored at the telematics unit114(i.e., energy management control is provided by the telematics unit itself).

Additionally, inFIG. 2, the telematics unit114, mobile device205, and server or other computing device207are depicted as communicating via a wireless network203. It will be appreciated that wireless network203may be any type of wireless communications network, such as those discussed above with respect to element104ofFIG. 1. Also, inFIG. 2, the telematics unit114is shown as comprising the network access device (NAD)124as well as a “telematics control unit” (TCU)201. It will be appreciated that, in the context of the present disclosure, a “TCU” of a telematics unit as referred to herein comprises processing and memory components of a telematics unit (including, for example, components of the telematics unit that communicate with other vehicle components via a vehicle bus), but a “TCU” does not include the NAD of the telematics unit.

FIG. 3is an exemplary plot300that illustrates the standby state301, DRx state310, and Off state320for a telematics unit. In this example, after the vehicle's ignition is turned off, the telematics unit enters a standby state301for a period of time where the telematics unit is available for communications and capable of receiving commands. During the period of time corresponding to the standby state301, the NAD of the telematics unit is on. At a later point in time, the telematics unit enters the DRx state310, and for a period of time corresponding to the DRx state310, the telematics unit cycles between being available for communications and being unavailable for communications. Each DRx cycle includes an on duration311(where at least the NAD of the telematics unit is on and capable of receiving communications) and an off duration312(where the NAD of the telematics unit is off and not capable of receiving communications). Eventually, the telematics unit enters an Off state320, where the NAD of the telematics unit is off and unavailable for communications. The telematics unit remains in the Off state320indefinitely until the vehicle ignition is turned back on (or some other triggering event occurs to bring the telematics unit out of the Off state320).

According to certain exemplary implementation of the invention, while the telematics unit is in the DRx state310, the telematics unit is synchronized with mobile devices or servers that wish to communicate with the telematics unit such that the mobile devices or servers can determine when the NAD of the telematics unit will be on and will only send commands during those time windows while the telematics unit is in the DRx state310. For example, in one implementation, a mobile device that needs to send a command to the telematics unit but knows that the telematics unit is in the DRx state310will send the command at a particular time (e.g., between a time corresponding to xx:xx:00 and xx:xx:10 (hh:mm:ss format)) corresponding to a particular time at which the NAD of the telematics unit will be on according to the configuration of the DRx state for the telematics unit.

It will be appreciated that, at any time during this exemplary post-ignition-off energy management schedule, if the vehicle ignition is turned back on, the telematics unit breaks from the schedule and enters an “awake” state independent from the schedule. And, upon another ignition-off event, and the post-ignition-off energy schedule will start over from the beginning (assuming the vehicle battery was able to be charged in full while the ignition was on; if not, the post-ignition-off energy schedule may start from some intermediate point in the schedule to account for the level of charge in the battery).

It will further be appreciated thatFIG. 3is merely an example of post-ignition-off telematics unit energy management. For example, in another implementation, there may be no standby state301at all, and after vehicle ignition off, the telematics unit may immediately transition to a DRx state310or to an Off state320. Often, vehicles are designed taking into account the fact that there are a number of vehicle components that draw energy from the vehicle battery while the vehicle ignition is off, and such components, such as a telematics unit, are allocated an energy budget. Various combinations of lengths for the standby state period and the DRx state period (as well as the length for each on-portion of a DRx cycle and the period of time corresponding to a DRx cycle) may satisfy the criteria imposed by the energy budget, and a particular default post-ignition-off energy management schedule comprising a standby state period and/or a DRx state period may be selected based on generally-expected user needs.

Implementations of the invention provide for automatic determination and/or adjustment to provide situation-specific post-ignition-off energy management. In certain exemplary implementations, the invention provides for selection of a particular type of post-ignition-off energy management schedule (e.g., “normal”, “extended”, or “abbreviated” as discussed in further detail below) based on vehicle location information and/or mobile device information, as well as providing for adjustment of the selected post-ignition-off energy management schedule (e.g., by selecting a different schedule type) based on monitoring mobile device location information. In other certain exemplary implementations, the invention provides for implementation of a particular post-ignition-off energy management schedule based on a particular determined situation (or implementation of a default post-ignition-off energy management schedule), followed by subsequent adjustments to that schedule based on updated situation information.

Turning now toFIG. 4, an exemplary process400is depicted corresponding to a particular exemplary implementation for post-ignition-off telematics unit energy management. At stage401, a mobile device, for example the mobile device of a user of the telematics unit, is registered as corresponding to the telematics unit. Storage of this registration information may be implemented at the telematics unit itself, the mobile device, or a server or some other computing device. It will be appreciated that more than one mobile device may be registered as corresponding to a telematics unit, and that registration records (and in certain implementations, behavior and location information) may be stored for each mobile device.

Registration of a mobile device with the telematics unit facilitates the provision of situation-specific post-ignition-off energy management an energy management platform (carried out by the mobile device, by the telematics unit, by a server, or by some combination thereof). Based on mobile device location information determined by the mobile device and vehicle location information determined by the telematics unit, a co-location determination that the registered mobile device co-located with the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling is made at stage403(e.g., by determining that the mobile device and the vehicle are traveling according to a similar pattern for at least a certain period of time). The knowledge that the registered mobile device is co-located with the vehicle up to and at the point at which the vehicle ignition is turned off at stage405allows for personalized situation-specific implementation and adjustment of energy management procedures at stage409(as well as behavior learning at stage420).

Specifically, in this exemplary process400, after it is determined that the mobile device is co-located with the vehicle up to the point of vehicle ignition being turned off at stage405, a determination is made as to the vehicle's position when the vehicle is turned off at stage407. Additionally, further monitoring of the mobile device location may be performed at stage407to determine whether the mobile device is proximate to the vehicle or not (i.e., whether the mobile device is within a certain distance of the vehicle). Based on these determinations at stage407, an appropriate energy management procedure specifically suited to the particular situation is implemented, and may further be adjusted based on updates to the mobile device's proximity to the vehicle. The energy management procedure may or may not be adjusted during implementation, and is implemented until the vehicle ignition is turned on at stage411(or until some other triggering event occurs). The process400may then be repeated for the registered mobile device with respect to co-location determination at stage403and the other subsequent steps.

The process400may be better understood in combination with the exemplary outcomes shown in the flowchart500ofFIG. 5. Flowchart500begins with an ignition off event at stage501. In this example, whether it was determined that the mobile device was co-located with the vehicle during travel and up to the point of ignition off at stage501(stage503) affects how the energy management platform will implement energy management procedures for the telematics unit of the vehicle.

In the case that the mobile device was co-located with the vehicle, the energy management platform uses specific information corresponding to the mobile device for providing personalized situation-specific energy management. In this example, the energy management platform has “home” and/or “work” location information corresponding to the registered mobile device. When it is determined that the vehicle's ignition was turned off while at home or at work (stage505), the telematics unit executes an “abbreviated” energy management routine based on this information where, in one example, during the DRx state, the NAD of the telematics unit cycles between being on and off while the TCU of the telematics unit stays in a powered on state (this is in contrast to a “normal” energy management procedure where during the DRx state, the TCU stays powered down, and consumes more energy than the “normal” energy management procedure). The “abbreviated” energy management routine may further utilize shorter DRx cycles for the DRx state, as well as utilizing a relatively longer standby period relative to the “normal” energy management routine.

The energy management platform makes the determination that the vehicle is at a home location or work location corresponding to the user's mobile device based on stored information corresponding to the user. This information may be input into the storage system, for example, by the user or some other entity, or may be learned based on the behavior learning at stage420. For example, using machine-learning algorithms, the energy management platform tracks behavior corresponding to a registered mobile device after determining that the registered mobile device is co-located with the vehicle at stage403, and based on frequency and timing of travel, identifies the home and work locations corresponding to the registered mobile device (or, alternatively, identifies these locations as frequently visited locations corresponding to particular times).

This “abbreviated” energy management routine is particularly advantageous when the user is proximate to the vehicle and during periods when the user is likely to need to use the vehicle. For example, on a weekday morning when a user is about to commute to work, and the user wishes to use a mobile device application to unlock the doors to the vehicle and start the engine of the vehicle, it is advantageous for the TCU to already be on to implement those commands so as to avoid delay caused by booting up the TCU. For similar reason, it is advantageous to use shorter DRx cycles and/or a longer standby state period.

Accordingly, implementing the “abbreviated” energy management routine at stage509may further be conditioned on the user being proximate to the vehicle. In one exemplary implementation, a user having a co-located registered mobile device turns the vehicle ignition off after reaching a work location (stage405), but then later leaves the work location. Initially, the location of the vehicle is determined to be at work (stage407) and the location of the registered mobile device is determined to be proximate to the vehicle (stage407), and thus the energy management platform causes the telematics unit to execute “abbreviated” energy management (stage509). Later, through monitoring of the location of the registered mobile device, the energy management platform determines that the mobile device position is no longer proximate to the vehicle location (e.g., more than x miles away) and adjusts the energy management routine by changing it to the “normal” energy management routine (or, in certain implementations, by changing it to the “extended” energy management routine, for example if the mobile device is determined to be y miles away where y is greater than x).

In a further implementation, implementing the “abbreviated” energy management routine at stage509may further be based on the timing of the user's past behavior (as learned by the energy management platform at stage420). In an example, the registered mobile device arrives at the work location at 9:00 am and leaves at around 5:00 pm each weekday. The energy management platform has learned this behavior at stage420based on the registered mobile device being co-located with the vehicle, and imposed an additional condition where the “abbreviated” energy management routine is to be implemented when the vehicle location is at work, when the user is proximate, and between 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm on weekdays (since this corresponds to a time where it is likely that the user of the mobile device will want to access his or her vehicle). Thus, when the vehicle arrives at the work location at 9:00 am on a weekday with the co-located registered mobile device, the energy management platform does not implement the “abbreviated” energy management routine but rather implements, for example, the “normal” or “extended” energy management routine until 4:30 pm. At 4:30 pm, the energy management platform then adjusts the energy management routine by changing it to the “abbreviated” energy management routine (assuming the mobile device location is proximate at that time). It will be appreciated that the foregoing example is intended to be exemplary, and that one skilled in the art could vary the implementation details of an energy management process without departing from the inventive principles described herein.

In a further implementation, adjustments of the energy management routine may be made based on an expected return time at which the energy management platform expects the user of the mobile device to go to the vehicle (e.g., based on machine learning and/or the user's work schedule). When the user does not return to the vehicle at the expected time (e.g., if the user stays late at work), the energy management routine which was in an “abbreviated” mode based on the user being at work may be adjusted to go into the “normal” mode (e.g., at a point of the “normal” energy management routine based on the remaining energy left when the energy management platform switches the telematics unit from the “abbreviated” mode to the “normal” mode).

In another further implementation, transitions between different modes of energy management routines may be based on other factors as well, such as the vehicle battery state of charge falling below a threshold. The threshold may be dynamically adjusted based on parameters such as battery age, outside temperature, total capacity, etc. For example, if use of the “abbreviated” energy management routine while the user is at work consumes energy at a particularly fast rate under the present conditions (e.g., for an old battery on a hot day), the energy management platform may set the threshold to be higher and transition to a “normal” or even “extended” energy management routine while the user is at work to prevent the “abbreviated” energy management routine that would otherwise have been used from excessively depleting the vehicle battery.

In another example, if at stage407, the vehicle's location is determined to be an airport (or other transit center), and the co-located mobile device is at some point determined to be not proximate to the vehicle (e.g., more than a certain distance away), the telematics unit implements an “extended” energy management routine (stage507). In one example, the “extended” energy management routine provides for DRx cycles with longer periods and smaller duty cycles (i.e., to extend the length at which the telematics unit can remain in a DRx state for a given energy budget), and may further include shortening or eliminating of a standby state. If a user of a registered mobile device co-located with the vehicle travels to an airport, turns off the vehicle ignition, and then gets on a plane and flies to a location that is far away, it is not likely that the user will need to use the vehicle or any telematics-related operations associated with the vehicle in the near future. Accordingly, based on the determination that the vehicle is at the airport and that the registered mobile device is far away, the energy management platform determines that implementation of the “extended” energy management routine is appropriate for this situation.

In other situations, the energy management routine implements a “normal” or default energy management routine that is not specific to a particular situation and may be optimized based on a particular user's or users in general's behavior patterns (stage511). This “normal” or default energy management routine is also used there is no registered mobile device co-located with the vehicle when the vehicle ignition is turned off (stage503), as the energy management platform may not have enough information regarding who was in the vehicle in this case to implement a personalized or situation-specific energy management routine.

In further implementations of the invention, personalized and situation-specific adjustment/implementation of energy management routines involves more than just selecting between “abbreviated,” “normal,” and “extended” energy management routines. For example, parameters—including but not limited to overall duration of standby state period; overall duration of DRx state period; length of the on-portion of a DRx cycle; length of the off-portion of a DRx cycle; length of a DRx cycle; powered on/off status of the TCU of the telematics unit (or other telematics unit components and/or vehicle components)—may each be dynamically adjusted to fit a particular set of circumstances. For example, a sliding scale may be used that adjusts the length of the standby state period inversely proportionally to the distance away from the vehicle of a registered mobile device. Further, some combination of these different approaches could also be used—for example, implementing the “extended” energy management routine and then adjusting the length of the standby state period just for the “extended” energy management routine based on the degree of how far the registered mobile device is from the vehicle.

In certain alternate implementations of the invention, co-location determination (and even mobile device registration) may not be necessary for situation-specific energy management. In one example, the energy management platform responds to a determination that the vehicle is turned off in a long-term parking area of an airport by implementing an “extended” energy management routine regardless of whether it previously determined a registered mobile device was co-located with the vehicle during travel or not. In another example, the energy management platform responds to a determination that the vehicle is turned off while located at a restaurant by implementing an “abbreviated” energy management routine regardless of whether it previously determined a registered mobile device was co-located with the vehicle during travel or not. It will be appreciated that these implementations may stand alone with the previously described implementations involving co-location and registration, or may be combined with those previously described implementations (e.g., by adding additional hypothetical outcome branches to be added to the flowchart500ofFIG. 5based on particular sets of circumstances).

In yet another alternative exemplary implementation, a determination as to proximity of a registered mobile device that is co-located with the vehicle during travel is all that is needed to determine whether to use the “abbreviated,” “normal,” or “extended” energy management routine (in contrast to using specific identifications of location or identifications of frequently-visited locations in the past). For example, after determining that a registered mobile device is co-located at stage403and turning the vehicle ignition off at stage405, implementation and/or adjustment of the energy management routine (at stage409) is based only on how far the mobile device is determined to be from the determined vehicle position at ignition off. Thus, for example, as the registered mobile device moves from being at the parked ignition-off vehicle to a distance far away from the parked ignition-off vehicle, and then back again, the energy management platform implements “abbreviated,” “normal,” “extended,” “normal,” and then “abbreviated” energy management routines in that order as the registered mobile device traverses each distance threshold on the way out and back.

In an exemplary implementation, the “abbreviated” energy management routine includes the telematics unit running, with the NAD listening according to a DRx mode allowed by a wireless standard utilized by a wireless provider; the “normal” energy management routine includes the telematics unit powered down, with the NAD listening according to a DRx mode allowed by the wireless standard; and the “extended” energy management routine includes the telematics unit powered down, with the NAD listening according to a DRx mode where the NAD listens less often than is allowed by the wireless standard. As such, the “extended” energy management routine may violate the wireless provider's policies and be prohibited by the wireless provider, as the wireless network is expecting the NAD to listen for pages at agreed-upon time. This may cause potential network issues when the NAD is paged at a time where the NAD is not listening since the network will use additional resources to try and broadcast the page if the page fails. However, because implementations of the invention synchronize paging of the NAD with the entities that will be paging the NAD, as discussed above, these potential network issues should be virtually non-existent (regardless of whether the energy management intelligence is implemented at a server, at a telematics unit, or on a mobile device, as discussed above).

It will thus be appreciated that the described systems and methods allow for efficient implementations and adjustment of post-ignition-off energy management routines with respect to telematics units. It will also be appreciated, however, that the foregoing methods and implementations are merely examples of the inventive principles, and that these illustrate only preferred techniques.

It is thus contemplated that other implementations of the invention may differ in detail from foregoing examples. As such, all references to the invention are intended to reference the particular example of the invention being discussed at that point in the description and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the invention more generally. All language of distinction and disparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate a lack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from the scope of the invention entirely unless otherwise indicated.

Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.