Abstract:
The disclosed system and method provide a mechanism for facilitating a conference call between a telematics subscriber and third parties through a call center. In one aspect, vehicle data may be uploaded data from the telematics unit while maintaining the conference call. The uploaded data may contain GPS location of the vehicle to assist a requester in locating and assisting the vehicle occupant.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     One of the fastest growing areas of communications technology is related to automobile network solutions. Many new cars, especially in developed nations, now have some level of telematics service, and with the increasing number and variety of these services, demands on telematics service call centers have also grown. 
     Typically, a vehicle telematics unit allows communication of voice and data between the vehicle and a remote entity such as another subscriber, emergency response personnel, or a call center. With respect to the latter, a telematics service provider allows a telematics customer service representative to call a vehicle owner or telematics subscriber through the telematics unit to assist the subscriber with its telematics services. Further, a customer service representative may be notified when the subscriber is involved in vehicle accident to assess the need for safety personnel. In addition, a third party may need to locate a subscriber. For example, a relative or emergency response personnel may need to locate a subscriber with known health problems or a potentially dangerous or incapacitating medical condition. 
     The requester in this case may call a telematics service provider to request that they locate the subscriber. The customer service representative is able to locate the vehicle and communicate with the subscriber. However, the requester cannot communicate directly with the subscriber. In another example, the customer service representative may desire to allow safety personnel to communicate directly with a medically impaired subscriber. Again, however, this has not traditionally been possible. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Within a system that implements the described principles, a telematics customer service representative can create a multi-party conference call between themselves, a requester, and a subscriber. In addition, in keeping with the disclosed principles and examples, a telematics customer service representative may simultaneously upload GPS data from the telematics unit to provide safety personnel the location of the subscriber while maintaining the conference call. 
     More generally, in one aspect the disclosed principles allow a requester (e.g. subscriber relative, friend, safety personnel, etc.) to conference call a vehicle occupant in a telematics unit equipped vehicle assisted by a telematics customer service representative. The term “requester” as used herein indicates a third party aide from the subscriber and the call center representative, and may include parties who receive a call without having actually requested such. In addition, in another aspect the disclosed system allows a customer service representative to upload data from the telematics unit while maintaining a conference call. The uploaded data may contain, for example, GPS location data for the vehicle to aid a requester in finding and assisting the vehicle. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a communication system within which examples of the present invention may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for establishing a conference call between a vehicle occupant, customer service representative, and requester; and 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a general architectural overview of a system contemplated by an exemplary implementation. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Before describing the invention in detail, an exemplary environment in which the invention may operate will be described. It will be appreciated that the described environment is for purposes of illustration only, and does not imply any limitation regarding the use of other environments to practice the invention. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1  there is shown an example of a communication system  100  that may be used with the present method and generally includes a vehicle  102 , a wireless carrier system  104 , a land network  106  and a call center  108 . It should be appreciated that the overall architecture, setup and operation, as well as the individual components of a system such as that shown here are generally known in the art. Thus, the following paragraphs simply provide a brief overview of one such exemplary information system  100 ; however, other systems not shown here could employ the present method as well. 
     Vehicle  102  is preferably a mobile vehicle such as a motorcycle, car, truck, recreational vehicle (RV), boat, plane, etc., and is equipped with suitable hardware and software that enables it to communicate over system  100 . Some of the vehicle hardware  110  is shown generally in  FIG. 1  including a telematics unit  114 , a microphone  116 , a speaker  118  and buttons and/or controls  120  connected to the telematics unit  114 . Operatively coupled to the telematics unit  114  is a network connection or vehicle bus  122 . Examples of suitable network connections 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, to name a few. 
     The telematics unit  114  is an onboard device that provides a variety of services through its communication with the call center  108 , and generally includes an electronic processing device  128  one or more types of electronic memory  130 , a cellular chipset/component  124 , a wireless modem  126 , a dual antenna  160  and a navigation unit containing a GPS chipset/component  132 . In one example, the wireless modem  126  is comprised of a computer program and/or set of software routines executing within processing device  128 . 
     The telematics unit  114  provides too many services to list them all, but several examples include: turn-by-turn directions and other navigation-related services provided in conjunction with the GPS based chipset/component  132 ; airbag deployment notification and other emergency or roadside assistance-related services provided in connection with various crash and or collision sensor interface modules  156  and sensors  158  located throughout the vehicle. Infotainment-related services where music, Web pages, movies, television programs, video games and/or other content is downloaded by an infotainment center  136  operatively connected to the telematics unit  114  via vehicle bus  122  and audio bus  112 . In one example, downloaded content is stored for current or later playback. 
     Again, the above-listed services are by no means an exhaustive list of all the capabilities of telematics unit  114 , as should be appreciated by those skilled in the art, but are simply an illustration of some of the services that the telematics unit is capable of offering. It is anticipated that telematics unit  114  include a number of known components in addition to those listed above. 
     Vehicle communications preferably use radio transmissions to establish a voice channel with wireless carrier system  104  so that both voice and data transmissions can be sent and received over the voice channel. Vehicle communications are enabled via the cellular chipset/component  124  for voice communications and a wireless modem  126  for data transmission. In order to enable successful data transmission over the voice channel, wireless modem  126  applies some type of encoding or modulation to convert the digital data so that it can communicate through a vocoder or speech codec incorporated in the cellular chipset/component  124 . Any suitable encoding or modulation technique that provides an acceptable data rate and bit error can be used with the present method. Dual mode antenna  160  services the GPS chipset/component and the cellular chipset/component. 
     Microphone  116  provides the driver or other vehicle occupant with a means for inputting verbal or other auditory commands, and can be equipped with an embedded voice processing unit utilizing a human/machine interface (HMI) technology known in the art. Conversely, speaker  118  provides verbal output to the vehicle occupants and can be either a stand-alone speaker specifically dedicated for use with the telematics unit  114  or can be part of a vehicle audio component  154 . In either event, microphone  116  and speaker  118  enable vehicle hardware  110  and call center  108  to communicate with the occupants through audible speech. The vehicle hardware also includes one or more buttons or controls  120  for enabling a vehicle occupant to activate or engage one or more of the vehicle hardware components  110 . For example, one of the buttons  120  can be an electronic push button used to initiate voice communication with the call center  108  (whether it be a live advisor  148  or an automated call response system). In another example, one of the buttons  120  can be used to initiate emergency services. 
     The audio component  154  is operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122  and the audio bus  112 . The audio component  154  receives analog information, rendering it as sound, via the audio bus  112 . Digital information is received via the vehicle bus  122 . The audio component  154  provides AM and FM radio, CD, DVD, and multimedia functionality independent of the infotainment center  136 . Audio component  154  may contain a speaker system, or may utilize speaker  118  via arbitration on vehicle bus  122  and/or audio bus  112 . 
     The vehicle crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  156  are operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122 . The crash sensors  158  provide information to the telematics unit via the crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  156  regarding the severity of a vehicle collision, such as the angle of impact and the amount of force sustained. 
     Vehicle sensors  162 , connected to various sensor interface modules  134  are operatively connected to the vehicle bus  122 . Example vehicle sensors include but are not limited to gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, emission detection and/or control sensors, and the like. Example sensor interface modules  134  include power train control, climate control, and body control, to name but a few. 
     Wireless carrier system  104  is preferably a cellular telephone system or any other suitable wireless system that transmits signals between the vehicle hardware  110  and land network  106 . According to an example, wireless carrier system  104  includes one or more cell towers  138 , base stations and/or mobile switching centers (MSCs)  140 , as well as any other networking components required to connect the wireless system  104  with land network  106 . A component in the mobile switching center may include a remote data server  180 . As appreciated by those skilled in the art, various cell tower/base station/MSC arrangements are possible and could be used with wireless system  104 . For example, a base station and a cell tower could be co-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 a few of the possible arrangements. Preferably, a speech codec or vocoder is incorporated in one or more of the base stations, but depending on the particular architecture of the wireless network, it could be incorporated within a Mobile Switching Center or some other network components as well. 
     Land network  106  can be a conventional land-based telecommunications network that is connected to one or more landline telephones and connects wireless carrier network  104  to call center  108 . For example, land network  106  can include 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 network  106  can 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. 
     Call Center (OCC)  108  is designed to provide the vehicle hardware  110  with a number of different system back-end functions and, according to the example shown here, generally includes one or more switches  142 , servers  144 , databases  146 , live advisors  148 , as well as a variety of other telecommunication and computer equipment  150  that is known to those skilled in the art. These various call center components are preferably coupled to one another via a network connection or bus  152 , such as the one previously described in connection with the vehicle hardware  110 . Switch  142 , which can be a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, routes incoming signals so that voice transmissions are usually sent to either the live advisor  148  or an automated response system, and data transmissions are passed on to a modem or other piece of equipment  150  for demodulation and further signal processing. The modem  150  preferably includes an encoder, as previously explained, and can be connected to various devices such as a server  144  and database  146 . For example, database  146  could be designed to store subscriber profile records, subscriber behavioral patterns, or any other pertinent subscriber information. Although the illustrated example has been described as it would be used in conjunction with a manned call center  108 , it will be appreciated that the call center  108  can be any central or remote facility, manned or unmanned, mobile or fixed, to or from which it is desirable to exchange voice and/or data. 
     As noted above, it has not traditionally been possible for a third party requester to communicate directly with the subscriber via conference call with the call center.  FIG. 2  is a flow diagram  200  illustrating an exemplary method for establishing a conference call between a vehicle occupant, a telematics customer service representative, and a requester. A telematics service provider may allow a subscriber&#39;s close relative or safety personnel to communicate with a vehicle occupant during emergency situations. For example, an elderly person with slight but not severe health problems may be missing for several hours. The son or daughter of the elderly person may request a telematics service provider to call the elderly person&#39;s vehicle to determine whether she is with her vehicle. A customer service representative may call the vehicle occupant and then bridge a conference call between the vehicle occupant, customer service representative, and the requester. It is to be understood that the terms live advisor  148  and customer service representative ( FIG. 3 ,  340 ) are used interchangeably. 
     At a stage  205  of the illustrated conference process  200 , a requester calls a telematics service provider call center and requests a conference call with the vehicle occupant of a telematics unit equipped vehicle. A requester may be a close relative searching for the vehicle occupant, or public safety personnel assessing the medical condition of the occupant. At a next stage  210 , the customer service representative validates the request (i.e. confirms requested subscriber&#39;s information and status) and acquires the requester&#39;s contact information. At a next stage  215 , the customer representative optionally places the requester on hold. 
     The customer service representative then places an outbound “Emergency Auto-Answer” call at stage  220  to the occupant&#39;s vehicle. As used herein an “Emergency Auto-Answer” call is an incoming call that the vehicle occupant may answer hands-free. At a next stage  225 , the customer service representative determines whether the vehicle occupant is willing to speak with the requester. If so, at a next stage  240 , the customer service representative establishes a multi-party conference call bridge including requester, customer service representative, and vehicle telematics unit, allowing the vehicle occupant and the requester to communicate with each other. Third party entities, such as, for example Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPS), emergency response personnel, and/or law enforcement agencies may be included in the conference call. 
     At a next stage  245 , the customer service representative determines whether the conference call concludes normally. If so, the process ends  260 . If not, at a next stage  250 , the customer service representative may decide to release from the call. If the customer service representative decides to release from the call, then the conference call bridge is discontinued and the multi-party conference call terminates at stage  255 . The process ends at stage  260 . 
     However, if at a stage  225 , the vehicle occupant is not willing to speak with the requester, then at a next stage  230 , the customer service representative places the vehicle occupant on-hold or terminates the call with them. At a next stage  235 , the customer service representative places the requester off hold, and informs them that the vehicle occupant does not wish to communicate with them. At stage  237 , the customer service representative optionally takes any additional steps deemed necessary or advisable in the particular circumstances and the process ends at stage  260 . The customer service representative may provide additional services to the requestor and vehicle occupant. In one example, the customer service representative may request additional services from third party entities such as a PSAP and/or law enforcement agency. Additional steps may include terminating the call with the vehicle, requestor and/or third party entity. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a general architectural overview of a system  300  contemplated by an exemplary implementation. Requester  365  calls a customer service representative  340  at a call center  335  across a landline network ( 355 ,  370 ) to locate and determine the well being of the vehicle occupant. The requester  365  may utilize other means to contact a customer service representative, such as, for example, a cellular phone. Following an exemplary method such as that shown in  FIG. 2 , the customer service representative  340  contacts the vehicle occupant across a wireless network  330 . A conference call is established between the requester  365 , customer service representative  340  and the vehicle occupant  102 , using a switch  350  at a call center and a conference call application  320  residing in the telematics unit  305 . The telematics unit may also include a network access device (NAD)  310 , CPU  315 , and GPS system  325 . 
     The switch  350  is preferably capable of handling at least four channels including a voice channel between the call center and the requester, a voice channel between the vehicle occupant and the call center, a conference call channel between multiple parties, and a data channel between the vehicle occupant and the call center. The data channel allows the customer service representative to upload location information from the telematics unit&#39;s GPS system during a conference call. It is to be understood that the data channel may be continuously active, providing persistent location information to the customer service representative. Additional data such as vehicle status and/or diagnostic trouble codes may accompany location. In one example the additional data may include an air-bag deployment indicator. In another example the additional data may include crash notification sensor information. The information may be critical to the requester, for example to locate a medically incapacitated vehicle occupant. 
     In other implementations, the following features are optionally available as well. In one aspect, the customer service representative may independently place callers on-hold or release them from on-hold condition at any time during the call. Moreover, in one optional aspect, if a customer service representative releases from the conference call, the call is immediately terminated. Further, a customer service representative may have the ability to independently disconnect (terminate) connected parties at any time. In addition, a customer service representative may independently signal any telematics unit equipped vehicles participating in the conference call to switch into “data mode” (or equivalent state) in order to acquire vehicle data (such as location) while the call is in progress. 
     All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein. 
     The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention. 
     Preferred implementations of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred implementations will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. 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.