Abstract:
A method and system for customer incentives awards calling minutes for wireless telephone service based on the geographic location and the products and services provided to a vehicle. Illustrative examples include, but are not limited to, a user requesting calling minute awards based on a purchased service and a vehicle location at the time of purchase, a telematics service center automatically awarding minutes based on triggers generated by sensors within the telematics unit, and a telematics unit autonomously awarding hands-free minutes based on triggers generated by sensors and vehicle location.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    One of the fastest growing areas of communications technology is related to automobile network solutions. Many new American vehicles will have some level of telematics service, and with the increasing number and variety of these services, the opportunities for synergy and cross-marketing between telematics providers and other merchants have grown. 
         [0002]    Although it is desirable to cross-market between telematics providers and other merchants such as service stations, it has traditionally been difficult to link appropriate rewards with qualifying purchases. For example, in a more traditional context, a user may send in a rebate form or meet and report a mileage threshold to link purchases and incentives, but in the context of telematics, these traditional solutions break down because of inherent delays and complications to the user. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The invention provides a method and system to award minutes for wireless telephone service or other incentives based on the geographic location at the time of a purchase and the identity of the products and services provided to a vehicle. Examples of the disclosed principles include, but are not limited to, a user requesting from a telematics service center a hands-free minute award based on vehicle location and a purchased service. Moreover, a telematics service center may automatically award hands-free minutes in keeping with the disclosed principles based on triggers generated by sensors within the telematics unit. Alternatively, the telematics unit may autonomously award hands-free minutes based on triggers generated by sensors and vehicle location. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an example communication system within which examples of the disclosed principles may be implemented; 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  illustrates a general architectural overview of a system contemplated by an exemplary implementation; 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  illustrates a general architectural overview of a system contemplated by an exemplary implementation; 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of awarding hands-free minutes when requested by a telematics service subscriber; 
           [0008]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of awarding hands-free minutes triggered by a telematics unit and verified by a telematics service center; 
           [0009]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of awarding hands-free minutes triggered and verified by a telematics unit; 
           [0010]      FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of a service center verifying awards in an HFC minutes awards program; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 8  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of a telematics unit verifying awards in an HFC minutes awards program. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    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. 
         [0013]    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. 
         [0014]    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. 
         [0015]    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 . 
         [0016]    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. 
         [0017]    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. 
         [0018]    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. 
         [0019]    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 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. 
         [0020]    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 . 
         [0021]    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. 
         [0022]    Vehicle sensors  160 , 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. 
         [0023]    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 but 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. 
         [0024]    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. 
         [0025]    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 data. 
         [0026]    In the context of the foregoing discussion, the following examples will serve to illuminate a unique Geo-Based hands-free calling (HFC) minutes awards program according to the disclosed principles. The telematics unit  114  contains a hands-free wireless phone from which a telematics service subscriber may communicate with other mobile phone users. Further, the telematics unit  114  may provide a telematics service provider with the location of the subscriber&#39;s vehicle. In addition, a telematics service provider may access sensor information from the telematics unit. Analyzing sensor information allows a telematics unit  114  or a telematics service center to determine whether certain products and services have been purchased by the subscriber. This technology allows a telematics service provider to offer a HFC minutes awards program for its subscribers. Other awards may be available to subscribers, such as, for example, subscription discounts, additional routes provided by a telematics based turn-by-turn navigation system, concierge services, and the like. 
         [0027]    A telematics service provider may choose or solicit businesses to participate in a HFC minutes awards program. Subscribers are awarded HFC minutes when the service provider can verify that a subscriber&#39;s vehicle is located at a participating business and that the subscriber has purchased a product or service from the business for the vehicle. For example,  FIG. 2  illustrates in general architectural overview  200  a system according to an exemplary implementation. In the illustrated example, ACME Oil Change Station  205  is a participating business in the HFC minutes awards program. Subscriber vehicle  102  may enter the ACME Oil Change Station for oil change service. 
         [0028]    The vehicle&#39;s telematics unit  114  may contain sensors  210 , CPU  215 , and triggers  220  that indicate to either the telematics service provider or the telematics unit itself that the vehicle purchased oil change service from ACME Oil Change Station  205 . For example, a sensor  210  may indicate that the oil pan has been largely drained and refilled. The CPU  215  may then generate a trigger  220  to notify a service center or telematics unit  114  that a potential service or product was purchased. In addition, a vehicle&#39;s telematics unit  114  provides an address or GPS location of the vehicle. Hence, the telematics unit  114  or service provider may determine that the vehicle was indeed at the ACME Oil Change Station  205  at the time of the oil change. Subsequently, after optionally verifying that the ACME Oil Change Station is a participating business in the HFC minutes awards program, the subscriber is awarded an HFC minutes award. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  illustrates a general architectural overview of a system  300  contemplated by an exemplary implementation. The disclosed principles allow a telematics service subscriber  315  to enroll in an HFC minutes awards program offered by a telematics service provider. Enrollment may be completed through a telematics service provider website from a subscriber&#39;s home  305  via a computer  310  over the Internet  320 . As a subscriber enrolls in an HFC minutes awards program, a telematics provider service center  325  gathers the subscriber information from the online enrollment form and stores the subscriber information into an HFC minutes awards database  335  containing all relevant information for the HFC minutes awards program. This may include, but not limited to, a list of participating businesses, products and services. A server  330  at the service center manages the HFC minutes awards program. A server  330  configures the telematics unit  114  of the subscriber vehicle  102  over a wireless network  340  such that a service center  330  or telematics unit  114  may award HFC minutes when a subscriber purchases products and services from participating businesses. 
         [0030]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram  400  illustrating an exemplary process of awarding hands-free minutes when requested by a telematics service subscriber. At stage  405 , a telematics service subscriber enrolls in a hands-free minutes awards program. Although  FIG. 3  illustrates a subscriber  315  enrolling into an HFC minutes awards program over the Internet  320 , this is not required in every case. Other ways to enroll into an HFC minutes awards program may include, but are not limited to, completing and mailing a paper enrollment form through the postal mail service, enrolling over a wired or wireless phone through a customer service representative or automatic voice enrollment program, enrolling through text messaging from a wireless phone, or enrolling from a customer telematics unit. 
         [0031]    At stage  410 , the telematics service provider stores customer information from a paper or electronic enrollment form into a hands-free minutes award system database. At stage  412 , a service center server  330  configures a subscriber&#39;s telematics unit  114  to indicate to the service center  330  when a sensor is triggered by a purchased service. At stage  415 , a subscriber drives a vehicle  102  containing a telematics unit  114  to a participating awards program business location such as an oil change station (See  FIG. 3 ). The subscriber may optionally request an HFC minutes award from the business location through the telematics unit  114  at stage  420 . The service center queries the telematics unit  114  at stage  422  for its address and location. At stage  425 , the telematics service center verifies that the business participates in the awards program and that the awards service was rendered. Details of the verification process are provided below with reference to  FIG. 7 . At stage  430 , the telematics service center awards the subscriber HFC minutes. Alternatively, at stage  435 , the telematics service center rejects the subscriber request because the business or service is not part of the HFC awards program. 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process  500  of awarding hands-free minutes triggered by a telematics unit and verified by a telematics service center. At stage  505 , the telematics service subscriber enrolls in a hands-free minutes awards program similar to stage  405  in  FIG. 4 . Subsequently at stage  510 , the telematics service provider stores customer information from a paper or electronic enrollment form into a hands-free minutes award system database. At stage  520 , the service center server  330  configures a subscriber&#39;s telematics unit  114  to indicate to the service center when a sensor is triggered by a purchased service. The subscriber drives a vehicle  102  containing a telematics unit  114  to a participating awards program business location such as an oil change station (See  FIG. 3 ) at stage  522 , and a service or product such as an oil change (See  FIG. 3 ) is purchased from the business. At stage  525 , a vehicle sensor generates a trigger indicating that a service has been rendered that is potentially from the HFC minutes awards program. At stage  530 , the telematics unit  114  calls the service center with the sensor information from the trigger. Subsequently at stage  535 , the service center queries the telematics unit  114  for its address and location. At stage  537  the service center verifies the HFC minutes award, as discussed in greater detail hereinafter with reference to  FIG. 7 . If the service center verifies the award  540 , then it awards the subscriber HFC minutes. Otherwise, at stage  542 , the service center rejects the award. 
         [0033]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram  600  illustrating an exemplary process of awarding hands-free minutes triggered and verified by a telematics unit. At stage  605 , the telematics service subscriber enrolls in a hands-free minutes awards program similar to stage  405  in  FIG. 4 . The telematics service provider stores customer information from a paper or electronic enrollment form into a hands-free minutes award system database at stage  610 . At stage  620 , the service center server  330  configures the subscriber&#39;s telematics unit  114  to indicate to the telematics unit when a sensor is triggered by a purchased service. In addition, the server  330  configures the telematics unit to verify the address and location of the subscriber vehicle when a sensor is triggered by providing it with a list of participating business in the HFC minutes awards program. At stage  622 , a subscriber drives the vehicle  102  containing a telematics unit  114  to a participating awards program business location such as an oil change station (See  FIG. 3 ). A service or product such as an oil change (See  FIG. 3 ) is then purchased from the business. At stage  625 , a vehicle sensor generates a trigger indicating that a service has been rendered that is potentially associated with the HFC minutes awards program. At stage  627 , the telematics unit  114  verifies the award. Details of the verification process are described hereinafter with reference to  FIG. 8 . If the telematics unit  114  verifies the award  630 , then it awards the subscriber HFC minutes. Otherwise, at stage  635 , the telematics unit rejects the award. 
         [0034]      FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process  700  of a service center verifying awards in an HFC minutes awards program. The method shown in  FIG. 7  corresponds to, but does not limit, stages  425  and  537  of  FIGS. 4-5  respectively. At stage  705 , the service center checks the awards system database to determine whether the customer is enrolled in the awards program. The service center gathers information from a vehicle sensor such as an oil level sensor by communicating with a telematics unit  114  at stage  710 . At stage  715 , the service center identifies a product or service purchased by the subscriber by analyzing the sensor information. At stage  715 , using the address and GPS location information given by the telematics unit  114 , the service center identifies the business offering the service or product, e.g., ACME Oil Change Station (See  FIG. 3 ). At stage  720 , the service center determines whether the business and service participate in the hands-free calling minutes awards program by checking the awards program database. 
         [0035]      FIG. 8  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process  800  of a telematics unit verifying awards in an HFC minutes awards program. The method shown in  FIG. 8  corresponds to, but does not limit, stage  627  in  FIG. 6 . At stage  805  a telematics unit  114  gathers information from a sensor such as the vehicle oil level sensor. At stage  810 , the telematics unit  114  determines whether a product or service such as an oil change has been purchased by the subscriber by analyzing sensor information. At stage  815 , the telematics unit  114  determines the location of the vehicle based on its address and GPS location such as the ACME Oil Change Station (See  FIG. 3 ). At stage  820 , the telematics unit  114  determines whether the business and product or service participate in the hands-free calling minutes awards program based on the information given to it by the service center during configuration. 
         [0036]    It will be appreciated that a new and useful system for facilitating a hands-free calling award program has been described. In light of the disclosed principles, variations of illustrated examples may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. 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. 
         [0037]    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. 
         [0038]    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.