Patent ID: 8779947

Claim:
A vehicle-related messaging method, comprising: by a telematics unit operatively disposed in a vehicle, detecting that the vehicle is no longer in operation; upon detecting that the vehicle is no longer in operation, by the telematics unit, automatically transmitting a message to a device, the message including a suggestion, a recommendation, an indication, or a notification pertaining to a vehicle utility; and by an application resident on the device or on a cloud computing system in communication with the device, presenting the message on the device, the presenting including displaying i) the suggestion, the recommendation, the indication, or the notification and ii) a plurality of actionable items associated with the suggestion, the recommendation, the indication, or the notification, wherein the application is executable by a processor of the device or by a processor of the cloud computing system, and the application includes computer readable code, embedded on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium, for performing the presenting; wherein prior to transmitting the message to the device, the method further includes: identifying the vehicle utility, the identifying being accomplished by a processor operatively associated with the telematics unit, the processor operatively associated with the telematics unit executing computer readable code embedded on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium associated therewith; and one of: via the processor of the telematics unit, formulating the message pertaining to the identified vehicle utility; or upon receiving a note from the telematics unit including i) an indication that the vehicle is no longer in operation and ii) the identified vehicle utility, formulating the message, by the processor of the cloud computing system, pertaining to the identified vehicle utility; wherein the vehicle utility is a personal item disposed inside a vehicle interior, and wherein the identifying of the vehicle utility is accomplished by: recognizing a characteristic of an object inside the vehicle interior; and recognizing, by the processor of the telematics unit, the object as being the personal item based on the recognized characteristic of the object.