Patent ID: 8868099

Claim:
A method of including a customer-specific vehicle descriptor across a mobile communications system, comprising: receiving a request to add a vehicle nickname specified by a customer of the mobile communications system from a mobile computing platform at the vehicle, wherein the vehicle nickname is associated specifically with a vehicle; assigning the vehicle nickname to the vehicle in response to the request, by a programmable application for managing a plurality of customer-specific vehicle descriptors including one or more vehicle nicknames and vehicle identification numbers (VINs), the programmable application being operatively connected to a mobile computing platform via a network management computer, wherein the vehicle nickname is different from a VIN of the vehicle; applying the vehicle nickname system wide in the mobile communications system, wherein the vehicle nickname identifies the vehicle independent of the VIN in the mobile communications system; and detecting reconnection between a power cable and a mobile application server via a power cable disconnect detect circuit of the mobile computing platform operatively connected to the mobile application server, wherein upon detecting reconnection, the mobile application server prompts a user to enter a new vehicle nickname.