Patent ID: 8635091

Claim:
A system for providing telematics information from a vehicle having a vehicle computer, comprising: a holder, having an onboard diagnostics (OBD) port connector and a dataport connector communicatively coupled to the OBD port connector, configured to maintain a portable personal communications device capable of voice and data communication via a cellular phone network in a stable position and a stable orientation with respect to the vehicle; and a portable personal communications device capable of voice and data communication via a cellular phone network, comprising: a telematics sensor, a dataport, coupled to the dataport connector for communicating with the vehicle computer a processor; and a memory, storing computer executable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive telematics data from at least one of the telematics sensor and the vehicle computer; determine an orientation of the telematics sensor with respect to the vehicle based on the portable personal communications device being maintained in the holder in the stable position and the stable orientation with respect to the vehicle; and responsive to determining that the portable personal communications device is in the holder, transmit via a cellular phone network data indicative of the telematics data and the determined orientation from the portable personal communications device to a remotely located computer.