U.S. patent application number 14/148301 was filed with the patent office on 2015-07-09 for method and apparatus for application data transport handling.
This patent application is currently assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC. The applicant listed for this patent is Ford Global Technologies, LLC. Invention is credited to Philip Joseph Danne, Joey Ray Grover.
Application Number | 20150195859 14/148301 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53443242 |
Filed Date | 2015-07-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150195859 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Grover; Joey Ray ; et
al. |
July 9, 2015 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR APPLICATION DATA TRANSPORT HANDLING
Abstract
A system includes a processor configured to receive
communication requests from a plurality of applications executing
on a remote device, requesting communication with a vehicle
computing system (VCS). The processor is also configured to save an
identifier for each requesting application. The processor is
further configured to establish a single communication channel to
handle the communication requests. Also, the processor is
configured to order the communication requests for delivery and
relay data requests from the applications to the VCS over the
identified transport format.
Inventors: |
Grover; Joey Ray; (Madison
Heights, MI) ; Danne; Philip Joseph; (Royal Oak,
MI) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Ford Global Technologies, LLC |
Dearborn |
MI |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Ford Global Technologies,
LLC
Dearborn
MI
|
Family ID: |
53443242 |
Appl. No.: |
14/148301 |
Filed: |
January 6, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/41.1 ;
455/41.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 4/80 20180201; H04W
76/11 20180201; H04W 76/12 20180201; H04W 84/18 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 76/02 20060101
H04W076/02; H04W 4/00 20060101 H04W004/00 |
Claims
1. A system comprising: a processor configured to: receive
communication requests from a plurality of applications executing
on a remote device, requesting communication with a vehicle
computing system (VCS); save an identifier for each requesting
application; establish a single communication channel to handle
communication requests; order the communication requests for
delivery; and relay data requests, including the identifier saved
for the application originating the request, from the applications
to the VCS over the communication channel.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication channel
includes an rfcomm channel.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication channel
includes near field communication.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication channel
includes includes WiFi.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication channel
includes includes Bluetooth.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
establish communication over the communication channel following a
data delivery request.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to
establish communication over the communication channel prior to a
data delivery request.
8. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving
communication requests from a plurality of applications executing
on a remote device, requesting communication with a vehicle
computing system (VCS); saving an identifier for each requesting
application; establishing a single communication channel to handle
communication requests; ordering the communication requests for
delivery; and relaying data requests, including the identifier
saved for the application originating the request, from the
applications to the VCS over the communication channel.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication channel
includes an rfcomm channel.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication channel
includes near field communication.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication channel
includes includes WiFi.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication channel
includes includes Bluetooth.
13. The method of claim 8, further comprising establishing
communication over the communication channel following a data
delivery request.
14. The method of claim 8, further comprising establishing
communication over the communication channel prior to a data
delivery request.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing
instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the
processor to perform a method comprising: receiving communication
requests from a plurality of applications executing on a remote
device, requesting communication with a vehicle computing system
(VCS); saving an identifier for each requesting application;
establishing a single communication channel to handle communication
requests; ordering the communication requests for delivery; and
relaying data requests, including the identifier saved for the
application originating the request, from the applications to the
VCS over the communication channel.
16. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication
channel includes an rfcomm channel.
17. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication
channel includes near field communication.
18. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication
channel includes includes WiFi.
19. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication
channel includes includes Bluetooth.
20. The storage medium of claim 15, further comprising establishing
communication over the communication channel prior to a data
delivery request.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The illustrative embodiments generally relate to a method
and apparatus for application data transport handling.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Vehicle computing systems may provide a variety of
connection formats through which external devices can connect.
While there may be a number of possible connections, these
connections may also be limited in the number of connections that
can be handled at a single time. If a device is trying to connect
to a vehicle computing system through a connection that is already
being used by the maximum number of devices, the connection request
may be rejected, which may result in user frustration.
SUMMARY
[0003] In a first illustrative embodiment, a system includes a
processor configured to receive communication requests from a
plurality of applications executing on a remote device, requesting
communication with a vehicle computing system (VCS). The processor
is also configured to save an identifier for each requesting
application. The processor is further configured to establish a
single communication channel to handle the communication requests.
Also, the processor is configured to order the communication
requests for delivery and relay data requests, including the
identifier saved for the application originating the request, from
the applications to the VCS over the identified transport
format.
[0004] In a second illustrative embodiment, a computer-implemented
method includes receiving communication requests from a plurality
of applications executing on a remote device, requesting
communication with a vehicle computing system (VCS). The method
also includes saving an identifier for each requesting application.
The method further includes establishing a single communication
channel to handle the communication requests. Also, the method
includes ordering the communication requests for delivery and
relaying data requests, including the identifier saved for the
application originating the request, from the applications to the
VCS over the identified transport format.
[0005] In a third illustrative embodiment, a non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when
executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method
that includes receiving communication requests from a plurality of
applications executing on a remote device, requesting communication
with a vehicle computing system (VCS). The method also includes
saving an identifier for each requesting application. The method
further includes establishing a single communication channel to
handle the communication requests. Also, the method includes
ordering the communication requests for delivery and relaying data
requests, including the identifier saved for the application
originating the request, from the applications to the VCS over the
identified transport format.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative vehicle computing system;
[0007] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary block topology of a system for
integrating one or more connected devices with the vehicle based
computing system according to an embodiment;
[0008] FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of application to
vehicle data handling;
[0009] FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of vehicle to
application data handling; and
[0010] FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of application-side
data request handling.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention
are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the
disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that
may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are
not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or
minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore,
specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not
to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis
for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present
invention.
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates an example block topology for a vehicle
based computing system 1 (VCS) for a vehicle 31. An example of such
a vehicle-based computing system 1 is the SYNC system manufactured
by THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY. A vehicle enabled with a vehicle-based
computing system may contain a visual front end interface 4 located
in the vehicle. The user may also be able to interact with the
interface if it is provided, for example, with a touch sensitive
screen. In another illustrative embodiment, the interaction occurs
through, button presses, audible speech and speech synthesis.
[0013] In the illustrative embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, a
processor 3 controls at least some portion of the operation of the
vehicle-based computing system. Provided within the vehicle, the
processor allows onboard processing of commands and routines.
Further, the processor is connected to both non-persistent 5 and
persistent storage 7. In this illustrative embodiment, the
non-persistent storage is random access memory (RAM) and the
persistent storage is a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory.
[0014] The processor is also provided with a number of different
inputs allowing the user to interface with the processor. In this
illustrative embodiment, a microphone 29, an auxiliary input 25
(for input 33), a universal serial bus (USB) input 23, a global
positioning system (GPS) input 24 and a BLUETOOTH input 15 are all
provided. An input selector 51 is also provided, to allow a user to
swap between various inputs. Input to both the microphone and the
auxiliary connector is converted from analog to digital by a
converter 27 before being passed to the processor. Although not
shown, numerous of the vehicle components and auxiliary components
in communication with the VCS may use a vehicle network (such as,
but not limited to, a controller area network (CAN) bus) to pass
data to and from the VCS (or components thereof).
[0015] Outputs to the system can include, but are not limited to, a
visual display 4 and a speaker 13 or stereo system output. The
speaker is connected to an amplifier 11 and receives its signal
from the processor 3 through a digital-to-analog converter 9.
Output can also be made to a remote BLUETOOTH device such as
personal navigation device (PND) 54 or a USB device such as vehicle
navigation device 60 along the bi-directional data streams shown at
19 and 21 respectively.
[0016] In one illustrative embodiment, the system 1 uses the
BLUETOOTH transceiver 15 to communicate 17 with a user's nomadic
device 53 (e.g., cell phone, smart phone, personal digital
assistant (PDA), or any other device having wireless remote network
connectivity). The nomadic device can then be used to communicate
59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31 through, for example,
communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In some embodiments,
tower 57 may be a WiFi access point.
[0017] Exemplary communication between the nomadic device and the
BLUETOOTH transceiver is represented by signal 14.
[0018] Pairing a nomadic device 53 and the BLUETOOTH transceiver 15
can be instructed through a button 52 or similar input.
Accordingly, the central processing unit (CPU) is instructed that
the onboard BLUETOOTH transceiver will be paired with a BLUETOOTH
transceiver in a nomadic device.
[0019] Data may be communicated between CPU 3 and network 61
utilizing, for example, a data-plan, data over voice, or dual-tone
multi-frequency (DTMF) tones associated with nomadic device 53.
Alternatively, it may be desirable to include an onboard modem 63
having antenna 18 in order to communicate 16 data between CPU 3 and
network 61 over the voice band. The nomadic device 53 can then be
used to communicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31
through, for example, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In
some embodiments, the modem 63 may establish communication 20 with
the tower 57 for communicating with network 61. As a non-limiting
example, modem 63 may be a USB cellular modem and communication 20
may be cellular communication.
[0020] In one illustrative embodiment, the processor is provided
with an operating system including an API to communicate with modem
application software. The modem application software may access an
embedded module or firmware on the BLUETOOTH transceiver to
complete wireless communication with a remote BLUETOOTH transceiver
(such as that found in a nomadic device). Bluetooth is a subset of
the IEEE 802 PAN (personal area network) protocols. IEEE 802 LAN
(local area network) protocols include WiFi and have considerable
cross-functionality with IEEE 802 PAN. Both are suitable for
wireless communication within a vehicle. Another communication
means that can be used in this realm is free-space optical
communication (such as infrared data association (IrDA)) and
non-standardized consumer infrared (IR) protocols.
[0021] In another embodiment, nomadic device 53 includes a modem
for voice band or broadband data communication. In the
data-over-voice embodiment, a technique known as frequency division
multiplexing may be implemented when the owner of the nomadic
device can talk over the device while data is being transferred. At
other times, when the owner is not using the device, the data
transfer can use the whole bandwidth (300 Hz to 3.4 kHz in one
example). While frequency division multiplexing may be common for
analog cellular communication between the vehicle and the internet,
and is still used, it has been largely replaced by hybrids of with
Code Domian Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Domain Multiple Access
(TDMA), Space-Domian Multiple Access (SDMA) for digital cellular
communication. These are all ITU IMT-2000 (3G) compliant standards
and offer data rates up to 2 mbs for stationary or walking users
and 385 kbs for users in a moving vehicle. 3G standards are now
being replaced by IMT-Advanced (4G) which offers 100 mbs for users
in a vehicle and 1 gbs for stationary users. If the user has a
data-plan associated with the nomadic device, it is possible that
the data-plan allows for broad-band transmission and the system
could use a much wider bandwidth (speeding up data transfer). In
still another embodiment, nomadic device 53 is replaced with a
cellular communication device (not shown) that is installed to
vehicle 31. In yet another embodiment, the ND 53 may be a wireless
local area network (LAN) device capable of communication over, for
example (and without limitation), an 802.11g network (i.e., WiFi)
or a WiMax network.
[0022] In one embodiment, incoming data can be passed through the
nomadic device via a data-over-voice or data-plan, through the
onboard BLUETOOTH transceiver and into the vehicle's internal
processor 3. In the case of certain temporary data, for example,
the data can be stored on the HDD or other storage media 7 until
such time as the data is no longer needed.
[0023] Additional sources that may interface with the vehicle
include a personal navigation device 54, having, for example, a USB
connection 56 and/or an antenna 58, a vehicle navigation device 60
having a USB 62 or other connection, an onboard GPS device 24, or
remote navigation system (not shown) having connectivity to network
61. USB is one of a class of serial networking protocols. IEEE 1394
(firewire), EIA (Electronics Industry Association) serial
protocols, IEEE 1284 (Centronics Port), S/PDIF (Sony/Philips
Digital Interconnect Format) and USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum)
form the backbone of the device-device serial standards. Most of
the protocols can be implemented for either electrical or optical
communication.
[0024] Further, the CPU could be in communication with a variety of
other auxiliary devices 65. These devices can be connected through
a wireless 67 or wired 69 connection. Auxiliary device 65 may
include, but are not limited to, personal media players, wireless
health devices, portable computers, and the like.
[0025] Also, or alternatively, the CPU could be connected to a
vehicle based wireless router 73, using for example a WiFi 71
transceiver. This could allow the CPU to connect to remote networks
in range of the local router 73.
[0026] In addition to having exemplary processes executed by a
vehicle computing system located in a vehicle, in certain
embodiments, the exemplary processes may be executed by a computing
system in communication with a vehicle computing system. Such a
system may include, but is not limited to, a wireless device (e.g.,
and without limitation, a mobile phone) or a remote computing
system (e.g., and without limitation, a server) connected through
the wireless device. Collectively, such systems may be referred to
as vehicle associated computing systems (VACS). In certain
embodiments particular components of the VACS may perform
particular portions of a process depending on the particular
implementation of the system. By way of example and not limitation,
if a process has a step of sending or receiving information with a
paired wireless device, then it is likely that the wireless device
is not performing the process, since the wireless device would not
"send and receive" information with itself. One of ordinary skill
in the art will understand when it is inappropriate to apply a
particular VACS to a given solution. In all solutions, it is
contemplated that at least the vehicle computing system (VCS)
located within the vehicle itself is capable of performing the
exemplary processes.
[0027] FIG. 2 is an exemplary block topology of a system 200 for
integrating one or more connected devices with the vehicle based
computing system 1 (VCS). The CPU 3 may be in communication with
one or more transceivers. The one or more transceivers are capable
for wired and wireless communication for the integration of one or
more devices. To facilitate the integration, the CPU 3 may include
a device integration framework 101 configured to provide various
services to the connected devices. These services may include
transport routing of messages between the connected devices and the
CPU 3, global notification services to allow connected devices to
provide alerts to the user, application launch and management
facilities to allow for unified access to applications executed by
the CPU 3 and those executed by the connected devices, and point of
interest location and management services for various possible
vehicle 31 destinations.
[0028] As mentioned above, the CPU 3 of the VCS 1 may be configured
to interface with one or more nomadic devices 53 of various types.
The nomadic device 53 may further include a device integration
client component 103 to allow the nomadic device 53 to take
advantage of the services provided by the device integration
framework 101.
[0029] The one or more transceivers may include a multiport
connector hub 102. The multiport connector hub 102 may be used to
interface between the CPU 3 and additional types of connected
devices other than the nomadic devices 53. The multiport connector
hub 102 may communicate with the CPU 3 over various buses and
protocols, such as via USB, and may further communicate with the
connected devices using various other connection buses and
protocols, such as Serial Peripheral Interface Bus (SPI),
Inter-integrated circuit (I2C), and/or Universal Asynchronous
Receiver/Transmitter (UART). The multiport connector hub 102 may
further perform communication protocol translation and interworking
services between the protocols used by the connected devices and
the protocol used between the multiport connector hub 102 and the
CPU 3. The connected devices may include, as some non-limiting
examples, a radar detector 104, a global position receiver device
106, and a storage device 108.
[0030] Vehicle computing systems may provide a variety of
connection formats through which external devices can connect.
While there may be a number of possible connections, these
connections may also be limited in the number of connections that
can be handled at a single time. If a device is trying to connect
to a vehicle computing system through a connection that is already
being used by the maximum number of devices, the connection request
may be rejected, which may result in user frustration.
[0031] In order to address this possible difficulty, the
illustrative embodiments propose that a routing service be utilized
to handle the external connections to a vehicle computing system.
The routing service can handle some or all of the actual
communication protocols with the vehicle computing system itself.
Requests from external devices and/or applications can pass through
the routing service. These requests may designate a preferred
communication protocol (e.g., without limitation, Bluetooth, Near
Field Communication, WiFi, etc.). The routing service can establish
communication over the appropriate channel/protocol, and can serve
as a queue manager for pending requests. In this manner, any number
of devices can use the communication channels provided by the
routing service without worry about running into a maximum number
of devices over a given channel/protocol.
[0032] FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of application to
vehicle data handling. In this illustrative example, a process
running on a device, and capable of communication with a vehicle
computer first receives a communication request from an application
running on the device 301. Typically, this request will indicate
that communication with the vehicle computing system is desired. A
number of parameters may also be included in the request, such as,
but not limited to, requesting device ID, requesting application
ID, permission related info (e.g., password, key, etc.), and any
other suitable information.
[0033] Assuming it is not already running, the request will cause
the process to begin the transport/routing service 303. This
service will run on the device-side and will handling incoming
communication from applications to the vehicle computer. This
service will not only handle requests from the requesting
application, but from other applications that are attempting to
communication with the vehicle computer as well. Using any
appropriate received and/or stored information, the process will
validate the application as being permitted to communicate with the
vehicle computing system 305. This may also include contacting the
vehicle computing system itself to receive verification of
communication permissibility.
[0034] If the application is not validated for communication with
the vehicle computing system 307, the process will reject the
communication request 311 and terminate communication with the
requesting application. Otherwise, the process will register the
requesting application 309. Registering the requesting application
will allow the transport service to distinguish between various
application requests headed both to and from the applications. In
response to registering the application, the service will send
out-packet information back to the requesting application 313,
identifying where the service is currently receiving data packets
for relay to the vehicle computing system.
[0035] The process then waits to receive an out-packet from the
requesting application 315. Once a packet is received 317,
communication can be established with the vehicle computing system
over the appropriate connection 319, in this example, an rfcomm
channel. In another example, communication can be established upon
routing service inception or receipt of the original request, and
maintained until the routing service is terminated or there are no
more devices/applications requesting use of a particular
connection, as appropriate.
[0036] In prior art solutions, each application may be assigned an
rfcomm channel, and the available channels may become quickly
exhausted. By providing message handling from a plurality of
applications, through a single rfcomm channel, any number of
applications can be handled by the transport service with use of
only a single rfcomm (or other communication) channel.
[0037] Once a connection to the vehicle computer has been
established over the appropriate channel, the process can send an
application identifier to the vehicle computing system so that the
system knows the origin of the upcoming data 321. This information
can also be included as part of a header on a given data packet. In
addition to the identifying data, the process can send the
out-packet (received from the requesting application) to the
vehicle computer over the appropriate channel.
[0038] As previously noted, this transport service can communicate
with numerous applications at a time, so multiple requests from
different applications can be queued and handled through the single
communication channel. If a channel is in use by the service when a
request comes in, the service can queue the request until such time
as the channel is available for use.
[0039] FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of vehicle to
application data handling. In this illustrative example, the
process is running vehicle-side and receives an in-packet request
from the vehicle computing system 401. In this case, the
"in-packet" is a response or packet for an application previously
connected to the transport service. Since the application is not
communicating directly with the vehicle computer, and since data
may need to flow both ways, it may be useful to use the transport
service to send data back to the various applications.
[0040] Included with the in-packet request may be an application
identifier 403. This will identify which application should receive
the returning data packet. The process will check to ensure that
this application is still connected to the transport service 405.
If the application is no longer connected to the transport service,
the process may return an error message 407. Otherwise, the process
may communicate with the application 409 and send the in-packet
from the vehicle computing system to the application 411.
[0041] In this model, the transport service runs on both sides of
the communication channel. On the device side, it serves to queue
and route incoming data requests for the vehicle, and distribute
outgoing data to applications from the vehicle. On the vehicle
side, it serves to queue and send requests from the vehicle
computer to the applications.
[0042] FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of application-side
data request handling. In this illustrative example, an application
desires communication with the vehicle computing system. At some
point, a data-packet (the out-packet) will be prepared for
transport to the vehicle computing system 501. Once communication
is desired, the application may request communication with the
vehicle computing system 503. This request will be handled by the
transport service, and the requesting application may send an
application identifier 505 to the transport service.
[0043] If communication is not permitted 507 (which may be known,
for example, based on a response from the transport service), the
process may notify the requesting application that no communication
can be processed at this time 509. Otherwise, the process may
receive back an out-packet receiver identifier from the transport
protocol 511, showing the application where to send future
out-packets for transmission to the vehicle computing system.
Future out-packets will then be sent to this identified receipt
point 513.
[0044] If the application has any out-data to send 515, the
application may prepare a packet or packets with out-data 517 and
send them to the appropriate point of receipt 519. Similarly, if
any data is waiting to be received from the vehicle computing
system 521, the process may receive the data from the transport
service 523. If needed, the process may also verify any received
data 525 (checking for corruption, completeness, etc.) and send any
necessary responses back to the vehicle computing system or
transport service 527. Until the application terminates 529, the
process may repeat this data handling. Once the application has
completed communication and is terminated, the connection may also
be terminated 531.
[0045] Through use of the illustrative embodiments, and similarly
configured and functioning systems and processes, communication may
be established from multiple applications through a single channel
or protocol. Where this communication may have been previously
blocked due to unavailability of a channel or transport medium, the
proposed transport handling service permits such communication and
facilitates ease of use and customer experience.
[0046] While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not
intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the
invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of
description rather than limitation, and it is understood that
various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various
implementing embodiments may be combined to form further
embodiments of the invention.
* * * * *