Patent Application
20080016504
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.
The information sent by host 100 to central station 104 may contain voice or data information that is directed to one or more vehicles in the communication system. Information may also originate from central station 104 independently of host 100. In the case of information being transmitted from host 100, central station 104 receives the information and attempts to forward it to the identified vehicle or vehicles, as the case may be. The particular vehicle or vehicles for which the message is intended is identified by specifying an alpha-numeric code, typically a code corresponding to a serial number which has been pre-assigned to mobile communication terminal 106 installed on vehicle 102. However, any known method may be used to uniquely identify vehicles in the communication system.
In one embodiment, the system includes a Vehicle Interface Module (VIM). The VIM is installed in the vehicle through a plug-in SAE J1962 connector. The VIM includes a microcontroller and memory, a Bluetooth radio, and an SDIO slot for the addition of an optional Key FOB. The VIM provides full access to the vehicle's ECU data and allows the system to access Diagnostic Trouble Codes reported by the vehicle's ECU. The VIM helps users to service and maintain the vehicle with live sensor display. The VIM also reads and displays reason for Check Engine Light or MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) which indicates presence of fault codes (DTC, Diagnostic Trouble Codes). The VIM can collect data such as Throttle position, Engine RPM, Vehicle speed, Calculated load value, Ignition timing advance, Intake air flow rate, Short term fuel trim, Long term fuel trim, Air temperature, Coolant temperature, Oxygen sensors. The VIM can also display diagnostics trouble codes (DTC), clear Check Engine lamp, retrieve and clear Generic and Manufacturer specific diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), display live sensor data and freeze frame data, and communicates with Engine Management System and Emissions Systems.
The VIM communicates with the handheld device 106, which can be a cell phone or PDA capable of running the J2ME, Windows Mobile, or BREW operating systems. The handheld device 106 is also equipped with Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1X, or iDEN voice and data communications. Exemplary handheld device 106 can be the Java J2ME cell phones, Nextel i730, i850, i355, i605, Blackberry, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Sprint MS Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Sprint MS Windows Mobile Pocket PC Edition, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Sprint BREW cell phones. The handheld device 106 runs mobile software components 108 such as a Consumer Application (CA). The CA serves as the user interface to vehicle control and configuration functions and OBDII (SAE standard for On Board Diagnostics II for cars and light trucks) data access on the VIM via Bluetooth. The CA also supports the ability to transmit the data, manually or automatically, and receive commands remotely via standard wide area wireless networks.
The VIM can run an OBDII Application Platform (OAP) or SAE J1708/J1939 Adapter (for heavy trucks) written for the VIM that accepts and responds to requests for OBDII/J1708/J1939 data and configuration settings from the consumer application. The OAP or J1708/J1939 Adapter implement a range of OBDII/J1708/J1939 protocols for access to vehicle systems such as the engine, transmission, safety, and chassis. The handheld device also supports an API that enables 3rd party developers to access the VIM.
The handheld device 106 communicates with a server over a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. Wireless access to the Internet can be provided through cellular towers 108 that access the Internet through the cellular wireless carriers or service providers that own the towers 108.
In one embodiment, the position of vehicle 102 is provided to central station 104 at predetermined time intervals, such as once per hour, and is commonly referred to as a position report. The position of vehicle 102 may be provided generally in one of two ways. In the exemplary embodiment, the position of vehicle 102 is determined at central station 104 using a positioning unit such as GPS, GLONASS or GALILEO position receiver. These systems are well-known in the art for providing accurate, real time position information, generally in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates, to a GPS receiver located onboard vehicle 102. The position of vehicle 102 as provided by the GPS receiver is transmitted to central station 104 at predetermined intervals. The GPS information may be transmitted alone, or it may be appended to voice or text messages.
In one embodiment, during operation of the resulting client-server application, the native code client application sends or receives data to/from the server. The client application is code native to the mobile device (such as assembly code for ARM, MIP, or 80×86 processor) and is executed by the processor of the mobile device. The formats of the application code objects and related messages are represented in the native language to that device (Java, Brew, or MS C#, for example). The server application runs a different code such as Java. The client application translates the data to a language neutral format, then encapsulates the data into a message, then sends message to server which then translates the data to its native language.
The application may collect data or analyze GPS coordinates and send alerts to the server (and subsequently to some back-office application or system). Alternatively, the application can present a form to the user; collect the inputs from the user; run a calculation and send the results to the server. In other examples; the application can scan a bar code, check it against a server database, then present product details to the user. In yet other examples, the application can collect time and distance data, combine the data with inputs from a driver, then draw a graph for inspection purposes, for example. In general, the system can be a client-server application with the client running on a mobile wireless device.
The process of
A Deployment Server (3.10) can be a software program residing on the server computer that contains the new versions of an application's Resources (3.11) and Native Code (3.12). The Application Container (3.2) and Application Updater (3.5) listen for updates from the Deployment Server. These updates are sent in the form of system messages that are received by the Application Container. When an update message is received, the Application Container pulls over the new Application Resources (3.11) over the network (3.9) and replaces the old Application Resources (3.1) with the new. It also invokes the Application Updater to pull the new Native Code modules (3.12) from the Deployment Server.
The Resource Editor (3.7) is a software program residing on the server computer that allows a programmer to change the declarative (interpreted) parts of the application by editing its Application Resources. For example, there might be a new text field to be added to a form, and a corresponding change in the message to add the value of the text field. The Resource Editor generates a new Application Resources file (3.11) which is then submitted to the Deployment Server (3.10). When the Application Container has received new Application Resources, it can update the behavior of the application instantly because the Resources are interpreted and therefore not stored as a compiled application.
A user may wish to include custom software components that perform special functions. This is referred to as the Native Code (3.6) module and is developed by a programmer using a Native Code Editor (3.8) that compiles code for the Device Operating System (3.4). A Native Code Editor might be Microsoft Visual Studio and the code being developed is done using the C# language, for example. For instance, a Native Code module might interface with a particular modem that checks for hooking/unhooking of containers to a tractor. In this case, native code must be written directly to the Device Operating System (3.4) layer to access the specific and proprietary commands for the modem. These commands will not be known a priori because the modem might be selected at a time after the e-log application has been deployed. Having a way to insert native code thus provides a method to extend the application without limitations of the application model. The Native Code may also call exposed API's of the Framework (3.3) to take advantage of some of the common functionality (eg. Database). The method by which the Native Code is updated on the device is the responsibility of the Application Updater (3.5). The Application Updater is a separate application that runs in parallel with the Application Container. Its purpose is to monitor for updates in the Deployment Server (3.10) and pull down any new Native Code modules (3.12). The method of
The Application Updater (4.2) takes the New Native Code module (4.6) and replaces the old Native Code module (4.4) with the new version. A module identifier (mid) and version number are associated with each Native Code module by the developer using a Native Code Editor such as Microsoft Visual Studio or Eclipse. The developer enters the mid and version number as a string into the specified “module_ID” and “module_version” fields respectively. The mid field can be any string and must match exactly. The module version must be a number where the newer version must have a number that is higher than the older version. The Application Updater receives the new Native Code module over the Network. Since the Application Container is running, the Application Updater cannot overwrite the older Native Code as the file is locked by the Application Container (4.9).
The Application Updater stores the new Native Code module (4.6) into a temporary directory (4.5). When the Application Container is restarted, it runs (4.7) the Application Updater which first looks in the temporary directory to check for new Native Code modules (4.10). If one is found, it matches the mid and also ensures that the version number is higher than the current module, then shuts down the Application Container (4.8) and replaces the Native Code Module (4.11). If it does not shut down the Application, the old Native Code module file will be locked. Next, the Application Updater starts up (4.8) the Application Container again and the new Native Code module will now be accessed. Finally, the Application Updater removes (4.10) the new Native Code module from the temporary directory and continues listening for new updates from the server.
Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention. The following claims are intended to encompass all such modifications.
