Device control based on number of vehicle occupants

• US 10,028,113 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2015
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellepathy Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Cellepathy Ltd.
• Inventors: Abramson, Dan, Pomerantz, Itzhak, Kashtan, Yuval, Kolin, Andrei, Soffer, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAHEED, KHALID W
• Application Number:
  US14/792,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20150327034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for computing various determinations at one or more mobile devices and/or central machines. In part, such determinations are computed based on analysis of one or more inputs originating at one or more sensors of one or more devices. The referenced methods can include operations such as: receiving one or more inputs, processing the one or more inputs to determine a quantity of occupants within a vehicle, and transforming a first operation state of a device present within the vehicle based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is not greater than one.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving one or more inputs;

processing, by a processing device, the one or more inputs to determine a quantity of occupants within a vehicle;

identifying a time interval during which it is determined that a user of a device present within the vehicle is likely to be a driver of the vehicle; and

based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is not greater than one, transforming a first operation state of the device during the identified time interval.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is greater than one, transforming a second operation state of the device present within the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more inputs originates from a vehicle data system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more inputs indicates a weight measured at one or more seats of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more inputs indicates a seat belt usage of one or more seats of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more inputs comprises an audio input.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein processing the one or more inputs comprises processing the audio input to determine a quantity of distinct voices present within the audio input.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the one or more inputs comprises processing the one or more inputs to determine a quantity of devices within the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming a first operation state of a device present within the vehicle comprises outputting a result in relation to the device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the result comprises a determination that the device is being operated by a driver of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein outputting the result comprises outputting the result to an insurance company.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming a first operation state of the device comprises transforming the first operation state of the device based on a determination that a user of the device is likely to be a driver of the vehicle.

13. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, to;

receive one or more inputs;

process the one or more inputs to determine a quantity of occupants within a vehicle; and

based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is not greater than one, employ, in relation to a device present within the vehicle, a restriction that impedes user operation of the device while the device is oriented outside of a defined orientation and does not impede user operation of the device while the device is oriented within the defined orientation.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing device is further to:

modify, based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is greater than one, the restriction in relation to the device present within the vehicle.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

employ, in relation to a device present within the vehicle, a first restriction that impedes user operation of the device while the device is oriented outside of a defined orientation and does not impede user operation of the device while the device is oriented within the defined orientation;

receive one or more inputs;

process the one or more inputs to determine a quantity of occupants within the vehicle; and

based on a determination that the quantity of occupants within the vehicle is greater than one, modify the first restriction.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein to modify the first restriction, the processing device is to remove the first restriction.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein to modify the first restriction, the processing device is to substitute a second restriction for the first restriction.