Near field communication (NFC) vehicle identification system and process

• US 10,165,424 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2015
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NextGen Pro, LLC (RumbleOn, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NextGen Pro, LLC (RumbleOn, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kakarala, Srinivas, Kakarala, Kartikeya
• Primary Examiner(s): Desai, Resha
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cai, Lance Y
• Application Number:
  US14/614,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20150223012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• 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

Abstract

An automotive near field communication (NFC) application that includes a process which is implemented as a mobile software application and uses near field communication tags to store and retrieve automotive vehicle information is disclosed. The process does not need a user to access the VIN and then manually enter or scan the VIN. In this process the VIN is written to an NFC tag using an NFC enabled mobile device and placed on the vehicle. A user can bump, touch, or place the NFC enabled mobile device on the NFC tag to retrieve the VIN. The application is configured to generate a vehicle value or vehicle report based, in part, on vehicle information received from the NFC tag.

Claims

1. A system that retrieves vehicle information by way of a vehicle identification number (VIN) stored on a near field communication (NFC) tag, the system comprising:

an NFC-enabled mobile computing device comprising a storage device, a processor, and an NFC receiver/transmitter that can read from and write to an NFC tag;

the NFC tag comprising an internally-stored VIN, the NFC tag placed at a position on the vehicle accessible by the NFC-enabled mobile computing device; and

a mobile software application that is installed on the storage device of the NFC-enabled mobile computing device and executed by the processor,

wherein the mobile software application is launched in response to the NFC-enabled mobile computing device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag,

wherein the mobile software application retrieves the VIN from the NFC tag in response to the NFC-enabled mobile computing device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag,

wherein the mobile software application decodes the VIN retrieved from the NFC tag to display vehicle details associated with the vehicle on the NFC-enabled mobile computing device, and

wherein the mobile software application transfers the VIN and associated VIN-information to a database for storage and later retrieval

collecting vehicle data from one or more of a third party database;

analyzing vehicle data associated with the VIN and the vehicle data collected from the third party database; and

calculating one of a vehicle value or vehicle report.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the database resides on a server, including a cloud-based server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the NFC-enabled mobile computing device is configured for communication over a wireless network to one or more of a database residing on a server.

4. A method, the method comprising:

launching, in response to an NFC-enabled portable device physically contacting and activating an NFC tag on a vehicle, a mobile software application executing on the NFC-enabled portable device, wherein the mobile software application is a launched by utilizing a storage device and a processor of the NFC-enabled portable device;

retrieving, by utilizing the mobile software application of the NFC-enabled portable device and in response to the NFC-enabled portable device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag, a VIN and VIN-associated data from the vehicle equipped with the NFC tag whereon VIN and VIN-associated data is written by the NFC-enabled portable device;

transferring, by utilizing the NFC-enabled portable device, the VIN and VIN-associated data via a wireless communications network from the NFC-enabled portable device to a database, wherein a collection of third-party vehicle information is stored;

comparing the VIN and VIN-associated data retrieved from the vehicle equipped with the NFC tag to the database of third-party vehicle information in order to calculate a value for the vehicle associated with the VIN; and

transmitting the calculated value for display on the NFC-enabled portable device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the value is one or more of an appraisal value, a trade-in value, or an auction value of a vehicle.

6. A method, the method comprising:

launching, in response to an NFC-enabled portable device physically contacting and activating an NFC tag on a vehicle, a mobile software application executing on the NFC-enabled portable device, wherein the mobile software application is a launched by utilizing a storage device and a memory of the NFC-enabled portable device;

retrieving, by utilizing the mobile software application of the NFC-enabled portable device and in response to the NFC-enabled portable device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag, a VIN and VIN-associated data from the vehicle equipped with the NFC tag whereon the VIN and VIN-associated data is written by the NFC-enabled portable device;

receiving a driver'"'"'s license number or other driver identification information via an input on the NFC-enabled portable device;

transferring, by utilizing the NFC-enabled portable device, one or both of the driver'"'"'s license number or other driver identification information and the VIN and VIN-associated data via a wireless communications network from the NFC-enabled portable device to a database;

combining the one or both of the driver'"'"'s license number or other driver identification information and the VIN and VIN-associated data and forming an order record for the vehicle;

storing the order record in the database for later retrieval;

inputting the information associated with the order record into one or more fields of an electronic order form stored in the database, thereby generating a populated electronic order form; and

storing the populated electronic order form in the database for electronic delivery to a recipient, wherein the populated electronic order form is populated with identifying information related to a driver associated with the driver'"'"'s license number or other driver identification and the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying the populated electronic order form on the NFC-enabled portable device.

8. A portable physical device comprising:

a display;

an NFC receiver/transmitter;

a hardware processor that performs operations, the operations comprising;

launching, by utilizing the NFC receiver/transmitter and in response to the portable physical device physically contacting and activating an NFC tag on a vehicle, a mobile software application executing on the portable physical device;

communicating with the NFC tag, wherein the NFC tag comprises an internally stored VIN and VIN-associated data, wherein NFC receiver/transmitter and the processor communicate with the NFC tag in response to the portable physical device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag;

obtaining the VIN and VIN-associated data by utilizing the NFC receiver/transmitter configured to read from and write to the NFC tag;

decoding, by utilizing the mobile software application, the VIN obtained from the NFC tag to display vehicle details associated with the vehicle on the portable physical device; and

transmitting the VIN and VIN-associated data to a database for storage and later retrieval by the portable physical device.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium having recorded thereon a program that causes a hardware processor of a portable physical device to perform operations comprising:

launching, in response to the portable physical device physically contacting and activating an NFC tag on a vehicle, a mobile software application executing on the portable physical device;

retrieving, by utilizing the mobile software application of the portable physical device and in response to the portable physical device physically contacting and activating the NFC tag, a VIN and VIN-associated data from the vehicle equipped with the NFC tag whereon VIN and VIN-associated data is written by the physical portable device;

transferring, by utilizing the portable physical device, the VIN and VIN-associated data via a wireless communications network from the portably physical device to a database, wherein a collection of third-party vehicle information is stored;

comparing the VIN retrieved from the vehicle equipped with the NFC tag to the collection of third-party vehicle information in order to calculate a value for the vehicle associated with the VIN.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting the value calculated for the vehicle for display on the portable physical device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing the value calculated for the vehicle in a database for retrieval by a user.