Automatic connected vehicle subsequent owner enrollment process

• US 10,332,124 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2015
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Inventors: Avary, Michelle Lynne, Plager, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Rego, Dominic E
• Application Number:
  US14/927,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20160128016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 455410, 455411, 4554351
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/06 De-registration or detaching

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward an automatic connected vehicle subsequent owner method and system for automatically wiping personal data from the vehicle, transitioning remote services access to a subsequent owner, and delinking the vehicle from their smartphone or other interactive communication link. In one more embodiments, a computer implemented method provides for delinking customers and deregistering vehicles from original owners where those vehicles have been subsequently sold, discontinued, or otherwise transferred for the customer'"'"'s ownership.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for deactivating a registered vehicle and delinking a first customer registered account associated with the registered vehicle to be deactivated via a secure vehicle registration network, the instructions, in response to execution, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, via an interactive interface, an instruction to deactivate the registered vehicle;

from the registered account of the first customer;

transmitting a deactivation request for a registered vehicle received from the registered account of the first customer to an authentication engine;

receiving verification of ownership of the registered vehicle with the registered account of the first customer from the authentication engine;

causing the customer information associated with present ownership to be wiped from the vehicle to be deactivated;

deactivating the registration of the vehicle as owned by the registered account of the first customer; and

transferring subscription services associated with the vehicle to a subsequent customer account after deactivation of the registration of the vehicle from the first customer,

wherein subscription services include at least one of;

remote services of the vehicle or performance services of the vehicle,

wherein the remote services include at least one of;

door lock/unlock, engine start, horn honk, flash lights, trunk open, cabin pre-conditioning, geofencing and speed alerts, or window control, and

wherein the performances services include Over-the-Air (OTA) updates and upgrades.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the verified ownership of the vehicle with the registered account of the first customer includes a positive comparison at least one or more predetermined characteristics of the customer information of the first customer and one or more predetermined characteristics of the vehicle information with associated data in one or more authorized databases having known customer information of the first customer and known vehicle information vehicle.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the at least one or more predetermined characteristics of the customer information of the first customer is a customer identification code and the one or more predetermined characteristics of the vehicle information is the vehicle identification number (VIN).

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the associated data in one or more authorized databases having known customer information of the first customer and known vehicle information vehicle includes a secure customer information database having an active list of approved customer identification codes and includes a secure vehicle information database having an active list of available vehicles identifiable by VIN for approval or rejection for deactivation.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise generating a report of data associated with the deactivation of a customer'"'"'s registered vehicle.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the interactive interface includes a user interface for an in-vehicle computer running an application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, a user interface for a smart phone running the application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, or a web page running the application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the secure vehicle registration network includes one or more networked resources having at least one data source with vehicle information, dealer information, marketing information, and customer information, accessible by the authentication engine.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the authentication engine is a remote server configured to provide secure communication with the vehicle to be registered and an application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, the registered user being logged onto the application.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise sending a wipe clean command to the vehicle to be deactivated including removing customer information from the vehicle which may be associated with present ownership.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise sending a command to the vehicle after deactivation to display a welcome message with factory defaults for the subsequent customer of the vehicle.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise updating one or more authorized databases having known customer information and known vehicle information vehicle to reflect subsequent ownership of the deactivated vehicle in an activated state with the subsequent customer as a new owner of the vehicle.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise delinking the first customer'"'"'s account from the interactive interface associated with the deactivated vehicle, prohibiting access to the deactivated vehicle.

13. A system for use in an automotive sales network for deactivating a registered vehicle and delinking a first customer registered account associated with the registered vehicle to be deactivated via a secure vehicle registration network, comprising:

an interactive interface engine to provide an interactive interface for a first customer to deactivate a registered vehicle and delink a registered customer account of the first customer, is the interactive interface engine being capable of receiving and transmitting messages;

an authentication server configured to;

receive a request, from the interactive interface engine, from the registered account of the first customer to deactivate the registered vehicle, from the registered customer account of the first customer,

verify ownership of the registered vehicle with the registered customer account of the first customer from one or more authorized databases, and

transfer subscription services associated with the vehicle to a subsequent customer account after deactivation of the registration of the vehicle from the first customer,

wherein subscription services include at least one of;

remote services of the vehicle or performance services of the vehicle,

wherein the remote services include at least one of;

door lock/unlock, engine start, horn honk, flash lights, trunk open, cabin pre-conditioning, geofencing and speed alerts, or window control, and

wherein the performances services include Over-the-Air IOTA) updates and upgrades;

a secure communication system to facilitate communications with the one or more authorized databases, the vehicle, and the registered customer account of the first customer;

a deactivation engine to deactivate the registered vehicle from the registered customer account of the first customer by at least wiping customer data of the first customer from the vehicle once deactivated.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the interactive interface engine includes a user interface for an in-vehicle computer running an application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, a user interface for a smart phone running the application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, or a web page running the application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the verified ownership of the vehicle with the registered account of the first customer includes a positive comparison at least one or more predetermined characteristics of the customer information of the first customer and one or more predetermined characteristics of the vehicle information with associated data in one or more authorized databases having known customer information of the first customer and known vehicle information vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the associated data in one or more authorized databases having known customer information of the first customer and known vehicle information vehicle includes a secure customer information database having an active list of approved customer identification codes and includes a secure vehicle information database having an active list of available vehicles identifiable by VIN for approval or rejection for deactivation.

17. The system of claim 15, a reporting engine to generate one or more reports in response to data from the authentication engine, upon deactivation of the registered vehicle from the registered customer account of the first customer by the deactivation engine.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one or more predetermined characteristics of the customer information of the first customer is a customer identification code and the one or more predetermined characteristics of the vehicle information is the vehicle identification number (VIN).

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the secure vehicle registration network includes one or more networked resources having at least one data source with vehicle information, dealer information, marketing information, and customer information, accessible by the authentication engine.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the authentication server is a remote server configured to provide secure communication with the vehicle to be registered and an application on which at least some of the computer-executable instructions are executed, the registered user being logged onto the application.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein a wipe clean command is sent via a secure vehicle registration network to the vehicle to be deactivated including removing customer information from the vehicle which may be associated with present ownership.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein a command is sent via a secure vehicle registration network to the vehicle after deactivation to display a welcome message with factory defaults for the subsequent customer of the vehicle.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein one or more authorized databases having known customer information and known vehicle information vehicle are updated to reflect subsequent ownership of the deactivated vehicle in an activated state with the subsequent customer as a new owner of the vehicle.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the first customer'"'"'s account is delinked from the interactive interface associated with the deactivated vehicle, prohibiting access to the deactivated vehicle.