Identifying a vehicle based on signals available on a bus

• US 10,572,542 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2017
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lytx, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lytx, Inc.
• Inventors: Conner, Steve Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Nam, Hyun
• Application Number:
  US15/634,413
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4063 Device-to-bus coupling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing

Abstract

A system for identifying a vehicle includes an input interface and a processor. The input interface is configured to receive traffic from a vehicle bus. The processor is configured to determine a data fingerprint from the traffic; and determine an identifier for the vehicle from the fingerprint.

Claims

1. A system for identifying a vehicle, comprising:

an input interface configured to receive traffic from a vehicle bus; and

a processor configured to;

determine a data fingerprint from the traffic, wherein the determining of the data fingerprint comprises to;

perform one or more of the following;

A) extract counter data from the traffic, the counter data including odometer data, engine total time data, engine total idle time data, engine type, transmission type, or any combination thereof;

or

B) determine a set of packets from the traffic based at least in part on a packet data format;

monitor the set of packets to determine whether or not packets are stable or core or unstable or transient; and

determine byte value ranges for the core packet data; and

generate the data fingerprint based on the counter data, the byte value ranges of the core packet data, or both; and

determine an identifier for the vehicle based at least in part on the data fingerprint, wherein determining the identifier comprises matching the data fingerprint with a stored fingerprint of a set of stored fingerprints, wherein the stored fingerprint corresponds to the identifier for the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle bus comprises a SAE J1939 bus.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle bus comprises an OBD-II bus.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a capacitive coupling to the vehicle bus.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises odometer data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises engine total time data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises engine total idle time data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises a proprietary packet type.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises a set of packet sources.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the data fingerprint comprises a set of packet destinations.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a vehicle type identifier.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a vehicle specific identifier.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a vehicle identification number.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the identifier comprises querying a data storage device using the data fingerprint.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the identifier comprises querying an external system using the data fingerprint.

16. A method for identifying a vehicle, comprising:

receiving traffic from a vehicle bus;

determining, using a processor, a unique data fingerprint from the traffic, wherein the determining of the data fingerprint comprises;

performing one or more of the following;

A) extracting counter data from the traffic, the counter data including odometer data, engine total time data, engine total idle time data, engine type, transmission type, or any combination thereof;

or

B) determining a set of packets from the traffic based at least in part on a packet data format;

monitoring the set of packets to determine whether or not packets are stable or core or unstable or transient; and

determining byte value ranges for the core packet data; and

generating the data fingerprint based on the counter data, the byte value ranges of the core packet data, or both; and

determining an identifier for the vehicle based at least in part on the data fingerprint, wherein determining the identifier comprises matching the data fingerprint with a stored fingerprint of a set of stored fingerprints, wherein the stored fingerprint corresponds to the identifier for the vehicle.

17. A computer program product for identifying a vehicle, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving traffic from a vehicle bus;

determining a unique data fingerprint from the traffic, wherein the determining of the data fingerprint comprises;

performing one or more of the following;

A) extracting counter data from the traffic, the counter data including odometer data, engine total time data, engine total idle time data, engine type, transmission type, or any combination thereof;

or

B) determining a set of packets from the traffic based at least in part on a packet data format;

monitoring the set of packets to determine whether or not packets are stable or core or unstable or transient; and

determining byte value ranges for the core packet data; and

generating the data fingerprint based on the counter data, the byte value ranges of the core packet data, or both; and

determining an identifier for the vehicle based at least in part on the data fingerprint, wherein determining the identifier comprises matching the data fingerprint with a stored fingerprint of a set of stored fingerprints, wherein the stored fingerprint corresponds to the identifier for the vehicle.