NOMADIC DEVICE SELF USER-IDENTIFICATION

• US 20150249741A1
• Filed: 02/28/2014
• Published: 09/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: FISCHER, JOEL J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,628,619 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• 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

A controller may send a user-identification request to connected nomadic devices requesting each of the devices to provide an interface to receive user input regarding which device is a driver nomadic device; determine a driver nomadic device based on at least one user-identification response received from the devices responsive to the input; and integrate the connected devices with the controller accounting for which device is the driver nomadic device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one controller configured to;

send a user-identification request to connected nomadic devices requesting each of the devices to provide an interface to receive user input regarding which device is a driver nomadic device;

determine a driver nomadic device based on at least one user-identification response received from the devices responsive to the input; and

integrate the connected devices with the controller accounting for which device is the driver nomadic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to provide the driver nomadic device with priority over other connected nomadic devices to integrate applications with the controller.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to, in accordance with the user-identification, at least one of (i) load driver preferences corresponding to a user profile associated with the driver nomadic device, and (ii) requesting the driver nomadic device to lock at least one input device of the driver nomadic device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine which device is the driver nomadic device according to one of (i) receiving a user-identification response indicating that one of the nomadic devices is the driver device;

and (ii) by receiving user-identification responses indicating that one of the nomadic devices is a passenger device from all but one of the devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to send a user-identification notification to each of the devices identifying which device is the driver nomadic device.

6. A nomadic device comprising:

at least one controller configured to;

provide, to a vehicle controller based on input received from a user-identification user interface displayed by the nomadic device, a user-identification indicative of whether the nomadic device is a driver device;

receive a user-identification notification from a vehicle controller, the notification indicating whether the device is confirmed to be the driver device; and

integrate with the controller in accordance with the notification.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to:

receive a user-identification request from the vehicle controller;

display the user-identification user interface responsive to the request; and

provide a user-identification response to the vehicle controller including the user-identification.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the user-identification includes one of (i) an indication that the nomadic device is the driver device and (ii) an indication that the nomadic device is a passenger device.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to lock at least one input device of the nomadic device when the user-identification notification confirms that the nomadic device is the driver device.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to receive priority over other connected nomadic devices to integrate applications with the controller when the nomadic device is the driver device.

11. The device of claim 6, wherein the user-identification user interface includes:

(i) a first control configured to receive a user selection that the nomadic device is the driver device, and (ii) a second control configured to receive a user selection that the nomadic device is a passenger device.

12. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to dismiss the user-identification user interface responsive to receiving the user-identification notification.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending, by a vehicle controller, a user-identification request to connected nomadic devices requesting each of the devices to provide an interface to receive user input regarding which device is a driver nomadic device;

determining a driver nomadic device based on at least one user-identification response received from the devices responsive to the input; and

integrating the connected devices with the controller accounting for which device is the driver nomadic device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the driver nomadic device with priority over other connected nomadic devices to integrate applications with the controller.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in accordance with the user-identification, at least one of (i) loading driver preferences corresponding to a user profile associated with the driver nomadic device, and (ii) requesting the driver nomadic device to lock at least one input device of the driver nomadic device.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining which device is the driver nomadic device according to one of (i) receiving a user-identification response indicating that one of the nomadic devices is the driver device;

and (ii) by receiving user-identification responses indicating that one of the nomadic devices is a passenger device from all but one of the devices.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending a user-identification notification to each of the devices identifying which device is the driver nomadic device.