DRIVING WITHOUT DISTRACTION SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20160044156A1
• Filed: 08/11/2014
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Hodges, Daniel, Roumellotis, Tasos
• Granted Patent: US 9,749,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information

Abstract

A processor-implemented system for supporting use of a reduced driving distraction program on a mobile device is disclosed. The system detects whether the mobile device is in a moving vehicle. If so, a driving mode is set in which driving is determined to be protected driving if the reduced distraction program is being followed and unprotected if the reduced distraction program is not being followed. The system then tracks unprotected driving and protected driving and aggregates the unprotected driving and protected driving. A party is then notified regarding the aggregation of unprotected driving and protected driving. Other drivers can be asked to join the reduced driving distraction program and awards can be given to drivers for meeting pre-determined milestones of protected driving. Either the mobile device or a remote computer may aggregate driving and send notifications.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a device control application to a plurality of mobile devices, the device control application configured to;

access at least one of location data and sensor data of a particular mobile device on which the device control application is installed;

determine when the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle based on the at least one of the location data and the sensor data;

disable at least one functional component of the particular mobile device based on determining that the device is in a moving vehicle;

provide operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the particular mobile device to a particular user of the particular mobile device via a user interface; and

transmitting the operation data through a network;

receiving by a network connectable computing system from the plurality of mobile devices operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the plurality of mobile devices;

aggregating by a processor the operation data from the plurality of mobile devices; and

selectively transmitting the operation data of the plurality of mobile devices to users of the plurality of mobile devices, the device control application further configured to provide to the user of the particular mobile device via the user interface the operation data of the plurality of mobile devices.

2. The method of claim 1, the operation data comprising at least one of:

distance traveled with the device control application active;

length of time the mobile device is operated with the device control application active;

distance traveled with the device control application active relative to a total distance traveled by the particular mobile device; and

length of time the particular mobile device is operated with the device control application active relative to a total time the particular mobile device is operated.

3. The method of claim 1, the device control application further configured to:

aggregate the operation data from the particular mobile device over a particular time period; and

display via the user interface the operation data from the particular mobile device over the particular time period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectively transmitted operation data of the plurality of mobile devices includes operation data corresponding to the particular user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectively transmitted operation data of the plurality of mobile devices includes operation data corresponding to a user other than the particular user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectively transmitted operation data of the plurality of mobile devices includes operation data corresponding to a particular group of the plurality of users.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the particular group of the plurality of users corresponds to at least one of a particular geographic area and a particular social networking group.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rendering the operation data of the plurality of mobile devices accessible by users of the plurality of mobile devices on a network-connected server system; and

selectively transmitting the operation data of the plurality of mobile devices to users of the plurality of mobile devices via the network-connected server system.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a comment from a first user regarding operation data corresponding to a second user; and

rendering the comment accessible to at least the second user on the network-connected server system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing by a processor the operation data of the particular user with the operation data of at least one of the plurality of users other than the particular user; and

providing results of the comparison to the particular user of the particular mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing by a processor the operation data of the particular user of the particular mobile device with the operation data of a particular group of the plurality of users; and

providing results of the comparison to the particular user of the particular mobile device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining by a processor that the operation data of the particular mobile device exceeds a particular threshold; and

notifying the particular user of the particular mobile device that the operation data exceeds the particular threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, the operation data comprising at least one of:

distance traveled by the particular mobile device with the device control application active;

length of time the particular mobile device is operated with the device control application active;

distance traveled by the particular mobile device with the device control application active relative to a total distance traveled by the particular mobile device; and

length of time the particular mobile device is operated with the device control application active relative to a total time the particular mobile device is operated.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining by a processor that aggregated operation data corresponding to mobile devices of a particular group of users exceeds a particular threshold; and

notifying the particular group of users that the operation data exceeds the particular threshold.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the operation data comprises at least one of:

aggregate distance traveled with the device control application active on the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group;

aggregate length of time the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group are operated with the device control application active;

aggregate distance traveled by the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group with the device control application active relative to a total distance traveled by the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group; and

aggregate length of time the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group are operated with the device control application active relative to a total time the mobile devices corresponding to the particular group is operated.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is further configured to enable communication among the plurality of users.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving by the particular mobile device via the device control application a comment regarding the operation data of the particular mobile device from a user of at least one of the plurality of mobile devices.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the location data and the sensor data comprises location data from a global positioning system (“

GPS”

) sensor.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the location data and the sensor data comprises acceleration data from an accelerometer on the particular mobile device.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising activating at least one of an accelerometer and a GPS sensor to access the at least one of the location data and the sensor data.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one functional component of the particular mobile device comprises at least one of a feature, setting, capability and resource of the particular mobile device.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein disabling the at least one functional component of the mobile device by the device control application comprises limiting at least one of voice calling, electronic text messaging, and application execution on the particular mobile device.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein disabling the at least one functional component of the mobile device by the device control application comprises partially disabling or completely disabling the at least one functional component.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein disabling the at least one functional component of the mobile device by the device control application comprises disallowing communication except with at least one particular predetermined party.

25. A method comprising:

receiving by a network connectable computing system from a plurality of mobile devices operation data corresponding to use of a particular device control application on the plurality of mobile devices, the particular device control application configured to;

access at least one of location data and sensor data of a particular mobile device on which the device control application is installed;

determine when the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle based on the at least one of the location data and the sensor data; and

disable at least one functional component of the mobile device based on determining that the device is in a moving vehicle;

comparing by a processor the operation data corresponding to a particular user of the particular mobile device with the operation data corresponding to at least one of the plurality of users of the plurality of mobile devices; and

providing results of the comparison to the particular user of the particular mobile device.

26. A mobile computing device (“

particular mobile device”

) comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the particular mobile device to perform a process including;

accessing at least one of location data and sensor data of the particular mobile device on which the device control application is installed;

determining when the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle based on the at least one of the location data and the sensor data;

disabling at least one functional component of the particular mobile device based on determining that the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle;

providing operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the particular mobile device to a user of the particular mobile device via a user interface;

transmitting through a network the operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the particular mobile device;

selectively receiving from a network connected computing system operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on a plurality of other mobile devices; and

providing to the user of the particular mobile device via the user interface the operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the plurality of other mobile devices.

27. Non-transitory computer-readable media tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by at least one processor-enabled computer to implement a method, the at least one computer being capable of interfacing with a communications network, the method comprising:

accessing at least one of location data and sensor data of a particular mobile device on which the device control application is installed;

determining when the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle based on the at least one of the location data and the sensor data;

disabling at least one functional component of the particular mobile device based on determining that the particular mobile device is in a moving vehicle;

providing operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the particular mobile device to a user of the particular mobile device via a user interface;

transmitting through a network the operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the particular mobile device;

selectively receiving from a network connected computing system operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on a plurality of other mobile devices; and

providing to the user of the particular mobile device via the user interface the operation data corresponding to use of the device control application on the plurality of other mobile devices.

28. A method comprising:

using a processor to run a reduced distraction program on a mobile device;

detecting with the processor whether the mobile device is in a moving vehicle;

setting a driving mode when the mobile device is detected in a moving vehicle, wherein driving is determined to be protected driving if the reduced distraction program is being followed and unprotected if the reduced distraction program is not being followed;

tracking unprotected driving;

tracking protected driving;

aggregating unprotected driving and protected driving; and

notifying a party regarding the aggregation of tracked unprotected driving and tracked protected driving.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein aggregating is performed using a processor of the mobile device.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein aggregating is performed using a processor of a remote computer.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein detecting whether the mobile device is in a moving vehicle is performed automatically.

32. The method of claim 28, further including determining if an award should be granted to a driver for reaching a pre-determined protected driving milestone.