AUTHENTICATING A VEHICLE USER

• US 20170169639A1
• Filed: 12/15/2015
• Published: 06/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Frye, Mark S., Brown, Dwight D., Pebbles, Paul H., Bala, Jessica M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,972,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A system includes a vehicle, a vehicle communications platform (VCP), and an in-vehicle biometric system. The VCP is programmed to recognize a sequence of events. The sequence of events includes a transmission of the vehicle shifting from drive to park, an engine of the vehicle is on, and the transmission of the vehicle shifting back from park to drive. The VCP is further programmed to, in response to the sequence of events, monitor a distance that the vehicle travels or monitor a time since an occurrence of the sequence of events, and to instruct the in-vehicle biometric system to enter an authentication mode after a set time has passed since the occurrence of the sequence of events or after the vehicle has traveled a set distance since the occurrence of the sequence of events. The in-vehicle biometric system is responsive to instructions from the VCP and initiates an authentication routine.

Claims

1. A system for authenticating a vehicle user, comprising:

a vehicle;

an in-vehicle biometric system; and

a vehicle communications platform programmed to;

recognize a sequence of events including a transmission of the vehicle has shifted from drive to park, an engine of the vehicle is on, and the transmission of the vehicle has been shifted back from park to drive;

in response to the sequence of events, monitor a distance that the vehicle travels or monitor a time since an occurrence of the sequence of events; and

instruct the in-vehicle biometric system to enter an authentication mode after a set time has passed since the occurrence of the sequence of events or after the vehicle has traveled a set distance since the occurrence of the sequence of events;

wherein the in-vehicle biometric system is responsive to instructions from the vehicle communications platform by initiating an authentication routine.

2. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the in-vehicle biometric system includes:

an acquisition device to collect a sample from the vehicle user in response to the instructions from the vehicle communications platform; and

a microprocessor running a local comparison routine with the sample and onboard templates of a predefined group to authenticate the vehicle user.

3. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the set time ranges from about 5 minutes to about 5 hours.

4. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the set distance ranges from about 0.1 miles to about 5 miles.

5. A system for authenticating a vehicle user, comprising:

a vehicle;

a vehicle communications platform, programmed to;

monitor for an occurrence of a pre-set driving event during a vehicle trip; and

instruct an in-vehicle biometric system to reenter an authentication mode after recognizing that the pre-set driving event has occurred; and

an in-vehicle biometric system, programmed to;

initiate an authentication routine at a beginning of the vehicle trip; and

initiate a subsequent authentication routine in response to instructions from the vehicle communications platform indicating that the pre-set driving event has occurred.

6. The system as defined in claim 5, further comprising a user interface to receive an input used to set the pre-set driving event.

7. The system as defined in claim 5 wherein the pre-set driving event is changing the radio station to a set station, entering a set location, or achieving a set speed.

8. A system for authenticating a vehicle user, comprising:

a vehicle state switch responsive to a user input, the vehicle state switch identifying a predefined driving group to which the vehicle user belongs, wherein the predefined driving group is either a small group or a large group; and

an in-vehicle biometric system, including;

an acquisition device to collect a biometric sample from the vehicle user; and

a microprocessor responsive to the vehicle state switch by running a local biometric comparison routine on the biometric sample for the small group, and transmitting the biometric sample to an off-board server for authentication for the large group.

9. The system as defined in claim 8, further comprising the off-board server running a remote comparison routine with the biometric sample.

10. The system as defined in claim 8, further comprising a user interface to receive the user input.

11. The system as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

a remote computing device to receive the user input; and

a vehicle communications platform to receive the user input from the remote computing device, wherein the vehicle communications platform sets the vehicle state switch.

12. The system as defined in claim 8 wherein the vehicle state switch is a physical button in a vehicle.