Vehicle and communication monitoring

• US 8,712,628 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Paul Hart
• Original Assignee: Paul Hart
• Inventors: Hart, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTLER, RODNEY ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US13/248,685
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/29.1, 701/31.4, 701/31.5, 701/31.7, 701/31.8, 701/32.3, 701/32.4, 701/32.7, 701/33.2, 701/33.4, 701/34.4, 701/36, 340/904, 340/438
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus for vehicle and communication monitoring. In an aspect, a vehicle device comprising a processing subsystem, a communication subsystem that communicates over a wireless medium, and a memory subsystem that stores processing instructions that are executable by the processing subsystem and upon such execution cause the vehicle device to perform operations comprising: determining an operational status of a vehicle in which the vehicle device is located; receiving, from a communication device, operating data describing an operation being performed by the communication device; accessing usage policy data that describes a usage policy of the communication device during vehicle operation; and in response to determining, based on the operational status of the vehicle and the operation being performed by the communication device, that a usage policy violation has occurred, generating policy violation data describing the usage policy violation.

Claims

1. A vehicle control and monitoring system, comprising:

a vehicle device comprising a processing subsystem, a communication subsystem that communicates over a wireless medium, and a memory subsystem that stores processing instructions that are executable by the processing subsystem and upon such execution cause the vehicle device to perform operations comprising;

determining an operational status of a vehicle in which the vehicle device is located;

receiving over a first wireless protocol, from a mobile communication device separate from the vehicle device, and wherein the mobile communication device communicates over the first wireless protocol and a second wireless protocol, operating data describing an operation being performed by the mobile communication device over the second wireless protocol;

accessing usage policy data that describes a usage policy of the mobile communication device during vehicle operation; and

in response to determining by the vehicle device, based on the operational status of the vehicle and the operation being performed by the mobile communication device, that a usage policy violation has occurred, generating, by the vehicle device, policy violation data describing the usage policy violation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction cause the vehicle device to perform further operations comprising wirelessly sending the policy violation data to an administrator by use of the communication subsystem.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction cause the vehicle device to perform further operations comprising storing the policy violation data in the memory subsystem.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle device includes a global positioning system module, and wherein the policy violation data include a location at where the usage policy violation occurred, and a time at which the usage policy violation occurred.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the communication subsystem receives the usage policy data according to the first wireless protocol from the mobile communication device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first wireless protocol is a personal area network protocol, and the second wireless protocol is a cellular network protocol.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

mobile communication device agent software stored in a computer readable storage device and executable by the mobile communication device, wherein upon such execution the software causes the mobile communication device to perform operations comprising;

for each communication operation performed by the mobile communication device over the second wireless protocol, generating the operating data describing the operation being performed by the mobile communication device over the second wireless protocol and transmitting the operation data to the vehicle device over the first wireless protocol.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first wireless protocol is a personal area network protocol, and the second wireless protocol is a cellular network protocol.

9. The system of claim, 8 wherein the generating the operating data describing the operation being performed by the mobile communication device over the second wireless protocol comprises anonmyzing the operation data so that personally identifiably information is excluded from the operating data.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining, by a vehicle device, an operational status of a vehicle;

receiving, by the vehicle device and over a first wireless protocol and from a mobile communication device separate from the vehicle device, wherein the mobile communication device communicates over the first wireless protocol and a second wireless protocol, operating data describing an operation being performed by the mobile communication device over the second communication protocol, and wherein the mobile communication device is determined to be in use by an operator of the vehicle;

accessing, by the vehicle device, usage policy data that describes a usage policy of the mobile communication device during vehicle operation; and

in response to determining by the vehicle device, based on the operational status of the vehicle and the operation being performed by the mobile communication device, that a usage policy violation has occurred, generating, by the vehicle device, policy violation data describing the usage policy violation.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising wirelessly sending, by the vehicle device, the policy violation data to an administrator.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the policy violation data in a memory subsystem.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the policy violation data include a location at where the usage policy violation occurred, and a time at which the usage policy violation occurred.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first wireless protocol is a personal area network protocol, and the second wireless protocol is a cellular network protocol.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the mobile communication device generates the operating data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first wireless protocol is a personal area network protocol, and the second wireless protocol is a cellular network protocol.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the generating the operating data describing the operation being performed by the mobile communication device over the second wireless protocol comprises anonmyzing the operation data so that personally identifiably information is excluded from the operating data.