Accessing a vehicle using portable devices

• US 9,351,102 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2015
• Issued: 05/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tucker, Brian J., Schubert, Emily C., Dorogusker, Jesse L., Linde, Joakim, Chick, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mortell, John
• Application Number:
  US14/612,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20150147974A1
• Time in Patent Office: 477 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.61
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/01 operating on vehicle systems or fittings, e.g. on doors, seats or windscreens
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/241 whereby access privileges are related to the identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/04 Access control involving a hierarchy in access rights
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/08 Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting key management in a packet data network H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/61 Time-dependent
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A primary portable device can access a vehicle by transmitting an activation message including a vehicle access credential to the vehicle. The primary portable device can additionally enable a secondary portable device to access the vehicle by transmitting the vehicle access credential to the secondary portable device. The connections between the primary portable device, secondary portable device, and vehicle can be based on a short-range wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a secured object, the method comprising:

establishing, by a first portable device having a touch screen display, a first connection between the first portable device and the secured object;

receiving, by the first portable device, an access credential from the secured object via the first connection, wherein the access credential received from the secured object enables the first portable device to access the secured object;

establishing, by the first portable device, a second connection between the first portable device and a second portable device that is different from the first portable device based on a user input received at the touch screen display; and

transmitting, by the first portable device, an additional access credential to the second portable device via the established second connection, wherein the additional access credential is used by the second portable device to enable access to the secured object by a direct connection.

2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the direct connection is a Bluetooth connection.

3. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first portable device, a usage parameter to the second portable device, wherein the usage parameter defines an access limitation associated with the secured object for the second portable device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting, by the first portable device, a usage parameter to the second portable device, wherein the usage parameter defines an access limitation; and

digitally signing, by the first portable device, the usage parameter using a cryptographic key prior to transmitting the usage parameter to the second portable device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the access limitation comprises:

limiting accessible operations of the secured object to fewer than all the operations that are accessible using the first portable device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein upon transmitting the additional access credential, the first portable device disallows a user from using the first portable device to enable access to the secured object.

7. The method defined in claim 1, wherein the secured object is selected from the group of objects consisting of:

a vehicle, a safe, a vault, a building, workout equipment, and a room.

20. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, by the first portable device, location information from the second portable device that was gathered by the second portable device while the second portable device was enabled access to the secured object using the additional access credential.

8. A method for accessing a secured system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a secondary portable device, an access credential from a primary portable device;

establishing, by the secondary portable device, a direct connection between the secondary portable device and the secured system; and

transmitting, by the secondary portable device, the access credential to the secured system via the direct connection, wherein access to the secured system is enabled based on the access credential and enabling access to the secured system executes one or more operations of the secured system selected from the group of operations consisting of;

automatically adjusting an adjustable seat of the secured system to a predetermined position;

automatically adjusting one or more settings of an entertainment system of the secured system; and

activating a location reporting function of the secured system.

9. The method defined in claim 8 further comprising:

establishing, by the secondary portable device, an additional direct connection between the secondary portable device and the primary portable device, wherein the access credential is received via the additional direct connection.

10. The method defined in claim 9 wherein the direct connection and the additional direct connection are Bluetooth connections.

11. The method defined in claim 8 wherein the access credential is received by the secondary portable device from the primary portable device in an e-mail message.

12. The method defined in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the secondary portable device, a usage parameter from the primary portable device, wherein the usage parameter defines and access limitation for accessing the secured system by the secondary portable device.

13. A method for accessing a secured object, the method comprising:

establishing, by the secured object, a connection between the secured object and a primary portable device;

encrypting, by the secured object, a first access credential;

transmitting, by the secured object, the encrypted first access credential to the primary portable device over a connection;

establishing, by the secured object, a direct connection between the secured object and a secondary portable device;

receiving, by the secured object, a second access credential from the secondary portable device over the direct connection; and

enabling, by the secured object, access to the secured object based at least in part on the second access credential.

14. The method defined in claim 13, further comprising:

determining, by the secured object, authenticity of the second access credential; and

enabling, by the secured object, the access to the secured object based at least in part on the authenticity of the second access credential.

15. The method defined in claim 14, wherein determining the authenticity of the second access credential comprises identifying whether the second access credential was obtained by the secondary portable device from the primary portable device.

16. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the direct connection is a Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE connection.

17. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the connection between the secured object and the primary portable device is a Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE connection.

18. The method defined in claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a usage parameter from the secondary portable device, wherein the usage parameter defines an access limitation;

receiving an instruction to perform an operation from the secondary portable device;

determining whether to perform the operation based on whether the usage parameter indicates that the operation should be allowed; and

performing the operation in the event that the usage parameter indicates that the operation should be allowed.

19. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the direct connection is a short-range, point-to-point wireless connection.