Vehicle driver identification using portable device

• US 9,402,174 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Telematics Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Greubel, Alan Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghafoerkhan, Faiyazkhan
• Application Number:
  US13/887,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20140328248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,177 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A network device associates a fleet vehicle with a driver of it. The network device receives customer input associating a group of media access control (MAC) addresses of portable devices with driver identifiers and stores, in a memory, the MAC addresses associated with the driver identifiers. The network device also receives, from a vehicle telematics unit, a vehicle identifier of a vehicle connected to the vehicle telematics unit and a MAC address of a particular portable device proximate the vehicle. Based on the MAC address of the particular portable device, the network device associates a particular driver identifier and the vehicle identifier. The vehicle telematics unit may determine that driver is no longer driving when it can no longer detect a signal from the particular portable device that was proximate the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a network device, customer input associating a plurality of media access control (MAC) addresses of portable devices with driver identifiers;

storing, by the network device and in a memory, the MAC addresses associated with the driver identifiers;

receiving, by the network device and from a vehicle telematics unit, a vehicle identifier of a vehicle connected to the vehicle telematics unit;

receiving, by the network device and from the vehicle telematics unit, a MAC address of a particular portable device;

associating, by the network device and based on the MAC address of the particular portable device, a particular driver identifier and the vehicle identifier;

receiving, by the network device and from the vehicle telematics unit, a signal indicating that the particular portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit; and

disassociating, by the network device and in response to receiving the signal, the particular vehicle driver and the vehicle identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the vehicle telematics unit and via discovery protocols for a wireless personal area network, the MAC address of the particular portable device; and

sending, by the vehicle telematics unit and to the network device, the detected MAC address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detecting the MAC address of the particular portable device includes:

identifying the particular portable device based on discovery information provided by the particular portable device according to Bluetooth protocols.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the detecting of the MAC address of the particular portable device is conducted without pairing the vehicle telematics unit and the particular portable device.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the sending the detected MAC address includes sending the MAC address via a radio access network that is different than the wireless personal area network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating the particular driver identifier and the vehicle identifier includes:

performing a lookup of the MAC address and the particular driver identifier in the memory.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the network device, a user interface to receive the customer input.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the user interface includes one or more of:

providing a secure web-page to submit the MAC addresses of portable devices and the driver identifiers, or

providing a web-based application to submit the MAC addresses of portable devices and the vehicle driver identifiers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the web-based application includes a utility to automatically detect MAC addresses of discoverable portable devices and selectively populate the MAC addresses into the user interface.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the network device and from the vehicle telematics unit, vehicle activity data; and

associating the vehicle activity data with the particular driver identifier.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the particular portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit; and

sending, by the vehicle telematics unit, the signal indicating that the particular portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the detecting that the particular portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit includes one or more of:

detecting that a MAC address of the particular portable device is not available for at least a threshold period, or

detecting that a MAC address of the particular portable device is not available and detecting another MAC address of another portable device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the network device, a vehicle telematics unit identifier with the vehicle identifier; and

performing, by the network device, a lookup of the vehicle identifier based on the vehicle telematics unit identifier.

14. A system, comprising:

a vehicle telematics unit comprising;

a memory to store a plurality of instructions,

a first wireless transceiver to receive discovery signals via a wireless personal area network,

a second wireless transceiver to transmit signals over a radio access network that is different than the wireless personal area network, and

a processor configured to execute the instructions in the memory to;

detect, via the discovery signals for the wireless personal area network, a media access control (MAC) address of a portable device,

send, via the radio access network, the detected MAC address,

detect that the MAC address is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit, and

send, to the one or more network devices, a signal indicating that the portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit; and

one or more network devices comprising;

one or more memories to store instructions, driver identifiers, and MAC addresses, and

one or more processors configured to execute the instructions in the one or more memories to;

receive input associating the MAC address with a driver identifier,

receive input associating a vehicle telematics unit identifier with a vehicle identifier,

receive, from the vehicle telematics unit, an indication that the MAC address has been detected by the vehicle telematics unit, wherein the indication includes the vehicle telematics unit identifier, and

associate, based on the MAC address and the vehicle telematics unit identifier, the driver identifier and the vehicle identifier.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors of the one or more network devices are further configured to:

store, in the one or more memories, the MAC addresses associated with the driver identifiers, and

store, in the one or more memories, the vehicle telematics unit identifier with the vehicle identifier.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein, when associating the driver identifier and the vehicle identifier, the one or more processors of the one or more network devices are further configured to:

perform a lookup of the driver identifier based on the MAC address in the one or more memories, and

perform a lookup of the vehicle identifier based on the vehicle telematics unit identifier in the one or more memories.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor of the vehicle telematics unit is further configured to:

identify the MAC address of the portable device based on discovery information provided by the portable device according to Bluetooth protocols.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors of the one or more network devices are further configured to:

provide, to a user device, a user interface to solicit the input associating each of the MAC addresses with a driver identifier.

19. A vehicle telematics unit, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions;

a first wireless transceiver to receive discovery signals via a wireless personal area network;

a second wireless transceiver to transmit signals over a radio access network that is different than the wireless personal area network; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions in the memory to;

detect, via the discovery signals for the wireless personal area network, a media access control (MAC) address of a portable device,

send, via the radio access network and to a network device of a fleet management system, the detected MAC address,

detect that the MAC address is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit, and

send, to the network device, a signal indicating that the portable device is no longer discoverable by the vehicle telematics unit.

20. The vehicle telematics unit of claim 19, wherein, when detecting the MAC address of the portable device, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions in the memory to:

identify the MAC address of the portable device based on discovery information provided according to Bluetooth protocols.