In-vehicle access application

• US 9,706,354 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2015
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Howard, Kelvan, Enriquez, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US14/932,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20170127230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: 701300, 705 13, 235384
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• 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: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 : for in-vehicle communication
• 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 52/0254 : detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 : Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An in-vehicle access application may have different modes of operation. The different modes of operation may allow the in-vehicle access application to interact with different access devices, or interact differently with an access device. When a vehicle is determined to be in a stopped position, a first mode of operation of the in-vehicle access application can be activated. When a vehicle is determined to be moving, a second mode of operation of the in-vehicle access application can be activated.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle computing system comprising:

a user interface;

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable medium coupled to the processor and storing a set of computer executable instructions including an in-vehicle access application having a proximity mode of operation and a tolling mode of operation, wherein when executed by the processor, the set of computer executable instructions causes the in-vehicle computing system to;

receive a vehicle status signal from a vehicle communication bus of a vehicle;

determine, based on a first state of the vehicle status signal at a first point in time, that the vehicle is in a stopped position;

responsive to determining that the vehicle is in the stopped position, activate the proximity mode of operation of the in-vehicle access application, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application detects an access device in proximity to the vehicle, and establishes a wireless communication channel between the in-vehicle computing system and the access device using an integrated wireless transceiver that is part of the vehicle;

determine, based on a second state of the vehicle status signal at a second point in time, that the vehicle is moving; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle is moving, activate the tolling mode of operation of the in-vehicle access application.

2. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application:

identifies a toll road within a predetermined distance of the vehicle based on the location of the vehicle;

determines that the vehicle is approaching the toll road; and

transmits account credentials to a remote tolling server to obtain permission for the vehicle to access the toll road prior to arrival of the vehicle at the toll road.

3. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application:

identifies a toll station within a predetermined distance of the vehicle based on the location of the vehicle;

determines a transponder frequency of the toll station;

prior to arrival of the vehicle at the toll station, tunes a frequency of a tunable transponder integrated as part of the vehicle to match the determined transponder frequency of the toll station; and

transmits account credentials or verification information to the toll station using the determined transponder frequency when the toll station is in proximity to the vehicle.

4. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 3, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application determines a protocol message format associated with the toll station, and the account credentials or the verification information are transmitted to the toll station using the determined protocol message format.

5. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application further initiates a timer to record a duration of time that the vehicle is in the stopped position.

6. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 5, wherein power to the timer is maintained when the vehicle is turned off.

7. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application further receives transaction information from the access device via the wireless communication channel, and displays the transaction information on the user interface of the in-vehicle computing system to request approval from an occupant of the vehicle to transmit account credentials to the access device.

8. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is determined to be in the stopped position when the vehicle status signal indicates that the vehicle has been motionless for over a threshold amount of time, or when the vehicle status signal indicates that a transmission mode of the vehicle is in park.

9. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is determined to be in motion when the vehicle status signal indicates that the vehicle has reached a predetermined minimum speed, or when the vehicle status signal indicates that a transmission mode of the vehicle is in drive.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by an in-vehicle computing system with an in-vehicle access application having a proximity mode of operation and a tolling mode of operation, a vehicle status signal from a vehicle communication bus of a vehicle;

determining, by the in-vehicle computing system based on a first state of the vehicle status signal at a first point in time, that the vehicle is in a stopped position; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle is in the stopped position, activating a proximity mode of operation of an in-vehicle access application, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application detects an access device in proximity to the vehicle, and establishes a wireless communication channel between the in-vehicle computing system and the access device using an integrated wireless transceiver that is part of the vehicle;

determining, based on a second state of the vehicle status signal at a second point in time, that the vehicle is moving; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle is moving, activating the tolling mode of operation of the in-vehicle access application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application:

identifies a toll road within a predetermined distance of the vehicle based on the location of the vehicle;

determines that the vehicle is approaching the toll road; and

transmits account credentials to a remote tolling server to obtain permission for the vehicle to access the toll road prior to arrival of the vehicle at the toll road.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application:

identifies a toll station within a predetermined distance of the vehicle based on the location of the vehicle;

determines a transponder frequency of the toll station;

prior to arrival of the vehicle at the toll station, tunes a frequency of a tunable transponder integrated as part of the vehicle to match the determined transponder frequency of the toll station; and

transmits account credentials or verification information to the toll station using the determined transponder frequency when the toll station is in proximity to the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein in the tolling mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application determines a protocol message format associated with the toll station, and the account credentials or the verification information are transmitted to the toll station using the determined protocol message format.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application further initiates a timer to record a duration of time that the vehicle is in the stopped position.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein power to the timer is maintained when the vehicle is turned off.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein in the proximity mode of operation, the in-vehicle access application further receives transaction information from the access device via the wireless communication channel, and displays the transaction information on the user interface of the in-vehicle computing system to request approval from an occupant of the vehicle to transmit account credentials to the access device.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle is determined to be in the stopped position when the vehicle status signal indicates that the vehicle has been motionless for over a threshold amount of time, or when the vehicle status signal indicates that a transmission mode of the vehicle is in park.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle is determined to be in motion when the vehicle status signal indicates that the vehicle has reached a predetermined minimum speed, or when the vehicle status signal indicates that a transmission mode of the vehicle is in drive.