Method and Use of Smartphone Camera to Prevent Distracted Driving

• US 20150264558A1
• Filed: 03/17/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Glenwood Garner III, Joel David Wigton
• Original Assignee: Glenwood Garner III
• Inventors: Garner, Glenwood III, Wigton, Joel David
• Granted Patent: US 9,324,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/17 using hand-held instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/19 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/193 Preprocessing; Feature extraction

Abstract

A method and use are described for disabling certain wireless communication device functionalities based on input from the device'"'"'s user-facing camera. More particularly, image data of the user is collected, image analysis is used to extract certain metrics about the user, and if those metrics are in violation of one or more thresholds one or more device functionalities are disabled. The functionality may be disabled for a period of time or until the user'"'"'s image metrics fall below one or more thresholds. The disabled device functionalities may also be extended to connected peripheral devices. Finally, records of threshold violations resulting in disabled device functionality may be stored on the device or a database and made available to third parties.

Claims

1. A method of restricting access to zero or more applications on a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

a wireless communication device for controlling radiofrequency transceivers and executing applications, a camera operatively coupled to the wireless communication device for capturing image data of the user, a processor operatively coupled to the wireless communication device and to the camera for performing image analysis of the user'"'"'s gaze, and a probability calculation executed on the processor for determining if the user'"'"'s gaze is exceeding a threshold proportional to a temporal, duty-cycle, or rate metric.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprises having an enabled and disabled functional state which is password protected.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprises initiating the method when the user of the wireless communication device activates one or more applications on the same wireless communication device or an operatively coupled wireless communication device.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the camera is the user-facing camera of the wireless communication device, regardless of the design, use, or orientation of the wireless communication device, and wherein the captured image data comprises images selected from the group consisting of the face, head, or body of the user.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the camera is the user-facing camera of the wireless communication device, regardless of the design, use, or orientation of the wireless communication device, and wherein the camera type comprises modalities selected from the group consisting of reflectance, fluorescence, thermal, infrared, hyperspectral, x-ray, or 3-dimensional image modalities.

6. A method of restricting access to zero or more applications on a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

a network of two or more operatively coupled wireless communication devices for controlling radiofrequency transceivers and executing applications, a camera operatively coupled to at least one wireless communication device for capturing image data of the user, a processor operatively coupled to at least one wireless communication device for performing image analysis of the user'"'"'s gaze, and a probability calculation executed on the processor for determining if the user'"'"'s gaze is exceeding a threshold proportional to a temporal, duty-cycle, or rate metric.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code which, when loaded into memory and executed on a processor of a network connected computing device which is separate from the wireless communication device that captured the original image data, is used to perform the image analysis or threshold detection and wherein the resultant determination is communicated to the wireless communication device via one or more communication protocols.

8. A method of restricting access to zero or more applications on a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code which, when loaded into memory and executed on a processor of the wireless communications device, is adapted to perform image analysis of the user selected from the list consisting of;

face, head, or eye detection with or without eyewear, direction of gaze, blink detection, luminance of user'"'"'s face by any of the wireless computing device'"'"'s light emitting components, or other biometric data which can be determined by visual means and wherein the resultant image analysis has a corresponding time base.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 8 wherein the code uses the output of the image recognition process to determine metrics selected from the list consisting of:

1) the total time the user spends looking at the wireless communication device;

the total time the user spends not looking at the wireless communication device;

     3) the duty-cycle proportional to the ratio of time the user spends looking at the wireless communication device versus the time the user spends not looking at the wireless communication device;

     4) the rate in which the user'"'"'s gaze switches from looking at the wireless communication device to not looking at the wireless communication device.

10. The metrics as claimed in claim 9 wherein temporal thresholds ranging from >

0 to 60 seconds are applied to the temporal metrics;

percentage thresholds ranging from 0 to 100 percent are applied to the duty-cycle metric; and

rate thresholds ranging from 0 to 100 occurrences within >

0 to 60 seconds are applied to the rate metric.

11. The temporal, duty-cycle, and rate thresholds as claimed in claim 10 wherein the magnitude of the thresholds have a mathematical relation to the speed that the wireless communication device is traveling at and wherein the temporal, duty-cycle, and rate threshold mathematical relations to speed have lower and upper speed thresholds.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications by interfering with the operation of the application'"'"'s software or interfering with the wireless communication device'"'"'s firmware, hardware, or operating system which are required by the application.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications for a software adjustable period of time.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications until the user complies with the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications by locking the device.

16. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code alerts the user by means selected from the list consisting of audible, visual, or tactile feedback.

17. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications by means selected from the list consisting of:

blocking incoming or outgoing data transmissions, deactivating or hiding the application icon, disabling the screen, disabling one or more hardware or software defined buttons, disabling one or more wireless transceivers, blocking data transmissions at the cellular base station or other network locations, charging a premium price or fee, or alerting third-parties.

18. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, the wireless communication device'"'"'s non-transitory computer readable code prevents, impedes, or discourages the use or execution of zero or more applications operating on one or more devices that are separate from the wireless communication device.

19. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein if the user of the wireless communication device is in violation of the temporal, duty-cycle, or rate thresholds, records of the violation are stored within the non-transitory computer readable medium on the wireless communication device or on a network connected device.

20. The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein records of the violations are made available to third parties by communication with the wireless communication device or a device operatively connected to the wireless communication device.