Method and system for controlling a mobile communication device

• US 9,386,447 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Franklin Tai, Jafar Nabkel, Ruel Coe Jr. Mercure, Scott Ferrill Tibbitts
• Original Assignee: Ruel Coe Jr. Mercure
• Inventors: Tibbitts, Scott Ferrill, Tai, Franklin, Mercure, Ruel Coe Jr., Nabkel, Jafar
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Tan H
• Application Number:
  US13/612,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20130084847A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 455/419, 455/41.2, 455/410, 455/404, 455/1, 455/569.2, 455/456.4, 455/421, 455/411, 455/420, 455/404.1, 455/418, 342/357.05, 340/7.24, 340/438, 340/439
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/22 for communication related to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/415 based on motion status or velocity, e.g. for disabling use of mobile phones in a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and system for detecting, monitoring and/or controlling one or more of mobile services for a mobile communication device (also referred to herein as a Controllable Mobile Device or CMD), and in particular, when the device is being used and the vehicle, operated by the user of the device, is moving. The present method and system determines whether the vehicle is being operated by a user that may also have access to a mobile communication device which, if used concurrently while the vehicle is in operation, may lead to unsafe operation of the vehicle. If the mobile services control system determines that a vehicle operator has potentially unsafe access to a mobile communication device, the mobile services control system may restrict operator access to one or more services that would otherwise be available to the operator via the mobile communication device.

Claims

1. A method of determining if a vehicle is being driven by one or more vehicle operators associated with the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle and a vehicle identification;

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of the vehicle and a time of location of the vehicle;

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle; and

determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle using the one or more inputs indicative of the operational status of the vehicle, the vehicle identification, the location of the vehicle, the time of location of the vehicle, and the location of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a velocity of the vehicle, a time of the velocity of the vehicle and optionally a velocity of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, a time of the velocity of the vehicle and wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of a velocity of the vehicle, a time of the velocity of the vehicle and optionally a velocity of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises comparing the velocity of the vehicle and the velocity of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the velocity of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is estimated based on information indicative of changes in relative wireless signal strength.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the velocity of the vehicle is estimated based on information indicative of changes in relative wireless signal strength.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location error of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, and wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of a location error of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is estimated by a unique wireless signal that is received by the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is estimated by a unique wireless signal that is received from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a direction of movement of the vehicle and a time of the direction of movement of the vehicle and wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of a direction of movement of the vehicle and the time of the direction of movement of the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an acceleration of the vehicle and time of the acceleration of the vehicle and wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of an acceleration of the vehicle and the time of the acceleration of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an acceleration of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle and wherein the determining, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step using the acceleration of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle and the one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle comprising a velocity of the vehicle and wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises comparing, using computation equipment, the velocity of the vehicle and the motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is estimated by a unique wireless signal.

14. A method of predicting if a vehicle is being driven by one or more vehicle operators associated with the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle and a vehicle identification;

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle;

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle; and

predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle using the one or inputs indicative of the operational status of the vehicle, the one or more inputs indicative of a location of the one or more operators associated with the vehicle and the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of the location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle is provided from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an acceleration of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle and optionally an acceleration of the vehicle and wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using one or more of the acceleration of the vehicle and the acceleration of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of vehicle information indicative of a driver identification.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of vehicle information indicative of a driver identification comprises information selected from a group consisting of a vehicle operator seat position information of the vehicle, a radio channel selection information, audio entertainment information, key identification data, video entertainment information and combinations of the same.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of vehicle information indicative of a driver identification.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the vehicle information indicative of a driver identification comprises the identity of the vehicle operator at a previous trip location end point.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a vehicle location.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a vehicle location comprises a location of the vehicle at a trip start of the vehicle and where the location is predicted from a previous trip location end point.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of vehicle location comprises a location that is received from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of vehicle location is received from a vehicle detection system.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises using the one or more inputs indicative of vehicle location.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises the step of comparing, using computation equipment, a vehicle location, comprising a location of the vehicle at a trip start of the vehicle, with the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle.

27. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle is obtained by a user input.

28. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle is predicted from a vehicle location at an end of a previous trip.

29. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more operators associated with the vehicle comprises a location selected from the group consisting of a home, a place of business, a school, a shopping center and combinations of the same.

30. The method of claim 14, wherein the computation equipment resides at least partially on the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

31. The method of claim 14, wherein the computation equipment resides at least partially in one or more of a server, a wireless service provider network, the vehicle, and the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

32. The method of claim 14, wherein the computation equipment resides on a wireless service provider network and on the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

33. The method claim 14, wherein the computation equipment comprises a processor located on the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

34. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of restricting operation of one or more features of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle after the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the restricting step further comprises the step of initiating the restriction with the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the restricting step further comprises the step of initiating the restriction with a wireless service provider network.

37. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of generating a usage report comprising one or more of i) information indicative of when one or more services provided by the controllable mobile device was in use, ii) information indicative of a type of use of the controllable mobile device, iii) information indicative of a time and date of when the controllable mobile device was in the vehicle and that vehicle was in operation, and iv) information indicative of a velocity and the location of the vehicle.

38. The method of claim 14, wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the vehicle operator step further comprises the step of comparing, using computation equipment, a location of the vehicle and the location of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, to determine when the location of the vehicle and the location of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle are within a predetermined range of each other.

39. The method of claim 14, wherein the location of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is obtained from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle at a time when the vehicle has travelled a predetermined distance from a trip start location.

40. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the vehicle operator step further comprises the step of comparing, using computation equipment, the one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle comprising information indicative of motion of the vehicle and the one or more inputs indicative of motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle comprises one or more of a velocity of the controllable mobile device, a change in location of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, an acceleration of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, and information indicative of changes in relative wireless signal strength.

43. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle comprises information obtained from an accelerometer.

44. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of obtaining a unique wireless signal from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, and wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the vehicle operator step further comprises the step of using the unique wireless signal.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the obtaining the unique wireless signal from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle is done without a handshake connection between the controllable mobile device and computation equipment on the vehicle.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the obtaining the unique wireless signal from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle comprises a closed-loop connection between the controllable mobile device and computation equipment on the vehicle.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein the unique wireless signal comprises an identifier that is unique to one of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

48. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs comprising at least one of a driver profile information and driving behavior pattern information.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the driving behavior pattern information comprises at least one more of acceleration rate information, vehicle speed information, average speed information, trip start location information, trip end location information, vehicle route information during a portion of the trip, braking pattern information, cornering acceleration pattern information, rpm vs. location pattern information, rpm vs. velocity pattern information, and rpm pattern information.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the driver profile information comprises one or more of home location information, vehicle operator route preference information, vehicle operator preference, probability that a vehicle operator will start a trip at a particular time of day, place of business information, shopping center information, and school information.

51. The method of claim 14, wherein the obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle comprises obtaining an input from one or more sensors within the vehicle to approximate a position within the vehicle of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle based on a signal strength from the one or more sensors.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the signal strength comprises an ultrasound signal.

53. The method of claim 14, wherein the obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle comprises obtaining an approximate position within the vehicle of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle by programically deducing the position using an acoustic method.

54. A method of predicting if a vehicle is being driven by one or more vehicle operators associated with the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of an operational status of the vehicle and a vehicle identification;

obtaining one or more inputs indicative of a location within the vehicle boundary of one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle comprises one or more of i) a unique wireless signal and ii) an input indicative of motion and time of motion of the one or more controllable moveable devices registered within the vehicle; and

predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle using the one or more inputs indicative of the operational status of the vehicle and the location with the vehicle boundary of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the unique wireless signal is received by the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein the unique wireless signal is received from the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein the unique wireless signal is received from one or more sensors in the vehicle.

58. The method of claim 54, further comprising the step of obtaining one or more inputs indicative of i) a motion of the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, ii) a time of the motion the one or more controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle, iii) motion of the vehicle, and iv) a time of motion the vehicle, and wherein the predicting, using computation equipment, the identity of the one or more vehicle operators that is operating the vehicle step further comprises comparing, with computation equipment, items i) a motion of the one or more and controllable mobile devices registered with the vehicle and ii) a time of the motion the one with items:

iii) motion of the vehicle and iv) a time of motion the vehicle, with computational equipment.