Smart key emulation for vehicles
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- sensing a machine-sensible item that is proximate to a vehicle to generate data indicative of the proximate item;
comparing the generated data with an authorization record for the vehicle;
determining a current GPS position for a global positioning system (GPS) position-tracking enabled smart phone associated with the authorization record;
determining a current GPS position for the vehicle;
comparing the determined current GPS position for the smart phone associated with the authorization record with the determined current GPS position for the vehicle;
determining a proximity for the smart phone with respect to the vehicle based on GPS position comparing; and
in response to (1) the generated data comparing indicating that a user associated with the item is authorized to access the vehicle, and (2) a determination that the smart phone associated with the authorization record is near the vehicle based on the determined proximity, emulating a smart key for the vehicle to permit the user to keylessly start the vehicle without requiring the user to possess a smart key for the vehicle.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for permitting a person to keylessly start a vehicle using a machine-sensible item such as his/her mobile device without requiring the person to possess a smart key.
581 Citations
55 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
sensing a machine-sensible item that is proximate to a vehicle to generate data indicative of the proximate item; comparing the generated data with an authorization record for the vehicle; determining a current GPS position for a global positioning system (GPS) position-tracking enabled smart phone associated with the authorization record; determining a current GPS position for the vehicle; comparing the determined current GPS position for the smart phone associated with the authorization record with the determined current GPS position for the vehicle; determining a proximity for the smart phone with respect to the vehicle based on GPS position comparing; and in response to (1) the generated data comparing indicating that a user associated with the item is authorized to access the vehicle, and (2) a determination that the smart phone associated with the authorization record is near the vehicle based on the determined proximity, emulating a smart key for the vehicle to permit the user to keylessly start the vehicle without requiring the user to possess a smart key for the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 53, 54)
-
-
16. A method comprising:
-
sensing a machine-sensible item that is proximate to a vehicle to generate data indicative of the proximate item; communicating the generated data to a remote computer system; determining a current GPS position for a global positioning system (GPS) position-tracking enabled smart phone associated with an authorization record for the vehicle; determining a current GPS position for the vehicle; comparing the determined current GPS position for the smart phone associated with the authorization record with the determined current GPS position for the vehicle; determining a proximity for the smart phone with respect to the vehicle based on GPS position comparing; receiving authorization instructions from the remote computer system, the authorization instructions indicating whether a user associated with the item is authorized to access the vehicle and being conditioned on (1) the generated data being associated with the authorization record, and (2) a determination that the smart phone associated with the authorization record is near the vehicle based on the determined proximity; and in response to the authorization instructions indicating that the user is authorized to access the vehicle, emulating a smart key for the vehicle to permit the user to keylessly start the vehicle without requiring the user to possess a smart key for the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. An apparatus comprising:
-
a smart key emulator configured, upon enablement, to wirelessly transmit a signal that emulates a smart key for keylessly starting a vehicle; hardware configured to control enablement of the smart key emulator via an enable signal for delivery to the smart key emulator; and a processor configured to (1) determine a current GPS position for a global positioning system (GPS) position-tracking enabled smart phone associated with an authorization record for the vehicle, (2) determine a current GPS position for the vehicle, (3) compare the determined current GPS position for the smart phone associated with the authorization record with the determined current GPS position for the vehicle, (4) determine a proximity for the smart phone with respect to the vehicle based on GPS position comparison, and (5) control the hardware with respect to delivery of the enable signal in response to a determination that the smart phone associated with the authorization record is near the vehicle based on the determined proximity. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 55)
-
-
47. A computer program product comprising:
-
a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of a mobile device and resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the mobile device'"'"'s processor, are configured to cause the mobile device to wirelessly transmit a signal that emulates a smart key for keylessly starting a vehicle to thereby permit a user of the mobile device to keylessly start the vehicle without requiring the authorized user to possess a smart key for the vehicle; and wherein the mobile device'"'"'s processor is further configured to condition the transmission of the signal on operations by a processor to (1) determine a current GPS position for a global positioning system (GPS) position-tracking enabled smart phone associated with an authorization record for the vehicle, (2) determine a current GPS position for the vehicle, (3) compare the determined current GPS position for the smart phone associated with the authorization record with the determined current GPS position for the vehicle, (4) determine a proximity for the smart phone with respect to the vehicle based on GPS position comparison, and (5) control whether the mobile device wirelessly transmits the signal in response to a determination as whether the smart phone associated with the authorization record is near the vehicle based on the determined proximity. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
Specification