Selective mobile device component lockdown in moving vehicles

• US 9,749,824 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2015
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Foster Products Incorporated (H.B. Fuller Co. (Indonesia))
• Original Assignee: Foster Products Incorporated (H.B. Fuller Co. (Indonesia))
• Inventors: Mayer, Winston Douglas, Foster, Gary D
• Primary Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US14/620,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20160242014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 701 315, 4554141
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• 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

Abstract

On-Board Diagnostics (OBDs) produced by a vehicle are monitored in real time. The OBDs are evaluated in view of rules or policies to take actions with respect selective component lockdown of resources for a mobile device that is operational within the vehicle. For example, the display screen of the mobile device is blacked out and locked out when the OBDs indicate the vehicle is moving.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

executing, a mobile device controller on a relay device that is interfaced to an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port of a vehicle;

filtering, by the mobile device controller, OBDs produced by the vehicle; and

wirelessly communicating, by the mobile device controller through the relay device, the filtered OBDs to a mobile device application executing on a mobile device for controlling the mobile device based at least in part on the filtered OBDs, wherein wireless communicating further includes interacting with an Operating System (OS) of the mobile device for turning on a wireless communication mechanism of the mobile device when detecting that the mobile device is not communicating via the wireless communication mechanism before wirelessly communicating with the mobile device, and wherein wirelessly communicating further includes instructing, by the mobile device controller, the mobile device application to lock down and lock out a display screen of the mobile device in response to a particular filtered OBD indicating that the vehicle is moving to prevent access to the display screen of the mobile device while the vehicle is moving and permitting while the display screen of the mobile device is locked down the mobile device to conduct two-way audio communications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein filtering further includes obtaining the OBDs through a wireless connection to an OBD system integrated into the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein filtering further includes obtaining the OBDs from the vehicle in real time as a changing data stream of values relevant to the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically pairing further includes establishing the real-time communication session using one of:

Bluetooth®

, Low Energy Bluetooth®

, Radio Frequency, Radio Frequency Identifier, Infrared, Near Field Communication, Wi-Fi, and cellular transmissions.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, interacting, by the mobile device controller, with the mobile device to gather information relevant to one of:

actions of a user with respect to resources of the mobile device and states of the resources.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, reporting, by the mobile device controller, the information to remote server.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising, reporting, by the mobile device controller, the information in an email to a preconfigured email address.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, selectively reporting, by the mobile device controller, the filtered OBDs to one of:

a remote server, in an email to a preconfigured email address, a remote posting site, and via a RESTful (Representational State Transfer (REST)) Application Programming Interface (API).

9. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a server, filtered On-Board Diagnostics (OBDs) produced by a vehicle, wherein receiving further includes receiving the OBDs from a relay device interfaced to an OBD port of the vehicle;

obtaining, by the server, information relevant to an operation of a mobile device within the vehicle, and wherein obtaining further includes obtaining the information from a protected resource executing on the mobile device;

storing, by the server, the filtered OBDs and the information; and

evaluating, by the server, a rule with respect to the filtered OBDs and the information and taking an action in response to evaluation of the rule.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising, processing one of:

dynamically pushing, by the server, a new policy for enforcement on the mobile device to the relay device that interacts with the protected resource of the mobile device and pushing the new policy based on selective ones of the filtered OBDs; and

making all OBDs available when the vehicle is determined to be in park.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising, dynamically pushing, by the server a new filter for new filtering of the OBDs to the relay device interfaced to an OBD system integrated within the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein obtaining further includes obtaining the information as a state of the protected resource resident on the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein evaluating further includes taking the action by one of:

sending an email with selective filtered OBDs and selective information to a predefined email address and sending the selective filtered OBDs and the selective information to a database and/or remote posting site.

14. A system, comprising:

a relay device adapted and configured to collect and to filter On-Board Diagnostics (OBDs) produced by a vehicle, the relay device coupled to an OBD port within the vehicle; and

a mobile device controller adapted and configured to execute on the relay device and interact with a protect resource of the mobile device, the protected resource executed on the mobile device when the mobile device is booted and powered on as a protected resource, the mobile device controller further configured to;

i) apply rules to the filtered OBDs, ii) take actions to instruct the mobile application to lock down and black out a display screen of the mobile device but permit two-way audio calls on the mobile device while the display screen is locked down and blacked out, iii) report information to a remote server relevant to one or more of;

the filtered OBDs, the actions, and other actions taken by a user with respect to one or more resources of the mobile device as reported to the mobile device controller from the mobile application during operation of the mobile device within the vehicle, and iv) turn on a wireless communication mechanism of the mobile device through interaction by the mobile device controller with an Operating System of the mobile device when detecting that the wireless communication mechanism is off for the mobile device and initiate the mobile application on the mobile device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the mobile device controller is further adapted and configured, in ii), to one of:

a) lock down and black out the display screen of the mobile device when a particular filtered OBD indicates that the vehicle is exceeding a speed defined in a particular rule and b) lock down some Human Input Devices associated with the mobile device through communication from the mobile device controller with the mobile application.