Customer driving mode for vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10166993-B2
Application number	US-201515749692-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2015
Priority date	Aug 5, 2015
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

An access assessment tool is described for providing a technical solution for selectively controlling access to restricted information and/or implementation of restricted functionalities based on a current vehicle mode and/or validated credentials. The access assessment tool described herein controls the validation of a user or diagnostic tool requesting access to restricted information or implementation of a restricted function before allowing access to the restricted information or allowing implementation of the restricted function.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
memory to store restricted information including a default cabin temperature;
a vehicle module;
a gateway interface to receive a diagnostic tool; and
a processor to:
receive, from the diagnostic tool, a request including security credentials for the restricted information;
determine whether to enable the diagnostic tool to modify the default cabin temperature based on the security credentials of the request; and
control the vehicle module based on the default cabin temperature.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to allow the diagnostic tool to access the restricted information based on a current vehicle mode.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the current vehicle mode is one of a factory mode, a transport mode, or a service mode.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the current vehicle mode operates in either an unrestricted access setting or a restricted access setting.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a network interface configured to communicate with a security server; and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
control the network interface to communicate the request to the security server and receive an access decision from the security server based on the security credentials; and
determine whether to allow the diagnostic tool to access the restricted information based the access decision.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the restricted information includes diagnostic identifier data.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether to enable a predetermined function for modifying the restricted information based on the security credentials; and
control operation of the vehicle module based on the restricted information.

8. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the vehicle module includes a vehicle temperature control module.

9. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined function includes a change to an access setting for a current vehicle mode.

10. A vehicle comprising:
memory to store restricted information including a default cabin temperature;
a vehicle module;
a gateway interface to receive a connection with an external diagnostic tool; and
a processor enabled to communicate with the memory and the gateway interface, the processor configured to:
receive, from the external diagnostic tool, a modification request including security credentials for modifying the default cabin temperature;
determine whether to allow modification of the default cabin temperature via the external diagnostic tool based on the security credentials; and
control the vehicle module based on the default cabin temperature.

11. A method comprising:
storing restricted information including a default cabin temperature of a vehicle;
receiving diagnostic tool via a gateway interface;
receiving, from the diagnostic tool, a request including security credentials for the restricted information;
authenticating the diagnostic tool based on the security credentials;
determining whether to enable the diagnostic tool to modify the default cabin temperature based on the security credentials; and
controlling a vehicle module based on the default cabin temperature.

12. The method of claim 11 , further including determining whether to allow the diagnostic tool to access the restricted information based on authentication of the diagnostic tool and a current vehicle mode.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the current vehicle mode is one of a factory mode, a transport mode, or a service mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the current vehicle mode operates in either an unrestricted access setting or a restricted access setting.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
controlling communication of a validation request to a security server, the validation request including the security credentials;
receiving an access decision from the security server based on the security credentials; and
determining whether to allow the diagnostic tool to access the restricted information based the access decision.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the restricted information includes diagnostic identifier data.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining whether to enable a predetermined function for modifying the restricted information based on the security credentials included in the access request; and
controlling operation of the vehicle module based on the restricted information.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the vehicle module includes a vehicle temperature control module.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the predetermined function includes a change to an access setting for a current vehicle mode.

20. The method of claim 11 , further including determining whether to allow the diagnostic tool to access the restricted information based on sensor information obtained from the vehicle module.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Boran Lisa Therese
• Hille Kevin Thomas
• Caushi Aldi
• Weinfurther James Michael

Classifications

• B60W50/0205

  Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models · CPC title

• B60W50/12

  Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation · CPC title

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• G06F21/30

  Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals · CPC title

• B60W2050/0082

  for initialising the control system · CPC title