Remote view system with privacy protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10423845-B2
Application number	US-201615560387-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2016
Priority date	Apr 10, 2015
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

A method of operating a remote view system with privacy protection and a remote view system with privacy protection. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request from a remote device for one or more images of a vehicle interior, receiving one or more images of the vehicle interior, determining whether a privacy key is located within the vehicle interior, determining whether one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior, retrieving the privacy settings of the vehicle interior stored in memory, responsive to determining that the privacy key and the one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior, generating one or more privacy images based on the one or more images and the privacy settings of the vehicle interior, controlling a transceiver to transmit the one or more privacy images to the remote device via an antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a remote view system with privacy protection, the method comprising:
receiving, with an electronic control unit, a request from a remote device for one or more images of a vehicle interior of a vehicle;
receiving, with the electronic control unit, the one or more images of the vehicle interior;
determining, with the electronic control unit, whether a privacy key is located within the vehicle interior;
determining, with the electronic control unit, whether one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior;
retrieving, with the electronic control unit, the privacy settings of the vehicle interior stored in memory;
responsive to determining that the privacy key and the one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior, generating, with the electronic control unit, one or more privacy images based on the one or more images of the vehicle interior and the privacy settings of the vehicle interior; and
controlling a transceiver to transmit the one or more privacy images to the remote device via an antenna,
wherein the privacy key is a wireless device configured to be detectable by the electronic control unit, and
wherein the one or more privacy images include an image of the vehicle interior with a degree of censorship based on the privacy settings of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, with the electronic control unit, whether the vehicle has been in an accident and wherein generating the one or more privacy images based on the one or more images of the vehicle and the privacy settings of the vehicle interior is further in response to determining that the vehicle has not been in the accident.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein responsive to determining that the vehicle has been in the accident, the method further comprises controlling, with the electronic control unit, the transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the antenna.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the privacy key is not located within the vehicle interior, the method further comprises controlling, with the electronic control unit, the transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the antenna.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the one or more occupants are not located within the vehicle interior, the method further comprises controlling, with the electronic control unit, the transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the antenna.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the privacy settings of the vehicle interior are deactivated, the one or more privacy images are substantially similar to the one or more images.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the privacy settings of the vehicle interior are set to eliminate an identity of at least one of the one or more occupants, the generated one or more privacy images eliminate the identity of the at least one of the one or more occupants in the one or more privacy images by censoring one or more portions of the one or more images that contain the one or more occupants.

8. A remote view system with privacy protection, the system comprising:
a camera configured to capture one or more images of a vehicle interior of a vehicle; and
an electronic control unit having
a first transceiver electrically coupled to a first antenna;
a second transceiver electrically coupled to a second antenna;
a memory; and
an electronic processor electrically coupled to the memory, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to
receive a request from a remote device for the one or more images of the vehicle interior via the first transceiver and the first antenna,
receive the one or more images of the vehicle interior,
determine whether a privacy key is located within the vehicle interior via the second transceiver and the second antenna,
determine whether one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior,
retrieve privacy settings of the vehicle interior stored in the memory,
generate one or more privacy images based on the one or more images of the vehicle interior and the privacy settings of the vehicle interior in response to determining that the privacy key and the one or more occupants are located within the vehicle interior, and
control the first transceiver to transmit the one or more privacy images to the remote device via the first antenna

wherein the privacy key is a wireless device configured to be detectable by the electronic control unit, and
wherein the one or more privacy images include an image of the vehicle interior with a degree of censorship based on the privacy settings of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to determine whether the vehicle including the vehicle interior has been in an accident, and wherein, to generate the one or more privacy images from the one or more images and based on the privacy settings of the vehicle interior, is further in response to determining that the vehicle has not been in the accident.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to control the first transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the first antenna in response to determining that the vehicle has been in the accident.

11. The system of claim 8 , the electronic control unit is further configured to control the first transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the first antenna in response to determining that the privacy key is not located within the vehicle interior.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to control the first transceiver to transmit the one or more images to the remote device via the first antenna in response to determining that the one or more occupants are not located within the vehicle interior.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein when the privacy settings of the vehicle interior are deactivated, the one or more privacy images are substantially similar to the one or more images.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein when the privacy settings of the vehicle interior are set to eliminate an identity of at least one of the one or more occupants, the generated one or more privacy images eliminate the identity of the at least one of the one or more occupants in the one or more privacy images by censoring one or more portions of the one or more images that contain the one or more occupants.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Miller James Stephen
• Graf Patrick
• Jones Robert
• Hilliger Bernhard

Classifications

• H04W12/02

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title

• B60R25/31

  of human presence inside or outside the vehicle · CPC title

• G06T2207/30268

  Vehicle interior · CPC title

• B60R2325/101

  Bluetooth® · CPC title

• B60R25/305 Primary

  using a camera · CPC title