Multi-factor authentication and access control in a vehicular environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10812976-B2
Application number	US-201716611144-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2017
Priority date	Oct 3, 2017
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

The systems and methods described herein can include a digital assistant application that receives sensor signals from sensors installed in a vehicle and determines an entry event into the vehicle. The digital assistant application can receive, responsive to the entry event into the vehicle, a plurality authentication input signals from a plurality of sensors associated with the vehicle. The digital assistant application can determine a plurality of authentication states based on the plurality of authentication input signals and a plurality of authentication credentials. The digital assistant application can identify an access permission level of a plurality of access permission levels based at least in part on the plurality of identifies authentication states. The digital assistant application can identify, responsive to the access permission level, a subset of a set of functionalities available via the vehicle, and provide vehicular access to the subset of functionalities.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system for multi-factor entry authentication of vehicle entry events, comprising:
a vehicle data processing system having a digital assistant application that includes an entry detection component, an entry authentication component, and an access control component, the digital assistant application being configured to receive speech signals for processing to perform speech recognition, wherein the digital assistant application executes in a vehicle to:
receive, by the entry detection component, at least one sensor signal obtained by a first sensor installed in the vehicle;
determine, by the entry detection component, based on the at least one sensor signal, an entry event into the vehicle, the entry event indicative of a user entering the vehicle;
receive, by the entry authentication component, responsive to the entry event into the vehicle, a first authentication input signal comprising an audio input signal and a second authentication input signal, the first authentication input signal being obtained from the user by a microphone of the vehicle, and the second authentication input signal being obtained by a second sensor associated with the vehicle;
determine, by the entry authentication component, a first authentication state based on the first authentication input signal and a first authentication credential from a plurality of authentication credentials, wherein the first authentication state is determined by extracting one or more speaker indicative features from the received audio input signal and comparing the extracted features to a set of corresponding speaker specific features stored in a data repository, wherein the first authentication state is determined based on a result of the comparison;
determine, by the entry authentication component, a second authentication state based on the second authentication input signal and a second authentication credential of the plurality of authentication credentials;
identify, by the access control component, an access permission level of a plurality of access permission levels based at least in part on the first authentication state and the second authentication state;
identify, by the access control component, responsive to the access permission level, a subset of a set of functionalities available via the vehicle; and
provide, by the digital assistant application, vehicular access to the subset of functionalities and an audio output signal related to at least one subset of the set of functionalities.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the digital assistant application executes to:
receive an audio input indicative of a request for access to a first functionality of the set of functionalities available via the vehicle;
compare the first functionality to the subset of functionalities; and
provide vehicular access to the first functionality responsive to the comparison of the first functionality to the subset of functionalities.

3. The system of claim 1 , comprising the digital assistant application configured to:
receive an audio input indicative of a request for access to a first functionality of the set of functionalities available via the vehicle;
compare the first functionality to the subset of functionalities; and
deny vehicular access to the first functionality responsive to the comparison of the first functionality to the subset of functionalities.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising the digital assistant application configured to:
detect, by the entry detection component, using the at least one sensor signal, a first entry event indicative of a first user entering the vehicle and a second entry event indicative of a second user entering the vehicle, the first and second entry events associated with simultaneous occupancy of the vehicle by the first and second users;
receive, by the entry authentication component, responsive to the first and second entry events, a first plurality of authentication input signals and a second plurality of authentication input signals;
determine, by the entry authentication component, a first plurality of authentication states based on the first plurality of authentication input signals and a first set of authentication credentials of a plurality of authentication credentials;
determine, by the entry authentication component, a second plurality of authentication states based on the second plurality of authentication input signals and a second set of authentication credentials of the plurality of authentication credentials;
identify, by the access control component, a first access permission level of a plurality of access permission levels based at least in part on the first plurality of authentication states, the first access permission level associated with the first user;
identify, by the access control component, a second access permission level of the plurality of access permission levels based at least in part on the second plurality of authentication states, the second access permission level associated with the second user;
identify, by the access control component, responsive to the first access permission level, a first subset of a set of functionalities available via the vehicle;
identify, by the access control component, responsive to the second access permission level, a second subset of the set of functionalities available via the vehicle;
provide, by the digital assistant application, the first user vehicular access to the first subset of functionalities; and
provide, by the digital assistant application, the second user vehicular access to the second subset of functionalities.

5. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the second authentication state comprises one of a key fob authentication, mobile device authentication, and face recognition authentication.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a memory to store, for each user of a plurality of users, a respective temporal account including data or access settings for that user, the digital assistant application to cause the memory to delete a first temporal account upon determining that no entry events of the corresponding user was detected for at least a threshold time duration.

7. The system of claim 6 , comprising the digital assistant application configured to:
detect, by the entry detection component, an exit event indicative of the user exiting the vehicle, and
adjust, by the digital assistant application, an occupancy state of the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1 , comprising the digital assistant application configured to:
identify, by the entry authentication component, a user category of the user entering the vehicle based at least in part on the first authentication state and the second authentication state, and
determine, by the access control component, the subset of functionalities using predefined access settings associated with the type of the user entering the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor signal includes at least one of:
a seat sensor signal of one or more seats of the vehicle;
a door sensor signal of one or more doors of the vehicle;
a key fob signal;
a signal from a motion detector of the vehicle; and
a signal from an air pressure detector of the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of functionalities includes at least one of:
accessing data stored in a memory of the vehicle;
accessing playlists stored in the memory of the vehicle;
accessing data stored on a remote storage system;
actuating a window or a door of the vehicle; and
controlling home related settings.

11. A method of multi-factor entry authentication of vehicle entry events, comprising:
receiving, by a vehicle data processing system

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Ramic Haris
• Chan Victor
• Gupta Vikas
• Li Lingjun

Classifications

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W12/069 Primary

  using certificates or pre-shared keys · CPC title

• H04W4/48

  for in-vehicle communication · CPC title

• G06F2221/2141

  Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices · CPC title