Vehicle component usage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11812451-B2
Application number	US-201916452169-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2019
Priority date	Jun 25, 2019
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

A method includes receiving a first data block including an identifier for a component, receiving a second data block including usage data for the component and a link to the first data block, storing the first and second data blocks in a blockchain, and allocating respective usage tokens to each of a plurality of entities based on the usage data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a first data block including an identifier for a component;
receiving a second data block including usage data for the component and a link to the first data block;
storing the first and second data blocks in a blockchain; and
allocating respective usage tokens specified for activation of the component, to each of a plurality of entities based on the usage data, to respective entities that are external to the vehicle that receive usage token allocations at nodes of the blockchain hosted at respective entity computers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the usage data includes one or more instances of activation of the component.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data block includes an identifier for a vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising validating a user is authorized to activate the component and activating the component when the user is authorized.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving usage tokens from a user based on the usage data.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first data block includes a usage rule based on the identifier for the component.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising receiving usage tokens from the user based on the usage rule.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second data block includes an allocation rule based on the identifier for the component.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising allocating the usage tokens to each of the plurality of entities based on the allocation rule.

10. A system, comprising a computer including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
receive a first data block including an identifier for a component;
receive a second data block including usage data and a link to the first data block;
store the first and second data blocks in a blockchain; and
allocate respective usage tokens specified for activation of the component, to each of a plurality of entities based on the usage data, to respective entities that are external to the vehicle that receive usage token allocations at nodes of the blockchain hosted at respective entity computers.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein usage data includes one or more instances of activation of the component.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first data block includes an identifier for a vehicle.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to validate a user is authorized to activate the component and to activate the component when the user is authorized.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to receive usage tokens from a user based on the usage data.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first data block includes a usage rule based on the identifier for the component.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to receive usage tokens from the user based on the usage rule.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second data block includes an allocation rule based on the identifier for the component.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to allocate the usage tokens to each of the plurality of entities based on the allocation rule.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Bailey Clifford Anthony
• Devaraj Sujitha Krishna
• Fodale Josh
• Hinh Robert
• Kalinowski Adrian
• Odisho Rafi

Classifications

• H04W72/53 Primary

  based on regulatory allocation policies · CPC title

• H04L9/0643

  Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC · CPC title

• H04L12/40

  Bus networks · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04L9/50

  using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees · CPC title