Method and system for providing privacy protection in preparation for a phone call between a vehicle occupant and a remote conversation partner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12015911-B2
Application number	US-202117519330-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2021
Priority date	Jul 13, 2021
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A method for providing privacy protection in preparation for a phone call between a vehicle occupant of a vehicle and a remote conversation partner is provided. The method includes detecting, by an occupant detection system of the vehicle, additional listeners inside the vehicle. The method further includes receiving a call request with a telecommunication system in the vehicle for a phone call between the vehicle occupant and the remote conversation partner, the phone call being an outgoing call or an incoming call. The method further includes sending a notification to the remote conversation partner with the telecommunication system prior to establishment of the requested phone call informing the remote conversation partner about the presence of detected additional listeners.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing privacy protection in preparation for a phone call between a vehicle occupant of a vehicle and a remote conversation partner, the method comprising:
detecting, by an occupant detection system of the vehicle, additional listeners inside the vehicle;
receiving a call request with a telecommunication system in the vehicle for the phone call between the vehicle occupant and the remote conversation partner, the phone call being an outgoing call or an incoming call;
sending a notification to the remote conversation partner with the telecommunication system prior to establishment of the phone call informing the remote conversation partner about the presence of detected additional listeners; and
allocating an occupant status to each detected additional listener of the detected additional listeners by the occupant detection system, the occupant status defining privacy settings for respective detected additional listeners,
wherein the notification is sent to the remote conversation partner depending on the allocated occupant statuses of the detected additional listeners.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the occupant detection system detects the additional listeners by using at least one of a camera, a microphone, a near field radar, a seat occupation sensor, a seat-belt sensor or passenger booking information.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication system accesses a contact blacklist listing contacts for which the notification is suppressed by the telecommunication system irrespective of any detected additional listeners when a respective contact serves as the remote conversation partner.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the notification is suppressed by the telecommunication system when the occupant statuses define a privacy exception for at least one of the detected additional listeners.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the occupant detection system allocates the occupant statuses by identifying the respective detected additional listeners by at least one of identifying a personal electronic device within the vehicle, employing facial recognition, employing voice recognition, analyzing boarding patterns, verifying passenger booking information or evaluating an occupation history of the vehicle.

6. A system for providing privacy protection in preparation for a phone call between a vehicle occupant of a vehicle and a remote conversation partner, the system comprising:
an occupant detection system configured to detect additional listeners inside the vehicle; and
a telecommunication system configured to receive a call request for the phone call between the vehicle occupant and the remote conversation partner, the phone call being an outgoing call or an incoming call,
wherein the telecommunication system is configured to send a notification to the remote conversation partner prior to establishment of the phone call informing the remote conversation partner about the presence of detected additional listeners,
wherein the occupant detection system is configured to allocate an occupant status to each detected additional listener of the detected additional listeners, the occupant status defining privacy settings for respective detected additional listeners, and
wherein the telecommunication system is configured to send the notification to the remote conversation partner depending on the allocated occupant statuses of the detected additional listeners.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the occupant detection system is configured to detect the additional listeners by using at least one of a camera, a microphone, a near field radar, a seat occupation sensor, a seat-belt sensor or passenger booking information.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the telecommunication system is configured to access a contact blacklist listing contacts for which the notification is suppressed by the telecommunication system irrespective of any detected additional listeners when a respective contact serves as the remote conversation partner.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the telecommunication system is configured to suppress the notification when the occupant statuses define a privacy exception for at least one of the detected additional listeners.

10. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the occupant detection system is configured to allocate the occupant statuses by identifying the respective detected additional listeners by at least one of identifying a personal electronic device within the vehicle, employing facial recognition, employing voice recognition, analyzing boarding patterns, verifying passenger booking information or evaluating an occupation history of the vehicle.

11. A motor vehicle comprising the system of claim 6 .

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Gass Lukas Günter
• Bablok Adrian
• Schreiber Michael
• Langer Ingmar

Classifications

• H04W4/40 Primary

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

• H04W4/20

  Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel · CPC title

• H04L63/101

  Access control lists [ACL] · CPC title

• H04W12/082

  using revocation of authorisation · CPC title

• H04M1/72454

  according to context-related or environment-related conditions · CPC title