Vehicle use and performance restrictions based on detected users

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016185358-A1
Application number	US-201414586798-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for vehicle use and performance restrictions based on detected users. A user may check-in to a vehicle so that the vehicle identifies the user, such as through providing identification to the vehicle using biometrics, logins, or other information. Using the identification, the vehicle may determine parameters and restrictions on use of the vehicle by the user. Parameters may include information about the user, such as age, health, or other statistic stored with the identification for the user, and may be utilized to determine restrictions on use of the vehicle by the user, such as a speed of the vehicle and passengers allowed in the vehicle. Restrictions may also be set for the user, including speeds of travel, routes of travel, and usage of media players in the vehicle. The usage of the vehicle may be monitored and enforced using the restrictions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a vehicle restriction module of a vehicle and comprising at least one hardware processor that accesses a first identification for a first user on detection of the first user in the vehicle, determines at least one first use restriction for the vehicle associated with the first user using the first identification, and processes the at least one first use restriction to determine a first usage of the vehicle by the first user; a user detection module of the vehicle that detects the first user in the vehicle when the first user utilizes the vehicle and determines the first identification for the first user; and a database, stored to a non-transitory memory, that stores the first identification.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user detection module comprises a Bluetooth connectivity device or a wireless beacon utilizing a short range communication protocol to connect with a device associated with the first user when the device is in proximity to at least one of the vehicle and the user detection module.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the short range communication protocol comprises one of near field communication, radio communication, infrared communication, Bluetooth communication, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, LTE Direct communication, and WiFi communication.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle restriction module processes the at least one first use restriction to determine the first usage by enforcing the at least one first use restriction on use or performance of the vehicle by the first user.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the use or performance of the vehicle comprises at least one of a travel route taken by the vehicle, a speed limit of the vehicle, an onboard computing feature of the vehicle, and an onboard service of the vehicle.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first use restriction comprises a restriction on at least one of travel distance using the vehicle, travel route using the vehicle, travel speed using the vehicle, an item payment made using an onboard computing device of the vehicle, a toll payment made using the onboard computing device of the vehicle, media playback using the onboard computing device of the vehicle, radio or media stations available using the onboard computing device of the vehicle, use of a communication application of the onboard computing device of the vehicle, a number of other passengers in the vehicle, an age of the other passengers in the vehicle, an identity of the other passengers in the vehicle, and an insurance policy associated with the vehicle.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first use restriction is at least one of health based, age based, spending based, and insurance based.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a second user sets the at least one first use restriction using the vehicle restriction module, and wherein the database stores the at least one first use restriction.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a second user sets the at least one first use restriction with one of a service provider associated with the vehicle, a cloud storage service associated with the vehicle, and a device associated with the first user, and wherein the vehicle restriction module determines the at least one first use restriction by receiving or accessing the at least one first use restriction from the one of the service provider, the cloud storage, and the device.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle restriction module receives at least one second use restriction comprising an update to the at least one first use restriction and processes the at least one second use restriction to determine a second usage of the vehicle by the first user.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user detection module detects a second user in the vehicle when the first user utilizes the vehicle and determines a second identification for the second user, and wherein the vehicle restriction module processes the second identification to determine any changes to the at least one first user restriction caused by detecting the second user in the vehicle with the first user.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user detection module detects the first user using one of a weight sensor, door sensor, a login on an onboard computing system, a fingerprint scanner, a retinal scanner, a movement sensor, a camera, an infrared sensor, and a microphone.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user detection module determines the first identification using at least one of a weight of the first user, a login of the first user on an onboard computing system, an RFID tag, a radio or infrared communication from a key unit, and a biometric of the first user.

14 . A method comprising:
receiving, via at least one user detection module of a vehicle, identity information for a first user on detection of the first user in the vehicle; accessing, by a vehicle restriction module of the vehicle that comprises at least one hardware processor, a parameter associated with use of the vehicle by the first user using the identity information; processing, by the vehicle restriction module, the parameter associated with the use of the vehicle to determine a restriction on the use of the vehicle; and communicating the restriction to the first user.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the restriction is communicated to the first user by at least one of an alert on a display interface of a display module in the vehicle and a message to a communication device of the first user from a communication module of the vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 14 further comprising:
monitoring, by the vehicle restriction module, the use of the vehicle by the first user to determine if the use of the vehicle by the first user complies with the restriction.

17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:
enforcing, by the vehicle restriction module, the restriction on the use of the vehicle by the first user if the use of the vehicle by the first user does not comply with the restriction.

18 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:
alerting, by the vehicle restriction module, at least one of the first user and a second user associated with at least one of the first user and the vehicle if the use of the vehicle by the first user does not comply with the restriction.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the second user comprises at least one of a guardian of the first user, an owner of the vehicle, and a manager of an insurance policy associated with the vehicle.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable modules which, in response to execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising:
receiving, via a user detection module of a vehicle, identity information for a user on detection of the user in the vehicle; accessing, by a vehicle restriction module of the vehicle that comprises at least one hardware processor, a restriction on use of the vehicle by the user using the identity information; and communicating the restriction to the user.

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Todasco Michael Charles
• Driscoll Dennis Michael
• Cattone Jeremy Leigh
• Menipaz Amit Reuven

Classifications

• B60W2556/45

  External transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• B60W2720/10

  Longitudinal speed · CPC title

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title

• B60W2540/043

  Identity of occupants · CPC title

• B60R25/241

  whereby access privileges are related to the identifiers · CPC title