Automotive optical communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016189146-A1
Application number	US-201414586445-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing optical communication between a vehicle and an external actor include a system provider device that establishes, through communication over a network with at least one vehicle, the at least one vehicle as a communication proxy. Establishing the at least one vehicle as a communication proxy may include pairing the at least one vehicle with a user device. In various embodiments, the system provider also receives a communication trigger. In response to the communication trigger, the system provider may transmit a modulated optical signal via an illumination source of one of the at least one vehicle and an external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor. The system provider detects, at the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, the modulated optical signal and demodulates the transmitted optical signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
at least one non-transitory memory storing vehicle information; and one or more hardware processors that are coupled to the at least one non-transitory memory and that are configured to read instructions from the at least one non-transitory memory to perform the steps of:
receiving a communication trigger over a network having at least one vehicle as a communication proxy;
in response to receiving the communication trigger, transmitting a modulated optical signal, from an illumination source of one of the at least one vehicle and an external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor;
detecting, at the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, the modulated optical signal; and
demodulating the transmitted optical signal.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further operable to read instructions from the at least one non-transitory memory to perform the steps of:
in response to receiving the communication trigger, determining a security level of the triggered communication.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further operable to read instructions from the at least one non-transitory memory to perform the steps of:
determining a high security level of the triggered communication; and in response to determining the high security level, providing an encryption key to the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further operable to read instructions from the at least one non-transitory memory to perform the steps of:
responsive to determining the high security level of the triggered communication, encrypting the modulated optical signal using the encryption key; and transmitting the encrypted optical signal, from the illumination source of the one of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the steps further comprise pairing the at least one vehicle with a user device.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the pairing the at least one vehicle with the user device includes storing, in a vehicle database, at least one of a payment authorization token, payment credentials, an account authorization token, account credentials, payment preferences, and account preferences.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the steps further comprise authorizing the at least one vehicle to transmit to the external actor, or receive from the external actor, at least one of vehicle telematics, sensor information, diagnostic information, road information, and traffic information.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the communication trigger over the network includes at least one of receiving a manually initiated communications trigger and an automatically initiated communications trigger.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the receiving the automatically initiated communications trigger is based on a determined location of the at least one vehicle.

10 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further operable to read instructions from the at least one non-transitory memory to perform the steps of:
unencrypting the transmitted optical signal; and effectuating a payment from a customer payment account to a merchant payment account.

11 . A method, comprising:
receiving, by a system provider device, a communication trigger through a network having at least one vehicle as a communication proxy; in response to receiving the communication trigger, transmitting, by the system provider device, a modulated optical signal, via an illumination source of one of the at least one vehicle and an external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor; detecting, by the system provider device, at the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, the modulated optical signal; and demodulating, by the system provider device, the transmitted optical signal.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining, by the system provider device, a high security level of the triggered communication; and in response to determining the high security level, providing, by the system provider device, an encryption key to the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
in response to determining the high security level of the triggered communication, encrypting, by the system provider device, the modulated optical signal using the encryption key; and transmitting, by the system provider device, the encrypted optical signal, from the illumination source of the one of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
unencrypting, by the system provider device, the transmitted optical signal; and effectuating a payment, by the system provider device, from a customer payment account to a merchant payment account.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
pairing, by the system provider device, the at least one vehicle with a user device, wherein the pairing the at least one vehicle with the user device includes storing, in a vehicle database, at least one of a payment authorization token, payment credentials, an account authorization token, account credentials, payment preferences, and account preferences.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
authorizing, by the system provider device, the at least one vehicle to transmit to the external actor, or receive from the external actor, at least one of vehicle telematics, sensor information, diagnostic information, road information, and traffic information.

17 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
receiving a communication trigger; responsive to receiving the communication trigger, transmitting a modulated optical signal, from an illumination source of one of at least one vehicle and an external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor; detecting, at the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, the modulated optical signal; and demodulating the transmitted optical signal.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a high security level of the triggered communication; and responsive to determining the high security level, providing an encryption key to the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises:
in response to determining the high security level of the triggered communication, encrypting the modulated optical signal using the encryption key; and transmitting the encrypted optical signal, from the illumination source of the one of the at least one vehicle and the external actor, to the other of the at least one vehicle and the external actor.

20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises:
unencrypting the transmitted optical signal; and effectuating a payment from a customer payment account to

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Cattone Jeremy L

Classifications

• G07B15/063

  using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station (identification of vehicles G08G) · CPC title

• G06Q20/3829 Primary

  involving key management · CPC title

• H04B10/1123

  Bidirectional transmission · CPC title

• H04B10/1143

  Bidirectional transmission · CPC title

• G06Q20/3821

  Electronic credentials · CPC title