Patent Issued for Protection of personal data stored in vehicular computing systems (USPTO 11748510): United Services Automobile Association

2023 SEP 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Beveridge, Meredith (Golden, CO, US), Harrison, James Stephan (San Antonio, TX, US), Jonak, Sumita T. (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on October 29, 2020, was published online on September 5, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11748510, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, and continues to become increasingly sophisticated and difficult to prevent. Personal information such as Social Security numbers, bank or other account numbers, telephone numbers, and addresses can become currency for identity thieves. For those victims whose information has been stolen, it can take months, and sometimes years, and thousands of dollars to correct the damage. Until the problem is resolved, victims of identity theft may face a precarious financial outcome or find that data that was confidential has now become highly vulnerable.

“Theft of personally identifiable information (PII) from computers and online environments is particularly problematic and widespread. Public concern regarding the rapidly growing threat of personal identity theft has led to numerous companies offering insurance against such theft and/or monitoring of a consumer’s credit and other accounts to detect unauthorized access, aimed at preventing or reducing risk of theft or misuse of personal and financial information. However, users tend to be more relaxed with respect to storing information on their personal devices and systems. For example, a mobile phone-and devices that are configured to communicate with the mobile phone-receive and store large amounts of PII. Furthermore, users frequently connect their mobile devices with databases and interfaces that are being used and accessed regularly by them, such as those provided by onboard computing systems of modern vehicles, but which do not offer the safeguards they associate with their other personal devices.

“Vehicles can be configured to connect to a device via Bluetooth® to facilitate safe driving by allowing for in-car phone calls, alerts and navigation, internet access, and music streaming. Providing these services to a driver through vehicle-based computing systems and displays can significantly reduce the likelihood of accidents and damage to persons and property. However, conventional vehicle infotainment systems fail to offer drivers protection of the personal data that is being shared with the vehicle.

“There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a method of protecting information stored by an onboard computing system of a vehicle is disclosed. The method includes detecting a connection between a first user device and the vehicle computing system, and then receiving, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, a first set of data. The method also includes storing the first set of data in a memory of the onboard computing system, and then determining a triggering event has occurred after storing the first set of data. Furthermore, the method includes executing, at the onboard computing system and in response to determining that a triggering event has occurred, a protective response directed to the stored first set of data, and discontinuing access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data.

“In another aspect, a system for protecting data stored in an onboard computing system of a vehicle alerting a driver of a vehicle includes a processor and machine-readable media including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to detect a connection between a first user device and the vehicle computing system and receive, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, a first set of data. The instructions further cause the processor to store the first set of data in a memory of the onboard computing system and then to determine a triggering event has occurred after storing the first set of data. Furthermore, the instructions cause the processor to execute, at the onboard computing system and in response to determining that a triggering event has occurred, a protective response directed to the stored first set of data, and discontinue access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data.

“In another aspect, a system for protecting data stored on an onboard computing system of a vehicle includes means for detecting a connection between a first user device and the vehicle computing system as well as means for receiving, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, a first set of data. The system further includes means for storing the first set of data in a memory of the onboard computing system, and means for determining a triggering event has occurred after storing the first set of data. In addition, the system includes means for executing, at the onboard computing system and in response to determining that a triggering event has occurred, a protective response directed to the stored first set of data, and means for discontinuing access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the disclosure will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method of protecting information stored by an onboard computing system of a vehicle, the method comprising: detecting a connection between a first user device of a first user and the onboard computing system; receiving, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, a first set of data comprising personally identifiable information of the first user; storing the first set of data in a memory of the onboard computing system; receiving, by the onboard computing system, at least one configuration remote command from the first user device to remotely set at least one operational preference of the onboard computing system; wherein the onboard computing system manages the first set of data using the at least one operational preference; determining a triggering event has occurred after storing the first set of data by detecting a change in ownership of the vehicle and receipt of a locking remote command from the first user using the first user device, the locking remote command being a remote command to lock down access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data; executing, at the onboard computing system and in response to determining that the triggering event has occurred, a protective response directed to the first set of data; wherein the protective response comprises locking down access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data while maintaining the first set of data in a storage of the onboard computing system; receiving an unlocking remote command from the first user using the first user device, the unlocking remote command being a remote command to unlock access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data; and restoring access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data after receiving the unlocking remote command.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has been stolen by detecting a signal from onboard sensors indicating at least one of that the vehicle is being broken into and damage at entry points of the vehicle.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has entered a repair shop by detecting that portions of an engine of the vehicle are at least one of exposed and adjusted.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has been returned to a rental car agency.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: presenting an application interface to the first user on a display of the first user device, the application interface including a plurality of options for communicating with the onboard computing system, the first user device being located outside of the vehicle; receiving, via the application interface, a request to initiate the protective response; and generating and transmitting the locking remote command from the first user device to the onboard computing system.

“6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle detecting an unauthorized driver using facial recognition by comparing a photograph of a driver to stored photographs of authorized drivers, wherein at least one of the stored photographs of the authorized drivers is provided by the first user using the application interface.

“7. The method of claim 5, wherein the application interface allows the first user to identify specific types of triggering events that will trigger the protective response.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a notification to the first user via the first user device confirming that the protective response is about to occur and providing an opportunity to deactivate the protective response.

“9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, an encryption key for de-encrypting the first set of data; and wherein the protective response includes deauthorizing the encryption key and thereby re-encrypting the first set of data.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the encryption key is a two-factor encryption key including at least one possession factor and at least one inherence factor.

“11. A system for protecting data stored in an onboard computing system of a vehicle, the system comprising: a memory storing instructions; at least one processor coupled to said memory, configured to: detect a first connection between a first user device of a first user and the onboard computing system; receive, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, a first set of data comprising personally identifiable information of the first user; store the first set of data in a memory of the onboard computing system; receive, at the onboard computing system and from the first user device, an encryption key for de-encrypting the first set of data; determine a triggering event has occurred after storing the first set of data by detecting a change in ownership of the vehicle; execute, at the onboard computing system and in response to determining that the triggering event has occurred, a protective response directed to the stored first set of data; wherein the protective response includes deauthorizing the encryption key and thereby re-encrypting the first set of data; discontinue access of the onboard computing system to the first set of data while maintaining the first set of data in a storage of the onboard computing system; and detect a second connection between a subsequent user device of the first user and the onboard computing system; wherein when the subsequent user device is a same device as the first user device, the onboard computing system restores access to the first set of data using a newly generated encryption key while maintaining user preferences of the first user; wherein when the subsequent user device is a different device from the first user device, the onboard computing system obtains a second set of data comprising personally identifiable information of the first user from the different device while maintaining the user preferences of the first user.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, by the onboard computing system, at least one configuration remote command from the first user device to remotely set at least one operational preference of the onboard computing system; wherein the onboard computing system manages the first set of data using the at least one operational preference.

“13. The system of claim 11, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has entered a repair shop by detecting that portions of an engine of the vehicle are at least one of exposed and adjusted.

“14. The system of claim 11, wherein determining the change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has experienced a major accident.

“15. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to present a notification to the first user via the first user device confirming that the protective response is about to occur and provide an opportunity to delay the protective response.

“16. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: present an application interface to the first user on a display of the first user device, the application interface including a plurality of options for communicating with the onboard computing system, the first user device being located outside of the vehicle; receive, via the application interface, a request comprising a remote command from the first user device to initiate the protective response; and generate and transmit the remote command from the first user device to the onboard computing system.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein the application interface allows the first user to change the user preferences of the first user in a cloud network and the user preferences of the first user are updated at the vehicle when the vehicle is connected to the cloud network.

“18. The system of claim 11, wherein the protective response includes a partial deletion of the first set of data from the onboard computing system.

“19. The system of claim 11, wherein the determining a change in ownership has occurred is based at least in part on the vehicle receiving a signal indicating the vehicle has lost a connection with the first user device.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent: Beveridge, Meredith. Protection of personal data stored in vehicular computing systems. U.S. Patent Number 11748510, filed October 29, 2020, and published online on September 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11748510)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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