Patent Issued for System and method for autonomous vehicle ride sharing using facial recognition (USPTO 11062414)

2021 JUL 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11062414, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Christensen, Scott T. (Salem, OR, US), Farris, Scott (Bloomington, IL, US), Hayward, Gregory (Bloomington, IL, US), Konrardy, Blake (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on January 18, 2017 and was published online on July 13, 2021.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator who controls both steering and motive controls. Operator error, inattention, inexperience, misuse, or distraction leads to many vehicle collisions each year, resulting in injury and damage. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles augment vehicle operators’ information or replace vehicle operators’ control commands to operate the vehicle, in whole or part, with computer systems based upon information from sensors within, or attached to, the vehicle. Such vehicles may be operated with or without passengers, thus requiring different means of control than traditional vehicles. Such vehicles also may include a plurality of advanced sensors, capable of providing significantly more data (both in type and quantity) than is available even from GPS navigation assistance systems installed in traditional vehicles.

“Ensuring safe operation of such autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles is of the utmost importance because the automated systems of these vehicles may not function properly in all environments. Although autonomous operation may be safer than manual operation under ordinary driving conditions, unusual or irregular environmental conditions may significantly impair the functioning of the autonomous operation features controlling the autonomous vehicle. Under some conditions, autonomous operation may become impractical or excessively dangerous. As an example, fog or heavy rain may greatly reduce the ability of autonomous operation features to safely control the vehicle. Additionally, damage or other impairment of sensors or other components of autonomous systems may significantly increase the risks associated with autonomous operation. Such conditions may change frequently, thereby changing the safety of autonomous vehicle operation.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may be related to autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle operation, including driverless operation of fully autonomous vehicles. The embodiments described herein relate particularly to various aspects of autonomous operation features, components, and software. A user may transmit a request, via a mobile device, for an autonomous vehicle to provide transportation to a destination location selected by the user. When the user transmits the request, the user may provide user identification information, such as login information (a username and password), a user ID, a personal identification number (PIN), a passcode, an email address, etc. Using the user identification information, the autonomous vehicle may obtain a user profile for the user including additional identification information, such as a biometric fingerprint. A biometric fingerprint may define a biometric identifier for each authorized user of the user profile.

“In response to the request, the autonomous vehicle may navigate to the current location of the user or some other starting location that the user specifies. Upon arriving at the designated location, the autonomous vehicle may detect a biometric identifier from the person approaching the autonomous vehicle for example, via sensors attached to and/or within the autonomous vehicle. The biometric identifier may be the user’s fingerprint, an image of the user’s face, a recording of the user’s voice, a retinal image, and/or any other suitable biometric identifier. Then the autonomous vehicle may compare the biometric identifier to a corresponding biometric fingerprint in the user’s profile.

“If the biometric identifier matches a biometric fingerprint in the user’s profile, the autonomous vehicle recognizes that the person approaching the autonomous vehicle is the user who requested transportation services. As a result, the autonomous vehicle may provide entry into the autonomous vehicle (e.g., by unlocking the doors) and/or may begin travelling to the destination location. On the other hand, if the biometric identifier does not match any biometric fingerprint in the user’s profile, the autonomous vehicle may not recognize the person approaching the autonomous vehicle. Accordingly, the autonomous vehicle may detect another biometric identifier from the person approaching the autonomous vehicle, may deny the person access to the autonomous vehicle, may sound an alarm, may turn off the engine, and/or may not begin travelling to the destination location selected by the user. Specific systems and methods are summarized below. The methods and systems summarized below may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for identifying autonomous vehicle users may be provided. The method may include receiving in a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features, an indication of a first destination location for transporting a first user, and/or causing the vehicle to travel to the first destination location. While the vehicle travels along a route to the first destination location, the method may include receiving a request from a second user for transportation to a second destination location, determining whether the second user is within a threshold distance of a current location of the vehicle, and/or causing the vehicle to travel to a location of the second user when the second user is within the threshold distance of the vehicle. The method may further include detecting, via one or more sensors associated with the vehicle, a biometric identifier of a person approaching the vehicle to verify that the person is the second user, and/or causing a control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle when the biometric identifier matches a biometric fingerprint for the second user.

“In some embodiments, the biometric identifier may be detected via an external facing camera attached to the vehicle and the biometric identifier may include at least one of: a fingerprint, a facial scan, and/or a retinal scan. In further embodiments, causing a control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle includes at least one of i) unlocking a door of the vehicle, ii) turning on a vehicle engine, or iii) turning on the one or more autonomous operation features for the vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for identifying autonomous vehicle users, comprising: receiving, at one or more processors in a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features, an indication of a first destination location for transporting a first user; in response to picking up the first user, causing, by the one or more processors, the vehicle to travel to the first destination location; while the vehicle travels along a route to the first destination location: receiving, at the one or more processors, a request from a second user for transportation to a second destination location; determining, by the one or more processors, whether the second user is within a threshold distance of a current location of the vehicle; causing, by the one or more processors, the vehicle to travel to a location of the second user when the second user is within the threshold distance of the vehicle; detecting, via one or more sensors associated with the vehicle, a biometric identifier of a person approaching the vehicle to verify that the person is the second user; and causing, by the one or more processors, a control mechanism within the vehicle to shut down the one or more autonomous operation features for the vehicle when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle does not match a biometric identifier for the second user.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causing, by the one or more processors, the control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle matches the biometric identifier for the second user.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle does not match the biometric identifier for the second user, causing the control mechanism within the vehicle to include at least one of: i) locking each door of the vehicle, ii) sounding an alarm within the vehicle, iii) transmitting an alert, or iv) turning off a vehicle engine.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising: sounding the alarm within the vehicle for a predetermined threshold period of time, and after the predetermined threshold period of time expires: detecting, by the one or more processors, whether the person is within a threshold distance of the vehicle; and transmitting, by the one or more processors, an alert to emergency personnel when the person is within the threshold distance of the vehicle.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causing, by the one or more processors, the control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle matches the biometric identifier for the second user; wherein causing the control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle includes at least one of: i) unlocking a door of the vehicle, ii) turning on a vehicle engine, or iii) turning on the one or more autonomous operation features for the vehicle.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the biometric identifier is detected via an external facing camera attached to the vehicle and wherein the biometric identifier includes at least one of: a fingerprint, a facial scan, or a retinal scan.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the one or more processors, login information for the second user via an application on a mobile device; identifying, by the one or more processors, a user profile associated with the login information, wherein the user profile includes the biometric identifier for the second user; and comparing, by the one or more processors, the biometric identifier of the person approaching the vehicle to the biometric identifier within the user profile.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, the distance from the current location of the second user to the first destination location and the distance from the current location of the second user to the second destination location.

“9. A computer system configured to identify autonomous vehicle users, the computer system comprising one or more local or remote processors, transceivers, and/or sensors configured to: receive, in a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features, an indication of a first destination location for transporting a first user; in response to picking up the first user, cause the vehicle to travel to the first destination location; while the vehicle travels along a route to the first destination location: receive a request from a second user for transportation to a second destination location; determine whether the second user is within a threshold distance of a current location of the vehicle; cause the vehicle to travel to a location of the second user when the second user is within the threshold distance of the vehicle; detect, via one or more sensors associated with the vehicle, a biometric identifier of a person approaching the vehicle to verify that the person is the second user; and cause a control mechanism within the vehicle to shut down the one or more autonomous operation features for the vehicle when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle does not match a biometric identifier for the second user.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the second user is within a threshold distance of a current location of the vehicle includes determining whether a distance to the second user from a location on the route to the first destination location is within the threshold distance.

“11. The computer system of claim 9, the one or more local or remote processors, transceivers, and/or sensors configured to: cause the control mechanism within the vehicle to allow the second user to enter the vehicle when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle matches the biometric identifier for the second user.

“12. The computer system of claim 9, the one or more local or remote processors, transceivers, and/or sensors configured to: determine the distance from the current location of the second user to the first destination location and the distance from the current location of the second user to the second destination location.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising in response to picking up the second user causing the vehicle to travel to the second destination location before traveling to the first destination location when the second destination location is closer to the current location of the second user than the first destination location.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the second destination location is received prior to causing the vehicle to travel to the location of the second user.

“15. The computer system of claim 9, the one or more local or remote processors, transceivers, and/or sensors configured to, in response to picking up the second user, cause the vehicle to travel to the second destination location before traveling to the first destination location when the second destination location is closer to the current location of the second user than the first destination location.

“16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the second destination location is received prior to causing the vehicle to travel to the location of the second user.

“17. The computer system of claim 9, wherein when the biometric identifier for the person approaching the vehicle does not match the biometric identifier for the second user causing the control mechanism within the vehicle to perform at least one of: i) lock each door of the vehicle, ii) sound an alarm within the vehicle, iii) transmit an alert, or iv) turn off a vehicle engine.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Christensen, Scott T. System and method for autonomous vehicle ride sharing using facial recognition. U.S. Patent Number 11062414, filed January 18, 2017, and published online on July 13, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11062414.PN.&OS=PN/11062414RS=PN/11062414

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)