Patent Issued for Vehicle Ignition Control (USPTO 10,984,480)

2021 MAY 05 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Srey, Rothana (Dekalb, IL); Manzella, Matthew James (Glen Ellyn, IL), filed on January 26, 2018, was published online on May 3, 2021.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,984,480 is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Insurance providers have an incentive to encourage their customers to engage in safe driving behaviors. By engaging in safe driving behaviors, customers are less likely to be involved in an accident. Unsafe driving behaviors may include exceeding the speed limit, taking hard and fast turns, making hard stops, and operating a mobile phone while driving.

“Software applications for blocking text messages at a mobile computing device are known but have drawbacks. For example, some text blocking applications may require a driver to voluntarily launch the application before driving. If the driver fails or chooses not to launch the text blocking application, the driver may have access to the text messaging features of the mobile computing device while driving. Therefore, a need exists for an approach to restricting communications at a mobile computing device during operation of the vehicle.

“Additionally, in conventional practice, insurance providers may provide insurance coverage for a vehicle rather than for a driver of the vehicle. This may be due, in part, to challenges in determining the individual presently driving the vehicle. If an insurance provider could accurately identify the driver of a vehicle, alternative approaches to providing vehicle insurance based on the driver rather than the vehicle are possible.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of protection sought. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description provided below.

“A method of encouraging safe driving of a vehicle using a remote starter device installed at a vehicle is provided. The remote starter device may determine whether it is in signal communication with a remote starter application operating at a mobile computing device separate from the remote starter device. When the remote starter device is in signal communication with the remote starter application, the remote starter device may permit ignition of the vehicle. When the remote starter device is not in signal communication with the remote starter application, the remote starter device may prevent ignition of the vehicle. During operation of the vehicle, one or more communication features at the mobile computing device may be restricted.

“Communication features may include text messaging features and phone calling features. Restricting communication features may include preventing access to such communication features at the mobile computing device as well as preventing the mobile computing device from indicating a communication has been received at the mobile computing device. Communications to and from emergency contacts may be permitted during operation of the vehicle. Upon ignition of the vehicle, an ignition confirmation message may be provided, and upon shutoff of the vehicle, a shutoff confirmation message may be provided.

“A remote starter device configured to encourage safe driving of a vehicle is also provided. The remote starter device may include an ignition interface configured for connection to an ignition system of the vehicle. The remote starter device may also be configured to automatically initiate vehicle ignition via the ignition interface. The remote starter device may include a communication module configured to exchange communications with a remote starter application operating at a mobile device. The remote starter device may further include a processing module connected to the ignition interface and the communication module.

“A memory module of the remote starter device may include instructions executable by a processor of the processing module. When executed, the instructions may cause the remote starter device to determine whether a connection has been established with the remote starter application, permit or prevent vehicle ignition based on whether the connection has been established, and provide an ignition confirmation message upon ignition of the vehicle. Receipt of the ignition confirmation message at the remote starter application may trigger restriction of communication features of the mobile computing device during operation of the vehicle.

“A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that carry out one or more of the steps described above is further provided.

“The details of these and other embodiments of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages of aspects of the disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A method comprising: connecting, by a device and via an interface of the device, to an ignition system of a vehicle; determining, by the device, whether the device has received a communication that indicates a mobile application is operating at a mobile computing device, wherein the mobile application is configured to: restrict at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device; based on receiving, from the device, a first indication that ignition of the vehicle has been achieved, activate restriction of the at least one communication feature; and based on receiving, from the device, a second indication that the vehicle has shut off, deactivate restriction of the at least one communication feature; preventing, by the device and via the interface, ignition of the vehicle until the device determines it has received the communication indicating the mobile application is operating at the mobile computing device; permitting, by the device and via the interface, ignition of the vehicle based on receiving, by the device, the communication indicating the mobile application is operating at the mobile computing device; causing, by the device and based on the vehicle achieving ignition, activation of the restriction of the at least one communication feature at least by sending, to the mobile application, the first indication that ignition of the vehicle has been achieved; and causing, by the device and based on the vehicle shutting off, deactivation of the restriction of the at least one communication feature at least by sending, to the mobile application, the second indication that the vehicle has shut off.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein: preventing ignition of the vehicle comprises blocking a signal used to initiate vehicle ignition.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein: the signal used to initiate vehicle ignition is from an ignition switch of the ignition system.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein: preventing ignition of the vehicle comprises not providing a signal used to initiate vehicle ignition.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the communication comprises a request to initiate ignition of the vehicle.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing, by the device after achieving ignition of the vehicle and prior to a subsequent ignition of the vehicle, a second communication indicating whether the vehicle is running.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises preventing the communication feature.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises restricting a text messaging feature of the mobile device.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises: preventing the mobile computing device from communicating using a first communication type; and permitting the mobile computing device to communicate using a second communication type.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises a request to initiate vehicle ignition.

“11. A device comprising: a processor; a first interface configured to connect to an ignition system of a vehicle; and a second interface configured to communicate with a mobile application installed at a mobile computing device, wherein the mobile application is configured to: restrict at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device; based on receiving, from the device and via the second interface, a first indication that ignition of the vehicle has been achieved, activate restriction of the at least one communication feature; and based on receiving, from the device and via the second interface, a second indication that the vehicle has shut off, deactivate restriction of the at least one communication feature; and memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to: determine whether the device has received, via the second interface and from the mobile computing device, a communication that indicates the mobile application is operating at the mobile computing device; prevent ignition of the vehicle, via the second interface, until the device determines it has received the communication indicating the mobile application is operating at the mobile computing device; permit ignition of the vehicle, via the second interface, based on receiving, via the second interface, the communication indicating the mobile application is operating at the mobile computing device; cause, based on the vehicle achieving ignition, activation of the restriction of the at least one communication feature at least by sending, via the second interface and to the mobile application, the first indication that ignition of the vehicle has been achieved; and cause, based on the vehicle shutting off, deactivation of the restriction of the at least one communication feature at least by sending, via the second interface and to the mobile application, the second indication that the vehicle has shut off.

“12. The device of claim 11, wherein: preventing ignition of the vehicle comprises blocking a signal used to initiate vehicle ignition.

“13. The device of claim 12, wherein: the signal used to initiate vehicle ignition is from an ignition switch of the ignition system.

“14. The device of claim 11, wherein: preventing ignition of the vehicle comprises not providing a signal to the ignition system of the vehicle.

“15. The device of claim 11, wherein: the communication comprises a request to initiate ignition of the vehicle.

“16. The device of claim 11, wherein: the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the device to provide, via the second interface after achieving ignition of the vehicle and prior to a subsequent ignition of the vehicle, a second communication indicating whether the vehicle is running.

“17. The device of claim 11, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises preventing the communication feature.

“18. The device of claim 11, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises restricting a text messaging feature of the mobile device.

“19. The device of claim 11, wherein the restriction of the at least one communication feature of the mobile computing device comprises: preventing the mobile computing device from communicating using a first communication type; and permitting the mobile computing device to communicate using a second communication type.

“20. The device of claim 11, wherein the communication comprises a request to initiate vehicle ignition.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Srey, Rothana; Manzella, Matthew James. Vehicle Ignition Control. U.S. Patent Number 10,984,480, filed January 26, 2018, and published online on May 3, 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=10,984,480.PN.&OS=PN/10,984,480RS=PN/10,984,480

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