Patent ID: 8805599
Filing Date: 2014-08-12
Classification: B60R,B60T,G06F

Abstract:
1. A vehicle interlocking system for a land vehicle being susceptible to theft once the land vehicle is left idling in a park mode and readily accessible by an unauthorized driver, and the land vehicle having an engine including an automatic transmission incorporating an interlock device being connected to and controllable by an existing electronic control module (ECM), the interlock device to mechanically lock the driven wheels of the land vehicle when the automatic transmission is placed in the park mode, the vehicle interlocking system, comprising: a credential input device, said credential input device being mountable on said land vehicle, said credential input device being configured to accept as input a credential from an authorized driver of said land vehicle, the credential being issued to said driver to authorize use of the land vehicle by said driver; a microcomputer (CPU) being mountable on the land vehicle; said microcomputer (CPU) and said credential input device being operatively connectable with each other, with said credential input device being configured to transmit said credential received from the authorized driver, and said microcomputer (CPU) being configured to receive said credential from the credential input device; a credential database stored in said microcomputer (CPU), said credential database containing preloaded credential data for said land vehicle; said microcomputer (CPU) being configured to make a determination, based on a comparison of said credential and said preloaded credential database, whether said authorized driver is authorized or not authorized to drive said land vehicle; said microcomputer (CPU) being operatively connectable to said existing electronic control module (ECM); and, said microcomputer (CPU) being configured to operatively interact with said interlock device of the automatic transmission via said existing electronic control module (ECM) to preclude shifting of the automatic transmission out of the park mode of the automatic transmission when said microcomputer (CPU) determines that said unauthorized driver having no credential found in said credential database attempts to engage the automatic transmission from the park mode to non-park modes and to drive said land vehicle while the engine of the land vehicle is left idling in the park mode by the authorized driver, and