Telematics system with PIN-controlled external SIM to prevent vehicle piracy

The operation of a conventional cellular telecommunications transceiver that forms part of a vehicle's telematics system can be selectively changed in order to provide telephone calls by providing the transceiver with a second and different SIM card. Providing a second SIM card, however, will disable telematics service that can include stolen vehicle tracking. A personal identification number or PIN is thus required in order for the information that is stored in an external, user-provided SIM card to be used by a telematics system transceiver rather than the information stored in a built-in SIM card that is provided by a telematics system operator/provider.

BACKGROUND

As used herein, the term, telematics refers to technology by which a motor vehicle and its status can be monitored at a remote location by a service provider. Telematics systems also enable a vehicle's location to be tracked, its operation monitored, and its theft detected. General Motors' OnStar® system is one example of a telematics system.

While telematics systems enable tracking and controlling a vehicle from a remote location, they do not currently enable or provide for conventional telecommunications, i.e. voice calls, conducted between a vehicle occupant and someone other than a telematics service provider representative. An apparatus and method for allowing a telematics system in a vehicle to also provide conventional two-way wireless communications would be an improvement over the prior art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the operation of a conventional cellular telecommunications transceiver that forms part of a vehicle's telematics system can be selectively changed in order to provide telephone calls by providing the transceiver with a second and different SIM card. Providing a second SIM card, however, will disable telematics service that can include stolen vehicle tracking. A personal identification number or PIN is thus required in order for the information that is stored in an external, user-provided SIM card to be used by a telematics system transceiver rather than the information stored in a built-in SIM card that is provided by a telematics system operator/provider.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1depicts a motor vehicle dashboard, also known as an instrument panel. The instrument panel100comprises a center console102having a touch sensitive display screen104. The touch-sensitive display screen104can display various images, and it can also receive tactile inputs. In one embodiment, the touch-sensitive display screen104includes a finger print scanner or reader by which the lines of a person's finger print can be scanned and correlated to a particular individual.

The instrument panel100can also include one or more microphones106, configured to transduce audio signals, including the voice of a passenger inside the vehicle. The display screen104and microphone106are two examples of user interfaces to a telematics system that is provided to a motor vehicle by the vehicle's manufacturer or as an after-market add-on to a vehicle.

In addition to the display screen104and microphone106, the instrument panel is provided with a user-accessible connector or socket108. The connector108is sized, shaped, and arranged to accept a small circuit board commonly known as a subscriber identity module or “SIM” card, for a cellular telephone.

As is well known, a SIM card stores information, i.e. data, used by certain types of cellular telephones. A SIM card provides an identity or “personality” by which a cell phone is enabled or authorized to provide two-way communications through a service provider.

FIG. 2is a block diagram of a vehicle telematics system that will accept a second, external SIM card that will reconfigure or re-purpose a cell phone provided as part of the telematics system200but which first requires a personal identification number (PIN) in order for the external SIM card to work with the system200and to prevent vehicle theft or piracy. The system200is thus referred to as a telematics system with a PIN-controlled external SIM in order to prevent vehicle piracy.

The telematics system200comprises a conventional cellular telecommunications transceiver202coupled to a conventional antenna204. The transceiver provides two-way wireless communications through a conventional cellular network, which is well-known and therefore omitted fromFIG. 2.

The transceiver202is operatively coupled to and controlled by a processor206via a conventional Controller Area Network or CAN bus208. The controller206thus controls the transceiver202according to instructions stored in a non-transitory memory device207coupled to the processor206by a conventional address/data/control bus that extends between the processor206and the memory device207.

The telematics system200and its transceiver202are also coupled to various peripheral devices in the vehicle via the CAN bus208. Those devices include an engine control unit or ECU210, a navigation system212, preferably embodied as a global positioning system, an airbag system214, and various other peripheral devices216. By sending and receiving data over the bus208, the telematics system200is able to send information regarding the various peripheral devices to a telematics service provider. It is also able to control the various devices coupled to the bus208responsive to instructions stored in its own memory device207as well as commands that are received by the system200from a telematics service provider.

Transmitting information to and receiving information from a telematics service provider via the transceiver202requires information stored in a first subscriber identity module (SIM) that is essentially “hard wired” into the telematics system. InFIG. 2, the built-in or vehicle SIM card is identified by reference numeral218. As is well-known, the SIM card218is an integrated circuit. It typically stores an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and a personal identification number of PIN, both of which are used to identify and authenticate the vehicle to the cellular transceiver202and authenticate the cellular transceiver202to a wireless service provider that provides a wireless connection between the transceiver202and a wireless network via signals and data carried over the wireless network.

Unlike existing vehicle telematics systems, which provide telecommunications between only the vehicle and a telematics service provider, the telematics system200shown inFIG. 2is able to reconfigure the transceiver202by selectively providing the transceiver202with a second and different SIM card, which is able to store a different IMSI and a different PIN.

As shown inFIG. 1and inFIG. 2, a user-accessible SIM connector allows for the connection and use of a second SIM card in order to change the “personality” of the transceiver202, i.e., re-configure the transceiver so it can make calls to and receive calls from entities other than a telematics service provider. When a second and different SIM card is provided to the transceiver202, the transceiver202thereafter provides wireless telecommunications according to the information stored in the different, user-provided SIM card, not according to the information stored in the built-in SIM card218. Stated another way, telematics services, including stolen vehicle tracking, are stopped while the transceiver202is operated using a SIM card other than the SIM card218built in to the vehicle. It is therefore important to limit or control when a second, user-supplied SIM card is accepted by the transceiver202in order prevent malicious or deliberate disablement of the telematics system200and the services provided by the system200, one of which is tracking a vehicle when it has been stolen.

InFIG. 2, the user-accessible SIM connector220is coupled to the telematics system200and cellular transceiver via a conventional cable222that extends between the connector220, preferably located on the instrument panel, and the transceiver202, via an electronic switch224operatively coupled to and controlled by the processor206. Program instructions in the memory207cause the controller206to monitor the connector220for the insertion or presence of a second SIM card228in the connector220. When a second SIM card228is detected in the connector220, other program instructions in the memory device226cause the controller to monitor one or more user interfaces230, preferably a touch-sensitive display panel, for a multi-alphanumeric identifier, which is provided by someone entering the multi-alphanumeric identifier into the user interface230.

The multi-alphanumeric identifier provided to the user interface in order to enable the transceiver202to use the second SIM card228is preferably an identifier known only to an authorized user of the second SIM card228and which is preferably different from the PIN that is stored in the SIM card228itself and which is required by the transceiver202to operate. Such a PIN can be considered to be a second SIM authorization PIN.

The nature of a second SIM authorization PIN entered at the user interface230is a design choice but an example would be a string of several alphanumeric characters known only to a person to whom valid SIM card information was provided by a cellular telecommunications service provider. A second SIM authorization PIN is thus determined to be “valid” by the system in order to prevent various telematics services from being maliciously disabled. Stated another way, the selective acceptance of a second SIM card228by requiring a password or, second SIM card personal identifier (PIN), i.e., a second SIM authorization PIN, limits or controls who can disable the telematics system200.

When a second SIM authorization PIN, i.e., an identifier for a second SIM card228inserted into the connector220, is received from the user interface230, and subsequently determined to be a valid identifier, instructions executed by the processor206cause the cellular transceiver202to thereafter use information from the second SIM card228rather than the vehicle SIM card218. The transceiver202for the telematics system200will thereafter operate according to data in the second SIM card228rather than data in the SIM card218built in to the vehicle. By providing the transceiver202with a different SIM card, the transceiver202can be “re-purposed” to provide conventional calling capability, i.e., the ability to place and receive voice calls to any telephone number. Requiring a valid identifier for a second, user-provided SIM card, however, prevents someone from purposefully stopping telematics services, which services often include stolen vehicle tracking.

FIG. 3is a block diagram depicting steps of a method300for controlling the use of an external SIM card by requiring a personal identification number of PIN for a second SIM card228. In the first two steps302and304, a user-accessible SIM card socket or connector is continuously monitored for the insertion of a second, user-supplied SIM card. When a SIM card is detected in such a connector or socket at step304, the method300proceeds to step306where a user interface is scanned for a personal identification number or PIN.

The PIN for the second SIM card228, i.e., the second SIM authorization PIN, entered at the user interface is preferably an identifier that is different in both length and content from the PIN stored inside a SIM card and which is used by a cell phone to make and receive calls. The successful completion of steps302,304, and306thus enables the use of the second IMSI and second PIN stored inside a second SIM card228that is inserted into a user-accessible SIM card socket.

In an embodiment, the user interface is a touch-sensitive display screen embedded in the instrument panel or dashboard of a vehicle. Such a display screen is depicted inFIG. 1and identified by reference numeral102. In a different embodiment, the user interface is a microphone coupled to a processor206that executes program instructions that comprise a voice recognition system. In another embodiment, the user interface is a fingerprint scanner which can also be incorporated into and made part of the touch-sensitive display screen.

Regardless of how the user interface is embodied, its purpose and function is to receive information, e.g., a PIN or a biometric characteristic, by which a second SIM card inserted into a user-accessible connector can be determined to be “owned” or controlled by a person whose identity is known to a wireless service provider or who is associated with the SIM card or who is authorized to operate the motor vehicle.

As used herein, the term “associated with” should be construed to mean a person who is an owner or authorized user of the SIM card as determined by a wireless service provider or who is an owner or authorized user of a vehicle in which a telematics system is installed.

After a second SIM authorization PIN or user ID is received through the user interface at step306, at step308the method300determines whether the second SIM authorization PIN received through the user interface is stored in a database of known valid identifiers. A database of valid identifiers can be kept in the non-transitory memory device226or at a remote location, such as the telematics service provider. In either case, if the PIN or user ID received through the user interface at step306is in a valid identifier data base, the method300proceeds to step310where information in the second SIM card is provided to the cellular transceiver so that the transceiver will thereafter operate as specified by the second SIM card. Such operations by the transceiver can include voice and data calls to any phone number, which would be provided by a conventional cellular transceiver. If the PIN or user ID received at the user interface is not in a valid identifier database and is not otherwise determined to be valid, the transceiver will not operate according to the second SIM but will instead continue to operate using a built-in SIM card.

Those of ordinary skill in the art should recognize that a corollary of providing an invalid user ID through the user interface at step306is vehicle disablement. In the method shown inFIG. 3, a vehicle is disabled at step316if a valid identifier for the second SIM cards is not provided through the user interface. If on the other hand a valid identifier is provided, the vehicle is “enabled” at step312after the second SIM card data is provided to the transceiver at step310.

In a preferred embodiment, program instructions cause a processor or controller to limit the number of invalid identifiers that can be received from a user interface. In one embodiment, five invalid user identifiers are permitted. Upon receiving a sixth invalid identifier, the engine control unit (ECU) for the vehicle is disabled and requires a system reset from a dealer.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the apparatus and method depicted in the figures and described above enable the cellular transceiver provided with a telematics system to provide telematics services or conventional wireless telephony services. The selective switching of a vehicle installed SIM card or a user-provided SIM card enables telematics services to be selectively provided at a user's discretion. Requiring a personal identifier or PIN as a condition of using a second, external SIM card can prevent unauthorized shutting off of telematics services.

The foregoing description is for purposes of illustration only. The true scope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.