Abstract:
A method of providing access to a vehicle, including wirelessly and electronically discovering a personal electronic device disposed outside of the vehicle. A remote central controller is wirelessly instructed to wirelessly transmit a certificate to the personal electronic device. The certificate from the personal electronic device is wirelessly received within the vehicle. Validation from the a remote central controller that the certificate from the personal electronic device was transmitted from the remote central controller to the personal electronic device is wirelessly received within the vehicle. An electronic key to the vehicle is wirelessly transmitted from the vehicle to the personal electronic device.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/259,804, filed on Apr. 23, 2014, which is currently under allowance, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention. 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a method for starting a motor vehicle, and, more particularly, to a method for starting a motor vehicle without a physical key or a permanent remote key. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art. 
         [0005]    It is known to start a motor vehicle by use of a physical key or by use of a permanent remote key. A problem is that only a fixed number of such physical keys or permanent remote keys are associated with a particular vehicle, and it is time consuming and fairly lengthy and/or inconvenient process to create additional such physical keys or permanent remote keys. Another problem is that physical keys or permanent remote keys are permanent pieces of hardware associated with a particular vehicle. If a temporary user of such a dedicated key does not return the key to the owner of the vehicle after use, then the key is lost to the owner and must be replaced by the owner. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The invention may provide a system for instantly and dynamically creating new temporary keys for a vehicle. The invention may provide a system for assigning temporary rights to use a cell phone as a key for a vehicle and to invoke parental controls on the vehicle when the temporary key is in use. This could be useful for allowing other people to temporarily use the vehicle without having access to the physical key. 
         [0007]    The owner of a vehicle, while in the vehicle with his key fob or physical key, may use the headunit interface to identify a cell phone over Bluetooth and/or near field communication (NFC) to assign that cell phone as a temporary key for that vehicle. An application on the cell phone can be used to further enhance the security using public-key infrastructure (PM) techniques. In addition, each temporary cell phone/key can be assigned to specific vehicle modes for special use cases. Such vehicle modes may include a limit on the speed at which the vehicle may travel; a limit on the number of miles the vehicle may travel; a limit on the distance from a certain location (e.g., the owner&#39;s home) that the vehicle may travel; a limit on the times of operation of the vehicle; a limit or restriction on the operation of the temporary cell phone (e.g., texting, data, and/or voice) while the vehicle is moving or in operation; a limit on the speed of the vehicle when the vehicle is not on public roads (e.g., on driveways or parking lots) etc. 
         [0008]    The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a method of providing access to a vehicle, including wirelessly and electronically discovering a personal electronic device disposed outside of the vehicle. A remote central controller is wirelessly instructed to wirelessly transmit a certificate to the personal electronic device. The certificate from the personal electronic device is wirelessly received within the vehicle. Validation from the a remote central controller that the certificate from the personal electronic device was transmitted from the remote central controller to the personal electronic device is wirelessly received within the vehicle. An electronic key to the vehicle is wirelessly transmitted from the vehicle to the personal electronic device. 
         [0009]    The invention comprises, in another form thereof, a method of providing access to a vehicle, including wirelessly and electronically discovering a personal electronic device disposed outside of the vehicle. A selection of the personal electronic device is received from a user. An electronic key to the vehicle is wirelessly transmitted from the vehicle to the selected personal electronic device. 
         [0010]    The invention comprises, in yet another form thereof, a method of providing access to a vehicle, including enabling a user to choose between providing access online and providing access offline. If the user chooses providing access online, then a personal electronic device disposed outside of the vehicle is electronically discovered. A remote central controller is instructed to transmit a certificate to the personal electronic device. The certificate from the personal electronic device is received within the vehicle. Validation from the remote central controller that the certificate from the personal electronic device was transmitted from the remote central controller to the personal electronic device is receiving within the vehicle. An electronic key to the vehicle is transmitted from the vehicle to the personal electronic device. If the user chooses providing access offline, then a personal electronic device disposed outside of the vehicle is electronically discovered. A selection of the personal electronic device is received from a user. An electronic key to the vehicle is transmitted from the vehicle to the selected personal electronic device. 
         [0011]    An advantage of the present invention is that it may enables the owner of a vehicle the ability to temporarily assign a cell phone as a key for the vehicle along with limiting the vehicles functionality while that cell phone is used as a key. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is a flow chart illustrating a method of assigning a smartphone as a temporary vehicle key according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is an example screen shot of a vehicle human machine interface in a first step of the method of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is an example screen shot of the vehicle human machine interface in a second step of the method of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is an example screen shot of the vehicle human machine interface in a third step of the method of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is an example screen shot of the vehicle human machine interface in a fourth step of the method of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a system of the invention for assigning a smartphone as a temporary key for a vehicle. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a system of the invention for assigning a smartphone as a temporary key for a vehicle. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    The embodiments hereinafter disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed in the following description. Rather the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize its teachings. 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  illustrates a method  100  of assigning a smartphone as a temporary vehicle key according to one embodiment of the present invention. In a first step  102 , the user is prompted to initiate the assignment of a key.  FIG. 2  is an example screen shot of a vehicle human machine interface (HMI)  10  which may be used in step  102 . HMI  10  includes a navigation icon  12 , a media icon  14 , a telephone icon  16 , and an icon  18  for assigning a vehicle key to a telephone. Navigation icon  12  may enable a user to interface with a vehicle navigation system (not shown); media icon  14  may enable a user to interface with a vehicle audio system (not shown), which may include a radio, a CD player, etc.; phone icon  16  may enable a user to converse via his personal mobile telephone by using the speakers and microphones associated with HMI  10 ; and icon  18  may enable a user to assign and/or transfer an electronic vehicle key to an external mobile telephone or other personal electronic device. 
         [0022]    In a next step  104 , the user may select either to set up a new temporary key or to assign a temporary key. For example, after the user touches icon  18 , the display screen of HMI  10  may change to the presentation shown in  FIG. 3 . The user then has the choice of setting up a new mobile phone to receive a temporary key, as at  20 , or actually sending a temporary key to a mobile phone that has already been set up, as at  22 . Upon the touching of icon  18 , the head unit may automatically search for nearby mobile electronic devices that have not already been set up to receive a temporary key. The head unit may use Bluetooth and/or NFC in order to find the nearby mobile electronic devices. In the example shown, the head unit has found new nearby mobile phones X and Y which have not yet been set up to receive a temporary key. The head unit has already set up the existing candidate mobile phones A, B and C to receive a temporary key. 
         [0023]    If the user chooses to set up one or both of new devices X and Y in the vicinity, then the user may further choose whether to set up the new device online (e.g., via wireless communication with a remote authorization controller, as discussed in more detail hereinbelow with regard to  FIG. 6 ), or offline via wireless communication exclusively and directly between the head unit and the new mobile electronic device (as discussed in more detail hereinbelow with regard to  FIG. 7 ). More particularly, the user may choose to set up a new device online by touching ONLINE icon  24  to use system  30  of  FIG. 6 , or may choose to set up a new device offline by touching OFFLINE icon  26  to use system  60  of  FIG. 7 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system  30  of the invention for online assignment of a temporary key for a vehicle to a smartphone X. System  30  may employ PM, for example, as a communication technology. System  30  includes a vehicle head unit  32 , a vehicle ignition system  34 , vehicle door lock controls  36 , and a central controller  38 . 
         [0025]    In operation, the user may view the display of  FIG. 3  and may choose to set up a new device online by touching ONLINE icon  24 . The user may then touch the icon representing mobile device X under the SET UP NEW TEMPORARY KEY icon  20  to thereby select device X to be set up to receive a temporary key to the vehicle. In response, head unit  32 , having already discovered and identified device X, as indicated at  40 , may request, as indicated at  44 , that a certificate authority  42  of central controller  38  transmit a certificate to device X. 
         [0026]    Next, in step  106 , the status of the key issuance may be displayed. For example, the display screen of the HMI may display the words “Requesting Access”, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Certificate authority  42  may respond to request  44  by transmitting a certificate to device X, as indicated at  46 . 
         [0027]    After having set up device X to receive a temporary key, as described above, the user may want to actually assign a temporary key to device X by touching ASSIGN TEMPORARY KEY icon  22 . The user may then touch the icon representing mobile device X under the ASSIGN TEMPORARY KEY icon  22  to thereby select device X to be assigned a temporary key to the vehicle. In response, head unit  32 , having already set up device X by causing certificate authority  42  to send a certificate to device X, as indicated at  44  and  46 , may request, as indicated at  40 , that device X send to head unit  32  the certificate that device X has received. After head unit  32  has received the certificate from device X, head unit  32  may send the certificate to validation authority  48  of central controller  38 , as shown at  50 , so that validation authority  48  may verify to head unit  32 , as indicated at  50 , that the certificate received by validation authority  48  from head unit  32  is the same as, or matches, the certificate sent to device X by certificate authority  42 . If the certificate received by validation authority  48  from head unit  32  is indeed the same as, or matches, the certificate sent to device X by certificate authority  42 , then the HMI may display “Access Granted”, as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0028]    Head unit  32  may then essentially issue a private key to device X in the sense that head unit  32  may download to device X a user interface that may be displayed on the touchscreen of device X. In response, the HMI may display “Issuing Private Key” while the interface is being downloaded, and the HMI may display “Key Issued” when the download is complete, as shown in  FIG. 4 . The user interface displayed on the touchscreen of device X may enable the user/owner of device X to perform all of the functions of a conventional key and key fob, such as unlocking the doors to the vehicle, and starting the ignition system of the vehicle. Thus, head unit  32  may be communicatively coupled to ignition system  34  and to door lock controls  36  in order to provide such functionality. 
         [0029]    In a final step  108 , the user may be prompted to select privileges that the temporary key is to have. For example, before or after issuing the private key, head unit  32  may enable the user/owner of the vehicle to select privileges afforded to the temporary private key, as shown in  FIG. 5 , which illustrates the display screen of the HMI. The user may elect to grant the key full access by touching icon  80 ; timed access by touching icon  82 ; area access by touching icon  84 ; speed access by touching icon  86 ; and/or custom access by touching icon  88 . Timed access may include providing the key functionality only during certain times of the day, e.g., from 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays only, during daylight hours only, etc. Area access may include providing the key functionality only within a certain geographic area, e.g., within a certain state, within a certain county, or along a certain approved route. Speed access may include inhibiting the vehicle from traveling above a certain speed that is set by the vehicle owner so long as the vehicle has been unlocked or started by the key that is subject to the speed limitation. Custom access may include a combination of time, geographic, and speed limitations. For example, the user may restrict the speed of the vehicle only during certain times of the day (e.g., at night) or within certain geographic areas (e.g., a neighborhood in which the vehicle owner resides) so long as the vehicle has been unlocked or started by the key that is subject to the speed limitation. 
         [0030]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system  60  of the invention for offline assignment of a temporary key for a vehicle to a smartphone X. System  60  may employ Bluetooth, for example, as a communication technology. System  60  includes a vehicle head unit  62 , a vehicle ignition system  34 , and vehicle door lock controls  36 . 
         [0031]    In operation, the user may view the display of  FIG. 3  and may choose to set up a new device offline by touching OFFLINE icon  26 . In response, head unit  32  may search for, discover and identify device X, as indicated at  62  and  64 . After device X has been discovered and identified, an icon representing mobile device X may be displayed on the display. The user may then touch the icon representing mobile device X under the SET UP NEW TEMPORARY KEY icon  20  to thereby select device X to be set up to receive a temporary key to the vehicle. 
         [0032]    The user may touch ASSIGN TEMPORARY KEY icon  22  and then touch the icon representing mobile device X in order to assign a new temporary key to device X. In response to the touching of ASSIGN TEMPORARY KEY icon  22  and the icon representing mobile device X, head unit  32  may pair with device X, as indicated at  66  in order to actually assign a temporary key to device X. In one embodiment, pairing with device X may include head unit  32  downloading to device X a user interface that may be displayed on the touchscreen of device X. After receiving the user interface, device X may connect with head unit  32  by acknowledging that the user interface has been received, as indicated at  68 . 
         [0033]    The present invention has been described herein as using a smartphone as a temporary key. However, it is to be understood that the present invention may also encompass using a tablet computer or other handheld smart device as a temporary key. 
         [0034]    While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains.