WO2016027419A1

WO2016027419A1 - Access control method for providing access to functions of vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2016027419A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/003776
Authority: WO
Inventors: Laurent Certin; Hiroto Uesaka
Original assignee: Denso Corporation
Priority date: 2014-08-20
Filing date: 2015-07-28
Publication date: 2016-02-25
Also published as: DE102014111883A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an access control method for granting access to functions of a vehicle (11) by means of a visual authentication system (10), which comprises at least a mobile unit (18) and a camera unit (22). The authentication system (10) communicates with an in-vehicle unit (14). The mobile unit (18) gathers a current picture of a vehicle user (12) through the camera unit (22, S12). Based on this picture the mobile unit performs user verification (S14) based on visual person recognition. The mobile unit (18) outputs an authentication message to the in-vehicle unit (14) when or if user verification has been successful.

Description

ACCESS CONTROL METHOD FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO FUNCTIONS OF VEHICLE

Cross Reference

This application claims the benefit of DE Application No. 10 2014 111 883.9, filed on August 20, 2014. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.

Field

The present disclosure relates to an access control method for enabling access to functions of a vehicle by means of an authentication system. The authentication system comprises at least one mobile unit and a camera unit. It further communicates with an in-vehicle unit for performing the authentication and enabling of access.

Background

From US 2007/274 576 A1 a system for granting access to a vehicle is known, in which an access-code-based identification of a driver is performed through a mobile phone and by means of an identifier. In such a system all data required for performing the access process need to be stored within in an in-vehicle unit. Furthermore, the respective reference data for all potential users need to be stored within the vehicle. Such a method may be disadvantageous with respect to extending or updating the users list. Besides, it cannot be safeguarded that a vehicle cannot be unlocked with a stolen mobile phone in an unauthorized way.

Summary

This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.

The objective of the present disclosure is to provide improved access control technology. The present disclosure solves this objective by an access control method, a software product for performing/executing the access control method and an access control system with the features in the independent claims.

In the access control technology according to the present disclosure visual authentication is performed by a mobile unit, preferentially embodied as a mobile communication device, in particular as a smartphone of the vehicle user or a software product installed there. In this access control technology information is exchanged at least between the mobile unit and an in-vehicle unit via electronic communication.

The mobile unit embodies at least a functional section within software or circuitry by which the steps that are provided for the access control method are executed. For this, the mobile unit may exist in the form of an instance of a software product, which may be offered by, e.g., an access-provider-system and installed to a mobile terminal device. Trough installation and execution of the software product the mobile terminal device may thus be adapted for performing the steps of the access control method which are provided for the mobile unit. Alternatively or additionally, a dedicated mobile device may be provided for embodying the mobile unit. The following description relates to the functional aspects of the mobile unit and the thus resulting distribution of method steps on the participating hard- and software components and it is applicable for any physical embodiment.

The mobile unit gathers an actual picture through a camera unit, which has access to at least one camera in the mobile communication device and/or in the vehicle. The camera unit is likewise a functional section within software or circuitry. It may exist as a separate unit or be integrated into the mobile unit.

Based on actual picture of the vehicle user, which was gathered by the camera unit, the mobile unit performs user verification through visual person recognition, in particular through face recognition. The mobile unit transmits an authentication message to the in-vehicle unit, in a case when or whether the user verification was successful.

The vehicle unit is also a functional section within software or circuitry. It may further be comprised within a separate device on which the steps are performed which are provided in the access control technology for the vehicle unit.

Depending on the authentication message access, predefined functions of the vehicle may be granted by the in-vehicle unit. The granting entrance to the vehicle may be given prior to or temporally overlapping with the visual authentication, in order to offer more comfortable usability.

It is preferred that the mobile unit is verified with respect to the in-vehicle unit, i.e. that a device verification is performed.

In the access control technology according to the present disclosure there is thus provided user verification through visual person recognition, which compares a currently recorded picture of the vehicle user with a reference recognition pattern. A recognition pattern may preferentially be an organized data structure, in which a set of visual features that can be identified by picture processing is contained as well as their absolute or relative positions. In practice, various algorithms for electronic creation of reference patterns and their exploitation for person recognition are known. It is preferred to use face recognition patterns.

Recognition is performed on the mobile unit. The mobile unit, or respectively the device on which it is embodied, may be carried along by a vehicle user and it may communicate through an own (dedicated) data connection with an access-provider-system, in order to retrieve user lists and/or to exchange recognition data, in particular face recognition patterns, with the provider system.

The proposed access control technology offers several advantages. On the one hand, a higher degree of safety is achieved, as picture based user verification can be performed alternatively or additionally to the device verification. The mobile unit may be kept up to date through software updating mechanisms which are known in practice. In particular, a software product for embodying the mobile unit can be downloaded as an App to a smartphone of the vehicle user. Besides, operation- or service-inputs may be made by the vehicle user on the mobile unit in a particularly comfortable way.

Various functions of the vehicle may be released at different authentication levels. For example, entrance to the vehicle may be granted already when a device verification has been performed successfully. The activation of the propulsion drive, opening the steering wheel lock and/or activating the energy supply for the propulsion drive may be performed depending on the event that also the user verification through visual person recognition has been concluded successfully.

A vehicle unit may eventually have only such data at its disposal, which are required for device authentication. Any pre-known method or device may be utilized for this. The authentication may retrieve only such characteristics from the side of the mobile unit which are laid out as software characteristics, like e.g. electronic signatures, and/or user log-in data and passwords. Alternatively or additionally characteristics may be retrieved the validity of which is safeguarded through hardware components, like e.g. RFID-chips. Such hardware components may be present separately or be connected with the device which embodies the mobile unit.

On the mobile unit actions may be performed for enrolling another user in the access-provider-system, for unlocking the permission for entrance and/or functional access to other vehicles or for making use of help or services from the provider.

The camera unit, through which a current picture of the vehicle user is gathered, has access to at least one camera. This may for example be an in-vehicle camera, which may preferentially be directed to the driver’s seat. Due to this orientation it can be safeguarded that a person will be authenticated who is actually going to use the vehicle. Alternatively or additionally the camera unit may have access to a mobile camera or it may comprise an own (dedicated) mobile camera. In the following, a mobile camera will be understood to be a camera contained in the communication device of the vehicle user. Also such a mobile camera can be oriented to the driver’s seat, or respectively to the head of a user sitting on the driver’s seat. One or several visual markers may be arranged in this area at the driver’s seat, in particular in the shoulder region or on the head rest, which markers may be recognizable during authentication. A visual marker may contain encoded information, in particular identification information about the vehicle for which access shall be granted. It may be required that while gathering the actual picture of the vehicle user at least one visual marker is recognizable within the same focal area where the vehicle user is located. The position of the visual marker within the vehicle may be known and eventually fixed. In such a case, a position of the vehicle user, in particular his face, within the vehicle may be detected through referencing to the visual marker, for example in order to derive a body height.

A visual marker may be designed in any arbitrary way. It may be encoded or unencoded. Encoded information may be present in the form of a static area pattern (bar code / QR-code or the like), that may be arranged on a part of the driver’s seat or a pattern holder. Alternatively, it may be present in the form of a dynamic recognition pattern, for example emission of an encoded signal from a display or a light indicator (LED).

Through combined a preferentially temporally parallel recognition of the visual marker and the vehicle user, who is located on the driver’s seat, a particularly high level of recognition safety is achieved.

Access from the camera unit to a camera may be present only temporally, in particular for gathering an actual picture of the vehicle user. Alternatively, access may be permanent. Furthermore, during execution of an access control method it may be switched among several cameras and multiple recordings from different cameras may be gathered which may be processed singularly or in combination for performing person recognition. It may in particular be provided that several vehicle cameras focus on the vehicle user from different perspectives.

Furthermore, the camera unit may eventually cooperate with other cameras, like for example a camera installed on a PC or a camera provided in a service point of the provider for the new registration of a user-account.
Visual person recognition is preferentially performed based on a reference recognition pattern, in particular a face recognition pattern. The reference recognition pattern is preferentially created in a learning process and by usage of picture recordings of the vehicle user. The reference recognition pattern may for example be created in a service point at first registration / enrolment of the user and it may be stored in data storage of the access-provider-system. Afterwards, it may be offered for download to the mobile unit. Alternatively or additionally, a face recognition pattern may be newly created by using the mobile unit and it may be transmitted to the access-provider-system. There it may be checked before first access provision through additional assessments, like for example a manual checkup and/or a comparison to a picture of the vehicle user on an official identification document or the like. Alternatively, other methods or processes may be utilized for creation or alternative sourcing of a reference recognition pattern, like e.g. taking it over from an external service. This may for example be an access control system of a company or a public person recognition system.

Furthermore it is preferred that a reference recognition pattern is updated in a learning procedure. This may for example be advantageous for adapting the recognition data or pattern data to the appearance of the vehicle driver which may change from time to time. The learning procedure can be performed in a service point of the provider, on an external PC and/or on the mobile unit. Reference recognition patterns which have been updated in the learning procedure may be exchanged with the access-provider-system, so that they can be double checked centrally and, if applicable, be shared with other mobile units.

An access control system it preferentially provided for the vehicle, which comprises at least the in-vehicle unit arranged on the vehicle and a communication module. Through the communication module data for performing the device verification as well as authentication messages about accomplished user verification may be exchanged between the in-vehicle unit and the mobile unit. The access control system communicates thus with the authentication system and cooperates with it in such a way that the access control system grants access to function of the vehicle only in a case when the authentication system has notified that the user verification by visual person recognition has been completed successfully.

Further advantageous embodiments of the access control technology are given in the depended claims.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of the access control technology and its components. Figure 2 is a sequence diagram for illustrating the execution of an access control method.

Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the here disclosed access control technology hardware and software components are cooperating, which may be distributed in various ways to a mobile communication device 20, a vehicle 11 or a control device arranged there, as well as an access-provider-system 16. Additionally, further data processing devices may take part in the access control technology, like for example a PC in a service point of the access provider or a private PC, to which a registration or enrollment software has been installed. The following description is made based on the assumption that a software product is installed on a mobile communication device 20 in the form of a smartphone of the vehicle user 12, which software performs the functions of the mobile unit 18.

A preferred embodiment of the access control technology is illustrated in figure 1, where a visual authentication system 10 includes a mobile unit 18 and a camera unit 22. The visual authentication system together with an access-control system 13 and eventually with an access-provider-system 16 constitutes an overall system through which the proposed access control technology is embodied.

The access-control system 13, which cooperates with the visual authentication system 10, is arranged on the vehicle 11 and includes an in-vehicle unit 14 and, if applicable, an in-vehicle camera 24. The vehicle unit 14 may be present as a software product or as part of circuitry. It may be embodied within an existing control device of the vehicle 11 or by a separate device which may be dedicated for the access control technology. The vehicle camera 24 may constitute a separate technical device being independent from the in-vehicle unit 14, e.g. an already present interior camera of the vehicle 11. Alternatively or additionally, an in-vehicle camera 24 may be provided, which is a component of the device that is dedicatedly foreseen for embodying the in-vehicle unit 14. Besides, there may be provided several in-vehicle cameras 24 for being used singularly or in a combination and one after the other or in parallel for gathering a picture of the vehicle user 12.

The vehicle 11 may for example be a rental car or a vehicle operated within a car sharing network. It may further be a vehicle within a fleet of a company. Alternatively it may be any other vehicle, which shall be usable to several vehicle users 12, without requiring that those have a physical vehicle key.

The visual authentication system 10 assesses if a user 12 is authorized to access specific functions of the vehicle and, as the case may be, if a vehicle user 12 shall be granted entrance to the vehicle 11. Various access permissions and various authentication steps may be provided for granting entrance and/or granting access to specific functions of the vehicle. Which permissions shall be provided for a specific vehicle user 12 in relation to a specific vehicle 11, may be defined through the access-provider-system 16. For this, the access-provider-system 16 may include organized data structures in which information about one or several vehicle users, respectively attributed vehicles and, if applicable, stored reference recognition patterns, in particular face recognition patterns, are saved.

The visual authentication system 10, in particular a software product executed on the mobile communication device 20, by which the mobile unit 18 is embodied, may exchange data with the access-provider-system 16 through

respective communication modules

19,17. The mobile unit 18 may in particular retrieve a current data set about a vehicle user 12 from the provider system. The retrieval may be performed on being triggered by a respective software function, which can be invoked by the vehicle user on the mobile unit 18. Alternatively or additionally, the mobile unit 18 may be synchronized with the access-provider-system 16 on a regular basis or on an event basis.

The visual authentication system 10 includes the mobile unit 18 and a camera unit 22. The camera unit 22 offers, at least for performing the person verification process, access to at least one

camera

23,24 and preferentially includes a mechanism for checking the time of recording as well as a hardware identity of a

camera

23,24.

With other words, a data connection to a mobile camera 23, an in-vehicle camera 24 or to another camera fit for recording of pictures of a vehicle user 12, can be established by the camera unit 22. It is preferentially provided, that the camera unit 22 can identify, authenticate and control a

camera

23,24 by appropriate procedures. It is further preferentially provided, that a recorded picture contains a verifiable time stamp of recordation, which is created by a

camera

23,24 and transmitted to the mobile unit 18. Transmission may preferentially be performed through wireless and, if applicable, encrypted communication. For this,

respective communication modules

19,25 are provided on the mobile communication device 20 and, if applicable, on a camera 24. In case of using an internal camera 23 of the mobile communication device 20, direct access to the hardware of the mobile communication device 20 may be used.

In figure 2 an execution procedure of an access control method according to the present disclosure is illustrated by way of a preferred embodiment. In the access control method at least communication between the access-control-system 13, in particular the in-vehicle unit 14, and the visual authentication system 10 is carried out, wherein the authentication system 10 includes the mobile unit 18 and the camera unit 22.

The sequence of the method steps S10 to S18 may correspond to the illustration in figure 2. Alternatively, device verification and user verification may be performed in revised order. A device verification S10 may, if applicable, be omitted or replaced by another method step. Furthermore, additional interim steps may be provided, which will be mentioned below.

It is assumed that a vehicle user 12 is already registered in the access-provider-system 16 and related person recognition data, in particular a face recognition pattern for the vehicle user 12, are already stored. It is further assumed, that the vehicle user 12 shall be granted both entrance to the vehicle 11 and access for using vehicle functions, in the event of successful device and user verification.

When the vehicle user 12 approaches the vehicle 11, identification information and login information is exchanged through the communication module 19 arranged on the mobile communication device 20 and the communication module 15 arranged on the in-vehicle unit 14. This is preferentially done through wireless near field communication systems like Bluetooth, WLAN or the like. The mobile unit 18 may be logged-in and identified through an identifier key and, if applicable, through a password at the in-vehicle unit 14. The password may be entered, if applicable, by the vehicle user 12 on the mobile unit 18. Entering the password may be performed in an earlier separate step to offer more comfortable system usage.

With other words, the mobile unit 18 verifies itself at the vehicle 11 as an authorized device for performing the access control method. In figure 2, this procedure is illustrated as step S10.

The central locking of the vehicle 11 may be opened in case of successful device verification S10, in order to grant the vehicle user 12 entrance to the inside of the vehicle. Furthermore, through the successful device verification S10, execution of the user verification procedure may be initiated. Alternatively, execution of the user verification procedure may be initiated by another event, in particular by manual function call on the mobile unit 18 or on the in-vehicle unit 14.

In the next step S12 the mobile unit 18 gathers an actual picture of the vehicle user 12 through the camera unit 22. For this, the camera unit 22 controls one or

several cameras

23,24 and triggers recordation of the picture and it may supervise transmission of an actually recorded picture. It may be provided, that a supportive user menu is displayed on the mobile unit 18 and/or on the in-vehicle unit 14. For example, the currently available camera picture may be shown on a display of the mobile communication device 20. Furthermore, the vehicle user 12 may be offered the possibility to trigger recordation of the picture which is to be used for user verification or, if applicable, selection of a picture to be used from a plurality of recorded pictures.

When a mobile camera 23 is used for recording the picture, the vehicle user 12 may be given advice on how the communication device 20 or, if applicable, the camera 23 arranged on it shall be oriented to him, in particular to his face, in order to record a picture which can be processed. He may further be given instructions, if lighting conditions in the surrounding are insufficient or other disturbances of recordation are present.

When an in-vehicle camera 24 is used, instruction or help may be given to the vehicle user 12 about how he should position himself on the driver’s seat or respectively the vehicle camera 24, in order to facilitate recordation of a picture which can be processed. The one or several in-vehicle cameras 24 may be arranged at any arbitrary place in the vehicle 11, in particular on the steering wheel, in the hood of the instrument board, in the A-column or in the roof. An in-vehicle camera 24 may include a dedicated communication module 25, for transmitting a recorded picture to the mobile unit 18 and/or to the in-vehicle unit 14. Alternatively or additionally the one or several in-vehicle cameras 24 may be connected to the in-vehicle unit 14 in order to transmit a recorded picture via this to the mobile unit 18. Preferentially, an in-vehicle camera 14 includes a device signature, by which the identity of the camera and/or a correct attribution to the respective vehicle 11 can be checked. The same may be valid for a mobile camera 23.

In the subsequent step S14, user verification is performed within the mobile unit 18. For this, visual person recognition is performed based on the picture gathered in previous step S12. Any known picture processing or comparison algorithms may be utilized. In particular, within the recorded picture characteristic features of the face like form and relative position of eyes, canthus, nose, nostrils, nasal wings, ears, mouth, hairline, beard etc. may be recognized and compared to a reference recognition pattern being stored for the respective vehicle user. When the result of the algorithm reaches a level of confidence above a predefined threshold, the user verification is confirmed to be successful.

Subsequently, an authentication message is sent from the mobile unit 18 to the in-vehicle unit 14 (step S16). When the in-vehicle unit 14 receives this message, it may grant access to the predefined vehicle functions in step S18. The functions to be enabled may also be specified within the authentication message.

A confirmation message about the performed vehicle release and, if applicable the performed device and user verification may be sent by the mobile unit 18 and/or by the in-vehicle unit 14 to the access-provider-system 16.

It may further be provided, that in every cycle of user verification updating of the recognition data is performed, in order to increase the recognition accuracy through several cycles and in order to adapt data to the physical changes of a vehicle user 12. Such changes may be a change in the length of hair, variations due to ageing of the facial features or wearing different eyeglasses or hairstyles.

Variations of the present disclosure are possible in various ways. In particular, the features shown or described with respect to the embodiments may in any arbitrary way be combined with each other, exchanged, complemented or omitted.

Instead of a smartphone, any other mobile communication device may be utilized, in particular a mobile device specifically provided for the access control mechanism, which may for example be supplied by the access-provider, the car rental or car sharing operator are the owner of a vehicle fleet. Password algorithms or other backup functions may be provided, which facilitate the grant of access in the case of unsuccessful visual person verification.

Claims

Access control method for granting access to functions of a vehicle (11) by means of an visual authentication system (10), which comprises at least a mobile unit (18) and a camera unit (22), which comprises or has access to at least one camera (23, 24), and wherein the mobile unit (18) communicates with an in-vehicle unit (14), the access control method comprising at least following steps:
gathering, by the mobile unit (18), an actual picture of a vehicle user (12) through the camera unit (22, S12);
performing, by the mobile unit (18), user verification (S14) based on the actual picture through visual person recognition; and
transmitting, by the mobile unit (18), an authentication message to the in-vehicle unit (14, S16), in a case when or whether the user verification was successful.
The access control method according to claim 1, wherein device verification ( S10) is performed among the mobile unit (18) and the in-vehicle unit (14).
The access control method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mobile unit (18) communicates wirelessly with the in-vehicle unit (14) and, if applicable, with a camera an in-vehicle camera (24).
The access control method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the mobile unit (18) is constituted as software module on a mobile communication device (20) of the vehicle user (12).
The access control method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the camera unit (22) has access to an in-vehicle camera (24), in particular a camera fixedly arranged in the vehicle (11) and oriented towards the driver’s seat.
The access control method according to claim 4, wherein the camera unit (22) has access to a mobile camera (23), in particular a camera arranged on the mobile communication device (20).
The access control method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein visual person recognition is performed based on a reference recognition pattern, in particular based on a face recognition pattern.
The access control method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein a reference recognition pattern is provided by an access-provider-system (16).
The access control method according to claim 8, wherein a reference recognition pattern is created and/or updated by means of a learning procedure.
The access control method according to claim 9, wherein the learning procedure is executed on the mobile unit and exchanges a newly created or updated reference recognition pattern with the access-provider-system (16).
The access control method according to claim 2, wherein entrance to the vehicle (11) is granted, when the device verification (S10) among mobile unit (18) and in-vehicle unit (14) was successful.
The access control method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein visual authentication requires that a visual marker, which is arranged in the area of the driver’s seat, is recognized in the same focal area of the gathered picture, where the vehicle user (12) is located.
A software product for performing an access control method for granting access to functions of the vehicle (11), wherein
the software product is designed for executing the access control method according to any of claims 1 to 12.
An access-control system (13) for a vehicle (11) with an in-vehicle unit (14) being arranged on the vehicle (11) and a communication module (15), wherein
the access-control system communicates and cooperates with a visual authentication system (10), which comprises at least a mobile unit (18) and a camera unit (22), and
the access-control system (13) grants access to specified functions of the vehicle (11) only, when the authentication system (10) has notified that user verification (S14) through visual person recognition based on a currently recorded picture of a vehicle user (12) has been successful.
The access-control system (13) according to claim 14, wherein the access-control system (13) is connected to an in-vehicle camera (24), by which the current picture of the vehicle user (12) is recorded and transmitted to the mobile unit (18).