Method of remotely identifying one of a passenger and an assigned vehicle to the other

Abstract

When a vehicle is assigned to meet with a customer at a meeting location, as when the customer orders a ride and the taxi, ride-sharing operator, or autonomous vehicle is dispatched, the difficulty of identifying the assigned vehicle among many vehicles or the customer among many people, is solved by providing a code, unique to the meeting at the meeting location. A light signal based on the code is emitted by a first device (of the vehicle or the customer) and distinguished, based on the code, by a second device, whereby the location of the first device is determined and can be displayed or otherwise used for navigating to the other.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for identifying passengers of vehicles, the method comprising the steps of:
 a) receiving, by a management system, a plurality of first readings from a control system of a vehicle, said plurality of first readings representative of locations of the vehicle;   b) receiving, by the management system, a plurality of second readings from a smartphone of a user, said plurality of second readings representative of locations of the smartphone;   c) determining, by the management system, from the pluralities of first and second readings, whether the vehicle and smartphone are collocated, wherein the user is considered a passenger of the vehicle if at least the vehicle and smartphone are collocated and not otherwise.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the vehicle and smartphone are collocated if a location, direction, and speed of the vehicle indicated by said plurality of first readings matches a location, direction, and speed of the smartphone indicated by said plurality of second readings. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the first readings are further representative of a motion signature of the vehicle sensed by an accelerometer of the vehicle, the second readings are further representative of a motion signature of the smartphone sensed by an accelerometer of the smartphone, and the vehicle and smartphone are collocated if a location, direction, speed, and motion signature of the vehicle indicated by said plurality of first readings matches a location, direction, speed, and motion signature of the smartphone indicated by said plurality of second readings. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first readings are further representative of a motion signature of the vehicle sensed by an accelerometer of the vehicle, the second readings are further representative of a motion signature of the smartphone sensed by an accelerometer of the smartphone, and the vehicle and smartphone are collocated if a location and motion signature of the vehicle indicated by said plurality of first readings matches a location and motion signature of the smartphone indicated by said plurality of second readings. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the vehicle are obtained by a GPS module of the control system. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the smartphone are obtained by a GPS module of the smartphone 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the vehicle are obtained by a cellular telephone of the control system. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the smartphone are obtained by a cellular telephone of the smartphone. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the vehicle are obtained by reception of an RF beacon by the control system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the locations of the smartphone are obtained by reception of an RF beacon by the smartphone. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the control system has communication with the smartphone and the receiving in a) is through the smartphone. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the smartphone has communication with the control system and the receiving in b) is through the control system. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 d) receiving, by the control system, from the smartphone, a unique identifier of the smartphone; 
 wherein the determining is on the further basis of the unique identifier. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of:
 d) receiving, by the control system, from the smartphone, a digital certificate issued by the management system to the smartphone; 
 wherein the determining is on the further basis of the digital certificate. 
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 d) receiving, by the smartphone, from the control system, a unique identifier of the control system; 
 wherein the determining is on the further basis of the unique identifier. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 d) receiving, by the smartphone, from the control system, a unique identifier of the control system; 
 e) receiving, by the management system, from the control system, the unique identifier;) 
   ) receiving, by the management system, from the smartphone, the unique identifier; and, 
 the determining is on the further basis of e) and f). 
 
     
     
         18 . A method for identifying passengers of vehicles, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving, by a management system, a plurality of first readings from a control system of a vehicle, said plurality of first readings representative of a motion signature of the vehicle;   receiving, by the management system, a plurality of second readings from a smartphone of a user, said plurality of second readings representative of a motion signature of the smartphone;   determining, by the management system, from the pluralities of first and second readings, whether the vehicle and smartphone are collocated, wherein the user is considered a passenger of the vehicle if collocated and not otherwise.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the motion signature of the vehicle is sensed by at least a GPS module of the vehicle and the motion signature of the smartphone is sensed by a GPS module of the smartphone. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the motion signature of the vehicle is sensed by at least an accelerometer of the vehicle and the motion signature of the smartphone is sensed by an accelerometer of the smartphone.