US 12,434,663 B2
Vehicle digital key management on a blockchain
Vladimir Stefanovski, Windsor (CA); Karl Nathan Clark, Belleville, MI (US); Riaz Ulla, Lasalle (CA); and Zoheb Mohammed, Farmington Hills, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Dec. 1, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/073,456.
Prior Publication US 2024/0181987 A1, Jun. 6, 2024
Int. Cl. B60R 25/24 (2013.01); G07C 9/00 (2020.01); H04L 9/00 (2022.01); H04L 9/08 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 25/24 (2013.01) [G07C 9/00309 (2013.01); H04L 9/0816 (2013.01); H04L 9/50 (2022.05); G07C 2009/00507 (2013.01); H04L 2209/84 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle management system comprising:
a communication module configured to manage wireless communication between the vehicle management system, a plurality of vehicles, and a plurality of computing devices of operators of the plurality of vehicles;
a blockchain;
a streaming service configured to provide event data in real time to a contract executing virtual machine (VM) embedded in the blockchain; and
a non-transitory memory storing instructions that when executed by a processor of the vehicle management system, cause the vehicle management system to:
generate a digital key for an operator of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, based on input from an owner of the vehicle via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the vehicle management system, the digital key controlling access to the vehicle and a use of one or more functionalities of the vehicle by the operator, based on one or more smart contracts established by the owner, the digital key including identifying information of the operator, identifying information of the owner, an expiration date of the digital key, a copy of the blockchain, and a computer application for implementing a version of the streaming service;
store data of the vehicle, the owner, and the operator in the blockchain, the data including the one or more smart contracts; and
transmit the digital key wirelessly to a computing device of the operator, the computing device configured to store the digital key in memory of the computing device.