System and method for using vehicle radio to control delivery of premium content to a smartphone

摘要

A system and method for enabling access to premium content, obtained via a smartphone, to be controlled by using a vehicle as a “key” to unlock the premium content. In one implementation the user of the vehicle uses her/his smartphone to establish a wireless link with the vehicle's radio system. The vehicle's radio system supplies a unique radio identifier to the smartphone, which the smartphone forwards to a remote authorization server. The authorization server determines from an internal database if the radio identifier is permitted access to any premium content. If so the authorization server forwards a code or command to the smartphone that the smartphone uses when accessing a web-based or cloud-based content provider, which enables the user to receive premium content form the content provider.

主权项

1. A system for controlling access to content available wirelessly from a remote content source and obtained by a personal electronic device (PED) of a user, for subsequent use with a radio system of a vehicle associated with the user, the system comprising:
an identifier at least one of stored by, or available to, the radio system of the vehicle, and adapted to be communicated to the PED via a first communications link with the PED; a remote authorization subsystem, remote from the vehicle and the PED, which includes a database containing a plurality of authorization codes associated with a plurality of vehicles; the remote authorization subsystem configured to receive the identifier from the PED via a second communications link with the database to determine if authorization to use the content has been granted, and when authorization has been granted, to transmit an authorization code back to the PED via the second communications link; and wherein the PED includes an application for accessing the remote content source and supplying the authorization code back to the remote content source to enable access to, and use of, the content, while the PED is being used in the vehicle.