Rental/car-share vehicle access and management system and method

摘要

A rental/car-share (RCS) vehicle access and management system and method, in some embodiments, utilizes barcodes, QR codes (or NFC/RFID), GPS, and a mobile app coupled with a wireless network to enable customers to bypass the reservation desk and pickup and drop off reserved RCS vehicles using a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. The QR code, RFID, or NFC communication with the mobile application allows for identification of the vehicle by a mobile application, which, if authorized, can access the vehicle via a temporary access code issued by remote servers. The remote servers and/or mobile application communicates with a control module that plugs into the on-board diagnostics module of the rental/car-share (RCS) vehicle and includes a host processing unit with a processor, an accelerometer, data storage, a GPS with internal GPS antenna; a wireless modem with internal antenna, and CAN bus transceivers connected with the processor, and a USB programmable interface.

主权项

1. A method of installing a rental vehicle control module, the method comprising:
beginning installation, by positioning a control module within a vehicle, the control module having a unique identifier and configured to receive, through a wireless network, information configured to trigger the transmittal by the control module of a command over a controller area network (CAN) bus within the vehicle, the unique identifier having been associated in a remote computing system with the installer, the vehicle comprising at least one on-board diagnostics unit and a locking and unlocking device configured to be triggered by a lock command or an unlock command transmitted over the CAN bus; electronically connecting the control module to the on-board diagnostics unit; electronically connecting the control module to the CAN bus; prior to any user or installer sending remote instructions via cellular communications to the control module, receiving, from the control module, via direct wireless communication distinct from cellular communication, by a mobile computing device, a first identifier, the first identifier corresponding to the unique identifier of the control module; prior to any user or installer sending remote instructions via cellular communications to the control module, receiving, from the control module, via direct wireless communication distinct from cellular communication, by the mobile computing device, a second identifier, the second identifier uniquely identifying the vehicle; and finalizing installation, by sending, using the mobile computing device, association information to the remote computing system, the association information comprising at least the first identifier and the second identifier, the association information enabling the computer system to associate the control module with the vehicle, and, in response to sendin the association information to the remote computing system receiving on the mobile device, an indication that the computer system has successfully associated the control module with the vehicle; said method performed without directly connecting the control module to the locking mechanism of the vehicle.