Claims:We claim:

1. A method to prevent fraud in an odometer (105) of a vehicle (106), comprising:
determining, by a device (101), an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106) based on a signal received from an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) (103) of the vehicle (106);
receiving, by the device (101), an odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle (106), upon determining the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle (106); and
transmitting, by the device (101), the odometer reading to a cloud server (102), wherein the cloud server (102) stores the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger (107) to prevent the fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subsystem is an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system (104).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the odometer reading is received along with an information related to the vehicle (106) from the subsystem of the vehicle (106).

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the information related to the vehicle (106) comprises at least one of Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and a brand and model of the vehicle (106).

5. A device (101) to prevent fraud in an odometer (105) of a vehicle (106), comprising:
a processor (201);
an interface (202) for connecting to the vehicle (106);
a memory (203) storing processor-executable instructions, which, on execution, cause the processor (201) to:
determine an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106) based on a signal received from an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) (103) of the vehicle (106);
receive an odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle (106), upon determining the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle (106); and
transmit the odometer reading to a cloud server (102), wherein the cloud server (102) stores the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger (107) to prevent the fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106).

6. The device (101) as claimed in claim 5, wherein the device (101) comprises a communication module (204) to transmit the odometer reading wirelessly.

7. The device (101) as claimed in claim 5, wherein the interface (202) is at least one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, Bluetooth chipset and an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system port.

8. A method to prevent fraud in an odometer (105) of a vehicle (106), comprising:
receiving, by a cloud server (102), from a device (101) installed in the vehicle (106), an odometer reading, wherein the device (101) receives the odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle (106), upon determining an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106); and
storing, by the cloud server (102), the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger (107) to prevent the fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106).

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the odometer reading is received along with an information related to the vehicle (106).

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the odometer reading and the information related to the vehicle (106) is stored in the cloud server (102) as a plurality of blocks in the blockchain ledger (107), wherein the plurality of blocks is encrypted using a unique hash value.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein a hash pointer of a block among the plurality of blocks comprises an address of a previous block and a hash value of the previous block.

12. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the odometer reading and the information related to the vehicle (106) is stored along with a specific timestamp.

13. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the stored odometer reading and the information related to the vehicle (106) are accessed by plurality of entities using an application (501).

14. A cloud server (102) to prevent fraud in an odometer (105) of a vehicle (106), comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory wherein the memory stores processor-executable instructions, which, on execution, cause the one or more processors to:
receive from a device (101) installed in the vehicle (106), an odometer reading, wherein the device (101) receives the odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle (106), upon determining an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106); and
store the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger (107) to prevent the fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106).

15. The cloud server (102) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more processors receive the odometer reading along with an information related to the vehicle (106).

16. The cloud server (102) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more processors stores the odometer reading and the information related to the vehicle (106) as a plurality of blocks in the blockchain ledger (107), wherein the plurality of blocks are encrypted using a unique hash value.

17. The cloud server (102) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more processors stores the odometer reading and the information related to the vehicle (106) along with a specific timestamp.

Dated this on February 25th, 2020

R. RAMYA RAO
OF K&S PARTNERS
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT(S)
IN/PA- 1607

, Description:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
[39 OF 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10 and Rule 13]

TITLE: “A METHOD TO PREVENT FRAUD IN AN ODOMETER OF A VEHICLE, AND A SYSTEM THEREOF”

Name and Address of the Applicant: TATA MOTORS LIMITED, Bombay House, 24, Homi Modi Street, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai - 400 001.

Nationality: Indian

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] The present disclosure relates to automobile industry. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and a system for preventing fraud in an odometer of a vehicle.

BACKGROUND
[002] With an increase in demand of vehicles, production of automobiles has gone up considerably. Number of variants in vehicle and types of vehicles have increased as well. The increase in demand for vehicles has resulted in severe competition in the automobile market, thus making the vehicles more affordable to consumers. The re-sale of vehicles as well has risen substantially as new variants and types of vehicles are available each year. The used vehicles are generally sold to customers or re-sale vendors (e.g., second hand showrooms). Usually customers who wish to buy the used vehicles offer value to the vehicle based on the condition of the vehicle. A typical way to determine the condition of the vehicle is to determine the amount of distance travelled. Hence, re-sale vendors alter the odometer reading to receive better value from customers. Such alteration to the odometer reading is a fraud and is not easily recognized by customers. The fraud in odometer is generally performed by disconnecting the odometer from the vehicle, resetting or altering the reading of the odometer and connecting back the odometer to the vehicle. Hence, in the existing vehicles, there is a need to verify the odometer reading and prevent fraud in the odometer of the vehicles.

[003] The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY
[004] In an embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a method to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, where the method is performed by a device installed in the vehicle. The method comprises determining an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle based on a signal received from an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) of the vehicle. Further, the method comprises receiving an odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle, upon determining the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle. Furthermore, the method comprises transmitting the odometer reading to a cloud server to store the odometer reading of the vehicle in a blockchain ledger to prevent the fraud in the odometer of the vehicle.

[005] In an embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a device to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle. The device may be installed in the vehicle and the device comprises a processor, an interface for connecting to the vehicle and a memory. The processor is configured to determine an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle based on a signal received from an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) of the vehicle. Further, the processor is configured to receive an odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle, upon determining the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle. Furthermore, the processor is configured to transmit the odometer reading to a cloud server to store the odometer reading of the vehicle in a blockchain ledger to prevent the fraud in the odometer of the vehicle.

[006] In an embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a method to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, where the method is performed by a cloud server. The method comprises receiving an odometer reading from a device installed in the vehicle, when the device receives the odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle, upon determining an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle. Further, the method comprises storing the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger to prevent the fraud in the odometer of the vehicle.

[007] In an embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a cloud server to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle. The cloud server comprises one or more processors and a memory. The one or more processors are configured to receive an odometer reading from a device installed in the vehicle when the device receives the odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle, upon determining an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle. Further, the one or more processors are configured to store the odometer reading in a blockchain ledger to prevent the fraud in the odometer of the vehicle.

[008] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
[009] The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The disclosure itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:

[0010] Figure 1 shows an exemplary environment for storing odometer readings in a cloud server to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 2 shows an internal architecture of a device to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0012] Figure 3 shows block diagram of a blockchain ledger in a cloud server, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0013] Figure 4A and 4B show exemplary flow charts illustrating method steps to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle by a device and a cloud server respectively, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0014] Figure 5 is an exemplary illustration to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] Figure 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D shows exemplary illustrations of an application provided to retrieve odometer readings from cloud to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0018] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[0019] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus.

[0020] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, a device and a cloud server to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle. The device is installed in the vehicle and is configured to determine the ON or OFF condition of the vehicle based on the signals from an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) of the vehicle and receive odometer readings. Once the device determines the ON or OFF condition of the vehicle based on the signal from the ECU, the device receives the odometer reading at that instant. The device further transmits the odometer reading to the cloud server for storing the odometer reading as a blockchain data. An application may be used to retrieve the odometer reading from the cloud server. A comparison between the retrieved data and odometer reading in the vehicle may be used to detect fraud. Therefore, storing the odometer data in the cloud storage as blockchain data helps to prevent fraud in odometer.

[0021] Figure 1 shows an environment (100) for preventing fraud in an odometer of a vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The environment (100) comprises a vehicle (106), a cloud server (102) and a mobile device (108). The vehicle (106) may be a car, a truck, a motorcycle, and the like. The vehicle (106) comprises a device (101) that is configured to transmit odometer readings to the cloud server (102), thereby prevent fraud in the odometer of the vehicle (106). In an embodiment, the device (101) may be an adapter that can be plugged into a specific slot in the vehicle (106). In an embodiment, the device (101) may be connected to the vehicle (106) via wireless means. The vehicle (106) may comprise an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) (103), an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system (104) and an odometer (105). A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the vehicle (106) comprises several other components. However, the other components are not named as they do not fall under the scope of the present disclosure. The ECU (103) controls a plurality of sensors and actuators of the vehicle (106). The OBD system (104) may comprise one or more processors and may be connected to the ECU (103) and the plurality of sensors to continuously monitor various parameters of the vehicle (106). For example, the OBD system (104) may monitor fuel system status, odometer reading, engine coolant temperature, smog check and the like. In the present disclosure, the OBD system (104) is described in relation with the odometer (105) alone and this should not be considered as a limitation of the present disclosure. The OBD system (104) may calculate the distance travelled by the vehicle (106) and may display the calculated distance on the odometer (105). The odometer (105) may be an electronic odometer or a mechanical odometer.

[0022] The device (101) may receive a status of an engine of the vehicle (106) from the ECU (103). The status of the engine may be an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106). The status may be an electrical signal from the ECU (103) of the vehicle (106). The device (101) may further receive the odometer reading from the OBD system (104). The odometer reading may indicate the distance travelled in metres, kilometres or miles. The device (101) may receive an information related to the vehicle (106) along with the odometer reading. The information related to the vehicle (106) may be at least one of a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and a brand and model of the vehicle (106). The device (101) may transmit the odometer (105) reading to the cloud server (102). The cloud server (102) may store the odometer reading of the vehicle (106) in a blockchain ledger (107). The blockchain ledger (107) is used to record data transactions across many nodes securely. Each node may be a computing entity such as a computer or a server. Each node may have to accept for each entry or deletion of data from the ledger. The odometer reading may be accessed from the cloud server (102) through an application in a mobile device (108). The odometer (105) reading may be accessed by a user at any time from the cloud server (102) through the application. The user may compare the odometer reading stored in the blockchain ledger (107) with the odometer reading in the vehicle (106) to prevent fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106).

Figure 2 shows an internal architecture of the device (101) to prevent fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106), in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The device (101) may include at least one Central Processing Unit (“CPU” or “processor”) (201), an interface (202) for connecting to the vehicle (106), a memory (203) storing instructions executable by the at least one processor (201) and a communication module (204). The processor (201) may comprise at least one data processor for executing program components for executing user or system-generated requests. The memory (203) is communicatively coupled to the processor (201). The interface (202) may be used to connect the device (101) to the vehicle (106). The interface (202) may be at least one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, Bluetooth and the OBD system (104) port. A person of ordinary skill should appreciate that other types of interfaces also come under the scope of the present disclosure and are not limited to aforementioned types of interfaces. In an embodiment, the interface (202) used in the vehicle (106) may be a 16-pin port, although other pin configurations may be provided. The interface (202) may be provided under the dashboard, for example, beneath the steering wheel column of the vehicle (106). A person of ordinary skill should appreciate that interface may be provided on any suitable part of the vehicle (106) to plug the device (101). In an embodiment, the device (101) may be an adapter which can be plugged to the vehicle (106) using the interface (202). For example, the adapter may have a USB male port and the vehicle (106) may comprise a USB female port. The male port of the adapter is plugged to the female port of the vehicle (106). The male port and female port may enable data communication and power transfer. In an embodiment, the adapter may comprise a Bluetooth chipset and may connect to the vehicle (106) via the Bluetooth chipset to access the odometer reading signals from the ECU (103) and the information related to the vehicle (106). The communication module (204) may be used to transmit the odometer reading to the cloud server (102) wirelessly. The communication module (204) may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) module, Bluetooth, Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Zigbee and the like. In an example, the device (101) may not be connected to the cloud server (203) for a certain time period. The device may receive multiple odometer readings in a day and store the odometer readings in the memory (203) temporarily. The device (101) may transmit the odometer reading, at end of the day. In another example, the device (101) may be always connected to the cloud server (102). The device may transmit the odometer reading to the cloud server (102) immediately.

[0023] Figure 3 shows an architecture of the blockchain ledger (107) in the cloud server (102), in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The cloud server (102) may store the odometer reading of the vehicle (106) in the blockchain ledger (107). The blockchain ledger (107) is used to record data transactions across many nodes securely. In an embodiment, the blockchain ledger (107) comprises a plurality of blocks comprising the data transactions associated with a vehicle. In an embodiment, each vehicle may be associated with a corresponding blockchain ledger (107). Each of the plurality of blocks comprises a transaction, a timestamp, and a unique hash value. The transaction may refer to the odometer reading. For example, a first block may correspond to a first odometer reading of a vehicle, a specific timestamp and a hash value generated for the first odometer reading. In the present disclosure, the words transaction and data transaction are used interchangeably. The unique hash value may be generated using existing hashing techniques. The hashing techniques may be a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)-1, SHA-256, and a MD5 algorithm. A person of ordinary skill should appreciate that other types of hashing techniques also come under the scope of the present disclosure and are not limited to aforementioned types of hashing techniques. Further, a hash pointer of the block among the plurality of blocks comprises an address of a previous block and a hash value of the previous block making it secure. The timestamp indicates a date and time of a transaction stored in a block. In the present embodiment, the transaction may refer to the odometer reading. The timestamp may refer to a specific time at which the odometer reading is stored in the plurality of blocks. As known in the art, a hash value may not be decoded. The odometer value is hence stored as a hash value and is used to compare with odometer reading in the vehicle. For example, consider that a current odometer reading of “10500” of a car is stored in the blockchain ledger (107) as a hash value “b4e62d5681b956d7cf98e467f6427ae4”. Further, consider that the odometer reading is tampered and changed to “9000”. The application (108) may be used to compare the vehicle odometer reading with the stored odometer reading. The application (108) may provision to enter the current vehicle odometer reading of “9000”. The application may further determine the hash value of “9000” which is “d5ab8dc7ef67ca92e41d730982c5c602”. The application may further retrieve the stored hash value of “b4e62d5681b956d7cf98e467f6427ae4” and compare with “5ab8dc7ef67ca92e41d730982c5c602”. The application (108) may determine a difference in the comparison and may alert as a fraud.
[0024] The device (101) may transmit the odometer reading to the cloud server (102) via the communication module (204). The odometer reading may be stored in a block among the plurality of blocks of the blockchain ledger (105). The odometer reading stored in the block may be accessed by a plurality of entities.The plurality of entities may refer to a user of the vehicle (106), a buyer of the vehicle (106), a dealer, a service center, an insurance company and the like.

[0025] Figure 4A shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating method steps to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle by a device, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Figure 4A, the method (400) may comprise one or more steps. The method (400) may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

[0026] The order in which the method (400) is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

[0027] At step (401), determining, by the device (101), an ON condition or an OFF condition of the vehicle (106) based on a signal received from the ECU (103) of the vehicle (106). The device (101) may determine the ON condition or the OFF condition of the engine of the vehicle (106) based on the signal from the ECU (103). Upon receiving the ON or OFF condition, the device (101) receives the odometer reading from the OBD system (104). Thus, the odometer reading is received at regular intervals. For example, the total distance covered by a vehicle in a month may be required for servicing of the vehicle. On a first day of the month, the vehicle may start at 10:00 AM and stop at 12:00 PM. An odometer reading of the vehicle at 10:00 AM may be received. The odometer reading may be again received when the vehicle is stopped at 12 PM. The received odometer readings are stored in the cloud server (102) along with the time stamp. The same steps may be repeated for a month. The odometer reading at the end of the month may be used for servicing of the vehicle. Referring to example in Figure 5A, the device (101) may determine the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle (106) based on the signal received from the ECU (103) (not shown in the Figure). The device (101) is plugged to the interface (202) provided beneath the steering wheel column.

[0028] Referring back to Figure 4A, at step (402), receiving, by the device (101), the odometer reading from a subsystem of the vehicle (106), upon determining the ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle (106). In an embodiment, the subsystem is the OBD system (104). The device (101) receives the odometer reading from the OBD system (104) of the vehicle (106) for every ON condition or the OFF condition of the vehicle (106). Also, the device (101) receives the information related to the vehicle (106). The information related to the vehicle (106) may be at least one of the VIN, and a brand and model of the vehicle (106). The VIN may comprise 17 characters (digits and letters) that act as a unique identifier for the vehicle (106). The brand may be for example, Maruti Suzuki™ and the model may be Ciaz™. Referring again to the example in Figure 5A, the odometer reading may be received at an ON condition of the vehicle (106) on 01/12/2019. The odometer reading may be 112653 km (70000 miles). The device (101) receives the odometer reading of 112653 km from the OBD system (104). The device (101) may receive the information related to the vehicle (106) from the OBD system (104) of the vehicle (106). The VIN may be XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and the vehicle (106) brand may be B and model may be M (not shown in Figure).

[0029] Referring back to Figure 4A, at step (403), transmitting, by the device (101), the odometer reading to the cloud server (102). The device (101) may transmit the odometer (105) reading to the cloud server (102) via the communication module (204). The device (101) may also transmit the information related to the vehicle (106) along with the odometer reading of the vehicle. The odometer reading 112653 km along with the VIN may be XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and the vehicle (106) model M is transmitted to the cloud server (102).

[0030] Figure 4B shows an exemplary flowchart illustrating method steps to prevent fraud in an odometer of a vehicle by the cloud server (102), in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Figure 4B, the method (404) may comprise one or more steps. The method (404) may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

[0031] The order in which the method (404) is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

[0032] At step (405), receiving from the device (101) installed in the vehicle (106), the odometer reading. The cloud server (102) receives the odometer reading along with the information related to the vehicle (106) from the device (101). The cloud server (102) may create a block in the blockchain ledger (107) to store the odometer reading along with the information related to the vehicle (106). A unique hash value may be generated for the block using the hashing algorithm. A hash value of the previous block may also be stored in the block.

[0033] At step (406), storing, by the cloud server (102), the odometer reading in the blockchain ledger (107) to prevent the fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106). The odometer reading is stored as new transaction in the blockchain ledger (107). The odometer reading along with the information related to the vehicle (106) is stored along with a specific timestamp. Referring again to the example in Figure 5A, the odometer reading of 112653 km, the VIN XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and the vehicle (106) brand and model are stored in the cloud server (102) as blockchain data. The timestamp is stored as 01/12/2019, 12:00 PM.

[0034] The complete working of the present disclosure is described with the following scenario. Consider the odometer reading of the vehicle (106) on 01/12/2019 is 112653 km (12000 miles). The vehicle (106) may have last moved on 01/12/2019. A buyer (503) may have approached a dealer on 01/01/2020 at 12:00 PM. Since the vehicle was not moved after 01/12/2019, the odometer reading of 112653 km may be the latest odometer reading stored in the cloud server (102). The dealer may have tampered the odometer (105) to read the odometer reading as 48280 km (30000 miles) which is very much less than the actual odometer reading of 112653 km (70000 miles). The dealer may tamper the odometer (105) to read a lower odometer reading to show that the vehicle (106) is new or has been used less. Conventionally, the buyer (503) could not verify the odometer reading. However, the present disclosure enables buyers to verify the odometer reading. The buyer (503) may request for the stored copy of the odometer reading for a particular date. The dealer may use the application (501) to retrieve the odometer reading for the particular date and provide the reading to the buyer (503). In an embodiment, if the cloud server (102) does not have the odometer reading for a particular time, the odometer reading for a timestamp closest to the input time may be provided. In an instance, the buyer (503) may receive the actual odometer (105) reading as on 01/01/2020 as 112653 km (70000 miles). The application (501) may provide the odometer reading of 01/12/2019 as the vehicle was not moved after 01/01/2019. The buyer (503) can verify the odometer reading and the odometer (105) fraud may be prevented by comparing the odometer (105) reading of the vehicle (106) with the odometer (105) reading in the cloud server (102).

[0035] Reference is now made to Figures 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D showing exemplary illustrations of the application (501) provided to prevent fraud in the odometer (105) of the vehicle (106). As shown in Figure 6A, the application (501) may be installed in the mobile device (108). The application (501) may comprise options such as “status” and “more”. The buyer (503) may choose the “status” option. The application (501) may indicate the buyer (503) to enter VIN of the vehicle (106). The buyer (503) may enter the VIN using a keypad provided on the application (501). As shown in Figure 6B, the application (501) may further provide options such as “vehicle information”, “repair reports” and “odometer reading”. The buyer (503) may select the “odometer reading” option to retrieve the odometer (105) reading. The application (501) may implement various security techniques for authentication when providing the odometer reading. As shown in the Figure 6C, the application (501) may further provide fields to add date and time for retrieving the odometer (105) reading. The buyer (503) may add date as 01/01/2020 and time as 12:00 PM. In an embodiment, the application (501) may provide the latest odometer reading, when the buyer (503) selects the “odometer reading” option. The date and time fields may not be provided for retrieving the latest odometer reading. As shown in the Figure 6D, the application (501) may provide the odometer reading for the selected date and time. In an embodiment, if the cloud server (102) does not have the odometer reading for a particular time, the odometer reading for a timestamp closest to the input time may be provided. If hash technique is used as the security technique (not shown in Figure), the hash value may not be decoded. The odometer reading is hence stored as a hash value and is used to compare with odometer reading in the vehicle (106). The application (501) may further determine a current hash value and a stored hash value. The application (501) may determine a difference in the comparison and may alert as a fraud based on the difference.
[0036] The present disclosure provides methods, device and a cloud server to compare the odometer reading of the vehicle with the odometer reading in the cloud server to prevent fraud in the odometer.

[0037] The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", and "one embodiment" mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)" unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0038] The terms "including", "comprising", “having” and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0039] The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0040] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

[0041] When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

[0042] The illustrated operations of Figure 4A and Figure 4B shows certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

[0043] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

[0044] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.