Description:RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to intellectual property rights such as, but are not limited to, copyright, design, trademark, Integrated Circuit (IC) layout design, and/or trade dress protection, belonging to Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) or its affiliates (hereinafter referred as owner). The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever. All rights to such intellectual property are fully reserved by the owner.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE
[0001] The embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a vehicle immobilizer system. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a contextual engagement of immobilizer for vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE
[0002] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art.
[0003] Vehicle thefts are quite common, and it is very difficult to track lost vehicles. An anti-theft system may be engaged to pro-actively alert the theft. The anti-theft system may also include a vehicle immobilizer such as automated gear lock system, steering lock system, ignition lock system, hand brake locking system etc. Most immobilizers work better on four-wheelers as compared to engaging them for two-wheelers. Also, deploying immobilizers while the vehicle is in motion creates a sudden change in the motion leading to loss of control by the driver and thereby resulting in fatal accidents.
[0004] There is, therefore, a need in the art to provide a method and a system that can overcome the shortcomings of the existing prior arts.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0005] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as listed herein below.
[0006] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a vehicle immobilizer system based on contextual awareness of vehicle environment.
[0007] It is an object of the present disclosure to activate the vehicle immobilizer system based on a state of the vehicle.
[0008] It is an object of the present disclosure to activate the vehicle immobilizer system by restricting a speed of the vehicle.
[0009] It is an object of the present disclosure to manually immobilize the vehicle with a remote control.
[0010] It is an object of the present disclosure to automatically engage the immobilizer when there is a breach of geo-fence or time fence.

SUMMARY
[0011] This section is provided to introduce certain objects and aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0012] In an aspect, the present disclosure relates to a system for preventing a vehicle theft in a network. The system includes one or more processors and a memory operatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the memory includes processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the one or more processors to detect a theft in a vehicle based on an attempt by a person to drive the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is stationary with ignition off, determine an authenticity of one or more parameters associated with the person driving the vehicle, a validity of documents associated with the vehicle such as, a driving license of the person authorized to drive the vehicle, a registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle, and an insurance certificate of the vehicle, and one or more health statistics associated with the vehicle, determine a critical value associated with the one or more health statistics of the vehicle, such as, without limitations, diagnostic trouble code (DTC), fuel level, and tyre pressure, and engage an immobilizer based on a failed authentication, or failed validation, or the critical value being below a pre-determined threshold i.e., when the critical DTC is present and the tyre pressure is below the pre-determined threshold. On the other hand, the system is configured to turn on the ignition when the authenticity is successful and critical value is above the pre-determined threshold.
[0013] Further, the system is configured to trigger a camera to capture an image of the person driving the vehicle and determine if the person driving the vehicle is an authorized person and has a legal age for driving.
[0014] In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for detecting a vehicle theft. The method includes receiving, by one or more processors, a command to immobilize a moving vehicle, enabling a “RESTRICTED” mode, activating, by the one or more processors, a set of alerts, to warn the immobilization of the moving vehicle to one or more vehicles around the moving vehicle, wherein the set of alerts include activating parking/hazard lights and honking in specific pattern and indicating, by the one or more processors, to a driver of the vehicle, a countdown timer associated with an engagement of the immobilizer, and engaging, by the one or more processors, the immobilizer upon expiry of the countdown timer. The method further includes, indicating the countdown timer by at least one of displaying the countdown timer on a vehicle infotainment system or a vehicle instrument cluster or as an audio countdown timer through vehicle speaker system. The method further includes determining, by the one or more processors, a set of features associated with a driveway to check a safety of the driveway, determining whether a speed of the vehicle is less than a minimum speed threshold for a safe driveway, and locking a maximum speed of the vehicle to the minimum speed threshold, wherein the set of features associated with the driveway includes a road with zero or few vehicles, wherein the few vehicles are at a pre-defined distance from the moving vehicle, the road is free of sharp turns, crossroads, signals, flyovers, underpass, and railway-crossing, a time of the day associated with minimum traffic conditions on the driveway, and a weather condition enabling smooth drive through the drive way.
[0015] The method further includes, the one or more processors, activating the set of alerts based on determining the driveways is unsafe, determining if a current speed of the vehicle is less than an initial speed of the vehicle and setting a maximum speed limit of the vehicle to the current speed of the vehicle.
[0016] In some aspect, the method includes, the one or more processors activating the set of alerts based on determining that the current speed of the moving vehicle is more than a minimum speed threshold for a safe driveway, indicating an engagement of the immobilizer to the driver of the moving vehicle based at least on a timer and the current speed of the vehicle, and engaging by the one or more processors the immobilizer upon an expiry of the timer and based on the current speed of the vehicle.
[0017] In one another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE) for preventing a vehicle theft. The UE includes one or more processors communicatively coupled to a system, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a command from a cloud computer and enable the system in the vehicle to enter a “RESTRICTED” mode, wherein in the restricted mode, alerts are enabled and access restriction is applied on one or more features of the vehicle. The alerts include activating parking/hazard lights and honking, and the access restriction is applied to one or more features include air conditioning system, an infotainment system, sunroof control, power windows control, lock/unlock of glove compartment, door lock system, cruise control, and disable automatic toll payment system.
[0018] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer readable medium including a processor with executable instructions, causes the processor to receive a command to immobilize a moving vehicle, activate, a set of alerts, to warn the immobilization of the moving vehicle to one or more vehicles around the moving vehicle, wherein the set of alerts include activating parking/hazard lights and honking in specific pattern and indicate, to a driver of the vehicle, a countdown timer associated with an engagement of an immobilizer, and engage the immobilizer upon expiry of the countdown timer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0019] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Some drawings may indicate the components using block diagrams and may not represent the internal circuitry of each component. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes the disclosure of electrical components, electronic components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.
[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture (100) in which or with which a proposed system may be implemented, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary representation (200) of the proposed system for preventing a vehicle theft by contextual engagement of vehicle immobilizer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method (300) for preventing a vehicle theft by engaging an immobilizer when an attempt for theft is detected on a stationary vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0023] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method (400) for preventing a vehicle theft by engaging an immobilizer when an attempt for theft of vehicle is detected and the vehicle is moving, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0024] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary computer system (500) in which or with which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.
[0025] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address all of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein.
[0027] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.
[0028] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.
[0029] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed but could have additional steps not included in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.
[0030] The word “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive—in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word—without precluding any additional or other elements.
[0031] Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “an instance” or “one instance” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
[0032] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
[0033] The present disclosure provides a robust and effective solution for contextual engaging of immobilizer for vehicles when theft of vehicles is detected. In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, the immobilizer may be activated by different methods under different condition. For example, the following are different methods of engaging immobilizer under various conditions:
[0034] 1. Manual engagement of immobilizer remotely.
2. Automatic engagement of immobilizer due to geo-fence or time-fence breach.
3. Upon detecting intrusion/forced entry.
4. Detecting an identity of the person driving the vehicle to check if the driver/rider is either the owner or a related person. A built-in camera may be used to detect the identity.
5. Detecting whether the person driving has a legal age for driving by using an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) algorithm. The AI/ML algorithm uses the image of the person to detect age.
6. Upon checking if the driver’s license or vehicle documents including insurance, emission test, and etc. documents are expired.
7. Critical diag nostic trouble codes (DTC) alerts generated by the vehicle.
[0035] In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, various environmental context associated with the vehicle are considered before engaging the immobilizer. For example, contextual engagement of immobilizers occurs based on the following conditions:
[0036] 1. Vehicle is stationary
2. Vehicle in movement
3. Speed of the vehicle while in movement
4. Drive terrain of the road on which the vehicle is travelling
5. Time of the day and a traffic condition on the road
6. Health statistics of the vehicle, such as, without limitations, fuel level, tyre pressure, etc.
7. Number of events/issues related to driver pattern or driver behaviour. For example, without limitations, harsh acceleration, harsh breaking, sharp turns, signal jumps, lane change, over-speeding, etc.
8. Weather condition for an area under a driver circumference, wherein the drive circumference is determined based on the fuel level, speed of the vehicle, average fuel consumption, etc.
9. Data from advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
[0037] In accordance with some embodiments, when a theft is detected and a command to immobilize is sent to the vehicle, the vehicle enters a “RESTRICTED” mode. In the “RESTRICTED” mode, the vehicle control system may activate the parking/hazard lights to indicate theft to the surrounding regions, auto-start honking in a specific pattern to alert nearby vehicles, disable control of certain features such as, but not limited to, air conditioning (AC) system, an infotainment system, sunroof, power windows control, etc. The vehicle control system may further restrict access to glove compartment by locking it, restrict speed limit to certain pre-configured threshold, disable door lock system and unlock all the doors, disable cruise control, disable automatic toll payment system, for example, without limitations, FASTag, Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) system, global positioning system (GPS) based toll collection system or any electronic toll payment systems, restrict fuel by changing the fuel level to reserve level irrespective of the amount of fuel present in the vehicle. For example, in the case of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the vehicle control system may stop the fuel injection system to supply fuel to engine, and for electric vehicles (EV), the vehicle control system may programmatically bring the battery charge level to below low battery threshold.
[0038] In general, immobilizers may be engaged when a vehicle theft is detected. The vehicle may be in a stationary state or a moving state and the engagement of immobilizer depends on the state of the vehicle.
[0039] In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a vehicle may include a theft detection system or the theft detection may be performed by the vehicle’s control system. For example, when a vehicle is stationary i.e., when the vehicle is halted (not moving) and the ignition is off the vehicle control system detects for any theft attempt. The theft attempt may include detecting a forced entry or keyless entry. If the vehicle control system detects the forced entry or keyless entry, the control system proceeds with checking whether the person is the owner of the vehicle or is a related person by capturing an image of the person with a camera internal to the vehicle and using an AI/ML model to perform face recognition on the captured image. The AL/ML model may also detect an age of the person to check whether the person has a legal age to drive. If the vehicle control system detects the person is not the owner of the vehicle or any related person, then the vehicle control system engages the immobilizer. Further, the vehicle control system checks the age of the driver and if the person driving does not have a legal age, then the immobilizer is turned on. On the other hand, if the person is the owner and has the legal age to drive then the vehicle control system proceeds to check the validity of document i.e., whether the dates in the document have not expired, related to the driver and the vehicle, wherein the documents may include, for example, without limitations, a driving license, a registration certificate (RC), or insurance documents. If the documents are not valid the vehicle control system engages the immobilizer. If the documents are valid then the vehicle control system checks whether any critical diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) are present and checks vehicle health data, such as, tyre pressure. If there are no critical DTC and the tyre pressure is above critical limit or a threshold value, then the ignition is turned on. On the other hand, if the critical DTC are present and the tyre pressure is less than critical limit then the immobilizer is engaged.
[0040] In accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle may include a theft detection system, or the theft detection may be performed by the vehicle’s control system. For example, when a vehicle is moving and a theft is detected, an immobilization command will be sent to the vehicle. The vehicle upon receiving the command enters a “RESTRICTED” mode. In the “RESTRCITED” mode the vehicle control system may communicate data related to a driveway, road or drive terrain, and speed to a remote cloud computer through a telecommunication unit. The remote computer checks for a safe driveway or road, or the path taken by the vehicle based on the data received from the vehicle. The driveway is considered safe when there are no or limited vehicles on the road and the other vehicles that are present are at a safe distance for example, at a distance corresponding to at least 2 mins of time, from the vehicle for which immobilizer is engaged. The road or drive terrain of the road is considered safe if for example, without limitations, there are no sharp turns, crossroads, signals, flyovers, underpass, railway-crossing, etc. and also a time of the day and weather condition in a surrounding area are favourable. Further, the speed limit associated with the vehicle is also sent to the remote server, wherein the remote server controls the speed of the vehicle. For example, speed of the vehicle is constantly lowered and then the vehicle is brought to a halt. The remote server may send commands to the vehicle control system to turn on parking or hazard lights and initiate honking in a specific manner to provide a warning to other vehicles that are nearer to the vehicle for which immobilizer needs to be engaged. Upon initiating the lights and sound an immobilizer engagement indication is displayed followed by a timer. Once the timer expires the vehicle is brought to a halt.
[0041] Other like benefits and advantages are provided by the disclosed solution, which will be discussed in detail throughout the disclosure.
[0042] Certain terms and phrases have been used throughout the disclosure and will have the following meanings in the context of the ongoing disclosure.
[0043] The term “Internet of Things” may refer to a computing environment in which physical objects are embedded with devices which enable the physical objects to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with other systems and/or other connected devices. Each physical object is uniquely identifiable through its embedded device(s) and is able to interoperate within an Internet infrastructure. The acronym “IoT,” as used herein, means “Internet of Things.”
[0044] The term “driver pattern” may refer to data representing traits, acts, tendencies, and/or observable characteristics related to the driving style of the driver.
[0045] The term “automatically” may refer to without user intervention.
[0046] The term “situation” may refer to a set of environmental condition present in an area surrounding the vehicle.
[0047] The various embodiments throughout the disclosure will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGs. 1-5.
[0048] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture (100) in which or with which a proposed system may be implemented, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0049] Referring to FIG. 1, the network architecture (100) may include a vehicle (102) deployed in an environment and is under the threat of theft. A person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that there may be one or more vehicles under the threat of theft. The vehicle (102) may include a control system (110) for controlling the operations of the vehicle (102) such as theft detection and engaging immobilizer. The vehicle (102) may be a two wheeler, such as bike, scooter, electric scooter, etc,, a four wheeler, such as, a car, a sedan, a sports utility vehicle (SUV), a heavy motor vehicle, such as truck, lorry, pickup truck, etc. A person of ordinary skill in the art might understand that the present disclosure is not limited to the above categories of vehicle (102) and may be applied to any device requiring anti-theft protection.
[0050] Referring to FIG. 1, the control system (110) includes an imaging device, such as, without limitations, a camera (104), an AI engine (106), and a micro controller unit (MCU) (108). In an embodiment, when the vehicle (102) is stationary and a keyless entry or forced entry is detected in the vehicle (102), the control system (110) determines whether to engage the immobilizer or not. The control system (110) activates the camera (104) to capture an image of a person or driver. The image captured by the camera (104) is fed to the AI engine (106) to check whether the person is authorized to drive the vehicle (102) and has a legal age to drive the vehicle (102). If the person is an authorized person with legal age, then the system (110) signals the MCU (108) to allow the ignition to be on. Otherwise, the system (110) signals the MCU (108) to engage the immobilizer. In an embodiment, upon checking whether the person is authorized and having the legal age, the system (110) also determines whether the vehicle documents, such as, without limitations, driving license, vehicle registration certificate (RC), insurance, etc. are valid i.e., not expired. If the documents are valid, the system (110) directs the ignition to be turned on. Otherwise, the system (110) engages immobilizer.
[0051] In an embodiment, the control system (110) may automatically engage the immobilizer when the vehicle (102) breaches a geo-fence or a time fence.
[0052] In an embodiment, when the vehicle (102) is in motion and there is a need to engage immobilizer, the MCU (108) may connect with a telecommunication unit (TCU) (112) and share fuel level, tyre pressure, other vehicle health statistics information. The TCU (112) may send such information to a cloud computer (114) for performing required computation. The cloud computer (114) obtains the health statistics of the vehicle (102) and further considers the safety aspects of the road on which the vehicle (102) is travelling to perform the required computations to determine whether to engage the immobilizer or not, wherein the safety data includes a drive terrain of the road, time of the day, and a traffic condition on the road and the weather conditions in a drive circumference of the road, etc.
[0053] On the other hand, the TCU (112) may also perform edge analytics, during no network condition. Further, Internet of Things (IoT) communication might be used between the vehicle (102), TCU (112), and the cloud computer (114).
[0054] In an embodiment, the vehicle (102) may include a user equipment (UE) or a computing device (not shown) to communicate with the TCU (112) which further communicates with the cloud computer (114). The UE may receive a command from the cloud computer (114) through the TCU (112) and enable the control system (110) in the vehicle (102) to execute the one or more commands from the cloud computer (114). A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the terms “computing device(s)” and “UE” may be used interchangeably throughout the disclosure and that the computing device may be within the vehicle (102) or may be placed anywhere else and in communication with the vehicle (102).
[0055] In an embodiment, the computing device or the UE may include, but are not limited to, a handheld wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a smart phone, a phablet device, and so on), a wearable computer device (e.g., a head-mounted display computer device, a head-mounted camera device, a wristwatch computer device, and so on), a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or another type of portable computer, a media playing device, a portable gaming system, and/or any other type of computer device with wireless communication capabilities, and the like. In an embodiment, the computing devices may include, but are not limited to, any electrical, electronic, electro-mechanical, or an equipment, or a combination of one or more of the above devices such as virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, laptop, a general-purpose computer, desktop, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, mainframe computer, or any other computing device, wherein the computing device may include one or more in-built or externally coupled accessories including, but not limited to, a visual aid device such as camera, audio aid, a microphone, a keyboard, and input devices for receiving input from a user or a driver such as touch pad, touch enabled screen, electronic pen, and the like.
[0056] In an embodiment, the computing devices may include smart devices operating in a smart environment, for example, the IoT system. In such an embodiment, the computing devices may include, but are not limited to, smart phones, smart watches, smart sensors (e.g., mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, etc.), networked appliances, networked peripheral devices, networked lighting system, communication devices, networked vehicle accessories, smart accessories, tablets, smart television (TV), computers, smart security system, smart home system, other devices for monitoring or interacting with or for users or drivers and/or places, or any combination thereof. In an embodiment, the computing devices may include one or more of the following components: sensor, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, GPS technology, mechanisms for real-time acquisition of data, passive or interactive interface, mechanisms of outputting and/or inputting sound, light, heat, electricity, mechanical force, chemical presence, biological presence, location, time, identity, other information, or any combination thereof.
[0057] A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the computing device in the vehicle (102) may include, but not be limited by, intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected devices, that can integrate seamlessly with each other and/or with a central server or a cloud-computing system or any other device that is network-connected.
[0058] A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the computing devices or UEs may not be restricted to the mentioned devices and various other devices may be used.
[0059] Referring to FIG. 1, the TCU (112) may communicate with the cloud computer (114), for example, a contextual immobilizer engaging system, through a network (116). In an embodiment, the network (116) may include at least one of a Fourth Generation (4G) network, a Fifth Generation (5G) network, or the like. The network (116) may enable the TCU (112) to communicate with the cloud computer system (114). As such, the network (116) may enable the vehicle (102) to communicate to the cloud computing device (114) to through the TCU (112) via a wired or wireless network. The network (116) may include a wireless card or some other transceiver connection to facilitate this communication. In an exemplary embodiment, the network (116) may incorporate one or more of a plurality of standard or proprietary protocols including, but not limited to, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or the like. In another embodiment, the network (116) may be implemented as, or include, any of a variety of different communication technologies such as a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network, a mobile network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the Internet, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or the like.
[0060] Referring to FIG. 1, the AI engine (106) facilitates image detection and validating the authenticity of the person in the image and based on the image captured by the camera (104) and thereby enables in the decision making of the system (110) whether to engage the immobilizer or not. As will be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, the imaging device (104) is not limited to camera, but may include any such device capable of capturing an image of a person.
[0061] Therefore, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure provides better decision making in engaging the immobilizer so that fatal accidents due to sudden halt of vehicle (102) created by unexpected ignition lock/steering lock/gear lock may be avoided.
[0062] Although FIG. 1 shows exemplary components of the network architecture (100), in other embodiments, the network architecture (100) may include fewer components, different components, differently arranged components, or additional functional components than depicted in FIG. 1. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of the network architecture (100) may perform functions described as being performed by one or more other components of the network architecture (100).
[0063] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary representation (200) of the system (110) for preventing vehicle theft, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0064] For example, the system (110) may include one or more processor(s) (202). The one or more processor(s) (202) may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, edge or fog microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that process data based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the one or more processor(s) (202) may be configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (204) of the system (110). The memory (204) may be configured to store one or more computer-readable instructions or routines in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which may be fetched and executed to determine theft and activate alerts by sending data packets over a network service. The memory (204) may comprise any non-transitory storage device including, for example, volatile memory such as Random-Access Memory (RAM), or non-volatile memory such as Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, and the like.
[0065] In an embodiment, the system (110) may include an interface(s) (206). The interface(s) (206) may comprise a variety of interfaces, for example, interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as input/output (I/O) devices, storage devices, and the like. The interface(s) (206) may facilitate communication for the system (110). The interface(s) (206) may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the system (110). Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, processing unit/engine(s) (208) and a database (210).
[0066] The processing unit/engine(s) (208) may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processing engine(s) (208). In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing engine(s) (208) may be processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the processing engine(s) (208) may comprise a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing engine(s) (208). In such examples, the system (110) may include the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine-readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to the system (110) and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing engine(s) (208) may be implemented by electronic circuitry. In an aspect, the database (210) may comprise data that may be either stored or generated as a result of functionalities implemented by any of the components of the processor (202) or the processing engines (208).
[0067] In an embodiment, the processing engine (208) may include engines that receive data from one or more computing devices via a network such as the cloud computer (114) via the network (116) (e.g., via the Internet) of FIG. 1, to index the data, to analyze the data, and/or to generate statistics based on the analysis or as part of the analysis. In an embodiment, the analyzed data may be stored at the database (210). In an embodiment, the processing engine (208) may include one or more modules/engines such as, but not limited to, an acquisition engine (212), an AI engine (214), and other engine(s) (216). A person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the AI engine (214) may be similar in its functionality with the AI engine (106) of FIG. 1, and hence, may not be described in detail again for the sake of brevity.
[0068] Referring to FIG. 2, the database (210) may store the data, i.e., a set of data parameters corresponding to image of people authorized to drive the vehicle (102), data set for enabling the AI engine (214) to determine whether the person driving the vehicle has a legal age and details related to expiry/validity of the vehicle documents. In an embodiment, the database (210) may or may not reside in the system (110). In an embodiment, the system (110) may be operatively coupled with the database (210).
[0069] By way of example but not limitation, the one or more processor(s) (202) may detect an attempt of theft in the vehicle (102) and determine whether the vehicle (102) is stationary or moving and accordingly engage immobilizer.
[0070] In an embodiment, the one or more processor(s) (202) may detect the theft attempt based on forced entry or keyless entry or any unwanted entry.
[0071] Further, in an embodiment, the one or more processor(s) (202) of the system (110) may cause the acquisition engine (212) to extract the set of data parameters from the database (210) for further analysis by the AI engine (214). In an embodiment, the one or more processor(s) (202) may cause the AI engine (214) to pre-process the set of data parameters in one or more batches. As described with reference to FIG. 1 above, the AI engine (214) may utilise one or more machine learning models to pre-process the set of data parameters. In an embodiment, the AI engine (214) may perform pre-processing of the set of data parameters to obtain a list of data associated with age and identity of authorized person.
[0072] A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the exemplary representation (200) may be modular and flexible to accommodate any kind of changes in the system (110).
[0073] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method (300) for preventing vehicle theft by engaging an immobilizer when an attempt for theft is detected on a stationary vehicle, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0074] In an embodiment the method (300) may be implemented by a control system (110) present in a vehicle (102), as shown in FIG. 1. The method (300) includes starting at step 302, with a vehicle in halted condition with ignition off state and detecting, at step 304, whether a forced entry or keyless entry is detected in the vehicle (102) of FIG. 1. Upon detecting, at step 304, a forced entry or keyless entry, the method (300) includes using an internal camera (104) of FIG. 1, at step 306, to capture an image of a person in the driving seat, checking, at step 308, whether the person in the captured image is an authorized person and has a legal age to drive, for example, whether the person is the owner of the vehicle (102) or a related person and is above 18 years of age, and if the person is authorized person and has a legal age to drive, the method (300) proceeds with checking, at step 310, whether the documents, such as, without limitations, driving license, RC book, insurance are valid, if the documents are valid, checking, at step 312, for any critical DTC codes, if there are no critical DTC codes, checking, at step 314, whether tyre pressure is above the critical limit or a threshold level, and if the tyre pressure is above the critical limit or the threshold level, turning on the ignition at step 316 to enable the person to drive the vehicle. On the other hand, the control system (110) of FIG. 1, proceeds with engaging, at step 320, the immobilizer when the person in the captured image is not an authorized person and does not have a legal age to drive, if the vehicle documents are invalid, if critical DTC alerts are present, and the tyre pressure is below the critical limit.
[0075] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method (400) for preventing vehicle theft by engaging an immobilizer when an attempt for theft of vehicle is detected and the vehicle is moving, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0076] In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method (400) includes receiving, at step 402, a command to engage immobilizer in a vehicle (102) of FIG. 1 under motion. The command may be sent to the vehicle (102) by cloud computer (114) or the TCU (112) or by the system (110) of FIG. 1. The vehicle (102), upon receiving the command, may enable, at step 404, a “RESTRICTED” mode of operation. Once the vehicle (102) enables the “RESTRICTED” mode, the following set of operations may be performed by the system (110) or the TCU (112) or the cloud computer (114). In an embodiment, the method (400) proceeds with checking, at step 406, if the driveway is safe and if the driveway is safe, checking, at step 408, whether the speed level is under a threshold level, for example, checking whether the vehicle speed is less than 20Kmph, and if the speed is below the threshold level, locking, at step 410, the maximum vehicle speed to the current speed level, followed by activating, at step 412, parking or hazard lights and auto-starting honking in a specific pattern to warn one or more vehicles near to the moving vehicle regarding immobilization of the moving vehicle, indicating, at step 414, a immobilizer engagement to the driver of the moving vehicle and starting a countdown timer, and engaging, at step 416, the immobilizer to bring the vehicle to a halt. The indication may be a visual display of the countdown timer or an audio output of countdown timer. In one embodiment, if the vehicle is a four-wheeler, the countdown timer is displayed on the vehicle’s infotainment system. In another embodiment, if the vehicle is a two-wheeler, the countdown timer is displayed on an instrument cluster. For audio output, the countdown timer is announced via vehicle’s speakers. On the other hand, while checking, at step 406, the driveway is found to be unsafe, then the method (400) proceeds with activating, at step, 420, the parking/hazard lights and auto-starting honking in a particular manner so that the nearby vehicles or the other vehicles passing through rough terrains are forewarned followed by checking, at step 422, whether the current speed limit is less than the speed limit before a certain time “T” or an initial speed limit, if the speed is less, setting, at step 424, the maximum speed limit of the vehicle to the current speed and continuing to step 406. On the other hand, if the speed limit at 422 is not less than the speed limit before a certain time “T” or the initial speed limit, the method (400) includes keep activating, at step 420, the hazard/parking lights and auto honking.
[0077] Referring to FIG. 4, the method (400) includes checking, at step 408, whether the speed is under a low speed/minimum speed threshold, and if the speed is greater than the low speed or minimum speed threshold, activating, at step 426, parking/hazard lights and starting auto-honking in a specific sequence, indicating, at step 428, an engagement of immobilizer to the driver of the vehicle, and starting a countdown timer, upon expiry of the time, at step 430, engaging the immobilizer in a specific pattern, i.e., the immobilizer is engaged based on the current speed of the vehicle (102), and checking, at step 432, whether the current vehicle speed is lower than the previous speed, if “yes”, then setting, at step 434, the maximum vehicle speed limit to the current speed limit and proceeding to step 406. On the other hand, if the current speed is more than the previous speed, the driver of the moving vehicle, at step 428, is provided with the indication of immobilizer engagement and a countdown timer is started. The method (400) keeps checking the driveway condition and speed condition before engaging the immobilizer. If the driveway is found to be unsafe then the immobilizer is not applied, however the vehicle is brought to halt by reducing the speed of the vehicle. On the other hand, if the driveway is safe and the speed of the vehicle is more than the threshold speed limit, then the indication relating to the engagement of immobilizer is sent to the driver and the countdown timer is trigger on to check if the current speed is reduced than the previous speed. In case the indication for engaging the immobilizer is sent, however, the immobilizer is not engaged until the speed reaches below the threshold speed limit.
[0078] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary computer system (500) in which or with which embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized.
[0079] As shown in FIG. 5, the computer system (500) may include an external storage device (510), a bus (520), a main memory (530), a read-only memory (540), a mass storage device (550), communication port(s) (560), and a processor (570). A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer system (500) may include more than one processor and communication ports. The processor (570) may include various modules associated with embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication port(s) (560) may be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modem-based dialup connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a Gigabit or 10 Gigabit port using copper or fiber, a serial port, a parallel port, or other existing or future ports. The communication port(s) (560) may be chosen depending on a network, such a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or any network to which the computer system (500) connects. The main memory (530) may be random access memory (RAM), or any other dynamic storage device commonly known in the art. The read-only memory (540) may be any static storage device(s) including, but not limited to, a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) chips for storing static information e.g., start-up or basic input/output system (BIOS) instructions for the processor (570). The mass storage device (550) may be any current or future mass storage solution, which may be used to store information and/or instructions.
[0080] The bus (520) communicatively couples the processor (570) with the other memory, storage, and communication blocks. The bus (520) can be, e.g. a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) / PCI Extended (PCI-X) bus, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), universal serial bus (USB), or the like, for connecting expansion cards, drives, and other subsystems as well as other buses, such a front side bus (FSB), which connects the processor (570) to the computer system (500).
[0081] Optionally, operator and administrative interfaces, e.g. a display, keyboard, and a cursor control device, may also be coupled to the bus (520) to support direct operator interaction with the computer system (500). Other operator and administrative interfaces may be provided through network connections connected through the communication port(s) (560). In no way should the aforementioned exemplary computer system (500) limit the scope of the present disclosure.
[0082] Thus, the present disclosure enables contextual engagement of immobilizer in vehicles based on a current situation of the vehicle, thereby avoiding fatal damage due to sudden engagement of immobilizer. The present disclosure provides a timer-based immobilization to achieve a gradual halt of the vehicle. The present disclosure provides warning to surrounding devices to avoid accidents.
[0083] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as limitation.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0084] The present disclosure provides a situation based contextual engagement of an immobilizer for vehicle to avoid accidents.
[0085] The present disclosure generates warning signals before immobilizing the vehicle to avoid any fatality.
[0086] The present disclosure provides anti-theft detection and immobilization without creating damage to property or injuries to people.
, Claims:1. A system (110) for contextually engaging immobilizers for a vehicle (102) in a network (100), said system (110) comprising:
one or more processors (202); and
a memory (204) operatively coupled to the one or more processors (202), wherein the memory (204) comprises processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the one or more processors (202) to:
detect a theft in the vehicle (102) based on an attempt by a person to drive the vehicle (102);
determine an authenticity of one or more parameters associated with the person driving the vehicle (102), a validity of documents associated with the vehicle (102), and one or more health statistics associated with the vehicle (102);
determine a critical value associated with the one or more health statistics of the vehicle (102); and
engage an immobilizer based on at least one of a failed authentication, a failed validation, and the critical value being below a pre-determined threshold.

2. The system (110) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory (204) comprises processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the one or more processors (202) to turn on an ignition of the vehicle (102) based on at least one of a successful authentication, a successful validation, and the critical value being above the pre-determined threshold.

3. The system (110) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory (204) comprises processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the one or more processors (202) to trigger a camera (104) to capture an image of the person driving the vehicle (102), and determine whether the person driving the vehicle (102) is an authorized person and has a legal age for driving based at least on the captured image.

4. The system (110) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more health statistics comprise diagnostic trouble code (DTC), fuel level, and tyre pressure.

5. The system (110) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the memory (204) comprises processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the one or more processors (202) to engage the immobilizer based on at least one of a presence of critical DTC, and the tyre pressure being below the pre-determined threshold.

6. The system (110) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the documents associated with the vehicle (102) comprise at least one of a driving license of the person authorized to drive the vehicle (102), a registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle (102), and an insurance certificate of the vehicle (102).

7. The system (110) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle (102) is stationary and an ignition of the vehicle (102) is off.

8. A method (400) for contextually engaging an immobilizer for a vehicle (102), said method (400) comprising:
receiving (402), by one or more processors (202), a command to immobilize a moving vehicle (102);
activating (412), by the one or more processors (202), a set of alerts to warn the immobilization of the moving vehicle (102) to one or more vehicles around the moving vehicle (102), based on the received command;
indicating (414), by the one or more processors (202), an engagement of the immobilizer to a driver of the moving vehicle (102) based at least on a timer; and
engaging (416), by the one or more processors (202), the immobilizer upon an expiry of the timer.
9. The method (400) as claimed in claim 8, wherein indicating (414), by the one or more processors (202), the engagement of the immobilizer comprises displaying a countdown timer on a vehicle infotainment system, or a vehicle instrument cluster, or as audio countdown through vehicle speaker system.

10. The method (400) as claimed in claim 8, comprising:
determining (406), by the one or more processors (202), a set of features associated with a driveway to check safety of the driveway;
determining (408), by the one or more processors (202), that a speed of the moving vehicle (102) is less than a minimum speed threshold based on determining that the driveway is safe; and
locking (410), by the one or more processors (202), a maximum speed of the moving vehicle (102) to the minimum speed threshold.

11. The method (400) as claimed in claim 10, comprising:
activating (420), by the one or more processors (202), the set of alerts based on determining the driveway is unsafe based on the set of features;
determining (422), by the one or more processors (202), if a current speed of the vehicle (102) is less than an initial speed of the vehicle (102); and
setting (424), by the one or more processors (202), a maximum speed limit of the vehicle (102) to the current speed of the vehicle (102).

12. The method (400) as claimed in claim 11, comprising:
activating (426), by the one or more processors (202), the set of alerts based on determining that the current speed of the moving vehicle (102) is more than the minimum speed threshold for a safe driveway;
indicating (428), by the one or more processors (202), the engagement of the immobilizer to the driver of the moving vehicle (102) based at least on the timer and the current speed of the vehicle (102); and
engaging (430), by the one or more processors (202), the immobilizer upon the expiry of the timer and based on the current speed of the vehicle (102).

13. The method (400) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the set of features associated with the driveway comprises at least one of:
a road with zero or few vehicles, wherein the few vehicles are at a pre-defined distance from the moving vehicle (102);
the road is free of sharp turns, crossroads, signals, flyovers, underpass, and railway-crossing;
a time of the day associated with minimum traffic conditions on the driveway; and
a weather condition enabling smooth drive through the driveway.

14. The method (400) as claimed in claim 8, comprising:
enabling (408), by the one or more processors (202), a restricted mode in the vehicle (102) in response to receiving (402) the command to engage the immobilizer.

15. A user equipment (UE) for contextually engaging an immobilizer for a vehicle (102), said UE comprising:
one or more processors communicatively coupled to a system (110), wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive a command from a cloud computer (114) and enable the system (110) in the vehicle (102) to enter a restricted mode, wherein in the restricted mode, alerts are enabled and access restriction is applied on one or more features of the vehicle (102).

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the alerts comprise activating parking/hazard lights and honking.

17. The UE of claim 15, wherein the one or more features comprise air conditioning system, an infotainment system, sunroof, power windows control, glove compartment, door lock system, cruise control, and disable automatic toll payment system.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a processor with executable instructions, causing the processor to:
receive a command to immobilize a moving vehicle (102);
activate a set of alerts to warn the immobilization of the moving vehicle (102) to one or more vehicles around the moving vehicle (102) based on the received command;
indicate an engagement of an immobilizer based on a timer to a driver of the moving vehicle (102); and
engage the immobilizer upon an expiry of the timer.