The present disclosure relates to identifying whether a phone is in a vehicle, and more particularly to determining whether the phone is being utilized by a driver in the vehicle. Today, with the sheer number of electronic devices that users are exposed to, users are taking their devices and using their devices everywhere. FIG. 1 illustrates a phone detection system, in accordance with an embodiment. FIG. 4 is an illustration of the computing device of FIG. 1 communicating with a second device in a vehicle in order to determine a location of the computing device in the vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting the hardware components of the phone detection system of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a system, method, and program product. In the example embodiment, the present solution may restrict the usage of a device by a user that is driving, therefore, potentially saving lives.
Furthermore, the present solution provides a smart solution to this problem by identifying and imposing an appropriate restriction level from a plurality of restriction levels based on identifying whether the device is mounted or not. Therefore, a driver who has mounted his/her device may have fewer restrictions imposed on their device than a driver who has not mounted his/her device (e.g., a driver who is holding the device in his/her hand). Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying Figures. FIG. 1 illustrates phone detection system 100, in accordance with an embodiment. In the example embodiment, network 130 is the Internet, representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways to support communications between devices connected to the Internet. Network 130 may include, for example, wired, wireless or fiber optic connections. In other embodiments, network 130 may be implemented as an intranet, a Bluetooth, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). Other devices 120 may include one or more computing devices or servers.
In the example embodiment, vehicle computing device 140 is a computing device located in a vehicle. In the example embodiment, microphone 114 allows for the capture of audio information by computing device 110. Furthermore, in the example embodiment, GPS module 116 may be a hardware component, a software component, or a combination of both. In the example embodiment, limitation application 112 is a program that is capable of analyzing location information corresponding to computing device 110, and further determining whether computing device 110 is in a vehicle. In the example embodiment, limitation application 112 is further capable of analyzing auditory information and determining a position of computing device 110 within the car based on the auditory analysis. In another example embodiment, limitation application 112 is also capable of analyzing motion detection information to determine if computing device 110 is being manipulated by the user. In addition, limitation application 112 is a capable of imposing restrictions on computing device 110 based on the auditory information, determined location and/or motion detection of the device. Limitation application 112 is described in further detail with regard to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operations of limitation application 112 in identifying whether a device is located within a quadrant of a vehicle that corresponds to the driver of the vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment. Limitation application 112 may further analyze the location information and determine, based on the location information, whether computing device 110 is currently located in a vehicle. In additional embodiments, limitation application 112 may communicate with other devices 120 that are present in the vehicle. For example, limitation application 112 may utilize a Bluetooth connection to identify if there are additional mobile devices in the vicinity (i.e., within the vehicle). Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, limitation application 112 may impose the first level or second level of restrictions if limitation application determines that the vehicle is traveling at a speed above a certain threshold speed. FIG. 4 is an illustration of computing device 110 communicating with a second device in vehicle 306 in order to determine a location of computing device 110 in vehicle 306, in accordance with an embodiment.
