Intra-vehicular mobile device management

Abstract

The illustrative embodiments described herein provide a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing mobile device usage in a moving vehicle. In response to detecting that a user is traveling at a speed consistent with vehicular travel, optical data from an interior of the moving vehicle is detected. The optical data is analyzed to identify a set of vehicular markers. The user's intra-vehicular location is determined in relation to the set of vehicular markers. If the user's intra-vehicular location is the driver's seat, then restricted use protocols are initiated.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for managing usage of a mobile device of a mobile device system, the mobile device having a forward-facing optical device and a reverse user-facing optical device, the method comprising:
 responsive to the mobile device system detecting the mobile device is traveling at a speed consistent with vehicular travel, detecting optical data from the forward-facing and reverse user-facing optical devices from an interior of a moving vehicle;   analyzing the optical data with the mobile device system to identify a user and a set of vehicular markers, at least one of the identified vehicular markers being a vehicular marker from optical data detected from the reverse user-facing optical device;   determining with the mobile device system an intra-vehicular location of the user of the mobile device in relation to the set of vehicular markers; and   responsive to determining that the intra-vehicular location of the user is positioned within a driver's seat, the mobile device system initiating restricted use protocols for selectively modifying functionality of the mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein detecting the speed of the mobile device is consistent with vehicular travel further comprises:
 receiving, from a GPS component of the mobile device system, speed data that exceeds a speed threshold.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the reverse user-facing optical data is detected substantially concurrently with the forward-facing optical data.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the intra-vehicular location of the user further comprises:
 identifying, from forward-facing optical data, one or more markers in the set of vehicular markers are for operating the motor vehicle; and   responsive to determining that the user is located directly in front of the one or more markers, determining the intra-vehicular location of the user is the driver's seat.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 initiating restricted use protocols further comprises at least one of restricting gameplay and restricting texting.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 at least one of the forward-facing and reverse user-facing optical devices is a thermographic device for detecting thermo optical data.   
     
     
         7 . A computer program product for managing usage of a mobile device having a forward-facing optical device and an reverse user-facing optical device, the computer program product comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable-type medium storing program instructions including the following:   first program instructions for detecting optical data of the forward-facing optical device and reverse user-facing optical devices from an interior of a moving vehicle in response to detecting the mobile device is traveling at a speed consistent with vehicular travel;   second program instructions for analyzing the detected optical data to identify a user and a set of vehicular markers, at least one of the identified vehicular markers being a vehicular marker from optical data detected from the reverse user-facing optical device;   third program instructions for determining an intra-vehicular location of the user of the mobile device in relation to the set of vehicular markers;   fourth program instructions for initiating restricted use protocols for selectively modifying functionality of the mobile device in response to determining that the intra-vehicular location of the user is positioned within a driver's seat; and   wherein the first program instructions, the second program instructions, the third program instructions, and the fourth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable-type medium.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the first program instructions further comprises:
 fifth program instructions for receiving, from a GPS component of the mobile device, speed data that exceeds a speed threshold.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the reverse user-facing optical data is detected substantially concurrently with the forward-facing optical data.   
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the third program instructions further comprises:
 sixth program instructions for identifying, from forward-facing optical data, one or more markers in the set of vehicular markers are for operating the motor vehicle; and   seventh program instructions for determining the intra-vehicular location of the user is the driver's seat in response to determining that the user is located directly in front of the one or more markers.   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the third program instructions further comprises:
 eighth program instructions for identifying a vehicular configuration of the moving vehicle from a geographic location of the user; and   ninth program instructions for determining, from reverse user-facing optical data, the intra-vehicular location of the user from a relative position of the user and the set of vehicular markers with reference to the vehicular configuration.   
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the fourth program instructions further comprises:
 tenth program instructions for restricting at least one of gameplay and texting.   
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the detected optical data is thermo optical data.   
     
     
         14 . An apparatus for managing usage of a mobile device having a forward-facing optical device and a reverse user-facing optical device, the apparatus comprising:
 a bus system;   a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes computer usable program code; and   a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable program code to detect optical data from the forward-facing and reverse user-facing optical devices from an interior of a moving vehicle in response to detecting the mobile device is traveling at a speed consistent with vehicular travel;   analyze the detected optical data to identify a user and a set of vehicular markers, at least one of the identified vehicular markers being a vehicular marker from optical data detected from the reverse user-facing optical device; determine an intra-vehicular location of a user in relation to the set of vehicular markers; and initiate restricted use protocols in response to determining that the intra-vehicular location of the user is positioned within a driver's seat, initiating restricted use protocols for selectively modifying functionality of the mobile device.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the processing unit further executes the computer usable program code to receive, from a GPS component of the mobile device, speed data that exceeds a speed threshold.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the reverse user-facing optical data is detected substantially concurrently with the forward-facing optical data.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the processing unit further executes the computer usable program code to identify, from forward-facing optical data, one or more markers in the set of vehicular markers are for operating the motor vehicle; and determine the intra-vehicular location of the user is the driver's seat in response to determining that the user is located directly in front of the one or more markers.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the processing unit further executes the computer usable program code to identify a vehicular configuration of the moving vehicle from a geographic location of the user; and determine, from reverse user-facing optical data, the intra-vehicular location of the user from a relative position of the user and the set of vehicular markers with reference to the vehicular configuration.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein:
 at least one of the forward-facing optical device and the reverse user-facing optical device is a thermographic optical device and the processing unit executes computer usable program code to detect thermo optical data from the at least one of the forward-facing and reverse user-facing optical devices and analyzes the detected thermo optical data.