U.S. Patent 11144666 was awarded to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC. on October 12, 2021 and is entitled “Selective data access and data privacy via blockchain.” The first named inventor is Mathew D. Gardner of Lewisville, TX. The abstract contains an overview of the patent disclosure:

Methods and systems for managing access to a data location associated with a vehicle. The method includes detecting, by one or more sensors of the vehicle, vehicle data. The method also includes recording, by an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle, the vehicle data to the data location. The method also includes storing, by a smart contract located on a blockchain, an access state associated with the data location, the access state indicating one or more devices having access to the data location. The method also includes communicating, by the ECU, an instruction to the smart contract to change the access state associated with the data location to grant access to a third-party device or revoke access from the third-party device. Link to Full Patent

This blockchain patent was originally filed on January 18, 2019  as U.S. Patent Application 16/252407 at the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office. The application was them awarded a patent grant and published as U.S. Patent 11144666. The primary examiner was Maung T Lwin.

TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., who is the original assignee of this patent, has at least 2871 total granted patents in the United States as of the date of this article. This blockchain patent has been cited 0 times by other U.S. patents according to our law firm research, and can be considered an innovative patent in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

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