Use of biometric data to facilitate personalization services such as vehicle immobilization in automobiles

A personalization method for a motor vehicle, the method comprising:

• using an infrared camera to capture images of hand gestures of human users while the human users are disposed within the motor vehicle;
• storing a plurality of sets of image data, each said set of image data corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• determining whether the images of hand gestures captured by the infrared camera match stored said set of image data corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• enabling a command from the human user to be implemented, the enabling being in response to the determining step including determining that the images of hand gestures captured by the infrared camera match one of the stored sets of data corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• and
• preventing a command from the human user from being implemented, the preventing being in response to the determining step including determining that the images of hand gestures captured by the infrared camera do not match any of the stored sets of image data in the database each corresponding to a respective set of the hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users.

A personalization arrangement for a motor vehicle, the arrangement comprising:

• an infrared camera configured to capture image data from hand gestures of human users while the human users are disposed within the motor vehicle;
• a database storing a plurality of sets of image data, each said set of image data corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• and
• an electronic processor communicatively coupled to both the infrared camera and the database, the electronic processor being configured to:
• determine whether the images of hand gestures captured by the infrared camera matches a set of image data in the database corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• cause a command from the human user to be implemented in response to determining that the image data captured by the infrared camera matches a set of image data in the database corresponding to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users;
• and
• cause a command from the human user to be ignored in response to determining that the image data captured by the infrared camera does not match any of the sets of image data in the database that correspond to a respective set of hand gestures that are unique to a respective one of the human users.