Limiting distraction from in-vehicle portable devices

Abstract

Disclosed is a technique for managing communications of portable devices within a vehicle through an in-vehicle router system. The in-vehicle router system includes a plurality of out-of-band interfaces used to determine a user class associated with a portable device used to manage a connection with a wireless access point. The out-of-band interface receives a query from a portable device via a first communication link. The query includes identifying information of the portable device and a request for network credentials to a second communication link with a wireless access point. A user type is determined based on a location of the out-of-band interface and a unique identifier. Network credentials associated with the determined user type are retrieved. The network credentials are provided to the portable device via the first communication link. Access to the second communication link is restricted based on the user type and/or vehicle status information.