Allstate Insurance Assigned Patent for Determining Whether Vehicle

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 21 -- Allstate Insurance, Northbrook, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,417,713, initially filed April 16, 2015) developed by six co-inventors for "determining whether a vehicle is parked for automated accident detection, fault attribution, and claims processing." The co-inventors are Jennifer A. Brandmaier, Chicago, Illinois, James Gillespie, Belfast, United Kingdom, Stephen Hughes, Belfast, United Kingdom, Daniel Koza, Hinsdale, Illinois, William Loo, Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Francis Lowry, Clogher, United Kingdom.

The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,417,713.PN.&OS=PN/10,417,713&RS=PN/10,417,713

The abstract states: "Sensors installed at a vehicle may automatically detect that a disturbance event, such as a collision, has occurred at the vehicle. A disturbance response module installed at the vehicle may automatically determine whether the vehicle was running and whether the vehicle was moving when the disturbance event occurred. The disturbance response module may determine that the vehicle was parked in response to a determination that the vehicle was not running and not moving when the disturbance event occurred. A communication module installed at the vehicle may automatically transmit a notification message that indicates a disturbance event has occurred at the vehicle."

Written by Ranjan Behera; edited by Sudarshan Harpal.