Patent Application Titled “Electric Vehicle Battery Conservation” Published Online (USPTO 20210258486)

2021 SEP 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Computer Business Daily -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors Alt, Jacob J. (Downs, IL, US); Baumann, Nathan W. (Bloomington, IL, US); Chan, Leo Nelson (Normal, IL, US); Cielocha, Steven C. (Bloomington, IL, US); Davis, Justin (Normal, IL, US); Fields, Brian Mark (Normal, IL, US); Gaudin, Kristopher Keith (Bloomington, IL, US); Roll, Giles (Bloomington, IL, US); Uphoff, Laura A. (Normal, IL, US); Wazeer, Mohamed A. (Normal, IL, US), filed on August 19, 2016, was made available online on August 19, 2021.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Conventional telematics devices may collect certain types of data regarding vehicle operation. However, conventional telematics devices and data gathering techniques may have several drawbacks. Specifically, conventional telematics devices only monitor the movement and operating status of the vehicle in which they are disposed. Such data is limited to determining the vehicle location, whether the vehicle has been in an accident, or similar simple information regarding the vehicle.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “Systems and methods are described for performing vehicular collision reconstruction and battery conservation for an electric or battery-powered vehicle. In various aspects, the systems and methods include a computer system comprising one or more processors, sensors, and transceivers associated with a vehicle to detect an indication of a trigger event from computer analysis of telematics data. The trigger event may be associated with a vehicle collision. A camera mounted on the vehicle may be activated, based upon the indication of the trigger event, to acquire an image of a second vehicle associated with the vehicle collision. Image data associated with the image may then be transmitted to a remote server computer for analysis of the image data, in which the remove server is capable of generating from the image data, a reconstruction of the vehicle collision, and determining, from the reconstruction of the vehicle collision, a cause of loss associated with the vehicle collision. In certain aspects, the vehicle collision may be an anticipated vehicle collision or an actual vehicle collision.

“In another aspect, examples of the trigger event include the detection of the vehicle’s speed unexpectedly decreasing, the vehicle’s speed rapidly decreasing, the vehicle’s following distance unexpectedly decreasing, or the vehicle’s following distance rapidly decreasing. Other trigger event examples include a brake pedal being engaged, a brake pedal triggered by brake system pressure, or a force applied to the brakes being determined to be above a predetermined threshold. The trigger event may also be a detection of the vehicle’s deceleration above a predetermined threshold, that the vehicle cornered above a predetermined threshold, the vehicle unexpectedly swerved as detected given the vehicle’s GPS location, or that the vehicle unexpectedly swerved as detected given the direction of the road. The trigger event may also be one or more sensors detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle. The trigger event may also be an infrared camera or radar unit detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle. The trigger event may also be caused by an automatic deployment of a vehicle collision avoidance system or feature associated with the vehicle.

“In another aspect, the detection of the indication of the trigger event from computer analysis of telematics data may further include detection, by a machine learning program that is trained with the telematics data, of the identification, in which the trigger event is based upon a detection of an anticipated vehicle collision, an actual vehicle collision, an anomalous condition, or a high risk of vehicle collision.

“In other aspects, telematics data and/or geographic location data may be collected, monitored, measured, and/or generated by one or more computing devices associated with a vehicle. The telematics data may include various metrics that indicate the direction, speed, acceleration, braking, cornering, and/or motion of the vehicle in which the data is associated. The geographic location data may include a geographic location of the vehicle, such as latitude and longitude coordinates, for example. The one or more computing devices may include smart vehicle controller, vehicle central computer, an on-board computer integrated within the vehicle, a mobile device, and/or a combination of these devices working in conjunction with one another. The one or more computing devices may broadcast the telematics data and/or the geographic location data to one or more other devices via V2x communication, such as to other vehicles, infrastructure, remote servers, or mobile devices, including mobile devices of other drivers, pedestrians and/or cyclists.

“The telematics data and/or the geographic location data may be received and/or processed by one or more other computing devices to determine whether an anomalous condition exists, such as a traffic accident, for example. These one or more other computing devices may be vehicle computing devices, external computing devices (e.g., a remote server), another mobile computing device, a smart traffic infrastructure device (e.g., a smart traffic light), etc. If an anomalous condition is detected, the geographic location of the vehicle associated with the telematics data may be used as a condition to decide whether to generate an alert at (or send an alert notification to) the one or more other computing devices associated with nearby vehicles.

“The telematics, location, and/or other data collected or generated by a connected vehicle may be used for various purposes. The data may be used by an insurance provider to generate auto insurance discount and/or risk averse profiles based upon average or typical vehicle travel environment. The data collected may be used for accident reconstruction and/or accident cause determination. The present embodiments may also entail electric or hybrid vehicle battery conservation. The data collected may be used to generate vehicle-usage profiles that more accurately reflect vehicle risk, or lack thereof, and facilitate more appropriate auto insurance pricing. The data collected may be used to generate a traffic condition broadcast that is broadcasted to nearby vehicles or smart infrastructure via V2x (such as Vehicle-to-Vehicle, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure or Vehicle-to-Person) wireless communication. Individual consumers may also collected their own telematics data, and then share their data when they choose with various merchants, such as rental car companies, to get discounted pricing on products or services.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

“The Figures depict preferred embodiments for purposes of illustration only. Alternative embodiments of the systems and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer system configured to perform vehicular collision reconstruction and battery conservation, the computer system comprising one or more processors, sensors, and transceivers configured to: detect an indication of a trigger event from computer analysis of (i) telematics data gathered by one or more sensors associated with a vehicle, and (ii) environmental data received from sensors disposed within infrastructure components positioned separately from the vehicle in an environment through which the vehicle travels, wherein the trigger event is associated with a vehicle collision; based upon the indication of the trigger event, activate a camera mounted on the vehicle and configured to acquire image data associated with the vehicle collision; determine an occurrence of a specific condition based on at least one of the telematics data and the environmental data, the specific condition being different from the trigger event deactivate the camera after the vehicle collision and after determining that conditions related to the trigger event have been sufficiently recorded based on the occurrence of the specific condition; and wirelessly transmit the image data to a remote server, the remote server configured to analyze the image data to generate a reconstruction of the vehicle collision and to determine a cause of loss associated with the vehicle collision.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting one or more of the following: the vehicle’s following distance unexpectedly decreasing, or the vehicle’s following distance rapidly decreasing.

“3. (canceled)

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting one or more of the following: a brake pedal being engaged, a brake pedal triggered by brake system pressure, or a force applied to the brakes being determined to be above a predetermined threshold.

“5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting vehicle deceleration above a predetermined threshold.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting the vehicle cornered above a predetermined threshold.

“7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle.

“8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is an infrared camera or radar unit detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle.

“9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is an automatic deployment of a vehicle collision avoidance system or feature associated with the vehicle.

“10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the detection of the indication of the trigger event from computer analysis of telematics data further includes detection, by a machine learning program that is trained with the telematics data, of the indication of the trigger event, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting one or more of the following: an anticipated vehicle collision, an actual vehicle collision, an anomalous condition, or a high risk of vehicle collision.

“11. A computer-implemented method of vehicular collision reconstruction and battery conservation, the method comprising: gathering, via one or more sensors associated with a vehicle, telematics data; receiving, via one or more processors, environmental data from sensors disposed within infrastructure components positioned separately from the vehicle in an environment through which the vehicle travels; detecting, via one or more processors, an indication of a trigger event from computer analysis of (i) the telematics data and (ii) the environmental data, wherein the trigger event is associated with a vehicle collision; based upon the indication of the trigger event, activating, via the one or more processors, a camera mounted on the vehicle and configured to acquire image data associated with the vehicle collision; determining an occurrence of a specific condition based on at least one of the telematics data and the environmental data, the specific condition being different from the trigger event; deactivating, via the one or more processors, the camera after the vehicle collision and after determining that conditions related to the trigger event have been sufficiently recorded based on the occurrence of the specific condition; and wirelessly transmitting, via the one or more processors, the image data to a remote server, the remote server configured to analyze the image data to generate a reconstruction of the vehicle collision and to determine a cause of loss associated with the vehicle collision.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting one or more of the following: the vehicle’s following distance unexpectedly decreasing, or the vehicle’s following distance rapidly decreasing.

“13. (canceled)

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is the one or more processors detecting one or more of the following: a brake pedal being engaged, a brake pedal triggered by brake system pressure, or a force applied to the brakes exceeding a predetermined threshold.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is one or more vehicle-mounted sensors detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting vehicle deceleration above a predetermined threshold.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting the vehicle cornered above a predetermined threshold.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is an infrared camera or radar unit detecting an animal in the vicinity of the vehicle.

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is an automatic deployment of a vehicle collision avoidance system or feature associated with the vehicle.

“20. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the detection of the indication of the trigger event from computer analysis of telematics data further includes detection, by a machine learning program that is trained with the telematics data, of the indication of the trigger event, wherein the trigger event is the one or more processors detecting one or more of the following: an anticipated vehicle collision, an actual vehicle collision, an anomalous condition, or a high risk of vehicle collision.

“21. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting a high risk of vehicle collision based upon known risk levels associated with an area of travel by the vehicle.

“22. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is the one or more sensors detecting a high risk of vehicle collision based upon known risk levels associated with an area of travel by the vehicle.”

For more information, see this patent application: Alt, Jacob J.; Baumann, Nathan W.; Chan, Leo Nelson; Cielocha, Steven C.; Davis, Justin; Fields, Brian Mark; Gaudin, Kristopher Keith; Roll, Giles; Uphoff, Laura A.; Wazeer, Mohamed A. Electric Vehicle Battery Conservation. Filed August 19, 2016 and posted August 19, 2021. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210258486%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210258486&RS=DN/20210258486

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