Patent Application Titled “Electronic Display Systems Connected To Vehicles And Vehicle-Based Systems” Published Online (USPTO 20190268647)

2019 SEP 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventor Wasserman, Robert (Wheaton, IL), filed on May 13, 2019, was made available online on August 29, 2019.

The assignee for this patent application is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Roadside displays are commonly used as billboard advertisements, traffic signs, safety warning signs, and the like. Governmental entities may install street signs, speed limit signs, warnings for hazardous road conditions, and directional or navigational signs. Additionally, advertisers may purchase or lease roadside billboards for certain periods of time. Although roadside displays have been traditionally non-digital (i.e., wooden and metal signs and billboards), more recent roadside displays now may be partially or entirely digital, such as programmable speed limit signs, electronic traffic warning signs, and digital billboards.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below.

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for determining and displaying digital content via roadside displays and other display devices, based on the characteristics of approaching vehicles and individuals. In various examples and embodiments, electronic display systems may include one or more roadside display devices and/or other digital display devices, on-board vehicle devices, intermediary servers, advertising servers, and/or additional external data sources configured to operate individually or in combination. One or more vehicles or individuals approaching an electronic roadside display device or other display device may be identified, for example, using on-board vehicle devices, traffic cameras, personal mobile devices, and other devices in an electronic display system. Characteristics of the approaching vehicles, individuals associated with the approaching vehicles, driving data, driving patterns, and/or other data may be retrieved and analyzed in order to determine the digital content to be displayed on the display devices. In various cases, the determined digital content may correspond to a targeted advertisement, vehicle maintenance suggestion, driving safety warning, or other customized message based on the characteristics of the associated vehicles and individuals.

“Additional aspects of the disclosure relate to retrieving and analyzing characteristics from multiple different vehicles and individuals, including aggregating and/or prioritizing certain characteristics or other data when selecting a targeted advertisement or message. In some examples, a real-time auction software application may allow multiple different advertisers to compete for digital advertising times based on the identified characteristics of the associated vehicles and individuals. Still other aspects of the disclosure relate to interactive systems in which users may provide responses to the content displayed via roadside displays and/or other display devices, for example, using vehicle-based devices or personal mobile devices. User responses to the initial content displayed via display devices may be used to select follow-up content, which may be transmitted for displaying to one or more target devices.

“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An electronic display system comprising: one or more processors; a network interface configured to transmit content to one or more digital roadside displays; and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic display system to: receive driving pattern data for a first vehicle including driving behaviors and driving performance metrics; identify, from the driving pattern data, an expected destination of a current driving trip; based on the identified expected destination of the current driving trip, identify an anticipated driving route to the expected destination; identify, based on the anticipated driving route, an expected time at which a first vehicle will be in proximity of one or more digital roadside displays; determine first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays based on the received driving pattern data for the first vehicle; determine a beginning time for displaying the first digital content based on the expected time at which the first vehicle will be in proximity of the one or more roadside digital displays; determine an ending time for displaying the first digital content; and transmit the first digital content and the beginning time and ending time via the network interface to the one or more digital roadside displays.

“2. The electronic display system of claim 1, wherein determining the first digital content comprises selecting an advertisement or message for the one or more digital roadside displays, based on the identified expected destination of the first vehicle and the driving pattern data for the first vehicle.

“3. The electronic display system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the electronic display system to: receive diagnostic or maintenance data of the first vehicle, and wherein the first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays is determined based on the diagnostic or maintenance data of the first vehicle and the driving pattern data for the first vehicle.

“4. The electronic display system of claim 1, wherein receiving the driving pattern data further includes receiving an indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during a driving trip, and wherein the first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays or other digital displays is determined based on the indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during the driving trip.

“5. The electronic display system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the electronic display system to: receive a digital short-range communication transmission from the first vehicle indicating at least one of a location, speed, route, or direction of travel of the first vehicle.

“6. The electronic display system of claim 1, wherein receiving the driving pattern data of the first vehicle comprises: receiving the driving pattern data from the first vehicle via a digital short-range communication transmission.

“7. The electronic display system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the electronic display system to: determine a current location of the first vehicle; compare the current location of the first vehicle to locations of the one or more digital roadside displays; and identify a first digital roadside display within a proximity of the current location of the first vehicle based on the comparison.

“8. The electronic display system of claim 7, wherein the current location of the first vehicle is determined based on global positioning system data.

“9. The electronic display system of claim 7, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the electronic display system to: identify at least a second digital roadside display based on the anticipated driving route of the first vehicle; and display second digital content on the at least a second digital roadside display.

“10. A method, comprising: receiving, by an electronic display system, driving pattern data of a first vehicle including driving behaviors and driving performance metrics; identifying, by the electronic display system and from the driving pattern data, an expected destination of a current driving trip; based on the identified expected destination of the current driving trip, identifying. By the electronic display system, an anticipated driving route to the expected destination; identifying, by the electronic display system and based on the anticipated driving route, an expected time at which a first vehicle will be in proximity of one or more digital roadside displays; determining, by the electronic display system, first digital content for one or more digital roadside displays, based on the received driving pattern data of the first vehicle; determining, by the electronic display system, a beginning time for displaying the first digital content based on the expected time at which the first vehicle will be in proximity of the one or more roadside digital displays; determining, by the electronic display system, an ending time for displaying the first digital content; and transmitting, by the electronic display system, the first digital content and the beginning time and the ending time via a network interface to the one or more digital roadside displays.

“11. The method of claim 10, further including: receiving diagnostic or maintenance data of the first vehicle, and wherein the first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays is determined based on the diagnostic or maintenance data of the first vehicle and the driving pattern data of the first vehicle.

“12. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the driving pattern data comprises receiving an indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during a driving trip, and wherein the first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays is determined based on the indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during the driving trip.

“13. The method of claim 10, further including: determining a current location of the first vehicle; comparing, by the electronic display system, the current location of the first vehicle to locations of the one or more digital roadside displays; and identifying, by the electronic display system, a first digital roadside display within a proximity of the current location of the first vehicle based on the comparison.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the current location of the first vehicle is determined based on global positioning system data.

“15. The method of claim 10, further including: identifying, by the electronic display system, at least a second digital roadside display based on the anticipated driving route of the first vehicle; and displaying second digital content on the at least a second digital roadside display.

“16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to: receive driving pattern data of a first vehicle including driving behaviors and driving performance metrics; identify, from the driving pattern data, an expected destination of a current driving trip; based on the identified expected destination of the current driving trip, identify an anticipated driving route to the expected destination; identify, based on the anticipated driving route, an expected time at which a first vehicle will be in proximity of one or more digital roadside displays; determine first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays, based on the received driving pattern data of the first vehicle; determine a beginning time for displaying the first digital content based on the expected time at which the first vehicle will be in proximity of the one or more roadside digital displays; determine an ending time for displaying the first digital content; and transmit the first digital content and the beginning time and the ending time via a network interface to the one or more digital roadside displays.

“17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein receiving the driving pattern data of the first vehicle comprises receiving an indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during a driving trip, and wherein the first digital content for the one or more digital roadside displays is determined based on the indication that the first vehicle has engaged in high-risk driving during the driving trip.

“18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to: determine a current location of the first vehicle; compare the current location of the first vehicle to locations of the one or more digital roadside displays; and identify a first digital roadside displays within a proximity of the current location of the first vehicle based on the comparison.

“19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the current location of the first vehicle is determined based on global positioning system data.

“20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to: identify at least a second digital roadside display based on the anticipated driving route of the first vehicle; and display second digital content on the at least a second digital roadside display.”

For more information, see this patent application: Wasserman, Robert. Electronic Display Systems Connected To Vehicles And Vehicle-Based Systems. Filed May 13, 2019 and posted August 29, 2019. Patent URL: http://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=%2220190268647%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20190268647&RS=DN/20190268647

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)