Patent Application Titled “Vehicle-To-Vehicle Incident Information Collection” Published Online (USPTO 20220284514): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 SEP 26 (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 inventors Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US); Higgins, Martin (Downpatrick, GB); Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL, US); Plachta, Christopher G. (Glenview, IL, US); Ramirez, Philip Peter (Arlington Heights, IL, US), filed on March 18, 2022, was made available online on September 8, 2022.

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: “Many vehicles include sophisticated sensors and advanced internal computer systems designed to monitor and control vehicle operations and driving functions. Vehicle-based computer systems, such as on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems and telematics devices, may be used in automobiles and other vehicles, and may be capable of collecting various driving data and vehicle sensor data. For example, OBD systems may receive information from the vehicle’s on-board computers and sensors in order to monitor a wide variety of information relating to the vehicle systems, such as engine RPM, emissions control, vehicle speed, throttle position, acceleration and braking rates, use of driver controls, etc. Vehicles may also include Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and devices installed within or operating at the vehicle configured to collect vehicle location and time data.

“However, not all vehicles are equipped with systems capable of collecting, analyzing, and communicating driving data. In contrast to vehicle-based systems, mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and the like, are often carried and/or operated by a single user. Some mobile devices may include movement sensors, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, speedometer, and/or GPS receivers, capable of detecting movement.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ 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 detecting, by a driving analysis computing device, a collision between a first vehicle and a second vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may receive, from the first vehicle, first vehicle driving data collected by first vehicle operation sensors within the first vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may receive, from the second vehicle, second vehicle driving data collected by second vehicle operations sensors within the second vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may transmit, to a third vehicle within a first radius of the first vehicle and via a first vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, a first request for vehicle driving data. The driving analysis computing device may receive, from the third vehicle and via a second V2V communication, third vehicle driving data collected by third vehicle operation sensors within the third vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may transmit the first vehicle driving data, the second vehicle driving data, and the third vehicle driving data to a server. An insurance claim may be initiated based on the transmitted first vehicle driving data, second vehicle driving data, and third vehicle driving data.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the driving analysis computing device may transmit, to the third vehicle and via a third V2V communication, a second request for vehicle driving data for one of more vehicles that are within a second radius of the third vehicle, and may receive, in response to the second request and by the third vehicle, fourth vehicle driving data collected by fourth vehicle operations sensors within a fourth vehicle that is within the second radius of the third vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may receive, from the third vehicle and via a fourth V2V communication, the fourth vehicle driving data, and may transmit the fourth vehicle driving data to the server. The driving analysis computing device may transmit the fourth vehicle driving data to the server via a telematics device.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the driving analysis computing device may determine a time frame associated with the collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle, transmit, to one or more infrastructure elements within a second radius of the first vehicle, and via a first vehicle-to-infrastructure (“V2I”) communication, a request for image files for the time frame, receive, from one or more infrastructure elements and via a second V2I communications image files associated with the time frame, tag the image files with a collision identification number associated with the collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle, and transmit the tagged image files to the server. In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the driving analysis computing device may transmit, to the third vehicle and via a third V2V communication, a second request for image files from infrastructure elements that are within a second radius of the third vehicle, transmit, by the third vehicle, to one or more infrastructure elements that are within the second radius of the third vehicle, a first vehicle-to-infrastructure (“V2I”) communication requesting image files, and receive, by the third vehicle and from the one or more infrastructure elements, a second V2I communication comprising the requested image files. The driving analysis computing device may receive the image files from the third vehicle and via a fourth V2V communication. The driving analysis computing device may transmit the image files received from the third vehicle to a server.

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

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A driving analysis computing device installed in a first vehicle, the driving analysis computing device comprising: one or more processors; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the driving analysis computing device installed in the first vehicle to: receive, from one or more sensors of the first vehicle, first vehicle driving data associated with a first subset of time of a first time period; determine, based on the first vehicle driving data, missing vehicle driving data associated with a second subset of time of the first time period; receive, from the second vehicle, second vehicle driving data collected by the second vehicle operations sensors within the second vehicle, the second vehicle driving data includes at least a portion of the missing vehicle driving data; receive, from a third vehicle, third vehicle driving data associated with the second subset of time collected by vehicle operations sensors within a fourth vehicle that is within a first radius of the third vehicle; and transmit the first vehicle driving data, the second vehicle driving data, and the third vehicle driving data to a server.

“2. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle driving data is received in response to a first request for the first vehicle driving data for the first time period.

“3. The driving analysis computing device of claim 2, wherein the first request is transmitted in response to a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle.

“4. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, the memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: transmit, to one or more infrastructure elements within a second radius of the first vehicle, and via a first vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between the first vehicle and the one or more infrastructure elements, a request for image files; receive, from the one or more infrastructure elements, the image files; tag the image files with a collision identification number associated with a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle; and transmit the tagged image files to the server.

“5. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, the memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: transmit, to the third vehicle and via a second V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, a request for image files from infrastructure elements that are within a second radius of the third vehicle.

“6. The driving analysis computing device of claim 5, the memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: receive, from the third vehicle and via a third V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, the image files.

“7. The driving analysis computing device of claim 6, the memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: transmit the image files received from the third vehicle to the server.

“8. A method comprising: receiving, from one or more sensors of a first vehicle, first vehicle driving data associated with a first subset of time of a first time period; determining, based on the first vehicle driving data, missing vehicle driving data associated with a second subset of time of the first time period; receiving, by a driving analysis computing device, from a second vehicle, second vehicle driving data associated with the second subset of time collected by vehicle operations sensors within the second vehicle that is within a first radius of the first vehicle, the second vehicle driving data includes at least a portion of the missing vehicle driving data; receiving, by the driving analysis computing device, from a third vehicle, third vehicle driving data associated with the second subset of time collected by vehicle operations sensors within a fourth vehicle that is within a first radius of the third vehicle; and transmitting, by the driving analysis computing device and to a server, the first vehicle driving data, the second vehicle driving data, and the third vehicle driving data.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first vehicle driving data is received in response to a first request for the first vehicle driving data for the first time period.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first request is transmitted in response to a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle.

“11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, to one or more infrastructure elements within a second radius of the first vehicle, and via a first vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between the first vehicle and the one or more infrastructure elements, a request for image files; receiving, from the one or more infrastructure elements, the image files; tagging the image files with a collision identification number associated with a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle; and transmitting the tagged image files to the server.

“12. The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, to the third vehicle and via a second V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, a request for image files from infrastructure elements that are within a second radius of the third vehicle.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving, from the third vehicle and via a third V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, the image files; and transmitting the image files received from the third vehicle to the server.

“14. The method of claim 8, wherein the driving analysis computing device is installed in the first vehicle, the driving analysis computing device is installed in at least one of the one or more infrastructure elements, or the driving analysis computing device is installed in a mobile device.

“15. A system comprising: a driving analysis computing device installed in a first vehicle, the driving analysis computing device comprising; one or more processors; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the driving analysis computing device installed in the first vehicle to: receive, from one or more sensors of the first vehicle, first vehicle driving data associated with a first subset of time of a first time period; determine, based on the first vehicle driving data, missing vehicle driving data associated with a second subset of time of the first time period; receive, from a mobile device, second vehicle driving data associated with the second subset of time of the first time period based on the missing vehicle driving data; receive, from a third vehicle, third vehicle driving data associated with the second subset of time collected by vehicle operations sensors within a fourth vehicle that is within a first radius of the third vehicle; and transmit the first vehicle driving data, the second vehicle driving data, and the third vehicle driving data to a server; and the server configured to receive data from the driving analysis computing device.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first vehicle driving data is received in response to a first request for the first vehicle driving data for the first time period.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first request is transmitted in response to a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle.

“18. The system of claim 15, wherein the driving analysis computing device is configured to: transmit, to one or more infrastructure elements within a second radius of the first vehicle, and via a first vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between the first vehicle and the one or more infrastructure elements, a request for image files; receive, from the one or more infrastructure elements, the image files; tag the image files with a collision identification number associated with a collision between the first vehicle and a second vehicle; and transmit the tagged image files to the server.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the driving analysis computing device is configured to: transmit, to the third vehicle and via a second V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, a request for image files from infrastructure elements that are within a second radius of the third vehicle.

“20. The system of claim 19, wherein the driving analysis computing device is configured to: receive, from the third vehicle and via a third V2V communication between the first vehicle and the third vehicle, the image files; and transmit the image files received from the third vehicle to the server.”

For more information, see this patent application: Brandmaier, Jennifer A.; Higgins, Martin; Loo, William; Plachta, Christopher G.; Ramirez, Philip Peter. Vehicle-To-Vehicle Incident Information Collection. Filed March 18, 2022 and posted September 8, 2022. 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=%2220220284514%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220284514&RS=DN/20220284514

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