Patent Issued for Accident prediction and consequence mitigation calculus (USPTO 11138884): Allstate Insurance Company

2021 OCT 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Chintakindi, Sunil (Naperville, IL, US), Gibson, Timothy W. (Barrington, IL, US), Madigan, Regina (Mountain View, CA, US), Slusar, Mark V. (Chicago, IL, US), filed on February 15, 2017, was published online on October 5, 2021, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11138884 is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Autonomous and semi-autonomous car systems are becoming more prevalent. However, knowledge of systems, methods, and computing devices configured to respond to adverse driving conditions are insufficient.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to systems, methods, and computing devices configured to predict that an adverse driving event is likely to occur. Using accident prediction algorithms, a computing device may determine a response to the adverse driving event that is likely to mitigate consequences of the event. After determining the response, the computing device may cause the response to occur.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device and from one or more sensors of a first vehicle, surroundings and conditions data signifying an impending driving event associated with the first vehicle; employing an accident calculus algorithm for: forecasting one or more consequences of the impending driving event associated with damage resulting if an evasive maneuver is not performed; determining a plurality of potential evasive maneuvers; and for each of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers, forecasting one or more consequences of the potential evasive maneuver if the potential evasive maneuver is performed; comparing, based on a respective weight associated with each of the one or more consequences of each of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers, the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers; determining, based on the comparison, a first evasive maneuver of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers to perform; selecting, from a plurality of safety response measures, one or more first safety response measures associated with the first evasive maneuver, wherein the one or more first safety response measures mitigate a probability of injury to one or more of a driver or a passenger of the first vehicle as a result of performing the first evasive maneuver; causing the first vehicle to perform the first evasive maneuver and the one or more first safety response measures; and after performing the first evasive maneuver: receiving data indicating damages incurred; analyzing the surroundings and conditions data, data associated with the first evasive maneuver, and the data indicating damages incurred after performing the first evasive maneuver; and adjusting, based on the analyzing, at least one weight associated with at least one input variable to the accident calculus algorithm.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to causing the first vehicle to perform the first evasive maneuver, receiving additional surroundings and conditions data; determining if the additional surroundings and conditions data signifies an additional impending driving event; and in response to determining that the additional surroundings and conditions data signifies the additional impending driving event: forecasting one or more additional consequences of the additional impending driving event; determining a plurality of additional potential evasive maneuvers; for each of the plurality of additional potential evasive maneuvers, forecasting one or more additional consequences of the additional potential evasive maneuver; comparing, based on a weight associated with each of the one or more additional consequences of each of the plurality of additional potential evasive maneuvers, the plurality of additional potential evasive maneuvers; determining, based on the comparison, a second evasive maneuver of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers to perform; and causing the first vehicle to perform the second evasive maneuver.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to causing the first vehicle to perform the first evasive maneuver, receiving additional surroundings and conditions data; determining if the additional surroundings and conditions data signifies an additional impending driving event; and in response to determining that the additional surroundings and conditions data does not signify the additional impending driving event, performing debriefing functions.

“4. The method of claim 3, wherein performing debriefing functions comprises performing at least one of: notifying emergency personnel or towing services of occurrence of the impending driving event; and generating an incident report of the impending driving event.

“5. The method of claim 4, further comprising sending the incident report to one or more computing devices, wherein the incident report comprises at least one of: vehicle performance data of the first vehicle, vehicle operational data of the first vehicle, vehicle performance data of one or more nearby vehicles, or vehicle operational data of one or more nearby vehicles.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving ancillary data regarding one or more peripheral entities involved in the impending driving event, wherein the ancillary data comprises at least one of: vehicle performance data of one or more nearby vehicles, vehicle operational data of one or more nearby vehicles, passenger data of one or more nearby vehicles, cargo data of one or more nearby vehicles, infrastructure type data of one or more nearby infrastructures, and infrastructure function data of one or more nearby infrastructures, wherein forecasting the one or more consequences of the impending driving event further comprises forecasting the one or more consequences of the impending driving event based on the surroundings and conditions data and the ancillary data.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein forecasting the one or more consequences of the impending driving event comprises: determining initial effects caused by the impending driving event; and determining, responsive to the initial effects, cascading effects caused to the one or more peripheral entities.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the surroundings and conditions data from at least one of: one or more nearby vehicles and an external computing device.

“9. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, to one or more nearby vehicles, the first evasive maneuver.

“10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a second vehicle in proximity to the first vehicle, an evasive maneuver to be performed by the second vehicle.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first vehicle and the second vehicle coordinate actions to be taken in response to the impending driving event to mitigate the one or more consequences of the impending driving event.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first safety response measures comprise at least one of: activating a fire retardant system, turning on an interior light, unlocking a door, and rolling a window up or down.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the data indicating damages incurred after performing the first evasive maneuver comprises receiving data indicating damage to at least one of: the first vehicle, one or more other vehicles, or one or more infrastructures.

“14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a nearby infrastructure, the surroundings and conditions data signifying the impending driving event associated with the first vehicle, wherein the nearby infrastructure comprises one or more of: a bridge, a guardrail, or a barricade.

“15. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, to one or more nearby infrastructures, the first evasive maneuver.

“16. The method of claim 1, wherein different safety response measures are associated with different evasive maneuvers.

“17. An apparatus comprising: a processor; and memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive, from one or more sensors of a first vehicle, surroundings and conditions data signifying an impending driving event associated with the first vehicle; employ an accident calculus algorithm to: forecast one or more consequences of the impending driving event associated with damage resulting if an evasive maneuver is not performed; determine a plurality of potential evasive maneuvers; and for each of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers, forecast one or more consequences of the potential evasive maneuver if the potential evasive maneuver is performed; compare, based on a respective weight associated with each of the one or more consequences of each of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers, the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers; determine, based on the comparison, a first evasive maneuver of the plurality of potential evasive maneuvers to perform; select, from a plurality of safety response measures, one or more first safety response measures associated with the first evasive maneuver, wherein the one or more first safety response measures mitigate a probability of injury to one or more of a driver or a passenger of the first vehicle as a result of performing the first evasive maneuver; cause the first vehicle to perform the first evasive maneuver and the one or more first safety response measures; and after performing the first evasive maneuver: receive data indicating damages incurred; analyze the surroundings and conditions data, data associated with the first evasive maneuver, and the data indicating damages incurred after performing the first evasive maneuver; and adjust, based on the analyzing, at least one weight associated with at least input variable to the accident calculus algorithm.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent, see: Chintakindi, Sunil. Accident prediction and consequence mitigation calculus. U.S. Patent Number 11138884, filed February 15, 2017, and published online on October 5, 2021. Patent URL: 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=11138884.PN.&OS=PN/11138884RS=PN/11138884

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