Patent Issued for Apparatuses, systems and methods for generation and transmission of vehicle operation mode data (USPTO 11238293): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 FEB 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11238293, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Chan, Aaron Scott (Bloomington, IL, US), Sanchez, Kenneth J. (San Francisco, CA, US).

This patent was filed on December 26, 2019 and was published online on February 1, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Vehicles are being provided with more complex systems. For example, vehicles commonly include a plethora of entertainment systems, such as stereos, USB interfaces for mobile telephones, video players, etc. Vehicles often have a host of other operator interfaces, such as emergency calling systems, vehicle navigation systems, heating and air conditioning systems, interior and exterior lighting controls, air bags, seatbelts, etc.

“Vehicle operating environments are becoming more complex as well. For example, some roadways include u-turn lanes, round-a-bouts, no-left turn, multiple lanes one way in the morning and the other way in the afternoon, etc. Increases in traffic are also contributing to increased complexity.

“These additional complexities contribute to increases in driver distractions. What is needed are methods and systems for generating and transmitting vehicle operation mode data.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A device for generating and transmitting vehicle operation mode data may include a vehicle interior data receiving module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to receive vehicle interior data from at least one vehicle interior sensor. The vehicle interior data may be representative of a vehicle operation mode. The device may also include a previously classified vehicle interior data receiving module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive previously classified vehicle interior data. The previously classified vehicle interior data may be representative of known vehicle operation modes. The device may further include a vehicle operation mode data generation module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to generate vehicle operation mode data based on a comparison of the vehicle interior data with the previously classified vehicle interior data. The device may yet further include a vehicle operation mode data transmission module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the vehicle operation mode data to at least one individual other than the vehicle operator.

“In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method for generating and transmitting vehicle operation mode data may include receiving, at a processor, vehicle interior data from at least one vehicle interior sensor in response to the processor executing a vehicle interior data receiving module. The vehicle interior data may be representative of a vehicle operation mode. The method may also include receiving, at the processor, previously classified vehicle interior data in response to the processor executing a previously classified vehicle interior data receiving module. The previously classified vehicle interior data may be representative of known vehicle operation modes. The method may further include generating, using the processor, vehicle operation mode data based on a comparison of the vehicle interior data with the previously classified vehicle interior data in response to the processor executing a vehicle operation mode data generation module. The method may yet further include transmitting, using the processor, the vehicle operation mode data to at least one individual other than the vehicle operator in response to the processor executing a vehicle operation mode data transmission module.

“In a further embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to generate and transmit vehicle operation mode data may include a vehicle interior data receiving module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to receive vehicle interior data from at least one vehicle interior sensor. The vehicle interior data may be representative of a vehicle operation mode. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may also include a previously classified vehicle interior data receiving module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive previously classified vehicle interior data. The previously classified vehicle interior data may be representative of known vehicle operation mode. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may further include a vehicle operation mode data generation module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to generate vehicle operation mode data based on a comparison of the vehicle interior data with the previously classified vehicle interior data. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may yet further include a vehicle operation mode data transmission module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the vehicle operation mode data to at least one individual other than the vehicle operator.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A device for generating vehicle operation mode data, the device comprising: a vehicle interior data receiving module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to receive vehicle interior data from at least one vehicle interior sensor, wherein the vehicle interior data is representative of a vehicle operation mode; a vehicle interior data feature extraction module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to extract image features from the vehicle interior data, wherein the extracted image features are representative of a pattern of behavior of a vehicle operator, and wherein at least a portion of the extracted image features include three-dimensional coordinate locations of at least one joint of the vehicle operator; a previously classified vehicle interior data receiving module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive previously classified vehicle interior data, wherein the previously classified vehicle interior data is representative of known patterns of behavior of vehicle operators associated with respective vehicle operation modes, and is further representative of known three-dimensional locations of joints of vehicle operators during vehicle operator postures; and a vehicle operation mode data generation module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to generate vehicle operation mode data based on comparing the extracted image features with the previously classified vehicle interior data, including by comparing the three-dimensional coordinate locations of the at least one joint to the known three-dimensional locations, wherein the vehicle operation mode data is representative of a pattern of behaviors, and wherein a first behavior of the pattern of behaviors is weighted differently compared to a second behavior of the pattern of behaviors.

“2. The device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle interior sensor is selected from: at least one digital image sensor, at least one ultra-sonic sensor, at least one radar-sensor, at least one infrared light sensor, or at least one laser light sensor.

“3. The device as in claim 1, further comprising: a previously classified vehicle interior data image feature extraction module stored on the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to extract image features from the previously classified vehicle interior data, wherein the extracted image features from the previously classified vehicle interior data are representative of known vehicle operation modes, wherein execution of a vehicle operations mode determination module causes the processor to determine a vehicle operation mode based on a comparison of the vehicle interior data with the image features extracted from the previously classified vehicle interior data.

“4. The device as in claim 1, wherein the vehicle interior data is representative of a three-dimensional representation of at least one occupant within the vehicle interior.

“5. The device as in claim 1, wherein the image features extracted from the vehicle interior data are representative of a vehicle operation mode, wherein execution of a vehicle operation mode determination module causes the processor to determine a vehicle operation mode based on a comparison of the image features extracted from the vehicle interior data with the previously classified vehicle interior data.

“6. The device as in claim 1, wherein the current image data includes images and/or extracted image features that are representative of a vehicle occupant using a cellular telephone, a vehicle occupant looking out a vehicle side window, a vehicle occupant adjusting a vehicle radio, a vehicle occupant adjusting a vehicle heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, two vehicle occupants talking with one-another, a vehicle occupant reading a book or magazine, a vehicle occupant putting on makeup, or a vehicle occupant looking at themselves in a mirror.

“7. The device as in claim 1, wherein the previously classified image data includes images and/or extracted image features that have previously been classified as being representative of a vehicle occupant using a cellular telephone, a vehicle occupant looking out a vehicle side window, a vehicle occupant adjusting a vehicle radio, a vehicle occupant adjusting a vehicle heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, two vehicle occupants talking with one-another, a vehicle occupant reading a book or magazine, a vehicle occupant putting on makeup, or a vehicle occupant looking at themselves in a mirror.

“8. A computer-implemented method for generating vehicle operation mode data, the method comprising: receiving, at a processor, vehicle interior data from at least one vehicle interior sensor in response to the processor executing a vehicle interior data receiving module, wherein the vehicle interior data is representative of a vehicle operation mode; extracting, using the processor, image features from the vehicle interior data in response to the processor executing a vehicle interior data feature extraction module, wherein the extracted image features are representative of a pattern of behavior of a vehicle operator, and wherein at least a portion of the extracted image features include three-dimensional coordinate locations of at least one joint of the vehicle operator; receiving, at the processor, previously classified vehicle interior data in response to the processor executing a previously classified vehicle interior data receiving module, wherein the previously classified vehicle interior data is representative of known patterns of behavior of vehicle operators associated with respective vehicle operation modes, and is further representative of known three-dimensional locations of joints of vehicle operators during vehicle operator postures; and generating, using the processor, vehicle operation mode data based on comparing the extracted features with the previously classified vehicle interior data in response to the processor executing a vehicle operation mode data generation module, including by comparing the three-dimensional coordinate locations of the at least one joint to the known three-dimensional locations, wherein the vehicle operation mode data is representative of a pattern of behaviors, and wherein a first behavior of the pattern of behaviors is weighted differently compared to a second behavior of the pattern of behaviors.

“9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the at least one vehicle interior sensor is selected from: at least one digital image sensor, at least one ultra-sonic sensor, at least one radar-sensor, at least one infrared light sensor, or at least one laser light sensor.

“10. The method as in claim 8, further comprising: extracting, using the processor, image features from previously classified vehicle interior data, wherein the extracted image features from the previously classified vehicle interior data are representative of known vehicle operation modes, wherein execution of a vehicle operation mode determination module causes the processor to determine a vehicle operation mode based on a comparison of the vehicle interior data with the image features extracted from the previously classified vehicle interior data.

“11. The method as in claim 8, wherein the vehicle interior data is representative of a three-dimensional representation of at least one occupant within the vehicle interior.

“12. The method as in claim 8, wherein the image features extracted from the vehicle interior data are representative of a vehicle operation mode, wherein execution of a vehicle operation mode determination module causes the processor to determine a vehicle operation mode based on a comparison of the image features extracted from the vehicle interior data with the previously classified vehicle interior data.

“13. The method as in claim 8, wherein the vehicle interior data includes images and/or extracted image features that are representative of vehicle occupant locations/orientations, cellular telephone locations/orientations, vehicle occupant eye locations/orientations, vehicle occupant head location/orientation, vehicle occupant hand location/orientation, a vehicle occupant torso location/orientation, a seat belt location, or a vehicle seat location/orientation.

“14. The method as in claim 8, wherein the previously classified image data includes images and/or extracted image features that have previously been classified as being representative of known vehicle occupant locations/orientations, known cellular telephone locations/orientations, known vehicle occupant eye locations/orientations, known vehicle occupant head location/orientation, known vehicle occupant hand location/orientation, a known vehicle occupant torso location/orientation, a known seat belt location, or a known vehicle seat location/orientation.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Chan, Aaron Scott. Apparatuses, systems and methods for generation and transmission of vehicle operation mode data. U.S. Patent Number 11238293, filed December 26, 2019, and published online on February 1, 2022. 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=11238293.PN.&OS=PN/11238293RS=PN/11238293

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