Patent Issued for Apparatuses, systems and methods for improving operation of autonomous vehicles (USPTO 11673558): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 JUL 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Chan, Aaron Scott (Bloomington, IL, US), Sanchez, Kenneth J. (San Francisco, CA, US), filed on January 10, 2020, was published online on June 13, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11673558 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Individuals have been operating and traveling in vehicles as a means of transportation for decades. Generally, some individuals exercise more care or caution than do other individuals when operating vehicles. In particular, individuals may sometimes operate vehicles when they are unfit to do so, such as if the individuals are intoxicated or drowsy. This generally unsafe vehicle operation leads to accidents, injuries, or other negative effects.

“Recently, vehicles have experienced an increased prevalence of electronic devices and sensors capable of sensing and generating data associated with vehicle operation. However, even with this increasing prevalence, there are no existing solutions for determining when specific drivers are operating vehicles in certain situations. For example, there is no existing solution for accurately determining when an individual is unfit to drive and, if the individual is unfit, for facilitating actions that may dissuade the individual from operating the vehicle.

“Accordingly, there is an opportunity for systems and methods to leverage various data to identify individuals and determine information that may dissuade the individuals from operating vehicles.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A computer-implemented method for improving operation of an autonomous vehicle may include receiving image data from at least one image sensor located within the vehicle, analyzing, by a computer processor, the image data to identify an individual located within the vehicle, accessing sensor data from a sensor associated with the vehicle, and analyzing the sensor data to determine a current state of the individual. The method may further include, in response to analyzing the sensor data, generating an autonomous operation mode control signal, and altering an autonomous operation mode of the vehicle based on the autonomous operation mode control signal.

“In another embodiment, a system in an electronic device for improving operation of an autonomous vehicle may include a user interface, a memory configured to store non-transitory computer executable instructions, and a processor configured to interface with the memory. The processor may be configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to receive image data from at least one image sensor located within the vehicle, analyze the image data to identify an individual located within the vehicle, access sensor data from a sensor associated with the vehicle, and analyze the sensor data to determine a current state of the individual. The processor may be further configured to, in response to analyzing the sensor data, generate an autonomous operation mode control signal, and alter an autonomous operation mode of the vehicle based on the autonomous operation mode control signal.

“In a further embodiment, a device for improving operation of an autonomous vehicle may include a user interface, a memory configured to store non-transitory computer executable instructions, and a processor configured to interface with the memory. The processor may be configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to receive image data from at least one image sensor located within the vehicle, analyze the image data to identify an individual located within the vehicle, access sensor data from a sensor associated with the vehicle, and analyze the sensor data to determine a current state of the individual. The processor may be further configured to, in response to analyzing the sensor data, generate an autonomous operation mode control signal, and alter an autonomous operation mode of the vehicle based on the autonomous operation mode control signal.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of improving operation of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising: receiving, by a computer processor, user profile data, wherein the user profile data includes physical characteristics of a set of users; receiving image data from at least one image sensor located within the vehicle in response to detecting an individual sitting in a seat within the autonomous vehicle; analyzing, by the computer processor, the image data to identify a particular individual located within the vehicle based on a comparison of the image data with the user profile data; accessing (i) sensor data from a sensor associated with the vehicle, and (ii) a location history of an electronic device associated with the particular individual; analyzing the sensor data to determine a current state of the particular individual; in response to analyzing the sensor data, generating an autonomous mode control signal; altering an autonomous operation mode of the vehicle based on the autonomous mode control signal; and in response to the determined current state of the particular individual and the location history of the electronic device, automatically performing at least one function based on the user profile data for the particular individual, the performing including initiating at least one of a booking application or a transportation network application installed on the electronic device associated with the particular individual.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein accessing the sensor data from the sensor comprises: receiving a reading from a breathalyzer device used by the particular individual, the reading indicating a blood alcohol content of the particular individual; wherein analyzing the sensor data to determine the current state of the particular individual comprises: determining, based on the blood alcohol content of the particular individual, that the particular individual is intoxicated.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an environment of the vehicle or the particular individual; and determining information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual comprises: identifying, using a location module of the electronic device, a current location of the electronic device; and wherein determining the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual comprises: identifying, based on the current location of the electronic device, a lodging establishment near the current location of the electronic device.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein: the initiating includes initiating the booking application; and identifying, based on the current location of the electronic device, the lodging establishment comprises: determining, via the booking application, that there is availability at the lodging establishment.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual comprises: identifying, using a location module of the electronic device, a current location of the electronic device; and wherein determining the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual comprises: identifying, based on the current location of the electronic device, an alternative mode of transportation.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein: the initiating includes initiating the transportation network application; and identifying, based on the current location of the electronic device, the alternative mode of transportation comprises: requesting the alternative mode of transportation via the transportation network application.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual comprises: identifying a current time; and identifying, based on the location history of the electronic device, an establishment in which the electronic device was recently located.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising: generating a notification including the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, the generating comprising: identifying (i) a contact of the particular individual stored on the electronic device and (ii) contact information of the contact; and generating the notification including the contact information of the contact.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein identifying the contact of the particular individual stored on the electronic device comprises: identifying the contact as at least one of: (i) a recently-contacted contact and (ii) a frequently-contacted contact.

“11. A system for improving operation of an autonomous vehicle, comprising: a user interface; a memory configured to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and a processor configured to interface with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: receive user profile data, wherein the user profile data includes physical characteristics of a set of users; receive image data from at least one image sensor located within the vehicle in response to detecting an individual sitting in a seat within the autonomous vehicle, analyze the image data to identify a particular individual located within the vehicle based on a comparison of the image data with the user profile data, access (i) sensor data from a sensor associated with the vehicle, and (ii) a location history of an electronic device associated with the particular individual, analyze the sensor data to determine a current state of the particular individual, in response to analyzing the sensor data, generate an autonomous operation mode control signal, alter an autonomous operation mode of the vehicle based on the autonomous operation mode control signal, and in response to the determined current state of the particular individual and the location history of the electronic device, automatically perform at least one function based on the user profile data for the particular individual, the at least one function including initiating at least one of a booking application or a transportation network application installed on the electronic device associated with the particular individual.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein to access the sensor data from the sensor, the processor is configured to: receive a reading from a breathalyzer device used by the particular individual, the reading indicating a blood alcohol content of the particular individual, and wherein to analyze the sensor data to determine the current state of the particular individual, the processor is configured to: determine, based on the blood alcohol content of the particular individual, that the particular individual is intoxicated.

“13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, and determine information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual.

“14. The system of claim 13, further comprising: a location module configured to identify a current location of the electronic device; wherein to determine the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, the processor is configured to: identify, based on the current location of the electronic device, a lodging establishment near the current location of the electronic device.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein: the at least one function includes initiating the booking application; and to identify, based on the current location of the electronic device, the lodging establishment, the processor is configured to: determine, via the booking application, that there is availability at the lodging establishment.

“16. The system of claim 13, further comprising: a location module configured to identify a current location of the electronic device; wherein to determine the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, the processor is configured to: identify, based on the current location of the electronic device, an alternative mode of transportation.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein: the at least one function includes initiating the transportation network application; and to identify, based on the current location of the electronic device, the alternative mode of transportation, the processor is configured to: request the alternative mode of transportation via the transportation network application.

“18. The system of claim 13, wherein to determine the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, the processor is configured to: identify a current time, and identify, based on the location history of the electronic device, an establishment in which the electronic device was recently located.

“19. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a notification including the information associated with the environment of the vehicle or the particular individual, wherein, to generate the notification, the processor is configured to: identify (i) a contact of the particular individual stored on the electronic device and (ii) contact information of the contact, and generate the notification including the contact information of the contact.

“20. The system of claim 19, wherein to identify the contact of the particular individual stored on the electronic device, the processor is configured to: identify the contact as at least one of: (i) a recently-contacted contact and (ii) a frequently-contacted contact.”

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

For additional information on this patent, see: Chan, Aaron Scott. Apparatuses, systems and methods for improving operation of autonomous vehicles. U.S. Patent Number 11673558, filed January 10, 2020, and published online on June 13, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11673558)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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