Patent Issued for Automatic Crash Detection (USPTO 10,650,617)

2020 MAY 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Schmitt, Kyle Patrick (Chicago, IL); Harish, Pratheek M. (Chicago, IL); Tammali, Venu Madhav (Chicago, IL); Layne, Larry (Chicago, IL); Ferguson, Dana (Chicago, IL), filed on August 21, 2018, was published online on May 25, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,650,617 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: “Typically, drivers of vehicles involved in crashes (or in some cases, emergency personnel) report crashes to insurance providers days or even weeks after the crash. The delay in reporting crashes often results in a delay in processing insurance claims. The information that the driver gives to his or her insurance provider after the fact might also be incomplete or vague. For example, the driver might have forgotten the location of the accident.”

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 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 systems, methods, and computing devices, such as a mobile computing device comprising an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer, communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices, a processor, and/or memory. The memory may store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to receive, from the accelerometer, a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer during a time window comprising a predetermined duration. The processor may determine, for each acceleration measurement of the plurality of acceleration measurements, a corresponding acceleration magnitude. The processor may identify, from the plurality of acceleration measurements, an acceleration measurement having an acceleration magnitude that satisfies a metric. The identification may be based on the corresponding acceleration magnitude for each acceleration measurement of the plurality of acceleration measurements. The processor may determine whether the acceleration magnitude exceeds a threshold acceleration magnitude. After determining that the acceleration magnitude exceeds the threshold acceleration magnitude, the processor may corroborate, based on sensor measurements different from the plurality of acceleration measurements, whether a vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash. The processor may transmit, via the communication circuitry and to a server, data indicative of the acceleration magnitude and data indicative of the sensor measurements.

“In some aspects, the time window may overlap a previous time window by a predetermined amount of time. Each corresponding acceleration magnitude may be determined based on a sum of squares of acceleration measurements for three axes of the accelerometer.

“In some aspects, a metric (e.g., a criterion) may comprise a predetermined percentile, and identifying the acceleration measurement having the acceleration magnitude that satisfies the metric may comprise identifying, from the plurality of acceleration measurements, the acceleration measurement having a minimum acceleration magnitude in the predetermined percentile for the plurality of acceleration measurements.

“In some aspects, the sensor measurements may comprise deceleration data, and corroborating whether the vehicle was involved in a crash may comprise determining whether a deceleration value calculated from the deceleration data exceeds a threshold deceleration. The sensor measurements may additionally or alternatively comprise location data, and corroborating whether the vehicle was involved in a crash may comprise determining, based on the location data, whether a distance the vehicle traveled during one or more additional time windows after the time window exceeds a threshold distance.

“In some aspects, the memory may store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to, based on sensor data, determine a confidence value associated with whether the vehicle was involved in a crash. The sensor data may comprise the acceleration magnitude of the identified acceleration measurement. The confidence value may be determined based on the acceleration magnitude of the identified acceleration measurement and based on one or more of a deceleration value associated with the vehicle or a distance the vehicle traveled.

“In some aspects, determining, for each acceleration measurement of the plurality of acceleration measurements, the corresponding acceleration magnitude may be performed in response to one or more of a determination that a speed associated with the vehicle is above a first threshold speed or a determination that the speed associated with the vehicle is below a second threshold speed.

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

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A mobile computing device comprising: an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer; communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices; a processor; and memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile computing device to: receive, from the accelerometer of the mobile device, one or more acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during a first time window; compare the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to one or more acceleration thresholds; based on the comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds, determine a likelihood that a vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash; corroborate, based on one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device, the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, wherein the one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise location data, and wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining, based on the location data, whether a distance the vehicle traveled during one or more additional time windows after the first time window exceed a threshold distance; and based on corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, store data indicative of the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash.

“2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the first time window overlaps a previous time window by a predetermined amount of time.

“3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more acceleration thresholds comprise a threshold acceleration magnitude, and wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing a magnitude of an acceleration measurement of the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the threshold acceleration magnitude.

“4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more acceleration thresholds comprise a threshold number of acceleration measurements, wherein the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during the first time window, and wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing a number of the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during the first time window to the threshold number of acceleration measurements.

“5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise deceleration data, and wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining whether a deceleration value calculated from the deceleration data exceeds a threshold deceleration.

“6. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein determining the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in the crash based on an acceleration magnitude of the one or more acceleration measurements of the mobile computing device and based on of a deceleration value of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device.

“7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds based on determining that a speed of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device is above a first threshold speed or determining that the speed of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device is below a second threshold speed.

“8. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises calculating a confidence value based on the distance the vehicle traveled during the one or more additional time windows after the first time window.

“9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises calculating an overall confidence value l.sub.tot using the following equation: .times.times.times. ##EQU00003## wherein w.sub.1 is a first tuning parameter, w.sub.2 is a second tuning parameter, w.sub.3 is a third tuning parameter, and C is a fourth tuning parameter, and wherein l.sub.1 is a first confidence value associated with acceleration magnitude, l.sub.2 is a second confidence value associated with deceleration of the vehicle, and l.sub.3 is a third confidence value associated with the distance the vehicle traveled during the one or more additional time windows after the first time window.

“10. A method, comprising: at a mobile computing device comprising an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer, communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices, a processor, and memory: receiving, by the processor, from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device, one or more acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during a first time window; comparing, by the processor, the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to one or more acceleration thresholds; based on comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds, determining, by the processor, a likelihood that a vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash; corroborating, by the processor, based on one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device, the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, wherein the one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise location data, and wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining, based on the location data, whether a distance the vehicle traveled during one or more additional time windows after the first time window exceeds a threshold distance; and based on corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, storing, by the processor, data indicative of the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first time window overlaps a previous time window by a predetermined amount of time.

“12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more acceleration thresholds comprise a threshold acceleration magnitude, and wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing a magnitude of an acceleration measurement of the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the threshold acceleration magnitude.

“13. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more acceleration thresholds comprise a threshold number of acceleration measurements, wherein the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during the first time window, and wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing a number of the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during the first time window to the threshold number of acceleration measurements.

“14. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise deceleration data, and wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining whether a deceleration value calculated from the deceleration data exceeds a threshold deceleration.

“15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash based on an acceleration magnitude of the one or more acceleration measurements of the mobile computing device and based on a deceleration value of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device.

“16. The method of claim 10, wherein comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds comprises comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds based on determining that a speed of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device is above a first threshold speed or determining that the speed of the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device is below a second threshold speed.

“17. The method of claim 10, wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises calculating a confidence value based on the distance the vehicle traveled during the one or more additional time windows after the first time window.

“18. The method of claim 10, wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises calculating an overall confidence value l.sub.tot using the following equation: .times.times.times. ##EQU00004## wherein w.sub.1 is a first tuning parameter, w.sub.2 is a second tuning parameter, w.sub.3 is a third tuning parameter, and C is a fourth tuning parameter, and wherein l.sub.1 is a first confidence value associated with acceleration magnitude, l.sub.2 is a second confidence value associated with deceleration of the vehicle, and l.sub.3 is a third confidence value associated with the distance the vehicle traveled during the one or more additional time windows after the first time window.

“19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a mobile computing device comprising an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer, communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices, a processor, and memory, cause the mobile computing device to: receive, from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device, one or more acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer of the mobile computing device during a first time window; compare the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to one or more acceleration thresholds; based on comparing the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device to the one or more acceleration thresholds, determine a likelihood that a vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash; corroborate, based on one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device, the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, wherein the one or more sensor measurements different from the one or more acceleration measurements received from the accelerometer of the mobile computing device comprise location data, and wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises determining, based on the location data, whether a distance the vehicle traveled during one or more additional time windows after the first time window exceeds a threshold distance; and based on corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash, store data indicative of the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash.

“20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein corroborating the likelihood that the vehicle associated with the mobile computing device was involved in a crash comprises calculating a confidence value based on the distance the vehicle traveled during the one or more additional time windows after the first time window.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Schmitt, Kyle Patrick; Harish, Pratheek M.; Tammali, Venu Madhav; Layne, Larry; Ferguson, Dana. Automatic Crash Detection. U.S. Patent Number 10,650,617, filed August 21, 2018, and published online on May 25, 2020. 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=10,650,617.PN.&OS=PN/10,650,617RS=PN/10,650,617

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