Patent Issued for Autonomous vehicle accident and emergency response (USPTO 11645064): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 MAY 31 (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 11645064, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Bennett, Shawn C. (Le Roy, IL, US), Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL, US), Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL, US), Chan, Aaron Scott (San Jose, CA, US), Cielocha, Steven C. (Bloomington, IL, US), Csanda, Carol Marie (Hudson, IL, US), Fields, Brian Mark (Phoenix, AZ, US), Gorsuch, Stacey (Bloomington, IL, US), Huang, Chien Che (Normal, IL, US), Kohaus, Stephen (Bloomington, IL, US), Main, Craig M. (Allen, TX, US), Novak, Richard A. (Plano, TX, US), Quakenbush, Terry (Bloomington, IL, US), Wazeer, Mohamed A. (Normal, IL, US), Wollenschlager, Torri (Bloomington, IL, US), Wu, Weixin (Normal, IL, US).

This patent was filed on October 23, 2020 and was published online on May 9, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator who controls both steering and motive controls. Operator error, inattention, inexperience, misuse, or distraction leads to many vehicle accidents each year, resulting in injury and damage. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles augment vehicle operators’ information or replace vehicle operators’ control commands to operate the vehicle in whole or part with computer systems based upon information from sensors within the vehicle.

“Vehicle or automobile insurance exists to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic accidents and against liability that could arise therefrom. Typically, a customer purchases a vehicle insurance policy for a policy rate having a specified term. In exchange for payments from the insured customer, the insurer pays for damages to the insured which are caused by covered perils, acts, or events as specified by the language of the insurance policy. The payments from the insured are generally referred to as “premiums,” and typically are paid on behalf of the insured over time at periodic intervals. An insurance policy may remain “in-force” while premium payments are made during the term or length of coverage of the policy as indicated in the policy. An insurance policy may “lapse” (or have a status or state of “lapsed”), for example, when premium payments are not being paid or if the insured or the insurer cancels the policy.

“Premiums may be typically determined based upon a selected level of insurance coverage, location of vehicle operation, vehicle model, and characteristics or demographics of the vehicle operator. The characteristics of a vehicle operator that affect premiums may include age, years operating vehicles of the same class, prior incidents involving vehicle operation, and losses reported by the vehicle operator to the insurer or a previous insurer. Past and current premium determination methods do not, however, account for use of autonomous vehicle operating features. The present embodiments may, inter cilia, alleviate this and/or other drawbacks associated with conventional techniques.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may be related to autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle functionality, including driverless operation, accident avoidance, or collision warning systems. These autonomous vehicle operation features may either assist the vehicle operator to more safely or efficiently operate a vehicle or may take full control of vehicle operation under some or all circumstances. The present embodiments may also facilitate risk assessment and premium determination for vehicle insurance policies covering vehicles with autonomous operation features. For instance, a consumer may opt-in to a rewards program that rewards them, such as in the form of insurance discounts, for affirmatively sharing data related to their vehicles and/or autonomous features with an insurance provider.

“In accordance with the described embodiments, the disclosure herein generally addresses systems and methods for directing a route of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle during an emergency. A computer associated with the vehicle (such as an on-board computer, mobile device, or server communicatively connected to the vehicle) may (1) detect that an occupant of the vehicle is experiencing a medical emergency; (2) generate an indication of the detected medical emergency; (3) determine a vehicle location of the vehicle; (4) identify a medical facility based upon the vehicle location and the indication of the detected medical emergency; (5) determine one or more routes from the vehicle location to the medical facility; and/or (6) cause the vehicle to automatically travel to a medical facility along the determined one or more routes. The vehicle may be controlled by one or more autonomous operation features during travel along the determined one or more routes. Causing the vehicle to automatically travel to the medical facility may include causing the one or more autonomous operation features to engage, causing the one or more autonomous operation features to control the operation of the vehicle along the determined one or more routes to the medical facility, and/or causing the vehicle to park at an appropriate location upon arrival at the medical facility. The autonomous operation features controlling the vehicle during travel may include the following: steering, accelerating, braking, parking, pedestrian detection, artificial intelligence, vehicle navigation, vehicle positioning, and/or remote vehicle location determination.

“Some embodiment may further include communicating a message to one or more of the medical facility, a police department, a fire department, and/or a family member of the occupant. Such message may include a current location of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, the determined one or more routes to the medical facility, an estimated time of arrival of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle at the medical facility, and/or information regarding the detected medical emergency.

“In further embodiments, the medical emergency may be detected by a biometric device within the vehicle. The detected medical emergency may include one or more of a heart attack, a stroke, and/or a seizure. The vehicle location may be determined using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

“In each of the embodiments or aspects described above, the methods may be provided in corresponding computer systems including at least one or more processors and a non-transitory program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions. The computer systems may further include or be communicatively connected to one or more sensors, communication components or devices, or other equipment as described herein. In yet another aspect, a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions corresponding to each of the embodiments or aspects described above may be provided. Each of the methods or executable instructions of the computer systems or computer-readable media may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for directing a route of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle during an emergency, the method comprising: detecting, by one or more sensors disposed within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, that an occupant of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is experiencing a medical emergency; identifying, by one or more processors, a medical facility based upon a vehicle location of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; determining, by the one or more processors, one or more routes from the vehicle location to the medical facility; causing, by the one or more processors, the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to the medical facility along the determined one or more routes, wherein the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is controlled by one or more autonomous operation features during travel along the route; and transmitting, by the one or more processors, a message to at least one of the following: the medical facility, a police department, a fire department, or a family member of the occupant, wherein the message indicates the determined one or more routes to the medical facility.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the medical emergency is detected by a biometric device within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle location is determined using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the detected medical emergency includes one or more of the following: a heart attack or a stroke.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the detected medical emergency includes a stroke.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein causing the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to the medical facility further comprises: causing, by the one or more processors, the one or more autonomous operation features to engage; causing, by the one or more processors, the one or more autonomous operation features to control the operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle along the determined one or more routes to the medical facility; and causing, by the one or more processors, the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to park at an appropriate location upon arrival at the medical facility.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle perform at least one of the following functions: steering; accelerating; braking; parking; pedestrian detection; artificial intelligence; vehicle navigation; vehicle positioning; or remote vehicle location determination.

“8. A computer system for directing a route of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle during an emergency, comprising: one or more processors; one or more sensors disposed within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle and communicatively connected to the one or more processors; a communication component communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and a program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computer system to: detect that an occupant of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is experiencing a medical emergency based upon data from the one or more sensors; identify a medical facility based upon a vehicle location of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; determine one or more routes from the vehicle location to the medical facility; cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to the medical facility along the determined one or more routes, wherein the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is controlled by one or more autonomous operation features during travel along the determined one or more routes; and transmit, by the communication component, a message to at least one of the following: the medical facility, a police department, a fire department, or a family member of the occupant, wherein the message indicates the determined one or more routes to the medical facility.

“9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the one or more sensors that detect the medical emergency include a biometric device within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

“10. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver communicatively connected to the one or more processors, wherein the vehicle location is determined using the GPS receiver.

“11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the detected medical emergency includes one or more of the following: a heart attack or a stroke.

“12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the detected medical emergency includes a seizure.

“13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the executable instructions that cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to a medical facility further comprise executable instructions that cause the computer system to: cause the one or more autonomous operation features to engage; cause the one or more autonomous operation features to control the operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle along the determined one or more routes to the medical facility; and cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to park at an appropriate location upon arrival at the medical facility.

“14. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for directing a route of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle during an emergency that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to: detect that an occupant of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is experiencing a medical emergency; identify a medical facility based upon a vehicle location of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; determine one or more routes from the vehicle location to the medical facility; cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to the medical facility along the determined one or more routes, wherein the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is controlled by one or more autonomous operation features during travel along the determined one or more routes; and transmit a message to at least one of the following: the medical facility, a police department, a fire department, or a family member of the occupant, wherein the message indicates the determined one or more routes to the medical facility.

“15. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the medical emergency is detected using a biometric device within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

“16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the vehicle location is determined using a Global Positioning System (OPS) receiver.

“17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the detected medical emergency includes one or more of the following: a heart attack or a stroke.

“18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the detected medical emergency includes a seizure.

“19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the executable instructions that cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to automatically travel to a medical facility further comprise executable instructions that cause the computer system to: cause the one or more autonomous operation features to engage; cause the one or more autonomous operation features to control the operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle along the determined one or more routes to the medical facility; and cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to park at an appropriate location upon arrival at the medical facility.

“20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle perform at least one of the following functions: steering; accelerating; braking; parking; pedestrian detection; artificial intelligence; vehicle navigation; vehicle positioning; or remote vehicle location determination.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Bennett, Shawn C. Autonomous vehicle accident and emergency response. U.S. Patent Number 11645064, filed October 23, 2020, and published online on May 9, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11645064)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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