Patent Issued for Crash Detection And Severity Classification System Implementing Emergency Assistance (USPTO 10,231,110)

2019 MAR 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL); Jacob, Michael Shawn (Le Roy, IL); Christensen, Scott T. (Salem, OR); Jordan, II, Jackie O. (Bloomington, IL); Carter, Gregory D. (Bloomington, IL); Bennett, Shawn C. (Le Roy, IL), filed on February 13, 2018, was published online on March 25, 2019.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,231,110 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: “In today’s automotive industry, vehicle crash detection systems may include proprietary systems that utilize a limited set of sensors and/or specifically designed crash indicators. Traditional accident-detection systems may use these sensors to measure the movement and/or direction of the vehicle during an accident, whether airbags have been deployed, etc.

“Vehicle manufacturers may use these accident-detection systems to detect whether an accident has occurred and to contact a call center notifying them of the occurrence of the accident. Call center staff may then attempt to contact the driver and check his condition by placing a call to the vehicle and/or contact emergency response personnel to do so.

“However, accident-detection systems add to the cost and complexity of the vehicles in which they are implemented. Additionally, not all vehicles are equipped with such systems, and many drivers are not willing to pay the ongoing costs associated with maintaining such services, which are typically subscription based.

“Therefore, accident-detection systems that are not integrated within the vehicle but still detect vehicle accidents and notify emergency services once detected are useful but present several challenges.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Various embodiments are disclosed for detecting and classifying the occurrence of events while a person is inside of a vehicle. By utilizing one or more sensors integrated into one or more mobile computing devices associated with one or more persons riding in the vehicle, sensor data measured by the one or more mobile computing devices may indicate a location and/or movement of the vehicle. Using the sensor data, the one or more mobile computing devices may determine whether the vehicle in which it is located was involved in an accident.

“Because some exceptions may exist regarding whether the occurrence of an event qualifies as one that requires emergency assistance, additional processing may be utilized to eliminate these exceptions, which helps prevent initiating a call for non-emergency events. If the event does qualify as an event requiring emergency assistance, the mobile computing device may initiate a call to relevant parties to request assistance.

“In one embodiment, a method is disclosed for (1) monitoring a plurality of sensor metrics associated with an occurrence of an event; (2) monitoring status data indicative of whether the mobile computing device is located within a vehicle during the occurrence of the event; (3) generating an event sensor profile including the plurality of sensor metrics and the status data; (4) determining whether the event requires emergency assistance based upon the event sensor profile; and (5) initiating a call from the mobile computing device to an emergency response service when the event requires emergency assistance.

“In another embodiment, a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium is disclosed that stores machine readable instructions in mobile computing device, that when executed by a processor, causes the processor to (1) monitor a plurality of sensor metrics associated with an occurrence of an event; (2) monitor status data indicative of whether the mobile computing device is located within a vehicle during the occurrence of the event; (3) generate an event sensor profile including the plurality of sensor metrics and the status data; (4) determine whether the event requires emergency assistance based upon the event sensor profile; and (5) initiate a call from the mobile computing device to an emergency response service when the event requires emergency assistance.

“In yet another embodiment, a mobile computing device is disclosed that includes a processor and a communication unit, the processor being configured to (1) monitor a plurality of sensor metrics associated with an occurrence of an event; (2) monitor status data indicative of whether the mobile computing device is located within a vehicle during the occurrence of the event; (3) generate an event sensor profile including the plurality of sensor metrics and the status data; (4) determine whether the event requires emergency assistance based upon the event sensor profile; and (5) initiate a call from the mobile computing device to an emergency response service when the event requires emergency assistance.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A computer-implemented method for placing an emergency call from a portable computing device upon detecting an event requiring emergency assistance, comprising: detecting, by one or more processors of the portable computing device, that an event has occurred based upon an analysis of data stored in an event sensor profile; determining, by one or more processors of the portable computing device, whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance when sensor metrics included in the stored event sensor profile match those associated with a vehicle crash and the stored event sensor profile further indicates that the portable computing device was located within a vehicle when the event occurred; and when it is determined that the event corresponds to one requiring emergency assistance, initiating, by one or more processors of the portable computing device, a call to an emergency response service.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device and indicates one or more of: a status of communications between the vehicle and the portable computing device; a velocity of the portable computing device; and a location of the portable computing device.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements, and wherein the determination of whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance is made based upon the pressure measurements matching a pressure pulse shape associated with airbag deployment.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements and acceleration measurements, and wherein the determination of whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance is made based upon a combination of the pressure measurements and the acceleration measurements.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein a determination is made that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the sensor metrics indicate that an exception condition has not been satisfied.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device, and wherein a determination is made that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the status data indicates that an exception condition has not been satisfied.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein the status metrics indicate a location of the portable computing device over time, and wherein the exception condition is satisfied when the location of the portable computing device at the time the event occurred is within a geofence.

“8. A portable computing device configured to initiate a call to an emergency response service upon detecting an event requiring emergency assistance, comprising: a processor configured to: detect that an event has occurred based upon analysis of data stored in an event sensor profile; determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance when sensor metrics included in the stored event sensor profile match those associated with a vehicle crash and the stored event sensor profile further indicates that the portable computing device was located within a vehicle when the event occurred; and a communication unit configured to call an emergency response service when it is determined that the event corresponds to one requiring emergency assistance.

“9. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device and indicates one or more of: a status of communications between the vehicle and the portable computing device; a velocity of the portable computing device; and a location of the portable computing device.

“10. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance based upon the pressure measurements matching a pressure pulse shape associated with airbag deployment.

“11. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements and acceleration measurements, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance based upon a combination of the pressure measurements and the acceleration measurements.

“12. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the sensor metrics indicate that an exception condition has not been satisfied.

“13. The portable computing device of claim 8, wherein the stored event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the status data indicates that an exception condition has not been satisfied.

“14. The portable computing device of claim 13, wherein the status metrics indicate a location of the portable computing device over time, and wherein the exception condition is satisfied when the location of the portable computing device at the time the event occurred is within a geofence.

“15. A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium storing machine readable instructions in portable computing device, that when executed by a processor of the portable computing device, causes the processor to: detect that an event has occurred based upon an analysis of data stored in an event sensor profile; determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance when sensor metrics included in the stored event sensor profile match those associated with a vehicle crash and the stored event sensor profile further indicates that the portable computing device was located within a vehicle when the event occurred; and when it is determined that the event corresponds to one requiring emergency assistance, initiate a call to an emergency response service.

“16. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device and indicates one or more of: a status of communications between the vehicle and the portable computing device; a velocity of the portable computing device; and a location of the portable computing device.

“17. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements, and wherein the instructions to determine whether the event requires emergency assistance further include instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance based upon the pressure measurements matching a pressure pulse shape associated with airbag deployment.

“18. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sensor metrics indicate pressure measurements and acceleration measurements, and wherein the instructions to determine whether the event requires emergency assistance further include instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether the event is one requiring emergency assistance based upon a combination of the pressure measurements and the acceleration measurements.

“19. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions to determine whether the event requires emergency assistance further include instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the sensor metrics indicate that an exception condition has not been satisfied.

“20. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the stored event sensor profile further includes status data that is generated by the portable computing device that indicate a location of the portable computing device over time, and wherein the instructions to determine whether the event requires emergency assistance further include instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine that the event is one requiring emergency assistance only when the location of the portable computing device at the time the event occurred is not within a geofence.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Call, Shawn M.; Jacob, Michael Shawn; Christensen, Scott T.; Jordan, II, Jackie O.; Carter, Gregory D.; Bennett, Shawn C. Crash Detection And Severity Classification System Implementing Emergency Assistance. U.S. Patent Number 10,231,110, filed February 13, 2018, and published online on March 25, 2019. 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=10,231,110.PN.&OS=PN/10,231,110RS=PN/10,231,110

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