Patent Issued for Driving Analysis Using Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communication (USPTO 10,414,407)

2019 SEP 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,414,407, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventor is Slusar, Mark V. (Chicago, IL).

This patent was filed on March 15, 2017 and was published online on September 30, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Many vehicles include sophisticated sensors and advanced internal computer systems designed to monitor and control vehicle operations and driving functions. Advanced vehicles systems can perform such tasks as monitoring fuel consumption and optimizing engine operation to achieve higher fuel efficiency, detecting and correcting a loss of traction on an icy road, and detecting a collision and automatically contacting emergency services. Various vehicle-based communication systems allow vehicles to communicate with other devices inside or outside of the vehicle. For example, a Bluetooth system may enable communication between the vehicle and the driver’s mobile phone. Telematics systems, such as on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems installed within vehicles, may be configured to access vehicle computers and sensor data and transmit the data to a display within the vehicle, a personal computer or mobile device, or to a centralized data processing system. Data obtained from OBD systems has been used for a variety of purposes, including maintenance, diagnosis, and analysis. Additionally, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems can be used to provide drivers with safety warnings and collision alerts based on data received from other nearby vehicles.

“When out on the road, vehicles and drivers may engage in many different types of driving behaviors, including various ‘social interactions’ with other vehicles and drivers. Some social interactions, such as proper signaling and yielding to other vehicles, characterize safe and prudent driving, while other behaviors, such as tailgating and racing may represent high-risk and unsafe driving.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventor’s 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 methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for receiving and transmitting driving data using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, analyzing driving data, determining driving behaviors of vehicles, and calculating driver scores based on the determined driving behaviors. One or more computing devices within a vehicle, such as driving analysis module or a user’s mobile device, or an external computer system, may receive vehicle driving data from multiple vehicles nearby one another. Vehicle driving data may be collected by vehicle sensors or other vehicle-based systems, and may be transmitted using one or more V2V communication techniques. Vehicle driving data from multiple vehicles may be analyzed and compared to determine various driving behaviors of the vehicles’ drivers. For example, negative driving behaviors such as tailgating, cutting-off, brake-checking, preventing another vehicle from merging, or racing, and positive driving behaviors such as proper signaling, yielding, defensive avoidance, or allowing another vehicle to merge, may be determined by analyzing the vehicles’ speeds, relative positions, distances between, and other available sensor data from one or more of the vehicles.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, driver scores may be calculated or adjusted based on the determined driving behaviors attributed to vehicle drivers. For example, vehicles/drivers engaging in positive driving behaviors indicative of safe driving may receive higher driver scores, while vehicles/drivers engaging in negative driving behaviors indicative of high-risk driving may receive lower driver scores. According to additional aspects of the disclosure, driver scores also may be calculated or adjusted based on other driver scores received or calculated for nearby vehicles.

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

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“The invention claimed is:

“1. A driving analysis computing device comprising: a processor; and a memory storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the driving analysis computing device to: determine vehicle driving data of a first vehicle using a plurality of vehicle sensors; receive vehicle driving data of a second vehicle from the second vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communications; determine a vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle by performing an analysis of at least a first portion of the first vehicle driving data; determine a vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle, based on an analysis of at least the second vehicle driving data; determine whether the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle was performed within a threshold amount of time or distance of the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle; and apply either a positive impact or a negative impact on the second vehicle or a driver of the second vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle was performed within the threshold amount of time or distance of the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle.

“2. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: determine a driver score for the first vehicle or the second vehicle, or a driver of the first or second vehicle, based on the corresponding determined vehicle driving behavior, the driver score being a measurement of driving abilities.

“3. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vehicle sensors are located in the first vehicle, and wherein the second vehicle driving data is transmitted from the second vehicle to the first vehicle, the second vehicle driving data comprising at least one of: a speed of the second vehicle; a position of the second vehicle; or a direction of travel of the second vehicle.

“4. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the second vehicle driving data transmitted from the second vehicle comprises a driver score associated with the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle, the driver score being generated based on a plurality of vehicle behaviors of the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle.

“5. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle comprises: determining a first relative position of the second vehicle with respect to the first vehicle at a first time; and determining a second relative position of the second vehicle with respect to the first vehicle at a second time after the first time.

“6. The driving analysis computing device of claim 5, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle comprises: determining that the first vehicle tailgated the second vehicle based on the first and second relative positions and the first and second times, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle comprises determining that the second vehicle changed lanes in response to the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle, and wherein applying the negative impact or the positive impact includes applying a positive impact on the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle.

“7. The driving analysis computing device of claim 5, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle comprises: determining that the first vehicle cut off the second vehicle based on the first and second relative positions and the first and second times.

“8. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vehicle sensors within the first vehicle include at least one vehicle operation sensor configured to detect at least one of: vehicle acceleration and vehicle braking.

“9. A method, comprising: determining, by a driving analysis device, vehicle driving data of a first vehicle using a plurality of vehicle sensors; receiving, by the driving analysis device, vehicle driving data of a second vehicle from the second vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communications; determining, by the driving analysis device, a vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle by performing an analysis of at least a first portion of the first vehicle driving data; determining, by the driving analysis device, a vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle, based on an analysis of at least the second vehicle driving data; determining, by the driving analysis device, whether the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle was performed within a threshold amount of time or distance of the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle; and applying either a positive impact or a negative impact on the second vehicle or a driver of the second vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle was performed within the threshold amount of time or distance of the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle.

“10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: determining a driver score for the first vehicle or the second vehicle, or a driver of the first or second vehicle, based on the corresponding determined vehicle driving behavior.

“11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second vehicle driving data received from the second vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communication comprises at least one of: a speed of the second vehicle; a position of the second vehicle; or a direction of travel of the second vehicle.

“12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second vehicle driving data received from the second vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communication comprises a driver score associated with the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle, the driver score being generated based on a plurality of driving behaviors of the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle.

“13. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle comprises: determining a first relative position of the second vehicle with respect to the first vehicle at a first time; and determining a second relative position of the second vehicle with respect to the first vehicle at a second time after the first time.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle comprises: determining that the first vehicle tailgated, cut-off, or raced against the second vehicle, based on the first and second relative positions and the first and second times, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle comprises determining that the second vehicle changed lanes in response to the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle, and wherein applying the negative impact or the positive impact includes applying a positive impact on the second vehicle or the driver of the second vehicle.

“15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the vehicle driving behavior of the second vehicle comprises: determining that the second vehicle followed the first vehicle at a safe following distance, yielded to the first vehicle, or defensively avoided the first vehicle, based on the first and second relative positions and the first and second times.

“16. A driving analysis computing device comprising: a processing unit comprising a processor; and memory storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the driving analysis computing device to: receive vehicle data transmitted by a plurality of second vehicles to a first vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communications; determine whether a vehicle driving behavior of at least one of the second vehicles, determined based on the received vehicle data, was performed within a threshold amount of time or distance of a vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle; and determine a driver score associated with the first vehicle, based on the vehicle data transmitted by the plurality of second vehicles, including the vehicle driving behavior of the at least one of the second vehicles and the vehicle driving behavior of the first vehicle.

“17. The driving analysis computing device of claim 16, wherein the vehicle data transmitted by at least one of the second vehicles comprises a driver score associated with the at least one of the second vehicles or a driver of the at least one of the second vehicles.

“18. The driving analysis computing device of claim 16, wherein the vehicle data transmitted by the at least one of the second vehicles comprises at least one of: a speed of the at least one of the second vehicles; a position of the at least one of the second vehicles; or a direction of travel of the at least one of the second vehicles.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Slusar, Mark V. Driving Analysis Using Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communication. U.S. Patent Number 10,414,407, filed March 15, 2017, and published online on September 30, 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=10,414,407.PN.&OS=PN/10,414,407RS=PN/10,414,407

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