Patent Issued for Driving event data analysis (USPTO 12002308): Allstate Insurance Company
2024 JUN 26 (NewsRx) -- By a
The patent’s assignee for patent number 12002308 is
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Telematics includes the use of technology to communicate information from one location to another. Telematics has been used for various applications, including for the exchange of information with electronic sensors. As telematics technology has progressed, various communication methodologies have been incorporated into automobiles and other types of vehicles.
“Telematics systems such as on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems may be used in automobiles and other vehicles. OBD systems may provide information from the vehicle’s on-board computers and sensors, allowing users to monitor a wide variety of information relating to the vehicle systems, such as engine RPM, emissions control, coolant temperature, vehicle speed, timing advance, throttle position, and oxygen sensing, and many other types of data. Telematics devices installed within vehicles may be configured to access the 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.”
As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents 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 methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for analyzing vehicle operation data, or driving data, and calculating or adjusting a driver score based on the analyzed driving data. One or more computing devices within a vehicle, for example, a telematics device, may be configured to collect vehicle operational data and transmit the data to a vehicle operation computer system or a driving analysis server. Vehicle operational data may include various data collected by the vehicle’s internal sensors, computers, and cameras, such as the vehicle’s speed, rates of acceleration, braking, or steering, impacts to the vehicle, usage of vehicle controls, and other vehicle operational data. Based on the vehicle operational data, the driving analysis server may be configured to identify one or more potentially high-risk or unsafe driving events at a vehicle, for example, an occurrence of sudden braking or swerving, an impact to the vehicle, speeding, or a moving violation, etc. Additional image data, video data, and/or object proximity data may be received from one or more data sources in order to analyze the potentially high-risk or unsafe driving event. A driver score may be calculated or adjusted for one or more vehicles or drivers based on the driving event and the analysis of the image, video, or proximity data.
“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the image, video, or proximity data from the vehicle’s internal cameras and sensors, internal cameras and sensors of other nearby vehicles, or image and video data from traffic cameras or other data sources may be used to determine one or more causes of the driving event. Data metrics may be calculated based on the image, video, and proximity data, and may be compared to one or more thresholds to determine causes of driving events. For example, a sudden occurrence of swerving or braking, an impact to the vehicle, or a moving violation may be caused by an obstruction in the path of the vehicle, adverse road conditions or weather conditions, poor visibility, an obstructed traffic sign or signal, or an electrical or mechanical malfunction within the vehicle, etc. Additional potential causes of driving events include high-risk or unsafe driving behavior, such as speeding, tailgating, and distracted drivers.
“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“1. A driving analysis device comprising: a processing unit comprising a processor; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the driving analysis device to: receive a driver score associated with a driver of a first vehicle; receive first vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within the first vehicle, wherein the driving analysis device is located on the first vehicle; analyze the received first vehicle driving data to identify an occurrence of a vehicle driving event, the vehicle driving event being at least one of: of sudden braking by the first vehicle, swerving by the first vehicle, or an impact by the first vehicle, based on the first vehicle driving data; determine a time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event; retrieve, based on the time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event and from one or more data sources, at least one of image data, video data and/or proximity data associated with the occurrence of the vehicle driving event; analyze the retrieved at least one of: image data, video data and/or proximity data to determine whether an external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event can be identified; responsive to determining that the external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event cannot be identified: adjusting the driver score; responsive to determining that the external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event can be identified: retrieve additional driver data; analyze the retrieved additional driver data to determine road conditions; responsive to determining the additional driver data corresponds to first road conditions, compare the additional driver data to a first set of driving metric thresholds; responsive to determining the additional driver data corresponds to second road conditions, compare the additional drive data to a second set of driving metric thresholds; responsive to determining, based on the comparing, that the additional driver data was less than one of the first set of driving metric thresholds and second set of driving metric thresholds, determining that the external cause was not at least one of unsafe or high-risk driving and maintaining the driver score; responsive to determining, based on the comparing, that the additional driver data was greater than one of the first set of driving metric thresholds and second set of driving metric thresholds, determining that the external cause was at least one of the unsafe or the high-risk driving and adjusting the driver score; and transmitting a report of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event to an external system if the identified external cause corresponds to at least one of the high-risk or the unsafe driving by the driver of the first vehicle.
“2. The driving analysis device of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the driving analysis device to: using the determined time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event, identify a first traffic camera in a vicinity of the first vehicle at the time of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event; and retrieve at least one of the image data, the video data and/or the proximity data from the first traffic camera.
“3. The driving analysis device of claim 1, wherein the driving analysis device is located within the first vehicle, and wherein if the identified external cause of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event by the first vehicle corresponds to something other than at least one of the high-risk or the unsafe driving, the driving analysis device is configured not to transmit the report of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event by the first vehicle to the external system.
“4. The driving analysis device of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the driving analysis device to: using the determined time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event, retrieve at least one of traffic data, weather data, or road condition data corresponding to the determined time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event from one or more external data sources; and analyze the traffic data, weather data, or road condition data retrieved from the one or more external data sources to determine whether the external cause of the vehicle driving event can be identified.
“5. The driving analysis device of claim 1, wherein the first set of driving metric thresholds and the second set of driving metric thresholds each include a speed metric and a braking metric.
“6. The driving analysis device of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the driving analysis device to: calculate a visibility metric based on the analysis of the retrieved at least one of: image data, video data and/or proximity data.
“7. The driving analysis device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event can be identified further includes: determining, based on the analysis of the at least one of: image data, video data and/or proximity data, that at least one of a road obstruction, adverse road conditions, adverse weather conditions, or poor visibility was a cause of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event.
“8. A driving analysis system comprising a first vehicle on-board data recording system and a driving analysis server: wherein the first vehicle on-board data recording system comprises: one or more vehicle operation sensors configured to record data of a first type at a first vehicle, the data of the first type including vehicle operation data; one or more cameras or object proximity sensors configured to record data of a second type at the first vehicle, the second type being different from the first type; and one or more telematics devices configured to transmit the data of the first type and the data of the second type from the first vehicle to the driving analysis server, wherein the driving analysis server comprises a processor and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the driving analysis server to: receive a driver score associated with a driver of the first vehicle; receive first data of the first type from the one or more telematics devices of the first vehicle on-board data recording system; identify an occurrence of a vehicle driving event based on the first data; determine a time and location of the vehicle driving event; in response to identifying the occurrence of the vehicle driving event, receive data of the second type from the one or more telematics devices of the first vehicle on-board data recording system, wherein the received data of the second type is associated with the occurrence of the vehicle driving event; analyze the data of the second type to determine whether an external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event can be identified; responsive to determining that the external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event cannot be identified: adjusting the driver score; responsive to determining that the external cause for the occurrence of the vehicle driving event can be identified: retrieve additional driver data; analyze the retrieved additional driver data to determine road conditions; responsive to determining the additional driver data corresponds to first road conditions, compare the additional driver data to a first set of driving metric thresholds; responsive to determining the additional driver data corresponds to second road conditions, compare the additional drive data to a second set of driving metric thresholds; responsive to determining, based on the comparing, that the additional driver data was less than one of the first set of driving metric thresholds and second set of driving metric thresholds, determining that the external cause was not at least one of unsafe or high-risk driving and maintaining the driver score; responsive to determining, based on the comparing, that the additional driver data was greater than one of the first set of driving metric thresholds and second set of driving metric thresholds, determining that the external cause was at least one of the unsafe or the high-risk driving and adjusting the driver score; and transmit a report of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event to an external system if the identified external cause corresponds to at least one of the high-risk or the unsafe driving by the driver of the first vehicle.
“9. The driving analysis system of claim 8, the driving analysis server storing additional computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the driving analysis server to: using the determined time and location of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event, identify a first traffic camera in a vicinity of the first vehicle at the time of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event; and retrieve the data of the second type from the first traffic camera.
“10. The driving analysis system of claim 8, wherein receiving the data of the second type comprises: in response to identifying the occurrence of the vehicle driving event, retrieving data of the second type collected by at least one camera or proximity sensor of the first vehicle.
“11. The driving analysis system of claim 8, wherein if the identified external cause of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event by the first vehicle corresponds to something other than at least one of the high-risk or the unsafe driving, the driving analysis server is configured not to transmit the report of the occurrence of the vehicle driving event by the first vehicle to the external system.
“12. The driving analysis system of claim 8, wherein the first set of driving metric thresholds and the second set of driving metric thresholds each include a speed metric and a braking metric.”
There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.
For additional information on this patent, see: Brinkmann, Margaret A. Driving event data analysis.
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