Patent Issued for Dynamically Controlling Sensors And Processing Sensor Data For Issue Identification (USPTO 10,388,089)

2019 AUG 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Civgin, Dogan (Northfield, IL); Manzella, Matthew James (Glen Ellyn, IL), filed on May 17, 2017, was published online on September 2, 2019.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,388,089, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles, such as automobiles, may stop along a roadside for various different reasons. For instance, when traveling along a highway, vehicles may stop for various reasons, such as at a rest stop, to make a phone call, to research the area, because the driver has missed an exist, or for various emergency reasons, such as a flat tire, low fuel, or other mechanical issue. Obtaining roadside assistance can be difficult when in an unfamiliar area. Accordingly, convention systems may offer roadside assistance. However, these conventional systems often do not distinguish between vehicles being stopped for an urgent situation or a non-urgent situation. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to identify a type of issue causing a vehicle to stop and provide different types of assistance based on the type of issue.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure related to systems and arrangements for receiving (e.g., in real-time) first data associated with a location of a vehicle. The first data may be analyzed (e.g., in real-time) to determine the location of the vehicle and determine whether the vehicle is currently located on a highway. In some examples, the determined location of the vehicle may cause the system to transmit instructions or commands controlling or modifying an amount or type of data collected by sensors in a user computing device, a vehicle, or the like, and/or transmitted to a system, such as a breakdown detection computing platform, for processing.

“If the vehicle is determined to be on a highway, the system may then determine (e.g., in real-time) whether the vehicle is stopped. If so, the system may determine (e.g., in real-time) a reason for the vehicle stopping (e.g., an urgent situation vs. a non-urgent situation). In some examples, this determination may be made based on a scan of diagnostic codes associated with the vehicle, data from other vehicles in the area, and the like.

“Upon determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent reason, the system may transmit a request for roadside assistance to a service provider computing device. In addition, the system may generate a first type of notification including an indication that a request for roadside assistance has been placed, an estimated time of arrival of assistance, and the like.

“Upon determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, the system may generate and transmit a second type of notification for display. The second type of notification may include an offer to request roadside assistance, information about the surrounding area, and the like.

“The arrangements described may also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard, other embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. The details of these and other embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A breakdown detection computing platform, comprising: at least one processor; a communication interface; and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the breakdown detection computing platform to: receive, in real-time, first data associated with a vehicle; analyze the first data to determine a location of the vehicle; determine, based on the location of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is on a highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not on a highway, controlling one of an amount or type of data received by the breakdown detection computing platform to limit an amount or type of data received and analyzed to a first amount or type; responsive to determining that the vehicle is on a highway, controlling one of an amount or type of data to increase an amount or type of data received by the breakdown detection computing platform to a second amount or type of data, the second amount being greater than the first amount; receive, in real-time, second data associated with the vehicle; analyze the second data to determine whether the vehicle is stopped; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not stopped, continue to receive the second amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped, determining whether the vehicle has exited the highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle has exited the highway, controlling the amount or type of data received to limit the amount or type of data to the first amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle has not exited the highway, determine whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generate and transmit a first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generate and transmit a second type of notification different from the first type of notification.

“2. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the breakdown detection computing platform to: receive, in real-time and via vehicle-to-vehicle communications, data related to a speed of other vehicles at the determined location of the vehicle; analyze the received data related to the speed of the other vehicles to determine whether the other vehicles are stopped; responsive to determining that the other vehicles are stopped, determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation and generating and transmitting the second type of notification; and responsive to determining that the other vehicles are not stopped, determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason and generating and transmitting the first type of notification.

“3. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the breakdown detection computing platform to: scan diagnostic codes of the vehicle; determine, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generate and transmit the first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generate and transmit the second type of notification.

“4. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 3, wherein determining, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason further includes: determining, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes, that no diagnostic codes are activated; and responsive to determining that no diagnostic codes have been activated, determining that the vehicle has stopped for a non-urgent situation reason.

“5. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, wherein the urgent situation reason is at least one of: low tire pressure, low fuel, low battery power, and low oil level.

“6. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, wherein first type of notification includes an indication that a request for roadside assistance has been submitted.

“7. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, wherein the second type of notification includes at least one of: an option to request roadside assistance and information about an area surrounding the location.

“8. The breakdown detection computing platform of claim 1, wherein determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason further includes transmitting a request for assistance to a service center computing device.

“9. A method, comprising: at a computing platform comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface: receiving, by the at least one processor, via the communication interface and in real-time, first data associated with a vehicle; analyzing, by the at least one processor, the first data to determine a location of the vehicle; determining, by the at least one processor and based on the location of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is on a highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not on a highway, controlling, by the at least one processor, one of an amount or type of data received by the computing platform to limit an amount or type of data received and analyzed to a first amount or type; responsive to determining that the vehicle is on a highway, controlling, by the at least one processor, one of an amount or type of data to increase an amount or type of data received by the computing platform to a second amount or type of data, the second amount being greater than the first amount; receiving, by the at least one processor, via the communication interface and in real-time, second data associated with the vehicle; analyzing, by the at least one processor, the second data to determine whether the vehicle is stopped; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not stopped, continuing to receive the second amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped, determining, by the at least one processor whether the vehicle has exited the highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle has exited the highway, controlling, by the at least one processor, the amount or type of data received to limit the amount or type of data to the first amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle has not exited the highway, determining, by the at least one processor, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generating and transmitting a first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generating and transmitting a second type of notification different from the first type of notification.

“10. The method of claim 9, further including: receiving, in real-time and via vehicle-to-vehicle communications, data related to a speed of other vehicles at the determined location of the vehicle; analyzing, by the at least one processor, the received data related to the speed of the other vehicles to determine whether the other vehicles are stopped; responsive to determining that the other vehicles are stopped, determining, by the at least one processor, that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation and generating and transmitting the second type of notification; and responsive to determining that the other vehicles are not stopped, determining, by the at least one processor, that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason and generating and transmitting the first type of notification.

“11. The method of claim 9, further including: scanning, by the at least one processor, diagnostic codes of the vehicle; determining, by the at least one processor and based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generating and transmitting the first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generating and transmitting the second type of notification.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason further includes: determining, by the at least one processor and based on the scan of the diagnostic codes, that no diagnostic codes are activated; and responsive to determining that no diagnostic codes have been activated, determining, by the at least one processor, that the vehicle has stopped for a non-urgent situation reason.

“13. The method of claim 9, wherein the urgent situation reason is at least one of: low tire pressure, low fuel, low battery power, and low oil level.

“14. The method of claim 9, wherein first type of notification includes an indication that a request for roadside assistance has been submitted.

“15. The method of claim 9, wherein the second type of notification includes at least one of: an option to request roadside assistance and information about an area surrounding the location.

“16. The method of claim 9, wherein determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason further includes transmitting a request for assistance to a service center computing device.

“17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing platform comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface, cause the computing platform to: receive, in real-time, first data associated with a vehicle; analyze the first data to determine a location of the vehicle; determine, based on the location of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is on a highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not on a highway, controlling one of an amount or type of data received by the computing platform to limit an amount or type of data received and analyzed to a first amount or type; responsive to determining that the vehicle is on a highway, controlling one of an amount or type of data to increase an amount or type of data received by the breakdown detection computing platform to a second amount or type of data, the second amount being greater than the first amount; receive, in real-time, second data associated with the vehicle; analyze the second data to determine whether the vehicle is stopped; responsive to determining that the vehicle is not stopped, continue to receive the second amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped, determining whether the vehicle has exited the highway; responsive to determining that the vehicle has exited the highway, controlling the amount or type of data received to limit the amount or type of data to the first amount or type of data; responsive to determining that the vehicle has not exited the highway, determine whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generate and transmit a first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generate and transmit a second type of notification different from the first type of notification.

“18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the computing platform to: receive, in real-time and via vehicle-to-vehicle communications, data related to a speed of other vehicles at the determined location of the vehicle; analyze the received data related to the speed of the other vehicles to determine whether the other vehicles are stopped; responsive to determining that the other vehicles are stopped, determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation and generating and transmitting the second type of notification; and responsive to determining that the other vehicles are not stopped, determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason and generating and transmitting the first type of notification.

“19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the computing platform to: scan diagnostic codes of the vehicle; determine, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason; responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason, generate and transmit the first type of notification; and responsive to determining that the vehicle is stopped for a non-urgent situation reason, generate and transmit the second type of notification.

“20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein determining, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes of the vehicle, whether the vehicle is stopped for an urgent situation reason or a non-urgent situation reason further includes: determining, based on the scan of the diagnostic codes, that no diagnostic codes are activated; and responsive to determining that no diagnostic codes have been activated, determining that the vehicle has stopped for a non-urgent situation reason.”

For more information, see this patent: Civgin, Dogan; Manzella, Matthew James. Dynamically Controlling Sensors And Processing Sensor Data For Issue Identification. U.S. Patent Number 10,388,089, filed May 17, 2017, and published online on September 2, 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=10,388,089.PN.&OS=PN/10,388,089RS=PN/10,388,089

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