Patent Issued for Event-based connected vehicle control and response systems (USPTO 11230243): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 FEB 14 (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 Gibson, Timothy W. (Barrington, IL, US), Kumar, Surender (Palatine, IL, US), Marlow, Clint J. (Barrington, IL, US), Slusar, Mark V. (Chicago, IL, US), Wiklund, Chris (Downers Grove, IL, US), filed on December 5, 2019, was published online on January 25, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11230243, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Often, an event occurs involving one or more vehicles. Numerous entities may be involved in the aftermath of an event, elongating the process of restoring the environment in which the event occurs. For example, one or more additional vehicles are often drawn to an event to clear and/or repair damage to the vehicles and/or environment. Currently, the vehicles involved in the event, or in the vicinity, do little to impact such restoration and instead are a burden on the restoration process”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors 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 identifying events including vehicle and/or infrastructure accidents and/or near misses, determining an at-fault party involved in the events, and automatically initiating a response to the at-fault determination. An example system comprises a first vehicle comprising a first plurality of vehicle operation sensors to detect vehicle and environment parameters, a second vehicle comprising a second plurality of vehicle operation sensors, and a server comprising at least one processor, and memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the server to identify an occurrence of an event involving the first vehicle and the second vehicle, store first data acquired by the first plurality of vehicle operation sensors for a first threshold amount of time prior to the event, during the occurrence of the event, and for a second threshold amount of time after the event, store second data acquired by the second plurality of vehicle operation sensors for a third threshold amount of time prior to the event, during the occurrence of the event, and for a fourth threshold amount of time after the event, identify, based on the first data and the second data, which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault, aggregate the first data and second data into an event report, and initiate a response via a system associated with the vehicle identified as at-fault.

“An example apparatus comprises one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to at least identify the occurrence of an event, store first data corresponding to apparatus operation for a first threshold amount of time prior to the event, during the occurrence of the event, and for a second threshold amount of time after the event, determine whether a responsive object is involved in or near the event, in response to determining that the responsive object is involved in or near the event, transmit the first data to the responsive object, and receive, from the responsive object, second data, analyze the first data and the second data to determine an at-fault party involved in the event, aggregate the first data and second data into an event report, and cause, automatically, a response to be initiated through a system associated with the at-fault party involved in the event.

“An example method comprises identifying the occurrence of an event, storing first data corresponding to apparatus operation for a first threshold amount of time prior to the event, during the occurrence of the event, and for a second threshold amount of time after the event, determining whether a responsive object is involved in or near the event, in response to determining that the responsive object is involved in or near the event, transmitting the first data to the responsive object, and receiving, from the responsive object, second data, analyzing the first data and the second data to determine an at-fault party involved in the event, aggregating the first data and second data into an event report, and causing, automatically, a response to be initiated through a system associated with the at-fault party involved in the event.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: a first vehicle comprising a first plurality of sensors configured to collect first data associated with the first vehicle and corresponding environmental conditions; a second vehicle comprising a second plurality of sensors configured to collect second data associated with the second vehicle and corresponding environment conditions; and a server comprising: at least one processor; and memory comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the server to: receive, from the first vehicle and the second vehicle respectively, the first data and the second data; identify, based on at least one of the first data and the second data, an event involving the first vehicle and the second vehicle; and at a time proximate to the event: determine, based on analyzing the first data and the second data, which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event; determine damages and associated costs resulting from the event; retrieve, from a database, a digital certificate associated with the at-fault vehicle; determine, based on the digital certificate, a preauthorization by the at-fault vehicle for automatic processing of compensation associated with the damages resulting from the event; cause the determined at-fault vehicle to transmit, to the not-at-fault vehicle, the digital certificate, wherein the digital certificate is configured to cause, upon receipt by the not-at-fault vehicle, the automatic processing of the compensation associated with the damages resulting from the event; and based on receipt of the digital certificate by the not-at-fault vehicle, initiate the automatic processing of the compensation for at least a portion of the costs resulting from the event.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the event comprises at least one of a near miss or an accident involving at least one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to, after identifying the event: generate, based on the first data and the second data, an event avoidance maneuver; transmit, to one or more vehicles approaching the event, the event avoidance maneuver; and cause the one or more vehicles to perform the event avoidance maneuver.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to verify at least a first portion of the first data with at least a second portion of the second data.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: aggregate the first data and the second data into an event report.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital certificate is further configured to cause, upon receipt by the not-at-fault vehicle, initiation of an insurance claim, automatically, at a time proximate to the event, and under an insurance policy associated with the determined at-fault vehicle, initiation of an insurance claim for the determined damages resulting from the event.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: retrieve first insurance information associated with the first vehicle and second insurance information associated with the second vehicle, wherein initiation of the insurance claim comprises transmitting, using at least one of the first insurance information and the second insurance information, the insurance claim to an insurance provider associated with the determined at-fault vehicle.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to, after identifying the event, display a message notifying of the event via at least one of: a digital billboard in proximity to the event, an on-board display of one or more vehicles in proximity to the event, or a device associated with one or more vehicles in route to a location in proximity to the event.

“10. A first computing device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first computing device to: identify, based on analyzing first data, an event; determine whether a responsive object is involved in or near the event; and at a time proximate to the event: in response to determining that the responsive object is involved in or near the event, receive, from a second computing device associated with the responsive object, second data; analyze the first data and the second data to determine that the responsive object is an at-fault party involved in the event and to determine damages related to the event; transmit, to the second computing device, an indication that the responsive object is the at-fault party; receive, from the second computing device, a digital certificate configured to cause, upon receipt, automatic processing of compensation associated with the damages related to the event; and in response to receiving the digital certificate, automatically initiate the automatic processing of the compensation for at least a portion of the damages related to the event.

“11. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the responsive object is at least one of a vehicle or an infrastructure device.

“12. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the first computing device to receive, from a first object, the first data, wherein the first object comprises at least one of a vehicle or an infrastructure device.

“13. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first computing device to analyze the first data and the second data by inputting at least one of the first data and the second data into an autonomous vehicle operation machine learning algorithm to identify the event or to determine the at-fault party.

“14. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the event is a first event, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the first computing device to: query an event database for third data corresponding to a second event similar to the first event; and analyze the first data, the second data, and the third data to determine the at-fault party involved in the event.

“15. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the first data and the second data comprise at least one of: driver information, one or more event images, vehicle information, time of event, location of one or more vehicles, speed, sensor data from one or more vehicles involved in the event, location data, one or more environmental conditions, vehicle control status information, vehicle onboard telematics data, driver behavior information, or insurance information.

“16. The first computing device of claim 10, wherein the compensation for the at least a portion of the damages related to the event comprises a credit for repair or replacement of an object damaged as a result of the event.

“17. A first computing device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first computing device to: receive, from a server, a request for at least one of operational or environmental data; transmit, to the server, the at least one of operational or environmental data; receive, from the server, an indication that an object associated with the first computing device is an at-fault party involved in an event and information identifying another object involved in the event; retrieve, from a database, a digital certificate associated with the object; and transmit, to a second computing device associated with the other object involved in the event, the digital certificate, wherein the digital certificate is configured to cause, upon receipt by the second computing device, automatic processing of compensation associated with damages related to the event.

“18. The first computing device of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the first computing device to: receive, from the server, an event report related to the event; and determine, based on one or more of the event report or the digital certificate, whether insurance coverage associated with an insurance policy associated with the object is to cover at least a portion of the damages related to the event.

“19. The first computing device of claim 17, wherein the first computing device is an on-board vehicle computing device and the object is a vehicle comprising the on-board vehicle computing device.

“20. The first computing device of claim 17, wherein the first computing device is an infrastructure device and the object comprises at least one of a toll booth, a rail road crossing, a road-side traffic monitoring device, or a traffic signals.”

For more information, see this patent: Gibson, Timothy W. Event-based connected vehicle control and response systems. U.S. Patent Number 11230243, filed December 5, 2019, and published online on January 25, 2022. 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=11230243.PN.&OS=PN/11230243RS=PN/11230243

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