Patent Issued for Event-based connected vehicle control and response systems (USPTO 11878643): Allstate Insurance Company

2024 FEB 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- 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 January 25, 2022, was published online on January 23, 2024, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11878643 is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors 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 the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists 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: at least one processor; and memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the server to: receive, from a first vehicle and a second vehicle respectively, first data and second data, wherein the first vehicle comprises a first plurality of sensors configured to collect the first data associated with the first vehicle and corresponding environmental conditions, and wherein the second vehicle comprises a second plurality of sensors configured to collect the second data associated with the second vehicle and corresponding conditions; identify, based on at least one of the first data and the second data, an event involving the first vehicle and the second vehicle; 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; cause the determined at-fault vehicle to transmit, to the server, a digital certificate configured to authenticate automatic processing of compensation associated with the damages resulting from the event; and based on receiving the digital certificate, 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 determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes determining causation of the event from at least one of faulty vehicle components, faulty repairs, faulty design, driver error, faulty infrastructure, and weather conditions.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes allocating a first portion of fault to the first vehicle and a second portion of fault to the second vehicle.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: store the first data, second data, the determine at-fault vehicle in an event database; and determine one or more causal trends based on stored data in the event database.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: determine an action to be taken to eliminate the causation of events; and program the action into at least one rule, wherein the at least one rule comprises one or more criteria against which collected data is compared.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: identify the action when the collected data satisfies the one or more criteria for the at least one rule.

“7. The system of claim 4, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the server to: determine that a threshold number of events have occurred based on the one or more causal trends; and determine a reactionary measure to avoid a subsequent event based on the one or more causal trends; and initiate the reactionary measure.

“8. A method comprising: receiving, from a first vehicle and a second vehicle respectively, first data and second data, wherein the first vehicle comprises a first plurality of sensors configured to collect the first data associated with the first vehicle and corresponding environmental conditions, and wherein the second vehicle comprises a second plurality of sensors configured to collect second the second data associated with the second vehicle and corresponding environment conditions; identifying, based on at least one of the first data and the second data, an event involving the first vehicle and the second vehicle; determining, 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; determining damages and associated costs resulting from the event; causing the determined at-fault vehicle to transmit, to the server, a digital certificate configured to authenticate automatic processing of compensation associated with the damages resulting from the event; and based on receiving the digital certificate, initiating the automatic processing of the compensation for at least a portion of the costs resulting from the event.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes determining causation of the event from at least one of faulty vehicle components, faulty repairs, faulty design, driver error, faulty infrastructure, and weather conditions.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes allocating a first portion of fault to the first vehicle and a second portion of fault to the second vehicle.

“11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: storing the first data, second data, the determine at-fault vehicle in an event database; and determining one or more causal trends based on stored data in the event database.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining an action to be taken to eliminate the causation of events; and programing the action into at least one rule, wherein the at least one rule comprises one or more criteria against which collected data is compared.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: identifying the action when the collected data satisfies the one or more criteria for the at least one rule.

“14. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determine that a threshold number of events have occurred based on the one or more causal trends; and determine a reactionary measure to avoid a subsequent event based on the one or more causal trends; and initiate the reactionary measure.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a first vehicle and a second vehicle respectively, first data and second data, wherein the first vehicle comprises a first plurality of sensors configured to collect the first data associated with the first vehicle and corresponding environmental conditions, and wherein the second vehicle comprises a second plurality of sensors configured to collect second the second data associated with the second vehicle and corresponding environment conditions; identifying, based on at least one of the first data and the second data, an event involving the first vehicle and the second vehicle; determining, 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; determining damages and associated costs resulting from the event; causing the determined at-fault vehicle to transmit, to the server, a digital certificate configured to authenticate automatic processing of compensation associated with the damages resulting from the event; and based on receiving the digital certificate, initiating the automatic processing of the compensation for at least a portion of the costs resulting from the event.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes determining causation of the event from at least one of faulty vehicle components, faulty repairs, faulty design, driver error, faulty infrastructure, and weather conditions.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining which vehicle of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is at-fault in the event includes allocating a first portion of fault to the first vehicle and a second portion of fault to the second vehicle.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: storing the first data, second data, the determine at-fault vehicle in an event database; and determining one or more causal trends based on stored data in the event database.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: determining an action to be taken to eliminate the causation of events; and programing the action into at least one rule, wherein the at least one rule comprises one or more criteria against which collected data is compared.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: identifying the action when the collected data satisfies the one or more criteria for the at least one rule.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Gibson, Timothy W. Event-based connected vehicle control and response systems. U.S. Patent Number 11878643, filed January 25, 2022, and published online on January 23, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11878643)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)