Patent Issued for Method and system for creating driver telematic signatures (USPTO 11037378)

2021 JUL 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Brooks, Travis R. (La Mesa, CA, US), Chan, Neil G. (Victoria, CA), Wells, Mark A. (San Diego, CA, US), filed on April 18, 2019, was published online on June 15, 2021.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11037378 is IGEN Networks Corp. (San Diego, California, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “A “habit” is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has becomes involuntary. Many drivers of vehicles start driving at a very early age (e.g., 16, etc.) and develop regularly followed driving habits that are practiced each and every time they drive a vehicle.

“For automobile insurers, driver telematics represent a way to quantify risks associated with driver driving specific vehicles. Instead of making insurance pricing and safety decisions on vehicle and driver characteristics, driver telematics gives the automobile insurer and a driver’s parents, guardian, spouse, etc. an opportunity to measure a quantity and quality of a driver’s behavior. This can lead to savings for safe or infrequent drivers, and transition the burden to insurance policies that represent increased liability for drivers exhibiting risky behaviors while driving.

“Statistical evidence supports the argument that drivers perform better and follow safer practices when enrolled in a usage based insurance program, with the understanding that their driving performance is being analyzed. With driver behavior monitoring technology, good driving behavior can be supported in a number of different ways in this type of program, reinforcing habits that can lower the frequency and severity of accidents and claims. For example, if feedback from an On-board diagnostics (OBD) device, or smartphone application can point out to a driver that his or her late-braking behavior is likely to result in rear-ending another vehicle, the driver will often respond to this information by changing this behavior and braking earlier. Recognizing problem driving behaviors and their corresponding relationship to accidents can be a strong motivator to improve driver behavior.

“As another example, speeding is a driving behavior frequently associated with younger, inexperienced drivers. Using an event data recorder that generated in-vehicle alerts to a driver who was speeding and parent notifications of young driver who were speeding reduced a rate of safety-relevant events over 70% in one study. Incidences of speeding by young drivers on routes with fatalities were also reduced by about 15%.

“By identifying problems with driver behavior, insurers and others are then able to address a root cause of a driving problem. For example, if the data shows that a driver has repeated instances of harsh acceleration and then braking, the insurer might conclude that tailgating or distracted driving is an underlying driving issue. After identifying the cause of the driving problem, the insurer and others can then take steps (i.e., notifications, providing information about distracted driving, etc.) to change driving behavior before it leads to a serious incident on the road.

“Better driving habits generally minimizes a severity of accidents when they do occur. Less severe accidents diminish the chances of personal injury and disability claims, one of the most expensive propositions for insurers. So, making positive changes in driving behavior is an important step in cutting the severity of automotive accidents. Such driving habits can be recorded within a vehicle from an On-board diagnostics (OBD) device.

““On-board diagnostics (OBD)” is a term referring to a vehicle’s self-diagnostic and reporting capability. OBD systems give the vehicle owner or repair technician access to the status of the various vehicle sub-systems. The amount of diagnostic information available via OBD has varied widely since its introduction in the early 1980s’ versions of on-board vehicle computers. Early versions of OBD would simply illuminate a malfunction indicator light if a problem was detected but would not provide any information as to the nature of the problem. Modern OBD implementations use a standardized digital communications port to provide real-time data in addition to a standardized series of diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs), which allow one to rapidly identify and remedy malfunctions within the vehicle.

“All cars manufactured after 1996 are required to have an OBD-2 port. The OBD-2 standard specifies the type of diagnostic connector and its pin locations, the electrical signaling protocols available, and the messaging format. It also provides a candidate list of vehicle parameters to monitor along with how to encode the data for each. There is a pin in the connector that provides power for the scan tool from the vehicle battery, which eliminates the need to connect a scan tool to a power source separately. However, some technicians might still connect the scan tool to an auxiliary power source to protect data in the unusual event that a vehicle experiences a loss of electrical power due to a malfunction. As a result of this standardization, a device such as a wireless application can query the on-board computer(s) in any vehicle via the OBD-2.

“OBD-2 ports have been routinely been used for safety purposes. Such OBD-2 devices are used to monitor driving habits, prevent phone use or texting during driving, etc.

“OBD-2 devices have also been routinely used for usage-based insurance, also known as “pay as you drive” (PAYD) and “pay how you drive” (PHYD) and whereby the costs of motor insurance are dependent upon type of vehicle used, measured against time, distance, behavior and place.

“For example, using a small device that connects to an OBD-2 port, ESURANCE DRIVESENSE™ allows policyholders to track a variety of driving habits, from how much time they spend behind the wheel, to unsafe driving habits like speeding and sudden braking. Depending on how safely they drive, DRIVESENSE could save them money on their car insurance.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, some of the problems associated some of the problems associated collecting driver habits creating driver telematic signatures are overcome. A method and system of method and system for creating driver telematic signatures is presented.

“The driver telematic signatures include device-independent and vehicle-independent, artificial intelligence (AI) analyzed and dynamic Big Data set (e.g., 100,000-1 Million+data values) calibrated, driver safety scoring system. The driver telematics signatures are created and used in real-time from a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) on a cloud server network device and a cloud communications network that communicates with a driver’s vehicle when it is on and moving. The driver telematics signatures provide current driver performance data, driver habit data and allow determination in real-time of drivers performing risky driver maneuvers. The driver telematics signature are also used to determine a cost of insurance for vehicles.

“The foregoing and other features and advantages of preferred embodiments of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description. The detailed description proceeds with references to the accompanying drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for automatically creating driver telematic signatures, comprising: receiving a first set of one or more wireless messages on a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) on a cloud server network device with one or more processors via a cloud communications network from a vehicle, wherein the first set of one or more wireless message is sent from: (1) a first network device with one or more processors plugged into a port on the vehicle, or (2) from a second network device within the vehicle with one or more processors, wherein the vehicle is turned on and is moving; creating in real-time with the SaaS on the cloud server network device a first driver telematic signature including a first set of a plurality of telematic values for a driver of the vehicle including initial driver performance data, initial driver habit data and an initial set of driving maneuvers, the first driver telematic signature created with the information from the first set of one or more messages, and with an initial Big Data set with X-number of set members, wherein the X-number of set members in the Big Data set include telematic signature values collected from other drivers, wherein X is a positive number greater than at least 100,000, and with a plurality of Big Data set analytic methods, the initial Big Data set including a plurality of initial driver telematic signature information values created with the plurality of Big Data set analytic methods comprising: predictive analytic methods, driver behavior analytic methods, vehicle performance analytic methods, weather analytic methods, road condition analytic methods, terrain analytic methods and cultural analytic methods, the methods computing values for the initial Big Data set with the X-number of set members, the first driver telematic signature independent of how components in the first network device plugged into the port on the vehicle operate, or independent of how components the second network device within the vehicle operate, and independent of a vehicle type; adding with the SaaS to one or more cloud databases associated with the cloud server network device, the first driver telematic signature values to the initial Big Data creating a dynamic Big Data set; sending in real-time the first driver telematic signature with the first set of the plurality of telematic values in a first SaaS wireless message with the SaaS from the cloud server network device to the vehicle via the cloud communications network; (a) receiving continuously another set of one or more wireless messages on the SaaS on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network from the vehicle; (b) creating continuously in real-time as long as the vehicle is on and is moving with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) application in real-time on the SaaS on the cloud server network device, a subsequent driver telematic signature, including another set of a plurality of telematic values for the driver of the vehicle comprising current driver performance data, current driver habit data and a current set of driver maneuvers, by analyzing via one or more AI methods on the AI application, with the information from the another set of the plurality of messages, with the dynamic Big Data set, and with the plurality of Big Data set analytic methods, the subsequent driver telematic signature also independent of how the components on the first network device plugged into the port on the vehicle operate, or also independent of how the components of the second network device within the vehicle operate and also independent of the vehicle type; © adding with the SaaS the another set of driver telematic signature values to the dynamic Big Data set stored in the one or more cloud databases associated with the SaaS on the cloud server network device; (d) sending in real-time the created subsequent driver telematic signature for the driver in another SaaS wireless message from the SaaS from the cloud server network device to the vehicle via the cloud communications network; and repeating steps (a) through (d) in real-time as long as the vehicle is on and is moving, thereby providing a device-independent and vehicle-independent, AI analyzed and dynamic Big Data set calibrated, driver safety scoring system, with the SaaS on the cloud server network device and the cloud communications network.

“2. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions configured for causing one or more processors on one or more network devices to execute a plurality of steps comprising: receiving a first set of one or more wireless messages on a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) on a cloud server network device with one or more processors via a cloud communications network from a vehicle, wherein the first set of one or more wireless message is sent from: (1) a first network device with one or more processors plugged into a port on the vehicle, or (2) from a second network device within the vehicle with one or more processors, wherein the vehicle is turned on and is moving; creating in real-time with the SaaS on the cloud server network device a first driver telematic signature including a first set of a plurality of telematic values for a driver of the vehicle including initial driver performance data, initial driver habit data and an initial set of driving maneuvers, the first driver telematic signature created with the information from the first set of one or more messages, and with an initial Big Data set with X-number of set members, wherein the X-number of set members in the Big Data set include telematic signature values collected from other drivers, wherein X is a positive number greater than at least 100,000, and with a plurality of Big Data set analytic methods, the initial Big Data set including a plurality of initial driver telematic signature information values created with the plurality of Big Data set analytic methods comprising: predictive analytic methods, driver behavior analytic methods, vehicle performance analytic methods, weather analytic methods, road condition analytic methods, terrain analytic methods and cultural analytic methods, the methods computing values for the initial Big Data set with the X-number of set members, the first driver telematic signature independent of how components in the first network device plugged into the port on the vehicle operate, or independent of how components the second network device within the vehicle operate, and independent of a vehicle type; adding with the SaaS to one or more cloud databases associated with the cloud server network device, the first driver telematic signature values to the initial Big Data creating a dynamic Big Data set; sending in real-time the first driver telematic signature with the first set of the plurality of telematic values in a first SaaS wireless message with the SaaS from the cloud server network device to the vehicle via the cloud communications network; (a) receiving continuously another set of one or more wireless messages on the SaaS on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network from the vehicle; (b) creating continuously in real-time as long as the vehicle is on and is moving with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) application in real-time on the SaaS on the cloud server network device, a subsequent driver telematic signature, including another set of a plurality of telematic values for the driver of the vehicle comprising current driver performance data, current driver habit data and a current set of driver maneuvers, by analyzing via one or more AI methods on the AI application, with the information from the another set of the plurality of messages, with the dynamic Big Data set, and with the plurality of Big Data set analytic methods, the subsequent driver telematic signature also independent of how the components on the first network device plugged into the port on the vehicle operate, or also independent of how the components of the second network device within the vehicle operate and also independent of the vehicle type; © adding with the SaaS the another set of driver telematic signature values to the dynamic Big Data set stored in the one or more cloud databases associated with the SaaS on the cloud server network device; (d) sending in real-time the created subsequent driver telematic signature for the driver in another SaaS wireless message from the SaaS from the cloud server network device to the vehicle via the cloud communications network; and repeating steps (a) through (d) in real-time as long as the vehicle is on and is moving, thereby providing a device-independent and vehicle-independent, AI analyzed and dynamic Big Data set calibrated, driver safety scoring system, with the SaaS on the cloud server network device and the cloud communications network.

“3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of wireless messages sent from the vehicle includes information collected on the first network device plugged into the port on the vehicle comprising: an On-Board-Diagnostic-2 (ODB-2) device plugged into an ODB-2 port on the vehicle.

“4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of messages sent from the vehicle includes information collected from the second network device within the vehicle comprising: a smartphone, electronic tablet, wearable network device or stand-alone telematic signature network device.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Brooks, Travis R. Method and system for creating driver telematic signatures. U.S. Patent Number 11037378, filed April 18, 2019, and published online on June 15, 2021. 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=11037378.PN.&OS=PN/11037378RS=PN/11037378

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