Patent Issued for Multi-computer system for dynamically detecting and identifying hazards (USPTO 11530925): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 JAN 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11530925, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Harish, Pratheek M. (Ontario, CA), Lambert, David (La Grange, IL, US), Schmitt, Kyle Patrick (Chicago, IL, US), Shields, David Evan (Evanston, IL, US).

This patent was filed on December 13, 2019 and was published online on December 20, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “As wireless communication between various devices becomes increasingly commonplace, this communication may be used to mitigate potential damage to a user. For instance, by communicating the existence of a road hazard, a user may avoid damage to a vehicle, causing an accident, or the like. However, capturing and evaluating data in real-time in order to identify a hazard is difficult in conventional arrangements. Further, identifying users to whom the information should be communicated is often inefficient and ineffective. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a system to detect and identify hazards or obstructions, efficiently identify users and communicate information to the users.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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, systems, and apparatuses for capturing data associated with movement of a vehicle, mobile device within a vehicle and the like. In some examples, the data may be used to detect that a hazard exists. In some arrangements, additional data may be received and the aggregated data may be used to detect a hazard, identify a type of hazard, and the like.

“One or more arrangements may further identify groups of users. The groups may be based on common characteristics, similarities in driving data, relationship, physical proximity to each other or a location, and the like. Upon detection of a hazard, a group may be identified and one or more notifications may be transmitted to the group of users.

“These and 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 computing platform, comprising: a processing unit comprising a processor; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the computing platform to: identify, based on received data generated by one or more sensors associated with a vehicle and representing driving behaviors of a driver of the vehicle, at least one irregularity in a road on which the vehicle is travelling; receive, from a plurality of sources, additional data; generate one or more groups of users based on a common vehicle type identified from the additional data; identify, based on the at least one irregularity, at least one group of users of the one or more groups of users; generate a notification identifying the at least one irregularity; and transmit, using one or more wireless network connections, the generated notification to the identified at least one group of users.

“2. The computing platform of claim 1, further including: receiving data associated with a plurality of users, the received data including driving behavior data for each user of the plurality of users; and grouping users of the plurality of users into identifiable groups of users based on the received data.

“3. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the at least one irregularity includes at least one of: a pot hole and an obstruction in the road.

“4. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the driving behaviors of the driver include at least one of: swerving, hard braking, lane deviations or sudden speed changes.

“5. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the at least one irregularity in the road is identified by analyzing the received data using machine learning.

“6. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the generated notification is personalized for the identified at least one group of users.

“7. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the common vehicle type relates to a profession associated with users in the one or more groups of users.

“8. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the generated notification is personalized for the at least one group of users by including a notification of an upcoming traffic stoppage.

“9. A computing platform, comprising: a processing unit comprising a processor; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the computing platform to: identify, based on machine learning analysis of received data related to driving behaviors of a driver of a vehicle, at least one irregularity in a road on which the vehicle is travelling; receive, from a plurality of sources, additional data; generate one or more groups of users based on a type of vehicle identified from the additional data; identify, based on the at least one irregularity and the additional data and using machine learning, at least one group of users of the one or more groups of users having driving behaviors similar to the driving behaviors of the driver of the vehicle; generate a notification identifying the at least one irregularity and identifying an alternate route to avoid the identified at least one irregularity; and transmit, using one or more wireless network connections, the generated notification to the identified at least one group of users.

“10. The computing platform of claim 9, wherein the plurality of sources includes a plurality of other vehicles at or near a location of the vehicle.

“11. The computing platform of claim 9, wherein the driving behaviors of the driver include at least one of: swerving, hard braking, lane deviations or sudden speed changes.

“12. The computing platform of claim 11, wherein the data related to the driving behaviors of the driver includes data captured by one or more sensors configured to detect movement of the vehicle.

“13. The computing platform of claim 12, wherein the one or more sensors are arranged in a mobile device of the driver and wherein the one or more sensors detect movement of the mobile device and translate the movement to identified irregularities.

“14. The computing platform of claim 9, wherein the generated notification is personalized for the identified at least one group of users.

“15. The computing platform of claim 9, wherein the alternate route is customized for the at least one group of users.

“16. A method, comprising: receiving, by a computing device having a processor and memory, sensor data from a plurality of sensors detecting movement of a vehicle; analyzing, by the processor, the received sensor data to identify one or more driving behaviors of a driver of the vehicle; identifying, by the processor and based on machine learning analysis of the analyzed sensor data, at least one irregularity in a road on which the vehicle is travelling; receiving, by the processor and from a plurality of sources, additional data; generating, by the processor, at least one group of users based on a common vehicle type identified from the additional data; identifying, by the processor using machine learning and based on the at least one irregularity and the additional data, a plurality of vehicles within a predefined distance of the vehicle; identifying, by the processor, users associated with the plurality of vehicles and in the at least one group of users; generating, by the processor, a notification identifying the at least one irregularity; and transmitting, by the processor and using one or more wireless network connections, the generated notification to the plurality of vehicles within the predefined distance of the vehicle and associated with users in the at least one group of users.

“17. The method of claim 16, further including transmitting the generated notification from the vehicle to the plurality of vehicles.

“18. The method of claim 16, wherein the generated notification is personalized for the identified at least one group of users.

“19. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of sensors is arranged in a mobile device of the driver.

“20. The method of claim 16, wherein the common vehicle type includes at least one of a first responder vehicle, a bus, or a fleet vehicle.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Harish, Pratheek M. Multi-computer system for dynamically detecting and identifying hazards. U.S. Patent Number 11530925, filed December 13, 2019, and published online on December 20, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11530925)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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