Patent Issued for Polynomial risk maps (USPTO 11763391): Allstate Insurance Company
2023 OCT 10 (NewsRx) -- By a
The patent’s assignee for patent number 11763391 is
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Nowadays, many vehicles come equipped with global positioning system (GPS) devices that help drivers to navigate roads to various locations. Moreover, many drivers use other mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) that have GPS devices therein to help the drivers navigate roads. These GPS devices may provide location information and use maps for navigation purposes. As GPS devices have become more prevalent, the different uses for their location information have come to light. In some instances, the danger level of different routes is determined by combining location information and accident history information. Although some entities may find the danger level of certain routes useful and interesting, such information alone might not relate to the amount of risk a driver assumes traveling a particular route, or the cost to insure a driver while traveling a particular route. Therefore, there remains a desire for methods and systems that may determine the risk level of the roads drivers travel and a cost of insurance for traveling those roads.
“Additionally, it is difficult to use the location information to determine the cost of insurance per a route traveled when the location information merely includes GPS coordinates. Insurance providers may find determining the cost of insurance per a route particularly important. When a driver (or insurance policy holder of the vehicle) travels one route compared to another route, the driver may be assuming more risk due to different conditions along the route they chose to travel. The insurance provider may wish to determine the cost of insurance for traveling a particular route in order to properly cover and insure a driver based on the risk they are exposed to while traveling the particular route. Currently, policyholders pay for or purchase insurance based on their driving history, individual characteristic, location, and amount of travel. There is a desire for methods and systems that facilitate a map that identifies and determines the risks along routes traveled during a trip, the amount of insurance coverage needed for the trip, and the cost of insurance based on the risks faced along the roads traveled during the trip.”
As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following summary is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit or constrain the detailed description. The following summary merely presents various described aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description provided below.
“Various approaches to helping users identify and mitigate risk are presented. In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a computing system may generate, based on a vehicle traveling on a segment of road, a map for identifying and alerting a user of a potential risk. The system may receive various types of information, including but not limited to, accident information, geographic information, road characteristic information, environmental information, risk information, base map data/information, road segment data/information, road attribute (attribute) information, and vehicle information from one or more sensors, servers, and/or computing devices. The system may generate a risk map using the received information. The system may calculate a risk score, route risk score, road risk score, road segment risk score, risk object risk score, etc., and associate the risk score to a particular road segment, route, and/or risk map. Further, the system may provide alerts to a user by indicating an identification of a risk object based on the calculated risk score of the risk object. The system may provide an insurance premium based on the route traveled and the risk scores associated with the route traveled.
“In other aspects of the present disclosure, a personal navigation device, mobile device, and/or personal computing device may communicate, directly or indirectly, with a server (or other device) to transmit and receive a risk score(s), a risk map(s), and/or received information. The device may receive travel route information and query the memory for associated risk scores and risk maps (e.g., base maps). The risk scores may be sent for display on the device (via the risk map) or for recording in memory. The contents of memory may also be uploaded to a system data storage device for use by a network device (e.g., server) to perform various actions. For example, an insurance company may use the information stored in the system data storage device to take various actions (e.g., determine an insurance premium, create an insurance premium, adjust an insurance premium, safety warnings, etc.).
“In other aspects of the disclosure, a personal navigation device, mobile device, and/or personal computing device may access a database of risk scores to assist in identifying and indicating alternate lower-risk travel routes. A driver may select among the various travel routes presented, taking into account one or more factors such as the driver’s tolerance for risk or the driver’s desire to lower the cost of their insurance. These factors may be saved in memory designating the driver’s preferences. Depending on the driver’s selection or other road or weather conditions, the cost or other aspects of the vehicle’s insurance coverage may be adjusted accordingly for either the current insurance policy period or a future insurance policy period. In some cases, the cost or other aspects of the vehicle’s insurance coverage may be adjusted accordingly on a per trip basis.
“Certain other aspects of the disclosure include a system including a first computing device configured to communicate with one or more devices to receive base map information, wherein the base map information may include a plurality of attribute information associated to a plurality of road segments. The system may also include a first computing device configured to receive trip request information from a user device operated by a user, and determine a route for the user to travel based on the trip request information, wherein determining the route includes using the base map information and the trip request information. The system might further include a first computing device configured to calculate a risk score for each road segment of the plurality of road segments used to generate the route, generate a risk map based on the risk score and the route and time comparisons, and provide the risk map to the user.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“1. A system comprising: a mobile computing device configured to: receive at least one of base map information, vehicle information, or driver information; receive sensor information from one or more sensors, the sensor information associated with a specific road segment; assemble the sensor information and the at least one of the base map information, the vehicle information, or the driver information into one or more multivariable equations; determine, using the one or more multivariable equations, a risk score for one or more road segments of a plurality of road segments forming a route for a vehicle to travel to obtain one or more risk scores; and generate a risk map based on the one or more risk scores.
“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the base map information comprises volume data indicating at least one of a number of vehicles traveling over a particular road segment or accident data indicating a number of accidents on the particular road segment.
“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to: assemble the driver information into a driver risk score equation; assemble the vehicle information into a vehicle risk score equation; and assemble a first result of the driver risk score equation and a second result of the vehicle risk score equation into the one or more multivariable equations.
“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to: determine that a particular risk score, of the one or more risk scores, exceeds a threshold; identify a particular road segment corresponding to the particular risk score; and output an indication that the particular road segment is associated with a high level of risk.
“5. A method comprising: receiving, by a mobile computing device when the mobile computing device wirelessly connects to one or more sensors, sensor information indicating an attribute of a specific road segment associated with the one or more sensors; receiving, by the mobile computing device, at least one of driver information, vehicle information, or base map information; generating, based on the sensor information and the at least one of the driver information, the vehicle information, or the base map information, one or more multivariable equations; determining, using the one or more multivariable equations, a risk score for one or more road segments of a plurality of road segments forming a route for a vehicle to travel to obtain one or more risk scores; generating, by the mobile computing device, a risk map based on the one or more risk scores; and outputting the risk map.
“6. The method of claim 5, wherein the base map information comprises volume data indicating a number of vehicles traveling over a particular road segment or accident data indicating a number of accidents on the particular road segment, and wherein one of the one or more risk scores is based on the volume data or the accident data.
“7. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving the at least one of the driver information, the vehicle information, or the base map information comprises receiving the vehicle information from an on-board diagnostic system of the vehicle.
“8. The method of claim 5, wherein the driver information comprises information indicating at least one of a height of the driver, an eyesight test score associated with the driver, whether the driver wears glasses, an age of the driver, a number of years of driving experience of the driver, a number of accidents in which the driver has been involved, a number of traffic violations the driver has received, a type of traffic violation the driver has received, or a road or weather condition during an accident in which the driver has been involved, and wherein one of the one or more risk scores is based on the driver information.
“9. The method of claim 5, further comprising: calculating, based on the one or more risk scores, a route risk score; and determining, based on the route risk score, an insurance premium for traveling the route.
“10. The method of claim 5, further comprising: generating, based on the driver information, a driver risk score equation; and generating, based on the vehicle information, a vehicle risk score equation, wherein the one or more multivariable equations comprise the driver risk score equation and the vehicle risk score equation.
“11. The method of claim 5, further comprising: determining that a particular risk score, of the one or more risk scores, exceeds a threshold; identifying a particular road segment corresponding to the particular risk score; and outputting an indication that the particular road segment is associated with a high level of risk.
“12. The method of claim 5, wherein the sensor information indicates at least one of a slope of the specific road segment, a surface type of the specific road segment, that a pothole exists on the specific road segment, that the specific road segment is uneven, that the specific road segment is wet, a number of lanes of the specific road segment, a speed limit of the specific road segment, or that the specific road segment is under construction.
“13. The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, when the mobile computing device wirelessly connects to one or more second sensors, second sensor information indicating an attribute of a second specific road segment associated with the one or more second sensors; and updating the risk map based on the second sensor information to obtain an updated risk map; and outputting the updated risk map.
“14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a mobile computing device, cause the mobile computing device to: receive sensor information indicating an attribute of a specific road segment associated with one or more sensors; receive at least one of driver information, vehicle information, or base map information; generate, based on the sensor information and at least one of the driver information, the vehicle information, or the base map information, one or more multivariable equations; determine, using the one or more multivariable equations, a risk score for one or more road segments of a plurality of road segments forming a route for a vehicle to travel to obtain one or more risk scores; generate a risk map based on the one or more risk scores; and render the risk map for display.
“15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the sensor information indicates at least one of a slope of the specific road segment, a surface type of the specific road segment, that a pothole exists on the specific road segment, that the specific road segment is uneven, that the specific road segment is wet, a number of lanes of the specific road segment, a speed limit of the specific road segment, or that the specific road segment is under construction.
“16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the mobile computing device to: determine a driver risk score equation based on the driver information or a vehicle risk score equation based on the vehicle information; determine a preliminary road segment risk score equation for the specific road segment based on the base map information and the sensor information; determine a road segment risk score equation based on the preliminary road segment risk score equation and at least one of the driver risk score equation or the vehicle risk score equation; and execute the road segment risk score equation to determine a particular risk score for the specific road segment, wherein the particular risk score is one of the one or more risk scores.
“17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the mobile computing device to: dynamically update the risk map based on the sensor information to add or remove a risk object overlaying a portion of the risk map corresponding to the specific road segment.
“18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the mobile computing device to: determine that a particular risk score, of the one or more risk scores, exceeds a threshold; identify a particular road segment corresponding to the particular risk score; and output an indication that the particular road segment is associated with a high level of risk.
“19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the mobile computing device to: calculate, based on the one or more risk scores, a route risk score; and determine an insurance premium for traveling the route based on the route risk score.
“20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the mobile computing device to: receive, when the mobile computing device wirelessly connects to one or more second sensors, second sensor information indicating an attribute of a second specific road segment associated with the one or more second sensors; and update the risk map based on the second sensor information to obtain an updated risk map; and output the updated risk map.”
For additional information on this patent, see: Gibson, Timothy W. Polynomial risk maps.
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