Patent Issued for Preemptive logical configuration of vehicle control systems (USPTO 11586210): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 MAR 10 (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 Anand, Harini (Hawthorn Woods, IL, US), Chintakindi, Sunil (Menlo Park, CA, US), Likhterman, Aleksandr (Wheeling, IL, US), filed on February 8, 2021, was published online on February 21, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11586210, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Each year vehicle accidents account for thousands of deaths and millions of serious injuries. While autonomous and semi-autonomous car systems are poised to significantly reduce the number of vehicle accidents and, by extension, the number of accident related fatalities and injuries, such systems are often insufficient with respect to the early detection of driving hazards in an immediate time frame and providing responses (e.g., driver alerts and vehicle actions) following the detection of such driving hazards. Thus, arrangements for the early detection of driving hazards and providing responses to the detection of such hazards may be advantageous in preventing accidents and furthering motor vehicle safety.”

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 of various aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“To overcome limitations such as those described above, and to overcome other limitations that will be apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, aspects described herein are directed to apparatuses, systems, and methods for the preemptive logical configuration of vehicle control systems.

“In accordance with one or more embodiments, a vehicle control computer may determine a first location of a vehicle. The vehicle control computer may query a historical data source server for historical incident data corresponding to a first vicinity around the first location of the vehicle. Based on the historical incident data, the vehicle control computer may identify one or more driving danger areas in the first vicinity around the first location of the vehicle, wherein each of the one or more driving danger areas are associated with one or more driving hazards. The vehicle control computer may generate a configuration for vehicle operation in the first vicinity around the first location of the vehicle based on the one or more driving danger areas and may update driving logic of the vehicle with the configuration.

“In some embodiments, during vehicle operation in the first vicinity around the first location of the vehicle, the vehicle control computer may compare a first instant location of the vehicle with each of the one or more driving danger areas. Responsive to determining that the first instant location of the vehicle corresponds to at least one of the one or more driving danger areas, the vehicle control computer may increase an assessment priority of the one or more driving hazards corresponding to the at least one of the one or more driving danger areas.

“In some embodiments, the vehicle control computer may assess ancillary data for each of the one or more driving hazards based on increasing the assessment priority of the one or more driving hazards. Responsive to identifying at least one of the one or more driving hazards, the vehicle control computer may perform one or more of a driving action and a driving alert based on the configuration for vehicle operation.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: determining, by a computing device and based on historical incident data corresponding to a vicinity around a location of a vehicle, one or more driving danger areas in the vicinity, wherein each of the one or more driving danger areas is associated with one or more driving hazards; receiving location data of the vehicle and environmental data associated with surroundings of the vehicle; while the location data indicates that the vehicle is located in a first driving danger area of the one or more driving danger areas: assessing the environmental data; and prioritizing, during the assessment, at least a portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting a first driving hazard associated with the first driving danger area; and detecting, in the at least the portion of the environmental data, the first driving hazard.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the at least the portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting the first driving hazard comprises: generating one or more bounding assessment boxes to mark boundaries of the at least the portion of the environmental data; and focusing analysis of the environmental data to an area indicated by the one or more bounding assessment boxes.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the first driving hazard comprises: detecting at least one of the following: one or more objects that do not belong to a scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes, or one or more objects missing from the scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises one or more of: image data from an imaging device or sensor data from a proximity sensor.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: configuring, based on the location data indicating that the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area, vehicle operation logic of a vehicle control computer of the vehicle to increase an assessment priority of the first driving hazard while the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an expected driving route from the location of the vehicle to a destination point; and identifying the historical incident data relative to the expected driving route, wherein determining the one or more driving danger areas is performed relative to the expected driving route.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: configuring, based on determining the one or more driving danger areas, vehicle operation logic of a vehicle control computer of the vehicle to perform one or more driving actions in response to detecting the one or more driving hazards; and responsive to detecting the one or more driving hazards, performing at least one of the one or more of the driving actions.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more driving actions comprise: activating a brake of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to change lanes, disabling acceleration of the vehicle, reducing a speed of the vehicle, turning on headlights of the vehicle, turning on emergency lights of the vehicle, honking a horn of the vehicle, or turning on windshield wipers of the vehicle.

“9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a risk score for the one or more driving danger areas; and configuring, based on an autonomous level of the vehicle and the risk score for the one or more driving danger areas, vehicle operation logic of a vehicle control computer of the vehicle to perform one or more driving actions in response to detecting the one or more driving hazards.

“10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: calculating, based on the historical incident data, a starting insurance coverage level for a driving trip associated with the vicinity around the location of the vehicle.

“11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: periodically determining, based on a determination that the vehicle has entered the one or more driving danger areas, has exited the one or more driving danger areas, or has encountered the one or more driving hazards, whether to adjust the starting insurance coverage level for the driving trip.

“12. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: determine, based on historical incident data corresponding to a vicinity around a location of a vehicle, one or more driving danger areas in the vicinity, wherein each of the one or more driving danger areas is associated with one or more driving hazards; receive location data of the vehicle and environmental data associated with surroundings of the vehicle; while the location data indicates that the vehicle is located in a first driving danger area of the one or more driving danger areas: assess the environmental data; and prioritize, during the assessment, at least a portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting a first driving hazard associated with the first driving danger area; and detect, in the at least the portion of the environmental data, the first driving hazard.

“13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to prioritize the at least the portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting the first driving hazard by: generating one or more bounding assessment boxes to mark boundaries of the at least the portion of the environmental data; and focusing analysis of the environmental data to an area indicated by the one or more bounding assessment boxes.

“14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to detect the first driving hazard by detecting at least one of the following: one or more objects that do not belong to a scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes, or one or more objects missing from the scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes.

“15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the environmental data comprises one or more of: image data from an imaging device or sensor data from a proximity sensor.

“16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: configure, based on the location data indicating that the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area, vehicle operation logic of a vehicle control computer of the vehicle to increase an assessment priority of the first driving hazard while the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area.

“17. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by, cause a computing device to: determine, based on historical incident data corresponding to a vicinity around a location of a vehicle, one or more driving danger areas in the vicinity, wherein each of the one or more driving danger areas is associated with one or more driving hazards; receive location data of the vehicle and environmental data associated with surroundings of the vehicle; while the location data indicates that the vehicle is located in a first driving area of the one or more driving danger areas: assess the environmental data; and prioritize, during the assessment, at least a portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting a first driving hazard associated with the first driving danger area; and detect, in the at least the portion of the environmental data, the first driving hazard.

“18. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to prioritize the at least the portion of the environmental data for analysis for detecting the first driving hazard by: generating one or more bounding assessment boxes to mark boundaries of the at least the portion of the environmental data; and focusing analysis of the environmental data to an area indicated by the one or more bounding assessment boxes, wherein the environmental data comprises one or more of: image data from an imaging device or sensor data from a proximity sensor.

“19. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to detect the first driving hazard by detecting at least one of the following: one or more objects that do not belong to a scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes, or one or more objects missing from the scene identified in the one or more bounding assessment boxes.

“20. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to: configure, based on the location data indicating that the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area, vehicle operation logic of a vehicle control computer of the vehicle to increase an assessment priority of the first driving hazard while the vehicle is located in the first driving danger area.”

For more information, see this patent: Anand, Harini. Preemptive logical configuration of vehicle control systems. U.S. Patent Number 11586210, filed February 8, 2021, and published online on February 21, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11586210)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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