Patent Issued for Road Segment Rating Based On Roadway Communication (USPTO 10,395,526)

2019 SEP 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Slusar, Mark (Chicago, IL), filed on November 8, 2016, was published online on September 9, 2019, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,395,526 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: “Being aware of changing driving conditions can aid in improving the likelihood of a safe driving experience. However, often drivers rely on weather reports or forecasts that might not be accurate in a particular area or may be delayed. Although many vehicles including sensing devices to detect changing conditions, those devices may be best suited to evaluating current conditions rather than conditions associated with a road segment that a driver is approaching. Accordingly, it may be advantageous to receive information about road segment conditions directly from sensors embedded in the road segment.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s 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 rating a road segment based on data received from one or more sensors distributed along the road segment. In some arrangements, a number of sensors along a road segment may be determined based on characteristics or features of the road segment.

“For example, in some arrangements, the system may score or rate one or more features of a road segment. An overall road segment feature rating may be determined and used to identify a number of sensors to distribute along a road segment.

“In at least some arrangements, the data received and/or processed from road segment sensors may be controlled based on current road segment conditions. For instance, in fair weather data from fewer than all sensors along a road segment may be received and/or processed because the likelihood of a dangerous condition is reduced. However, when current conditions indicate the potential for hazardous conditions (e.g., temperature near or below freezing, presence of moisture, untreated road segment, etc.) data from all sensors may be received and/or processed to ensure the most accurate information for an entire length of the road segment is obtained.

“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A road segment evaluation system, comprising: a first plurality of sensors arranged in a road segment, the first plurality of sensors configured to detect conditions of the road segment, wherein a number of sensors in the first plurality of sensors is determined based on features of the road segment; a road segment evaluation server, including: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive first electronic signals from the first plurality of sensors arranged on the road segment; and process the first electronic signals to determine a risk rating of the road segment.

“2. The road segment evaluation system of claim 1, further including a vehicle having a second plurality of sensors arranged thereon, the second plurality of sensors being configured to detect vehicle operational data.

“3. The road segment evaluation system of claim 2, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive second electronic signals from the second plurality of sensors; process the second electronic signals; and determine a risk rating of the road segment based on the processed first electronic signals and second electronic signals.

“4. The road segment evaluation system of claim 1, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: determine the number of sensors arranged in the road segment based on features of the road segment by: receiving data associated with the road segment; identifying one or more features of the road segment from the received data; evaluate each identified feature of the road segment to determine a feature score for each feature of the road segment; sum the determined feature scores for each feature of the road segment to determine an overall road segment feature score for the road segment; determine whether the overall road segment feature score is within a first threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the first threshold, determining a first number of sensors to arrange in the road segment; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the first threshold, determine whether the overall road segment feature score is within a second threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the second threshold, determining a second number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the second number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors; and responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the second threshold, determining a third number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the third number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors and the second number of sensors.

“5. The road segment evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic signals are processed in real-time.

“6. The road segment evaluation system of claim 1, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive data associated with conditions of the road segment; determine whether road segment condition criteria are met; responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are met, receiving and processing data from fewer sensors than all sensors in the first plurality of sensors; and responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are not met, receiving and processing data from all sensors in the first plurality of sensors.

“7. The road segment evaluation system of claim 6, wherein the road segment condition criteria include at least one of: minimum temperature and no presence of moisture.

“8. A road segment evaluation system, comprising: a first plurality of sensors arranged in a road segment, the first plurality of sensors configured to detect conditions of the road segment, wherein a number of sensors in the first plurality of sensors is determined based on features of the road segment; a road segment evaluation server, including: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive first electronic signals from the first plurality of sensors arranged on the road segment; and process the first electronic signals to determine a risk rating of the road segment; and an on-board vehicle computing device including: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the on-board vehicle computing device to: receive, from the road segment evaluation server, the risk rating of the road segment; and provide, via a display of the on-board vehicle computing device, a notification of the risk rating of the road segment.

“9. The road segment evaluation system of claim 8, further including a vehicle having a second plurality of sensors arranged thereon, the second plurality of sensors being configured to detect vehicle operational data.

“10. The road segment evaluation system of claim 9, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive second electronic signals from the second plurality of sensors; process the second electronic signals; and determine a risk rating of the road segment based on the processed first electronic signals and second electronic signals.

“11. The road segment evaluation system of claim 8, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: determine the number of sensors arranged in the road segment based on characteristics of the road segment by: receiving data associated with the road segment; identifying one or more features of the road segment from the received data; evaluate each identified feature of the road segment to determine a feature score for each feature of the road segment; sum the determined feature scores for each feature of the road segment to determine an overall road segment feature score for the road segment; determine whether the overall road segment feature score is within a first threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the first threshold, determining a first number of sensors to arrange in the road segment; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the first threshold, determine whether the overall road segment feature score is within a second threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the second threshold, determining a second number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the second number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors; and responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the second threshold, determining a third number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the third number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors and the second number of sensors.

“12. The road segment evaluation system of claim 8, wherein the first electronic signals are processed in real-time.

“13. The road segment evaluation system of claim 8, the road segment evaluation server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the road segment evaluation server to: receive data associated with conditions of the road segment; determine whether road segment condition criteria are met; responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are met, receiving and processing data from fewer sensors than all sensors in the first plurality of sensors; and responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are not met, receiving and processing data from all sensors in the first plurality of sensors.

“14. The road segment evaluation system of claim 13, wherein the road segment condition criteria include at least one of: minimum temperature and no presence of moisture.

“15. A method of determining a road segment rating, comprising: determining, by a road segment evaluation server, a number of sensors in a first plurality of sensors to be arranged in a road segment based on features of the road segment, determining the number of sensors including: receiving data associated with the road segment; identifying one or more features of the road segment from the received data; evaluating each identified feature of the road segment to determine a feature score for each feature of the road segment; summing the determined feature scores for each feature of the road segment to determine an overall road segment feature score for the road segment; determining whether the overall road segment feature score is within a first threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the first threshold, determining a first number of sensors to arrange in the road segment; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the first threshold, determining whether the overall road segment feature score is within a second threshold; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is within the second threshold, determining a second number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the second number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors; responsive to determining that the overall road segment feature score is not within the second threshold, determining a third number of sensors to arrange in the road segment, the third number of sensors being different from the first number of sensors and the second number of sensors; receiving, by the road segment evaluation server and from the first plurality of sensors arranged in the road segment, data related to conditions of the road segment detected by the first plurality of sensors; and processing, by the road segment evaluation server, the received data to determine a risk rating of the road segment.

“16. The method of claim 15, further including: receiving, by the road segment evaluation server and from a second plurality of sensors arranged on a vehicle, vehicle operational data.

“17. The method of claim 16, further including: processing, by the road segment evaluation server, the received vehicle operational data; and determining the risk rating of the road segment based on the processed received data and the processed vehicle operational data.

“18. The method of claim 15, wherein the received data is processed in real-time.

“19. The method of claim 15, further including: receiving data associated with conditions of the road segment; determining whether road segment condition criteria are met; responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are met, receiving and processing data from fewer sensors than all sensors in the first plurality of sensors; and responsive to determining that road segment condition criteria are not met, receiving and processing data from all sensors in the first plurality of sensors.

“20. The method of claim 19, wherein the road segment condition criteria include at least one of: minimum temperature and no presence of moisture.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Slusar, Mark. Road Segment Rating Based On Roadway Communication. U.S. Patent Number 10,395,526, filed November 8, 2016, and published online on September 9, 2019. 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=10,395,526.PN.&OS=PN/10,395,526RS=PN/10,395,526

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