Patent Issued for System And Method For Determining Driver Signatures (USPTO 10,803,529)

2020 OCT 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Adams, Isaac D. (Canton, CT); Fernandes, Steven J. (West Hartford, CT); Natrillo, Marc J. (Avon, CT); Olson, Paul Brendan (Hartford, CT); Prakash, Pankaj (Rocky Hill, CT), filed on November 20, 2018, was published online on October 26, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,803,529 is assigned to Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Auto insurance underwriting is the process by which insurance companies determine whether to offer insurance coverage, whether to renew insurance coverage, and to determine the pricing of any coverage that is offered. Insurance pricing may be based on a rate which may then be adjusted based on discounts, credits, penalties and other adjustments. The final premium may be based on the determined risk factors associated with the driver, vehicle, laws/regulations, and other business factors.

“Insurance pricing is typically derived using correlative data as a proxy for driving behavior. The proxies, such as age, driving experience, occupation, etc. may be derived from actuarial determined data. The pricing can vary depending on many factors that are believed to have an impact on the expectation of future claims and any cost associated with such future claims.

“Generally, the three major factors in assessing risk may be: 1) coverage; 2) vehicle; and 3) driver. The coverage may determine the type and amount for which the insurance company may be responsible. The vehicle and driver may be important based on the statistical data that may indicate that a college educated professional driving a Lamborghini may not pose the same risk as a male high school student driving a station wagon.

“In determining the pricing, the insurance company may determine the vehicle and coverage with some level of certainty. For example, the insurance company is provided with the vehicle manufacturer, model, age, value (and possibly service history) for which coverage is being requested. The insurance company may also determine the type of coverage, (e.g. liability, collision, comprehensive, personal injury protection, and uninsured motorist protection), that is being purchased.

“However, the insurance company may have little data for identifying the amount of time a vehicle is being operated by a particular driver. For example, in a household with multiple drivers and multiple vehicles, neither the insurance company nor the customer may possess accurate information regarding amount of time each vehicle is used by a particular individual. Further, those individuals are assessed based on correlative data, but this may not be accurate, e.g., not all high school students drive in a similar manner.

“Accordingly, methods and apparatus are described in greater detail that use telematics data to identify driver signatures associated with the use of the vehicle. The system may further be configured to identify the driver associated with the driver signatures. This may allow the insurance company to determine risk associated with offering coverage and allow the insurance company to adjust pricing to reflect the actual usage of a particular vehicle. The methods described herein may use passive and non-passive techniques to identify a driver signature associated with use of the vehicle and a driver associated with each driver signature.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Systems and methods are disclosed herein for determining driver signatures. These driver signatures may be used to generate risk assessments and pricing information. During the registration phase for vehicle insurance, users identify the vehicles for which they are requesting coverage and identify the drivers of the vehicle. The systems and methods disclosed herein, allow the insurance provider to identify driver signature information, based on telematics data, which characterize how the vehicle is being driven. This information is used to generate or adjust pricing information. For example, in a two car, two driver household, if a higher risk driver is driving the more valuable vehicle, the potential for loss is greater. Accordingly, the initial assessment or price, based on biographic information without telematics data, may be reevaluated.

“A system configured to determine an insurance premium associated with an account that covers at least one vehicle and at least one driver comprising a computer memory that stores biographical information; a processor that receives information associated with telematics data associated with at least one of the vehicle(s), concerning use of the at least one vehicle(s); the processor further configured to determine discrete segments of use of at least one vehicle(s), and to determine a driver signature associated with each of the discrete segments of use; the processor further configured to generate a driver risk assessment responsive to the at least one of the discrete segments of use; the processor further configured to calculate pricing information based at least in part on the at least one risk assessment and the biographical information; and a transmitter configured to transmit the pricing information to a user device or user transmission device.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system for monitoring vehicle usage parameters and using those parameters to access a driver signature, the system comprising: a computer memory configured to store biographical information associated with at least one driver; a communications interface that receives information associated with telematics data, the information being stored in the computer memory, wherein the telematics data including vehicle usage parameters; a processor configured to access a preconfigured expected information from the stored biographical information associated with at least one driver and received information associated with the telematics data; the processor further configured to determine a driver signature associated utilizing the vehicle usage parameters via a multivariate analysis based on the preconfigured expected information, wherein the preconfigured expected information includes at least one biometric reading or at least one implicit identification factor, wherein the driver is determined after the driver signature is determined and the driver signature is used for subsequent discrete segments of use; and the processor communicating via the communications interface with a user device associated with the driver signature and providing feedback to the user device to improve vehicle usage.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the preconfigured expected information accounts for a seasonality factor.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a driver associated with each discrete segment of use based at least in part on the driver signature.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a driver associated with each discrete segment of use based on implicit driver identification factors.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver signature comprises braking patterns.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver signature comprises route selection patterns.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver signature includes selected radio stations.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver signature includes radio volume.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver signature includes connecting with a user device.

“10. A computer implemented method for monitoring vehicle usage parameters and using those parameters to determine a driver signature, the method comprising: storing, by a computer memory, biographical information associated with at least one driver; receiving, via a communications interface, information associated with telematics data, the information being stored in the computer memory, the telematics data including vehicle usage parameters; accessing from a database a preconfigured expected information from the stored biographical information associated with at least one driver and received information associated with the telematics data; determining, by the processor, a driver signature associated with the vehicle usage parameters using a multivariate analysis based the received information, wherein the preconfigured expected information includes at least one biometric reading or at least one implicit identification factor, wherein the driver is determined after the driver signature is determined and the driver signature is used for subsequent discrete segments of use; and communicating with a user device associated with the driver signature to provide feedback to the user device to improve driving.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the preconfigured expected information accounts for a seasonality factor.

“12. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining, by the processor, a driver associated with each discrete segment of use based at least in part on the driver signature.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining, by the processor, a driver associated with each discrete segment of use, based on implicit driver identification factors.

“14. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining, by the processor, a percentage of time the determined driver uses a vehicle.

“15. The method of claim 10, wherein the patterns of driver signature comprises braking patterns.

“16. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver signature comprises route selection patterns.

“17. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver signature includes selected radio stations.

“18. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver signature includes radio volume.

“19. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver signature includes connecting with a user device.

“20. A system for monitoring vehicle usage parameters and using those parameters to determine a driver signature for an account that covers at least one vehicle and at least one autonomous driver, the system comprising: a computer memory configured to store biographical information associated with at least one driver; a communications interface that receives information associated with telematics data, the information being stored in the computer memory, wherein the telematics data including vehicle usage parameters; a processor configured to access a preconfigured expected information from the stored biographical information associated with at least one driver and received information associated with the telematics data; the processor further configured to determine a driver signature associated utilizing the vehicle usage parameters via a multivariate analysis based on the preconfigured expected information, wherein the preconfigured expected information includes at least one biometric reading or at least one implicit identification factor, wherein the driver is determined after the driver signature is determined and the driver signature is used for subsequent discrete segments of use; the processor configured to determine which of the discrete segments are driven by the autonomous driver and which segments are driven by a human driver; and the processor communicating via the communications interface with a user device associated with the driver signature and providing feedback to the user device to improve vehicle usage.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Adams, Isaac D.; Fernandes, Steven J.; Natrillo, Marc J.; Olson, Paul Brendan; Prakash, Pankaj. System And Method For Determining Driver Signatures. U.S. Patent Number 10,803,529, filed November 20, 2018, and published online on October 26, 2020. 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=10,803,529.PN.&OS=PN/10,803,529RS=PN/10,803,529

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