Patent Issued for System and method for standardized evaluation of driver’s license eligibility (USPTO 11113775): Allstate Insurance Company

2021 SEP 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Education Daily Report -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11113775, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Manzella, Matthew James (Glen Ellyn, IL, US).

This patent was filed on October 16, 2018 and was published online on September 7, 2021.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Typically, individuals looking to obtain a driver’s license are required to enroll in a driver’s education course at a driving school, and satisfy additional local requirements. Upon completion of the driver’s education course and the local requirements, individuals are generally required complete a written evaluation and a driving evaluation, administered by a local driver’s license issuing authority (e.g., a Department of Motor Vehicles, i.e., DMV). The driver’s education course and the evaluations currently require humans (e.g., a driving school instructor, parent, guardian, supervisor, DMV evaluator, etc.) to monitor, track, and evaluate the driver’s performance. Thus, current evaluation methods inject subjectivity and bias into the process and require the involvement of multiple individuals. Given the continuing increase of travel, especially international and interstate travel, it would be preferred to have a standardized process to evaluate new drivers.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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.

“A first aspect described herein provides a driving license evaluation system. The driving license evaluation system may include at least one processor. The driving license evaluation system may be configured to, in operation, obtain a set of requirements to be completed for acquiring a driver’s license, receive vehicle operation data associated with a vehicle, determine whether the set of requirements has been satisfied based on the vehicle operation data received, administer a written test responsive to determining the set of requirements has been satisfied, determine whether a written test result for the written test is a passing written test result, administer a driving test responsive to determining the written test result is a passing written test result, wherein the driving test indicates a driving route, receive vehicle operation data associated with the vehicle during performance of the driving test, determining a driving test result based at least in part on a comparison of at least a portion of the vehicle operation data received during performance of the driving test to the driving route, and communicate the written test result and the driving test result to a remote system. Further, the driving license evaluation system may be configured to, in operation, provide a recommendation to the remote system indicating whether a driver’s license should be issued based on at least the written test result and the driving test result.

“A second aspect described herein provides a computer-assisted method of evaluating a new driver for a driver’s license. A computing system may obtain a set of requirements to be completed acquiring a driver’s license, receive vehicle operation data associated with a vehicle, determine whether the set of requirements has been satisfied based on the vehicle operation data received, administer a written test responsive to determining the set of requirements has been satisfied, determine whether a written test result for the written test is a passing written test result, administer a driving test responsive to determining the written test result is a passing written test result, wherein the driving test indicates a driving route, receive vehicle operation data associated with the vehicle during performance of the driving test, determining a driving test result based at least in part on a comparison of at least a portion of the vehicle operation data received during performance of the driving test to the driving route, and communicate the written test result and the driving test result to a remote system. Further, the computing system may provide a recommendation to the remote system indicating whether a driver’s license should be issued based on at least the written test result and the driving test result.

“The details of these and other aspects of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages of aspects of the disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A driving license evaluation system comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing computer-readable instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the driving license evaluation system to: detecting, using a first electronic sensor including at least one of a first acceleration sensor and a first geographic location sensor, first vehicle operation data indicating a manner in which a driver operates a vehicle; dynamically construct a driver-specific written test for the driver by electronically generating or selecting questions for the driver-specific written test using the detected first vehicle operation data indicating the manner in which the driver operates the vehicle; determine a written test result for the driver-specific written test that was dynamically constructed; during a performance of a driving test comprising a specified driving route: detecting, using at least one of the first electronic sensor and a second electronic sensor, the second electronic sensor including at least one of a second acceleration sensor and a second geographic location sensor, second vehicle operation data associated with the vehicle during the performance of the driving test; compare the second vehicle operation data to one or more requirements of the driving test; determine a driving test result based, at least in part, on a comparison of at least a portion of the second vehicle operation data detected during the performance of the driving test to the specified driving route; and communicate the written test result and the driving test result to a remote system.

“2. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the driving license evaluation system to: provide a recommendation to the remote system indicating whether a driver’s license should be issued based on at least the written test result and the driving test result.

“3. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the remote system is associated with a driver’s license issuing authority.

“4. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the remote system is associated with a driving school.

“5. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the driving license evaluation system to: provide a graphical user interface through which the driver-specific written test is administered.

“6. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1, wherein dynamically constructing the driver-specific written test for the driver includes at least one of: applying a randomization algorithm for selecting the questions for the driver-specific written test; and determining whether one or more of the questions for the driver-specific written test have been previously used for the driver.

“7. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the specified driving route is composed of one or more contiguous mini-routes.

“8. The driving license evaluation system of claim 7 wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the driving license evaluation system to: select the one or more contiguous mini-routes based on a randomization algorithm, a preference to include the one or more contiguous mini-routes if the one or more contiguous mini-routes were not previously attempted by the vehicle, or a combination thereof.

“9. The driving license evaluation system of claim 7 wherein the one or more contiguous mini-routes are associated with a difficulty level, and wherein an average difficulty level of the one or more contiguous mini-routes is greater than or equal to a minimum difficulty level, and wherein the average difficulty level of the one or more contiguous mini-routes is less than or equal to a maximum difficulty level.

“10. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1, wherein: the driving test identifies a speed limit; and the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the driving license evaluation system to: determine a speed of the vehicle based on at least the portion of the second vehicle operation data received during the performance of the driving test; and determine the driving test result further based on a comparison between the speed of the vehicle and the speed limit.

“11. The driving license evaluation system of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the driving license evaluation system to: determine whether a driving activity has occurred during the performance of the driving test based on at least the portion of the second vehicle operation data collected during the performance of the driving test; and determine the driving test result further based on one or more occurrences of the driving activity during the performance of the driving test; and wherein the driving activity includes at least one of acceleration above a predetermined acceleration threshold, braking above a predetermined deceleration threshold, impact to a body of the vehicle, air bag deployment, headlights usage, brake light operation, opening or closing of a vehicle door, windshield wiper usage, turn signal usage, seat belt usage, and phone usage within the vehicle.

“12. A computer-assisted method of evaluating a new driver for a driver’s license comprising: receiving first vehicle operation data associated with a vehicle; dynamically constructing a driver-specific written test corresponding to a driver’s location, wherein questions included in the driver-specific written test are generated or selected using the first vehicle operation data indicating one or more driving habits indicated by the first vehicle operation data, the first vehicle operation data being obtained using a first electronic sensor including at least one of a first acceleration sensor and a first geographic location sensor; determining a written test result for the driver-specific written test; during a performance of the driving test comprising a specified driving route: receiving second vehicle operation data associated with the vehicle during the performance of the driving test, the second vehicle operation data being obtained using at least one of the first electronic sensor and a second electronic sensor, the second electronic sensor including at least one of a second acceleration sensor and a second geographic location sensor; and comparing the second vehicle operation data to one or more requirements of the driving test; determining a driving test result based, at least in part, on a comparison of at least a portion of the second vehicle operation data received during the performance of the driving test to the specified driving route; and communicating the written test result and the driving test result to a remote system.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: provide a recommendation to the remote system indicating whether the driver’s license should be issued based on at least the written test result and the driving test result.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote system is associated with a driver’s license issuing authority.

“15. The method of claim 12, wherein dynamically constructing the driver-specific written test for the driver includes at least one of: applying a randomization algorithm for selecting the questions for the driver-specific written test; and determining whether one or more of the questions for the driver-specific written test have been previously used for the driver.

“16. The method of claim 12, wherein the specified driving route is composed of one or more contiguous mini-routes.

“17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: selecting the one or more contiguous mini-routes based on a randomization algorithm, a preference to include the one or more contiguous mini-routes if the one or more contiguous mini-routes were not previously attempted by the vehicle, or a combination thereof.

“18. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more contiguous mini-routes are associated with a difficulty level, and wherein an average difficulty level of the one or more contiguous mini-routes is greater than or equal to a minimum difficulty level, and wherein the average difficulty level of the one or more contiguous mini-routes is less than or equal to a maximum difficulty level.

“19. The method of claim 12, wherein the driving test identifies a speed limit, and the method further comprising: determining a speed of the vehicle based on at least the portion of the second vehicle operation data received during the performance of the driving test; and determining the driving test result further based on a comparison between the speed of the vehicle and the speed limit.

“20. The method of claim 12, further comprising: determining whether a driving activity has occurred during the performance of the driving test based on at least the portion of the second vehicle operation data collected during the performance of the driving test; and determining the driving test result further based on one or more occurrences of the driving activity during the performance of the driving test, wherein the driving activity includes at least one of acceleration above a predetermined acceleration threshold, braking above a predetermined deceleration threshold, impact to a body of the vehicle, air bag deployment, headlights usage, brake light operation, opening or closing of a vehicle door, windshield wiper usage, turn signal usage, seat belt usage, and phone usage within the vehicle.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Manzella, Matthew James. System and method for standardized evaluation of driver’s license eligibility. U.S. Patent Number 11113775, filed October 16, 2018, and published online on September 7, 2021. 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=11113775.PN.&OS=PN/11113775RS=PN/11113775

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