Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Assessing Risk Based On Driver Gesture Behaviors (USPTO 10,319,037)

2019 JUN 24 (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 Chan, Aaron Scott (Lisle, IL); Sanchez, Kenneth Jason (Bloomington, IL); Southwood, Chase (Bloomington, IL); Khadri, Sukeerthi (Plainsboro, NJ), filed on September 1, 2015, was published online on June 24, 2019.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,319,037, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Providers of vehicle insurance generally seek to determine an insurance policy premium that is appropriate given the risk of losses recognizable under the policy. It is understood among insurance providers that certain driver gesture behaviors, such as those related to a driver’s hand or head movements while driving, may affect or impact the likelihood of a recognizable loss. For example, someone who drives with one hand while texting with another is more likely to be distracted and thus more likely to incur a recognizable loss (e.g., causing a crash) than someone who does not text while driving. As such, insurance providers would like to assign a more positive rating and offer lower premiums for a given level of coverage to drivers who demonstrate gesture behaviors that correspond to a lower risk of loss. On the other hand, for those drivers who demonstrate gesture behaviors that correspond to a higher risk of loss, insurance providers would like to assign a more negative rating and dispense higher premiums for the same level of coverage.

“Unfortunately, many insurance providers do not have an accurate way of determining driver gesture behaviors of a driver. In some cases, the driver may be asked to provide information regarding gesture behaviors by responding to various queries or surveys. However, information gathered in this manner is often fraught with inaccuracy and/or is limited in scope. Moreover, some driver gesture behaviors that affect the likelihood of losses may not be well characterized, and in any case may be difficult to obtain or assess based on questionnaires. As a result, insurance ratings and premiums determined for the driver (or policy holder) may be poorly correlated with the true risk of loss associated with the driver.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The features and advantages described in this summary and the following detailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims hereof. Additionally, other embodiments may omit one or more (or all) of the features and advantages described in this summary.

“A computer-implemented method for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors may include determining, by a behavioral classification module of a computing device, one or more driving behaviors of a driver based on one or more gestures made by the driver while driving a vehicle during each of a plurality of driving sessions. The method may also determine, by a risk assessment module of a computing device, a risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions. Further, the method may determine, by a risk assessment module of a computing device, a driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions based on the determined risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors in each of the plurality of driving sessions. Still further, the method may determine, by a risk assessment module of a computing device, an overall driver score for the driver based on the driving session rating determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions.

“A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may comprise computer-readable instructions to be executed on one or more processors of a computing device for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors. The instructions when executed, may cause the one or more processors to determine one or more driving behaviors of a driver based on one or more gestures made by the driver while driving a vehicle during each of a plurality of driving sessions. The instructions when executed, may also cause the one or more processors to determine a risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions. Further, the instructions when executed, may cause the one or more processors to determine a driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions based on the determined risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors in each of the plurality of driving sessions. Still further, the instructions when executed, may cause the one or more processors to determine an overall driver score for the driver based on the driving session rating determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions.

“A system for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors may comprise a mobile device and an on-board computer of a vehicle. Each of the mobile device and on-board computer includes a memory that stores instructions for execution on one or more processors. The instructions stored in the memory of the on-board computer, when executed by the one or more processors of the on-board computer, may cause the on-board computer to receive one or more gestures made by a driver while driving the vehicle during each of a plurality of driving sessions. The instructions stored in the memory of the on-board computer, when executed by the one or more processors of the on-board computer, may also cause the on-board computer to determine one or more driving behaviors of the driver based on the one or more gestures received for each of the plurality of driving sessions. Further, the instructions stored in the memory of the on-board computer, when executed by the one or more processors of the on-board computer, may cause the on-board computer to transmit the one or more driving behaviors determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions to the mobile device. The instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, may cause the mobile device to receive the one or more driving behaviors determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions. The instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, may also cause the mobile device to determine a risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions. Further, the instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, may cause the mobile device to determine a driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions based on the determined risk of loss associated with each of the one or more driving behaviors in each of the plurality of driving sessions. Moreover, the instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, may cause the mobile device to determine an overall driver score for the driver based on the driving session rating determined for each of the plurality of driving sessions.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“We claim:

“1. A computer-implemented method for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of driving sessions, detecting, via a mobile device and a behavior classification module, a hand placement of a driver relative to a steering wheel of a vehicle; for each of the plurality of driving sessions, transmitting, to an on-board computer of the vehicle, the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel; and causing the on-board computer of the vehicle to calculate an overall driver score for the driver that accounts for the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel by: (i) for each detected hand placement for each of the plurality of driving sessions, correlating the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel to a non-binary value representing a risk of loss; (ii) determining a plurality of driving session ratings including a driving session rating corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sessions, wherein each driving session rating is determined based on the non-binary value representing the risk of loss correlated with the detected hand placement detected during the driving session corresponding to the driving session rating; and (iii) calculating the overall driver score for the driver based on the plurality of driving session ratings determined for the plurality of driving sessions; and displaying (i) the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and (ii) the overall driver score.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising submitting the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and the overall driver score to an insurance provider upon receiving an indication from the user.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the on-board computer of the vehicle and the mobile device communicating with each other via a wireless connection established by using Bluetooth.

“4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instructions to be executed on one or more processors of a computing device for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors, the instructions when executed causing the one or more processors to: for each of a plurality of driving sessions: identifying a hand placement of a driver, via a mobile device and a behavior classification module, relative to a steering wheel of a vehicle; transmitting, to an on-board computer of the vehicle, the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel; and for each of the plurality of driving sessions, causing the on-board computer of the vehicle to calculate an overall driver score for the driver that accounts for the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel by: (i) for each detected hand placement for each of the plurality of driving sessions, correlating the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel to a non-binary value representing a risk of loss; (ii) determining a plurality of driving session ratings including a driving session rating corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sessions, wherein each driving session rating is determined based on the non-binary value representing the risk of loss correlated with the hand placement detected during the driving session corresponding to the driving session rating; and (iii) calculating the overall driver score for the driver based on the plurality of driving session ratings determined for the plurality of driving sessions; and displaying (i) the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and (ii) the overall driving score.

“5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein identifying the hand placement of the driver comprises: identifying the hand placement via a motion sensing device communicatively coupled to one or more of the mobile device and the on-board computer.

“6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to submit the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and the overall driver score to an insurance provider upon receiving an indication from the user.

“7. A system for assessing risk based on driver gesture behaviors, the system comprising: a mobile device; and an on-board computer of a vehicle, each of the mobile device and on-board computer includes a memory storing instructions for execution on one or more processors, wherein the instructions stored in the memory of the on-board computer, when executed by the one or more processors of the on-board computer, cause the on-board computer to: (i) for each of a plurality of driving sessions: detect, via a motion sensing device and a behavior classification module, a hand placement relative to a steering wheel; and (ii) transmit the detected hand placements for each of the plurality of driving sessions to the mobile device; and wherein the instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, cause the mobile device to: (i) receive the hand placements detected for each of the plurality of driving sessions; (ii) for each of the detected hand placements for each of the plurality of driving sessions, correlate the detected hand placement relative to the steering wheel to a non-binary value representing a risk of loss; (iii) determine a plurality of driving session ratings including a driving session rating corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sessions, wherein each driving session rating is determined based on the non-binary value representing the risk of loss correlated with the detected hand placement detected during the driving session corresponding to the driving session rating; (iv) determine an overall driver score for the driver based on the plurality of driving session ratings determined for the plurality of driving sessions; and (v) display the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and the overall driver score.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions stored in the memory of the mobile device, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, further cause the mobile device to submit the determined driving session rating for each of the plurality of driving sessions and the overall driver score to an insurance provider upon receiving an indication from the user.”

For more information, see this patent: Chan, Aaron Scott; Sanchez, Kenneth Jason; Southwood, Chase; Khadri, Sukeerthi. Systems And Methods For Assessing Risk Based On Driver Gesture Behaviors. U.S. Patent Number 10,319,037, filed September 1, 2015, and published online on June 24, 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=10,319,037.PN.&OS=PN/10,319,037RS=PN/10,319,037

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