Patent Issued for Systems and methods for assessing vehicle data transmission capabilities (USPTO 11553363): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 JAN 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11553363, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Chan, Aaron Scott (San Jose, CA, US), Sanchez, Kenneth Jason (San Francisco, CA, US).

This patent was filed on November 19, 2019 and was published online on January 10, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles may require significant sensor telemetry to quantify environmental/surrounding features for optimally efficient and safe vehicle navigation and operation. Vehicles equipped with onboard sensors, such as LIDAR and RADAR, may be able to detect obstacles and other features of the landscape. In addition, autonomous vehicles may receive sensor data from external sources such as satellite GPS data, which may be used to provide additional information such as positional data. Data from these sources may be combined with previously stored data and analyzed for autonomous vehicle operation. For example, in the case of GPS, location data may be overlaid on previously stored mapping data to determine routing plans. In other cases, real-time traffic information may be combined with previously designated route plans to determine alternate travel paths.

“Use of multiple sources of information for autonomous vehicle operations may require transmitting and receiving large volumes of data. In addition, the processing power needed to analyze the data for navigation and vehicle control may be substantial. For optimal performance, significant bandwidth and low latency may be required. In some autonomous vehicle systems, communication with a centralized server may also be required. For example, individual vehicles acting as part of an autonomous vehicle network may coordinate with a central server by transferring their own telemetry and sensor data to the central server which may then determine optimal system routing. The central server may then transmit instructions to the vehicles. Autonomous vehicles or autonomous vehicle systems that suffer from interruptions in communication, or are unable to quickly process all of the data necessary for vehicle operation or navigation may have reduced performance or even suffer navigational or operational failure. Accordingly, there exists a need to evaluate data communication capabilities of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles to ensure that these vehicles are operating in a safe manner.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to systems and methods for assessing the communication transmission and reception of an autonomous vehicle. The system may include a standard data transmission location (“SDTL”) network device in a communication network, a receiver assembly on an autonomous vehicle, a transmitter assembly on the vehicle, and a vehicle controller in communication with the SDTL. The vehicle controller may be configured to: (i) receive an evaluation data packet (“EDP”) from the SDTL network device; (ii) decode the EDP to determine what diagnostic test to perform; (iii) evaluate the communication performance of an autonomous vehicle by initiating the diagnostic test and detecting and measuring data communication results; (iv) generate a transformed evaluation data packet (“TEDP”) based upon the EDP and the diagnostic test results; and/or (v) transmitting the TEDP to the SDTL network device.

“In one aspect, a computer system for evaluating the communication performance of an autonomous vehicle may be provided. The vehicle may have a vehicle controller including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device. The at least one processor may be programmed to receive, from a standard data transmission location (SDTL) network device, an evaluation data packet. The at least one processor may be programmed to decode the evaluation data packet and initiate a diagnostic test of the vehicle based upon the decoded evaluation data packet. The at least one processor may also be programmed to record measurements of the vehicle during the diagnostic test. The at least one processor may also be programmed to transmit the measurements to the SDTL network device. The computer system may also include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for evaluating the communication performance of an autonomous vehicle may be provided. The method may be implemented using a vehicle controller having at least one processor in communication with at least one memory. The method may include receiving, from a SDTL network device, an evaluation data packet. The method may further include decoding the evaluation data packet and initiating a diagnostic test of the vehicle based upon the decoded evaluation data packet. The method may further include recording measurements of the vehicle during the diagnostic test. The method may also include transmitting the measurements to the SDTL network device. The method may also include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In a further aspect, at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon may be provided. When executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions may cause the at least one processor to: (i) receive, from a SDTL network device, an evaluation data packet; (ii) decode the evaluation data packet; (iii) initiate a diagnostic test of the vehicle based upon the decoded evaluation data packet; (iv) record measurements of the vehicle during the diagnostic test; and/or (v) transmit the measurements to the SDTL network device. The storage media may also include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another aspect, a standard location network device for evaluating data transmission capabilities of an autonomous vehicle may be provided. The network device may include at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the at least one processor may be programmed to: (i) transmit, to the autonomous vehicle, an evaluation data packet configured to cause the autonomous vehicle to perform a diagnostic evaluation of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the evaluation data packet includes at least one type of diagnostic evaluation to perform; (ii) receive, from the autonomous vehicle, a transformed evaluation data packet including at least measurement data associated with the data transmission capability of the autonomous vehicle; (iii) record, a period of time between the transmitting of the evaluation data packet and the receiving of the transformed evaluation data packet; and/or (iii) analyze the transformed evaluation data packet to determine data transmission capability of the autonomous vehicle. The standard location network device may also include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer system for evaluating data transmission capabilities of an autonomous vehicle, the vehicle having a plurality of sub-systems for operating the vehicle and a vehicle controller, the vehicle controller including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the at least one processor programmed to: embark the vehicle upon a trip defined by a route; receive, subsequent to embarking upon the trip, wirelessly from a standard data transmission location network device located along the route, an evaluation data packet containing instructions for at least one of the plurality of sub-systems; decode the evaluation data packet to identify the at least one sub-system and the instructions, wherein the instructions include computer-executable code for a simulation model; determine a type of diagnostic test to conduct on the vehicle based on the decoded evaluation data packet; initiate, while traveling along the route, the type of diagnostic test based on the instructions, including (i) activating the identified at least one sub-system and (ii) executing the simulation model, wherein the executed simulation model causes the at least one processor to simulate a situation that triggers the at least one sub-system to perform an action; in response to the simulated situation, transmit an operating command to the at least one sub-system; measure a response time required by the at least one sub-system to complete execution of the operating command; transmit the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device, wherein transmitting the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device causes the standard data transmission location network device to transmit the measured response time to a central server, wherein the central server is configured to determine if the measured response time exceeds a threshold, and transmit further instructions to the vehicle to alter operation of the vehicle; and record measurements of a communication system of the vehicle during activation of the communication system, wherein recording the measurements includes measuring a time period between initiation of the type of diagnostic test and completion of the type of diagnostic test.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the evaluation data packet includes computer instructions to test the communication system of the vehicle, and the at least one processor is further programmed to initiate a further diagnostic test of the communication system of the vehicle.

“3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the further diagnostic test of the communication system includes activating the communication system.

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to transform the evaluation data packet into a transformed evaluation data packet based upon the evaluation data packet and the measurements.

“5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the simulation model further causes the at least one processor to simulate the situation as an obstacle, wherein the obstacle is one of a virtual pedestrian and a virtual other vehicle.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the standard data transmission location network device is configured to transmit the measured response time to the central server, wherein the central server is configured to: calculate a risk level for the vehicle based upon the measurements; and transmit the risk level to an insurance provider for adjustment of insurance coverage based upon the risk level.

“7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein transmitting the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device causes the standard data transmission location network device to calculate a risk level for the vehicle and transmit the risk level to an insurance provider.

“8. A computer-implemented method for evaluating data transmission capabilities of an autonomous vehicle having a plurality of sub-systems for operating the vehicle and a vehicle controller, the method implemented by the vehicle controller including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the method comprising: embarking the vehicle upon a trip defined by a route; receiving, subsequent to embarking upon the trip, wirelessly from a standard data transmission location network device located along the route, an evaluation data packet containing instructions for at least one of the plurality of sub-systems; decoding the evaluation data packet to identify the at least one sub-system and the instructions, wherein the instructions include computer-executable code for a simulation model; determining a type of diagnostic test to conduct on the vehicle based on the decoded evaluation data packet; initiating, while traveling along the route, the type of diagnostic test based on the instructions, including (i) activating the identified at least one sub-system and (ii) executing the simulation model, wherein the executed simulation model causes the at least one processor to simulate a situation that triggers the at least one sub-system to perform an action; in response to the simulated situation, transmitting an operating command to the at least one sub-system; measuring a response time required by the at least one sub-system to complete execution of the operating command; transmitting the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device, wherein transmitting the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device causes the standard data transmission location network device to transmit the measured response time to a central server, wherein the central server is configured to determine if the measured response time exceeds a threshold, and transmit further instructions to the vehicle to alter operation of the vehicle; and recording measurements of a communication system of the vehicle during activation of the communication system, wherein recording the measurements includes measuring a time period between initiation of the type of diagnostic test and completion of the type of diagnostic test.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the evaluation data packet includes computer instructions to test the communication system of the vehicle, the method further comprises initiating a further diagnostic test of the communication system of the vehicle.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the further diagnostic test of the communication system includes activating the communication system.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising transforming the evaluation data packet into a transformed evaluation data packet based upon the evaluation data packet and the measured response time.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the simulation model further causes the at least one processor to simulate the situation as an obstacle, wherein the obstacle is one of a virtual pedestrian and a virtual other vehicle.

“13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for use with an autonomous vehicle having a plurality of sub-systems for operating the autonomous vehicle and a vehicle controller, wherein when executed by at least one processor of the vehicle controller in communication with at least one memory device, the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to: embark the vehicle upon a trip defined by a route; receive, subsequent to embarking upon the trip, wirelessly from a standard data transmission location network device located along the route, an evaluation data packet containing instructions for at least one of the plurality of sub-systems; decode the evaluation data packet to identify the at least one sub-system and the instructions, wherein the instructions include computer-executable code for a simulation model; determine a type of diagnostic test to conduct on the vehicle based on the decoded evaluation data packet; initiate, while traveling along the route, the type of diagnostic test based on the instructions, including (i) activating the identified at least one sub-system and (ii) executing the simulation model, wherein the executed simulation model causes the at least one processor to simulate a situation that triggers the at least one sub-system to perform an action; in response to the simulated situation, transmit an operating command to the at least one sub-system based on the instructions; measure a response time required by the at least one sub-system to complete execution of the operating command; transmit the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device, wherein transmitting the measured response time to the standard data transmission location network device causes the standard data transmission location network device to transmit the measured response time to a central server, wherein the central server is configured to determine if the measured response time exceeds a threshold, and transmit further instructions to the vehicle to alter operation of the vehicle; and record measurements of a communication system of the vehicle during activation of the communication system, wherein recording the measurements includes measuring a time period between initiation of the type of diagnostic test and completion of the type of diagnostic test.

“14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the evaluation data packet includes computer instructions to test the communication system of the vehicle and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to initiate a further diagnostic test of the communication system of the vehicle.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Chan, Aaron Scott. Systems and methods for assessing vehicle data transmission capabilities. U.S. Patent Number 11553363, filed November 19, 2019, and published online on January 10, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11553363)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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