Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Determining A Vehicle Is At An Elevated Risk For An Animal Collision (USPTO 10,417,914)

2019 SEP 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Vose, Matthew E. (Bloomington, IL); Bernico, Michael (Bloomington, IL); Mowery, Milton (Bloomington, IL); Sanidas, Tim G. (Bloomington, IL); Zimmer, Christopher (Bloomington, IL), filed on December 7, 2018, was published online on September 30, 2019.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,417,914 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicle or automobile insurance exists to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic accidents and against liability that could arise therefrom. One common type of traffic accident occurs when a customer’s vehicle collides with an animal, such as a deer crossing a road. Certain animal collisions may result in significant bodily injury or even death. Further, when a customer’s vehicle collides with an animal, insurance claims may be generated to cover the expenses associated with vehicle repair and/or personal injury.

“The present embodiments may, inter alia, alleviate the foregoing risks, such as the risk of bodily injury, vehicular damage, insurance claims, and/or other risks.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A system and method may reduce vehicle collisions with animals by warning a vehicle and/or occupants thereof of certain risks. A mobile device and/or vehicle control system may alert the vehicle and/or vehicle occupants that a moving vehicle is about to enter an area associated with a higher than average, or otherwise high likelihood, of animals and/or collisions therewith. As a result, the vehicle and/or driver may utilize more caution, lower speed, and/or take other appropriate actions. Once the vehicle passes through the area of elevated risk of animal collision, the mobile device and/or vehicle control system may inform the vehicle and/or vehicle occupants so that normal vehicle operation may resume. Additionally, customer input or data may be utilized to improve the accuracy of the warning system.

“In an aspect, a method to facilitate safer driver and reduce vehicle accidents by alerting a driver of a vehicle about high-risk areas via an application executing on an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, vehicle display, vehicle navigation unit, and/or other computing devices) may be provided. The electronic device may include one or more processors and a memory coupled to the one or more processors. The method may comprise (1) the application causing the one or more processors to access data detailing a plurality of prior vehicle accidents, wherein the data includes a plurality of prior vehicle accident locations; (2) causing the one or more processors to display a primary interface in the application executing on the electronic device, the primary interface displaying at least: (i) a virtual road map, (ii) a virtual representation of a current location for the vehicle, and (iii) at least a portion of the plurality of virtual representations corresponding to the plurality of prior vehicle accident locations; (3) the application causing the one or more processors to update the current location of the vehicle in response to the vehicle moving to a new location; and/or (4) when the current location of the vehicle is within a threshold distance or radius of at least one of the plurality of prior vehicle accident locations, the application causing the one or more processors to generate a warning to alert the driver of the vehicle that the current location corresponds to a high-risk area indicating a higher than average risk of vehicle accidents. The method may include additional, fewer or alternative actions, including those described elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of alerting a driver of a vehicle about high-risk areas may be provided. The method may comprise (1) displaying, via one or more processors (i) a virtual road map, (ii) a virtual representation of the current location of the vehicle, and (iii) at least a portion of a plurality of virtual representations corresponding to a plurality of high-risk areas, wherein the plurality of high-risk areas correspond to a plurality of prior vehicle accidents; (2) updating, via the one or more processors, the current location of the vehicle in response to the vehicle moving to a new location; and/or (3) displaying, via the one or more processors, the virtual representation of the updated current location of the vehicle on the virtual road map at a location representative of the new location. The method may include generating an alert when the current location of the vehicle comes within a predetermined distance of a high-risk area. The method may include additional, fewer or alternative actions, including those described elsewhere herein.

“In still another aspect, a graphical user interface for alleviating a risk of a vehicle collision may be provided. The graphical user interface may comprise (1) a virtual road map; (2) an icon virtually representing a current location of a vehicle, the icon depicted on the virtual road map at the current location of the vehicle; (3) a first plurality of virtual danger zones representing past vehicle-animal collisions, each of the first plurality of virtual danger zones depicted on the virtual road map at a latitude and a longitude of the respective past vehicle-animal collision; and/or (4) a second plurality of virtual danger zones representing a past vehicle-vehicle collisions, each of the plurality of second virtual danger zones depicted on the virtual road map at a latitude and a longitude of the respective past vehicle-animal collision. The graphical user interface may be further configured to generate an alert when the current location of the vehicle moves to within a predefined radius or distance of one of the virtual danger zones. The graphical user interface may include additional, fewer or alternative elements, including those described elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A computer-implemented method of processing vehicle collision risk information, the method comprising: receiving, by a processor, vehicle data including an indication of at least a current GPS (Global Positioning System) location of at least one of an automobile or a mobile device located within the automobile; accessing, by the processor, environment data associated with the current GPS location of the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device, the environment data including a historical record of automobile-animal collisions in a particular proximity to the current GPS location of the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device; based upon the environment data and the current GPS location, determining, by the processor, that the automobile is at a risk greater than a threshold level for a non-avian animal collision, the threshold level being a level of risk greater than zero risk; generating, by the processor, a notification indicating the risk greater than the threshold level of collision with a non-avian animal; and communicating, from the processor, the notification of the risk greater than the threshold level to the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device so as to allow an operator of the automobile to be notified of the risk greater than the threshold level.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein communicating the notification to the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device comprises: communicating the notification to at least one of an onboard computer of the automobile or an electronic device associated with an operator of the automobile.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data further includes: at least one of a speed of the automobile, automobile characteristics, or demographic information associated with an operator of the automobile.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the environment data further includes: at least one of ecological characteristics or roadway characteristics.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the environment data includes a first environment factor having a first specific weight and a second environment factor having a second specific weight, and wherein determining that the automobile is at the risk greater than the threshold level comprises: calculating an overall risk based on combining the first environment factor and the second environment factor.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying at least one of a time of day or a time of year, wherein determining that the automobile is at the risk greater than the threshold level is further based upon a portion of the environment data corresponding to the at least one of the time of day or the time of year.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an animal collision report indicating that the automobile collided with a non-avian animal.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that the automobile is at the risk greater than the threshold level includes executing a machine learning algorithm.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein determining that the automobile is at the risk greater than the threshold level includes executing a machine learning algorithm, the method further comprising: updating the machine learning algorithm according to the animal collision report.

“10. A system for processing vehicle collision risk information, comprising: a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and a processor adapted to interface with the communication module, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: receive vehicle data including an indication of at least a current GPS (Global Positioning System) location of at least one of an automobile or a mobile device located within the automobile; access at least a portion of the environment data associated with the current GPS location of the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device, the environment data including a historical record of automobile-animal collisions in a particular proximity to the current GPS location of the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device; based upon the environment data and the current GPS location, determine, via the processor, that the automobile is at a risk greater than a threshold level for a non-avian animal collision, the threshold level being a level of risk greater than zero risk; and generate a notification indicating the risk greater than the threshold level of collision with a non-avian animal for display on at least one of the automobile or the mobile device so as to allow an operator of the automobile to be notified of the risk greater than the threshold level.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor if further configured to communicate the notification to the at least one of an onboard computer of the automobile or an electronic device associated with an operator of the automobile.

“12. The system of claim 10, wherein the vehicle data further includes at least one of a speed of the automobile, automobile characteristics, or demographic information associated with an operator of the automobile.

“13. The system of claim 10, wherein to access the environment data, the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: access at least one of ecological characteristics or roadway characteristics.

“14. A computer-implemented method of issuing an alert associated with a vehicle-animal collision, the method comprising: accessing, via a processor, environment data that includes a historical record of automobile-animal collisions in a particular proximity to the current GPS location of the at least one of the automobile or the mobile device, the processor being located remotely from the automobile; predicting, based upon the environment data, (1) a geographical scope, (2) a temporal scope, and (3) a seasonal scope of an area at a risk greater than a threshold level of being associated with a collision with a non-avian animal when a non-avian animal is not detected at the automobile, the threshold level being a level of risk greater than zero risk; monitoring or identifying the current GPS location of the mobile device located within the automobile via the processor; monitoring or identifying a current time of day via the processor, monitoring or identifying a current time of year via the processor; and when, as determined by the processor, (a) the current GPS location of the mobile device matches, or is within, the geographical scope of the area at the risk greater than the threshold level, (b) the current time of day matches, is within, or coincides with the temporal scope of the area at the risk greater than the threshold level, and © the current time of year matches, is within, or coincides with the seasonal scope of the area at the risk greater than the threshold level, generating an alert indicating the risk greater than the threshold level for the automobile.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the alert comprises at least one of an audible alert, a visual alert, or a haptic alert.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the method further comprising the processor transmitting the alert to the automobile or mobile device, and determining whether or not the automobile is moving before transmitting the alert.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, the method further comprising adjusting at least one of an insurance premium, a discount, or a reward based upon the mobile device being configured to receive the alert.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein predicting the area at the risk greater than the threshold level of being associated with a collision with a non-avian animal is further based upon analyzing at least one of automobile accidents, driver characteristics, animal tendencies, weather data, calendar data, time of day, or geographical information.

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the method further comprising adjusting at least one of an insurance premium, a discount, or a reward based upon the mobile device being configured to receive the alert.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Vose, Matthew E.; Bernico, Michael; Mowery, Milton; Sanidas, Tim G.; Zimmer, Christopher. Systems And Methods For Determining A Vehicle Is At An Elevated Risk For An Animal Collision. U.S. Patent Number 10,417,914, filed December 7, 2018, and published online on September 30, 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=10,417,914.PN.&OS=PN/10,417,914RS=PN/10,417,914

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