Patent Issued for Systems and methods for environmental analysis based upon vehicle sensor data (USPTO 11164262): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2021 NOV 18 (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 Nave, Cole (Sugar Hill, GA, US), Tofte, Nathan (Downs, IL, US), filed on December 18, 2019, was published online on November 2, 2021.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11164262, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “In many cases, advertising is low value because there is no indication that the product or service is needed. Frequent ads on the Internet, cold calls, and door-to-door sales serve as the initial contact with hopes of a future sale, but the likelihood of completing a sale is low based upon the blind initial contact. Ads on the Internet may be triggered when an individual searches, clicks, or otherwise indicates a need.

“However, there are cases, where the individual may not even know that he has a need. For instance, if a tree in an individual’s front yard has insect damage, but the individual may not notice or recognize the significance. In this instance, the individual may not be aware that his property is in need of maintenance and/or who would perform that maintenance. Additionally, no Internet ads are triggered to address that need.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to systems and methods for analyzing the environment of a vehicle. An environment monitoring system, as described herein, may include an environment monitoring (“EM”) computer device that is in communication with a mobile computer device associated with a user. The EM computer device may be configured to (i) receive a plurality of data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, where the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition that is proximate to the vehicle during at least one point in time and includes at least one of: a condition of a building, a condition of vegetation, a condition of a public thoroughfare, a weather condition, and a vehicular accident that the vehicle was not involved in. The plurality of data may include a plurality of location data and a plurality of sensor readings. Each sensor reading may be associated with a location of the plurality of locations. The EM computer device may be further configured to (ii) determine a location associated with the at least one environmental condition based upon the plurality of data; (iii) determine a user account associated with the determined location; (iv) determine the at least one environmental condition by comparing data associated with a plurality of separate points in time, where the environmental condition is proximate to the vehicle at the plurality of separate points in time; (v) store a plurality of historical sensor data; (vi) compare the plurality of data to the historical data to determine the at least one environmental condition; (vii) analyze the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition; (viii) determine at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental condition; (ix) determine at least one provider based upon the actionable item; and/or (x) transmit a message to the at least one provider, such that the message includes the at least one actionable item and where the provider is configured to (a) transmit a message to the user account or (b) transmit an advertisement associated with the at least one actionable item. The EM computing device may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“At least one advantage of this system is that it provides more accurate leads to businesses based upon the actual needs of potential customers. This reduces the need for blind sales calls. Furthermore, the use of sensor data allows for providing additional information about changes to an environment overtime including potential actionable items, without requiring constant manual inspection. Another advantage of the system is to provide additional information about vehicular crashes to improve modeling of the scenario of the vehicular crash. Another advantage of the system is reducing potential injuries in a vehicular accident by inducing passengers to reposition and/or change direction of facing. A further advantage is reducing damage to at least one of a vehicle and/or passengers by repositioning the vehicle prior to impact.

“In one aspect, a computer system for analyzing the environment of a vehicle, and/or improving the functioning of a computer, may be provided. The computer system may include at least one processor (and/or associated transceiver) in communication with at least one memory device. The at least one processor (and/or associated transceiver) may be configured or programmed to: (1) receive a plurality of data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition; (2) analyze the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition; (3) determine at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental condition; (4) determine at least one provider based upon the actionable item; and/or (5) transmit a message to the at least one provider or to a provide computing, such as via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels, wherein the message includes the at least one actionable item to facilitate communication to providers about potential actionable items. The computer system may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-based method for analyzing the environment of a vehicle, and/or improving the functioning of a computer, may be provided. The method may be implemented on an environment monitoring (“EM”) server that includes at least one processor (and/or associated transceiver) in communication with at least one memory device. The method may include: (1) receiving, at the EM server (such as via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels), a plurality of data from at least one sensor (and/or transceivers) associated with a vehicle, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition; (2) analyzing, by the EM server, the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition; (3) determining, by the EM server, at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental condition; (4) determining, by the EM server, at least one provider based upon the actionable item; and/or (5) transmitting a message to the at least one provider or provider computing device (such as via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels), wherein the message includes the at least one actionable item to facilitate communication to providers about potential actionable items. The computer system may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another 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 cause the processor (and/or an associated transceiver) to: (1) receive a plurality of data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition; (2) analyze the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition; (3) determine at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental condition; (4) determine at least one provider based upon the actionable item; and/or (5) transmit a message to the at least one provider, wherein the message includes the at least one actionable item to facilitate communication to providers about potential actionable items. The computer system may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer system for analyzing the environment of a vehicle, the computer system including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the at least one processor is programmed to: receive a plurality of data from a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition at a location, wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors receives the plurality of data while the corresponding vehicle travels past the location at a plurality of separate points in time; analyze the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition at the location; determine a condition of a building at the location based upon the at least one environmental condition; and generate an insurance quote for the building based upon the determined condition associated with the building.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to transmit the insurance quote to an insurance provider.

“3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to transmit the insurance quote to a user associated with the location.

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine the location associated with the at least one environmental condition based upon the plurality of data.

“5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to determine an address based upon the determined location.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the building is a house and the insurance quote is for homeowner’s insurance.

“7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: determine at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental conditions; and adjust the insurance quote based upon the at least one actionable item.

“8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the environmental condition includes at least one of a condition of a building, a condition of vegetation, a condition of a public thoroughfare, and a weather condition.

“9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: store a plurality of historical sensor data; and compare to the historical data to determine the at least one environmental condition.

“10. A computer-based method for analyzing the environment of a vehicle, the method implemented on an environment monitoring (“EM”) server including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the method comprising: receiving, at the EM server, a plurality of data from a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition at a location, wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors receives the plurality of data while the corresponding vehicle travels past the location at a plurality of separate points in time; analyzing, by the EM server, the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition at the location; determining, by the EM server, a condition of a building at the location based upon the at least one environmental condition; and generating, by the EM server, an insurance quote for the building based upon the determined condition associated with the building.

“11. The computer-based method of claim 10 further comprising transmitting the insurance quote to an insurance provider.

“12. The computer-based method of claim 10 further comprising transmitting the insurance quote to a user associated with the location.

“13. The computer-based method of claim 10 further comprising determining the location associated with the at least one environmental condition based upon the plurality of data.

“14. The computer-based method of claim 13 further comprising determining an address based upon the determined location.

“15. The computer-based method of claim 10, wherein the building is a house and the insurance product is home owner’s insurance.

“16. The computer-based method of claim 10 further comprising: determining at least one actionable item based upon the at least one environmental conditions; and adjusting the insurance quote based upon the at least one actionable item.

“17. The computer-based method of claim 10, wherein the environmental condition includes at least one of a condition of a building, a condition of vegetation, a condition of a public thoroughfare, and a weather condition.

“18. The computer-based method of claim 10 further comprising: storing a plurality of historical sensor data; and comparing to the historical data to determine the at least one environmental condition.

“19. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to: receive a plurality of data from a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition at a location, wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors receives the plurality of data while the corresponding vehicle travels past the location at a plurality of separate points in time; analyze the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition at the location; determine a condition of a building at the location based upon the at least one environmental condition; and generate an insurance quote for the building based upon the determined condition associated with the building.

“20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the processor to transmit the insurance quote to a user associated with the location.”

For more information, see this patent: Nave, Cole. Systems and methods for environmental analysis based upon vehicle sensor data. U.S. Patent Number 11164262, filed December 18, 2019, and published online on November 2, 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=11164262.PN.&OS=PN/11164262RS=PN/11164262

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