Patent Issued for Systems and methods for improved assisted or independent living environments (USPTO 11423754): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 SEP 09 (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 11423754, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Carlson, Gail L. (Bloomington, IL, US), Donovan, John R. (Bloomington, IL, US), Harr, Joseph (Bloomington, IL, US), Harris, Jr., Michael (Tempe, AZ, US), Jordan, II, Jackie O. (Bloomington, IL, US), Markwardt, Kerstin (Phoenix, AZ, US), Nussbaum, Bryan R. (Bloomington, IL, US), Schiebel, Kyle C. (Bloomington, IL, US), Stockweather, Deanna (Normal, IL, US), Stoiber, Jeffrey W. (Dunwoody, GA, US), Sun, Jennylind (Bloomington, IL, US), Turrentine, David (Normal, IL, US), Wagner, EllaKate (Mesa, AZ, US), Winslow, Troy (Bloomington, IL, US), Wollenschlager, Torri (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on January 9, 2020 and was published online on August 23, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “With the proliferation of the “internet of things,” more household devices and items are gaining communication and network connectivity capabilities. The new capabilities are enabling easier data detection and more accurate information and metrics. However, the ability to detect certain conditions associated with devices and items may be limited. Additionally, the channels to control and maintain devices and items as a response to certain conditions may also be limited.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, access certain device data to detect certain conditions and situations within a property and determine actions or commands to perform to address the conditions and situations. Further, the present embodiments may effectively and efficiently communicate relevant information associated with the conditions and enable users to facilitate the actions or commands. One particular functionality relates to analyzing sensor data to detect when one or more individuals may be in peril, such as in an independent or assisted living environment, and then notifying proper individuals of the situation.

“Generally, the present embodiments may relate to (1) home control and/or automation, as well as (2) loss prevention, reduction, and/or mitigation through proactively identifying periled individuals, notifying an individual of detected situations, and enabling individuals to mitigate the detected situations. The foregoing functionality also may be used by an insurance provider to generate, update, or adjust insurance policies, premiums, rates, discounts, points, and/or rewards, and/or make recommendations to an insured individual.

“According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of detecting periled individuals within an independent or assisted living environment may be provided. The independent or assisted living environment may be populated with a hardware controller in communication with a plurality of sensors. The method may include (1) receiving, by the hardware controller, sensor data from at least one sensor located within the independent or assisted living environment, the at least one sensor either (i) secured to an individual or (ii) configured to sense environmental data within a proximity of the individual; (2) analyzing the sensor data by one or more processors; (3) based upon the analyzing, determining that the individual is in peril; (4) responsive to determining that the individual is in peril, generating a notification indicating that the individual is in peril; and/or (5) communicating the notification to an electronic device of an additional individual to facilitate alleviating a risk associated with the individual being in peril. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“According to another embodiment, a hardware controller for detecting periled individuals within an independent or assisted living environment, where the hardware controller may communication with a set of sensors populated within the independent or assisted living environment, may be provided. The hardware controller may include a communication module adapted to interface with the set of sensors populated within the independent or assisted living environment; a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and/or a processor adapted to interface with the communication module and the memory. The processor may be configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to receive, via the communication module, sensor data from at least one sensor of the set of sensors located within the independent or assisted living environment, the at least one sensor either (i) secured to an individual or (ii) configured to sense environmental data within a proximity of the individual, analyze the sensor data, based upon the analyzing, determine that the individual is in peril, responsive to determining that the individual is in peril, generate a notification indicating that the individual is in peril, and/or communicate, via the communication module, the notification to an electronic device of an additional individual to facilitate alleviating a risk associated with the individual being in peril. The hardware controller may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of detecting periled individuals within an independent or assisted living environment, the independent or assisted living environment populated with a hardware controller in communication with a plurality of sensors, the method comprising: receiving, by the hardware controller, sensor data from a wearable device removably secured to an individual and located within the independent or assisted living environment, wherein the sensor data indicates (i) a heart rate of the individual, and (ii) a type of room of the independent or assisted living environment in which the individual is located; analyzing, by the one or more processors, the sensor data to determine that the heart rate exceeds a threshold rate; in response to determining that the heart rate exceeds the threshold rate, determining, based on the type of room in which the individual is located, that the individual is in peril; responsive to determining that the individual is in peril, automatically and without user intervention generating a notification indicating that the individual is in peril; and communicating the notification to an electronic device of an additional individual to facilitate alleviating a risk associated with the individual being in peril.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sensor data comprises: receiving motion data from the wearable device.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein analyzing the sensor data comprises: analyzing the motion data from the wearable device to determine that the individual has experienced a rapid acceleration.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes audio data received from a microphone located within a room of the individual, and wherein analyzing the sensor data comprises: determining, from the audio data, that the individual has suffered a fall.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the sensor data comprises: accessing baseline sensor data; and comparing the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein comparing the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data comprises: determining a level of similarity between the retrieved sensor data and the baseline sensor data, and determining that the level of similarity meets a threshold value.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein communicating the notification to the electronic device comprises: identifying a caregiver for the individual; and communicating the notification to the electronic device of the caregiver.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying an insurance-related event associated with the individual being in peril.

“9. A hardware controller for detecting periled individuals within an independent or assisted living environment, the hardware controller in communication with a set of sensors populated within the independent or assisted living environment, comprising: a communication module adapted to interface with the set of sensors populated within the independent or assisted living environment, the set of sensors comprising a wearable device removably secured to an individual and located within the independent or assisted living environment; a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and a processor adapted to interface with the communication module and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: receive, via the communication module, sensor data from the wearable device, wherein the sensor data indicates (i) a heart rate of the individual, and (ii) a type of room of the independent or assisted living environment in which the individual is located, analyze the sensor data to determine the heart rate exceeds the threshold rate, in response to determining that the heart rate exceeds the threshold rate, determine, based on the type of room in which the individual is located, that the individual is in peril, responsive to determining that the individual is in peril, automatically and without user intervention generate a notification indicating that the individual is in peril, and communicate, via the communication module, the notification to an electronic device of an additional individual to facilitate alleviating a risk associated with the individual being in peril.

“10. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the sensor data comprises motion data from the wearable device.

“11. The hardware controller of claim 10, wherein to analyze the sensor data, the processor is configured to: analyze the motion data from the wearable device to determine that the individual has experienced a rapid acceleration.

“12. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the sensor data includes audio data received from a microphone located within a room of the individual, and wherein to analyze the sensor data, the processor is configured to: determine, from the audio data, that the individual has suffered a fall.

“13. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein to analyze the sensor data, the processor is configured to: access baseline sensor data, and compare the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data.

“14. The hardware controller of claim 13, wherein to compare the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data, the processor is configured to: determine a level of similarity between the retrieved sensor data and the baseline sensor data, and determine that the level of similarity meets a threshold value.

“15. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein to communicate the notification to the electronic device, the processor is configured to: identify a caregiver for the individual, and communicate the notification to the electronic device of the caregiver.

“16. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: identify an insurance-related event associated with the individual being in peril.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Carlson, Gail L. Systems and methods for improved assisted or independent living environments. U.S. Patent Number 11423754, filed January 9, 2020, and published online on August 23, 2022. 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=11423754.PN.&OS=PN/11423754RS=PN/11423754

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