Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Providing Vehicular Collision Data (USPTO 10,388,084)

2019 AUG 30 (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 10,388,084, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Chan, Aaron Scott (Bloomington, IL); Sanchez, Kenneth J. (San Francisco, CA).

This patent was filed on January 17, 2018 and was published online on September 2, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Today, vehicle collisions may be identified by drivers, passengers, and witnesses who see or are involved in the collision. However, such collisions may not be identified and reported in real-time, because the drivers, passengers, and witnesses involved in the collision may be incapacitated or unwilling to report the collision. Moreover, an assessment of vehicle ejection may not be known until one or more emergency responders arrive at the scene of the collision.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for providing a notification that includes a traverse classification is disclosed. The method includes determining, at a computing system including one or more processors, a contact region based on information indicative of (i) a location of vehicle contact and (ii) a location of a person associated with the vehicle contact. The method also includes performing, by the one or more processors, an assessment of (i) one or more aspects of one or more routes associated with the contact region and (ii) the contact region. The method also includes based on the assessment, determining, by the one or more processors, one or more traverse classifications corresponding to the one or more routes associated with the contact region. The method also includes providing, by the computing system, a notification that includes a traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications to one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region.

“In another aspect, a system for providing a notification that includes a traverse classification is disclosed. The system includes one or more computing devices. The system also includes a non-transitory computer-readable memory coupled to the one or more computing devices and storing thereon instructions, that when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to determine a contact region based on information indicative of (i) a location of vehicle contact and (ii) a location of a person associated with the vehicle contact. The instructions also cause the one or more computing devices to perform an assessment of (i) one or more aspects of one or more routes associated with the contact region and (ii) the contact region. The instructions also cause the one or more computing devices to, based on the assessment, determine one or more traverse classifications corresponding to the one or more routes associated with the contact region. The instructions also cause the one or more computing devices to provide a notification that includes a traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications to one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: determining, at a computing system including one or more processors, a contact region comprising a geographic area including a location of vehicle contact and a location of a person associated with the vehicle contact, based on information indicative of (i) the location of vehicle contact and (ii) the location of the person associated with the vehicle contact; performing, by the one or more processors, an assessment of (i) one or more aspects of one or more routes associated with the contact region and (ii) the contact region, wherein performing the assessment comprises: performing, by the one or more processors, an analysis of the determined geographic area and one or more lanes of the one or more routes, and based on the analysis, determining, by the one or more processors, whether the contact region overlaps the one or more lanes; based on the assessment, determining, by the one or more processors, one or more traverse classifications corresponding to the one or more routes associated with the contact region; and providing, by the computing system, a notification that includes a traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications to one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more traverse classifications further includes: based on the contact region overlapping a given lane of the one or more lanes, assigning, by the one or more processors, a traverse classification of increased risk to a direction of travel of a given route of the one or more routes, wherein the direction of travel leads to the contact region.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more aspects are based on a geometric design of a given route of the one or more routes.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more traverse classifications further includes: determining, by the one or more processors, one or more traverse classifications for each direction of travel leading to the contact region based on one or more distances to the contact region.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification further includes: receiving, at the computing system, a heading of the one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region; and based on the heading, providing, by the computing system, the notification that includes a given traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the notification further includes one or more options for rerouting around the contact region.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the computing system, information indicative of (i) a current location and (ii) a travel destination associated with a given vehicle operator of the one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region; determining, by the one or more processors, one or more directions for rerouting around the contact region based on (i) the current location and (ii) the travel destination associated with the given vehicle operator; and providing, by the computing system, information indicative of the one or more directions to the given vehicle operator.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more traverse classifications are associated with one or more levels of safety according to a given direction of travel leading to the contact region.

“9. A system comprising: one or more computing devices; and a non-transitory computer-readable memory coupled to the one or more computing devices and storing thereon instructions, that when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to: determine a contact region comprising a geographic area including a location of vehicle contact and a location of a person associated with the vehicle contact, based on information indicative of (i) the location of vehicle contact and (ii) the location of the person associated with the vehicle contact; perform an assessment of (i) one or more aspects of one or more routes associated with the contact region and (ii) the contact region, wherein performing the assessment comprises: performing an analysis of the determined geographic area and one or more lanes of the one or more routes, and based on the analysis, determining whether the contact region overlaps the one or more lanes; based on the assessment, determine one or more traverse classifications corresponding to the one or more routes associated with the contact region; and provide a notification that includes a traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications to one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region.

“10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more computing devices to determine the one or more traverse classifications further include instructions to: based on the contact region overlapping a given lane of the one or more lanes, assign a traverse classification of increased risk to a direction of travel of a given route of the one or more routes, wherein the direction of travel leads to the contact region.

“11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more aspects are based on a geometric design of a given route of the one or more routes.

“12. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more computing devices to determine the one or more traverse classifications further include instructions to: determine one or more traverse classifications for each direction of travel leading to the contact region based on one or more distances to the contact region.

“13. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more computing devices to provide the notification further include instructions to: receive a heading of the one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region; and based on the heading, provide the notification that includes a given traverse classification of the one or more traverse classifications.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the notification further includes one or more options for rerouting around the contact region.

“15. The system of claim 9, further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to: receive information indicative of (i) a current location and (ii) a travel destination associated with a given vehicle operator of the one or more vehicle operators approaching the contact region; determine one or more directions for rerouting around the contact region based on (i) the current location and (ii) the travel destination associated with the given vehicle operator; and provide information indicative of the one or more directions to the given vehicle operator.

“16. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more traverse classifications are associated with one or more levels of safety of travel according to a given direction of travel leading to the contact region.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the contact region includes determining the contact region to be a circular region having a diameter based on a distance between the location of vehicle contact and the location of the person.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information indicative of the location of the person comprises information indicative of a trajectory of the person, the trajectory associated with ejection from the vehicle.

“19. The system of claim 9, wherein determining the contact region includes determining the contact region to be a circular region having a diameter based on a distance between the location of vehicle contact and the location of the person.

“20. The system of claim 9, wherein the information indicative of the location of the person comprises information indicative of a trajectory of the person, the trajectory associated with ejection from the vehicle.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Chan, Aaron Scott; Sanchez, Kenneth J. Systems And Methods For Providing Vehicular Collision Data. U.S. Patent Number 10,388,084, filed January 17, 2018, and published online on September 2, 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=10,388,084.PN.&OS=PN/10,388,084RS=PN/10,388,084

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