Patent Issued for Systems and methods for virtual physical distancing (USPTO 11836870): United Services Automobile Association

2023 DEC 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Billman, Bradley Jay (Celina, TX, US), Dziuk, Janelle Denice (Falls City, TX, US), Erickson, Jennifer Hunt (San Antonio, TX, US), Holloway, III, Donald Nathaniel (San Antonio, TX, US), Lopez, Jeanie Graciela (San Antonio, TX, US), Maney, Jr., Will Kerns (San Antonio, TX, US), Martinez, Noe Alberto (San Antonio, TX, US), Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX, US), Romero, Jr., Jose L. (San Antonio, TX, US), Schwarz, Jr., Thomas Wayne (Helotes, TX, US), Whittington, Paula Ann (Helotes, TX, US), filed on January 19, 2022, was published online on December 5, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11836870 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Mitigating the spread of viruses, bacteria or other germs during epidemics or pandemics requires coordinated efforts by individual members of a society to limit the spread of infection. In particular, public health agencies recommend maintaining a minimum distance between people in such circumstances. This minimum distance may depend on the virulence of the virus or unrelated social factors, such as the vulnerability of the subject population. Establishments such as retail stores, restaurants, post offices, professional offices and other commercial or non-commercial premises that may remain open to the public during an epidemic or a pandemic may wish to implement policies to ensure access to their premises while complying with government policies during an epidemic or a pandemic. Such policies allow these establishments to continue operating as permitted during an epidemic or a pandemic while mitigating the spread of the viruses, bacteria or other germs.

“For these reasons, there is a need for effective and convenient systems and methods for warning persons whenever they are getting too close to other persons in a public setting.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, embodiments include a smart device that has a camera, a display and a memory for storing images captured by the camera. It also has a physical distancing app that is configured to retrieve the images captured by the camera from the memory. The physical distancing app is also configured to generate graphics showing a boundary that delineates a safe distance from the camera. The physical distancing app is also configured to combine the graphics that delineate the boundary of the safe distance from the camera with images captured by the camera and stored in the memory to generate an augmented reality image showing the boundary overlaid onto the images captured by the camera and to display the augmented reality image on the display of the smart device.

“In another aspect, embodiments include a method for assisting a person in maintaining a safe distance from at least one other person. The method includes capturing an image of a scene using a camera in a smart device and storing the image in a memory in the smart device. It then includes identifying the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera and calculating a distance to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera. It also includes combining the image of the scene with additional graphics and displaying the combined image of the scene with the additional graphics to produce an augmented reality display on the smart device. The additional graphics provide warnings whenever the person is too close to the at least one other person.

“In yet another aspect, embodiments include a smart device that has a camera and a memory configured to store the images captured by the camera. It also has a display configured to display the images captured by the camera and stored in the memory. There is a physical distancing app installed in the smart device. The physical distancing app is configured to identify images of persons in the images captured by the camera and to calculate physical distances from the camera to the persons whose images are displayed on the display. The physical distancing app is also configured to retrieve images captured by the camera from the memory and to combine the images captured by the camera with additional graphics that delineate safe distance boundaries. The physical distancing app is also configured to display the combined images on the display to produce an augmented reality display that delineates the safe distance boundaries in the images on the display.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for assisting a person in maintaining a safe distance from at least one other person comprising: capturing an image of a scene using a camera in a smart device; storing the image in a memory in the smart device; identifying at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera; calculating a distance to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera; combining the image of the scene with additional graphics and displaying the combined image of the scene with the additional graphics to produce an augmented reality display on the smart device; wherein the additional graphics provide warnings whenever the person is too close to the at least one other person; determining an amount of time that the smart device has been stationary; determining that the amount of time that the smart device has been stationary is greater than a per-set amount of time; and displaying a message instructing that the smart device is to be turned so that the distance to the to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera may be recalculated.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional graphics in the augmented reality image change their color when the camera is too close to the at least one other person.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a determination that the person is too close to the at least one other person based in part upon a policy downloaded from at least one of a local server and a corporate server.

“4. The method of claim 1, comprising calibrating distance determinations based upon standard distances.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the augmented reality display includes at least one of a textual warning or an audible warning whenever the person is too close to the at least one other person.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising running, by the smart device, a physical distancing app, wherein the physical distancing app performs the identifying, the calculating, and the combining.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising downloading, by the smart device, a policy from a server, wherein the combining of the image of the scene with the additional graphics is performed using the policy.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the additional graphics as a first arc defining a first boundary at a first distance in the augmented reality display.

“9. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the additional graphics as a second arc defining a second boundary at a second distance in the augmented reality display.

“10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a laser-based distance determining system of the smart device to perform the calculating of the distance to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera.

“11. A method executing on a smart device comprising a camera, a display, and a memory for assisting a person in maintaining a safe distance from at least one other person comprising: capturing an image of a scene using the camera; storing the image in the memory; identifying at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera; calculating a distance to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera; combining the image of the scene with additional graphics and displaying the combined image of the scene with the additional graphics to produce, by the display, an augmented reality display, wherein the additional graphics provide indications of distance to the at least one other person; determining an amount of time that the smart device has been stationary; determining that the amount of time that the smart device has been stationary is greater than a per-set amount of time; and displaying a message instructing that the smart device is to be turned so that the distance to the to the at least one other person appearing in the image captured by the camera may be recalculated.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: polling a device control module of the smart device to determine a focal length of the camera; and calibrating, using the focal length, the smart device to perform the calculating of the distance.

“13. The method of claim 11, further comprising downloading, by the smart device, a policy from a server, wherein the combining of the image of the scene with the additional graphics is performed using the policy downloaded from the server.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the smart device is a smart glasses device.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Billman, Bradley Jay. Systems and methods for virtual physical distancing. U.S. Patent Number 11836870, filed January 19, 2022, and published online on December 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11836870)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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