Patent Issued for Systems and methods of connected driving based on dynamic contextual factors (USPTO 11493351): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 NOV 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 Chintakindi, Sunil (Menlo Park, CA, US), Gibson, Tim (Barrington, IL, US), Hayes, Howard (Glencoe, IL, US), filed on September 1, 2020, was published online on November 8, 2022.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11493351 is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Recently, many vehicles come equipped with global positioning system (GPS) devices that help drivers to navigate roads to various locations. Moreover, many drivers use other mobile devices (e.g., smart phones) that have GPS devices therein to help the drivers navigate roads. These GPS devices may provide location information and use maps for navigation purposes. As GPS devices have become more prevalent, the different uses for their location information have come to light. In some instances, the danger level of different routes is determined by combining location information and accident history information. Although some entities may find the danger level of certain routes useful and interesting, such information alone might not significantly reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring. Therefore, there remains a desire for methods and systems that may help drivers avoid accidents. Moreover, in the event of an accident, there is a desire for methods and systems that utilize information regarding the environment in which the accident occurred to help other drivers avoid a similar accident.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Certain other aspects of the disclosure include a system comprising one or more sensors coupled to a vehicle and configured to detect sensor information. One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured for mobile data and vehicle communication. The system may include one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions. The processor(s) may be configured to provide dynamic computer readable recommendations to users to identify and mitigate risk during a driving operation and traveling with the mobile device. The system may receive various types of data information, including but not limited to, accident information, geographic information, environmental information, risk information, and vehicle information from one or more sensors.

“The system may calculate a dynamic risk assessment and associate the risk assessment to a particular mobile device. The system may include one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions. The processor(s) may be configured to calculate a dynamic risk assessment with mobile device derived input data to determine one or more contextual risk assessments from a range of mobile device derived inputs to calculate one or more indexes, such as a tailgating risk index, a road frustration index, a lane keeping index, a driver attention index, an internal distraction index and/or other risk index. Further, the processor(s) may be configured to provide alerts to a user by indicating an identification of a risk alert based on the calculated risk assessment. The processor(s) may be configured to create a risk map that permits a location and contextual (e.g., reflecting traffic and/or weather conditions) assessment of risks. Among other things, this assessment of risks can be used to calculate the safest route, and restrict certain actions (e.g., enable/disable functionality on a mobile device) when conditions are safe/not safe.

“In other aspects of the disclosure, a system including one or more sensors, coupled to and in communication with a vehicle, may detect sensor information and provide the sensor information to a computing device for processing. The computing device may be configured to communicate with one or more mobile sensors to receive the mobile sensor information, communicate with the one or more sensors to receive the sensor information; and analyze the sensor information and the mobile sensor information to identify one or more risk factors.

“In other aspects of the disclosure, a personal navigation device, mobile device, and/or personal computing device may access a database of risk scores to assist in identifying and indicating alternate lower-risk travel routes.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: one or more sensors coupled to a vehicle and configured to detect sensor information; and a computing device in signal communication with the one or more sensors, wherein the computing device comprises: a processor; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to: communicate with the one or more sensors to receive the sensor information; communicate with a mobile device to receive mobile information; generate one or more dynamic risk values associated with operation of the vehicle based on analyzing the sensor information and the mobile information to determine at least one of a tailgating risk index, a road frustration index based on a number of vehicles in front of the vehicle, or a lane keeping index; generate a recommendation based on the one or more dynamic risk values; transmit the recommendation to the mobile device; and cause the recommendation to be displayed on an interface of the mobile device.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the computing device to: receive additional information, wherein the additional information includes at least one of additional sensor information or additional mobile information; and calculate one or more updated dynamic risk values by applying a machine learning model to the additional information.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the one or more dynamic risk values includes generating at least one risk assessment associated with operation of the vehicle based on the sensor information and the mobile information.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one risk assessment includes at least one of a driver attention index or an internal distraction index.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the recommendation includes determining whether the one or more dynamic risk values exceeds a risk threshold.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation comprises instructions that cause one or more features of the mobile device to be enabled or disabled.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation comprises a risk map, the risk map including one or more locational risk assessments.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation comprises a calculated safe route.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the one or more dynamic risk values includes accessing a database of risk scores associated with one or more aspects of vehicle operation.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile information includes at least one of: accident information, geographic information, environmental information, risk information, or vehicle information.

“11. A method comprising: collecting sensor information from one or more sensors coupled to a vehicle; collecting mobile information from a mobile device associated with an occupant in the vehicle; analyzing the sensor information and the mobile information; generating one or more dynamic risk values associated with operation of the vehicle based on analyzing the sensor information and the mobile information to determine at least one of a tailgating risk index, a road frustration index based on a number of vehicles in front of the vehicle, or a lane keeping index; and disabling one or more features of the mobile device based on the one or more dynamic risk values.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a risk assessment associated with an operation parameter of the vehicle based on the sensor information and the mobile information.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein generating the risk assessment includes generating a current risk assessment and a future risk assessment.

“14. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving additional information, wherein the additional information includes at least one of additional sensor information or additional mobile information; and generating one or more updated dynamic risk values by applying a machine learning model to the additional information.

“15. The method of claim 11, further comprising: transmitting a recommendation to the mobile device, wherein the recommendation is based on the one or more dynamic risk values and is configured to be displayed on an interface of the mobile device.

“16. An apparatus comprising: a processor; a wireless communication interface; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive, from one or more sensors coupled to a vehicle, sensor information associated with operation of the vehicle; receive, from a mobile device, mobile information associated with operation of the vehicle; generate one or more dynamic risk values associated with operation of the vehicle based on analyzing the sensor information and the mobile information to determine at least one of a tailgating risk index, a road frustration index based on a number of vehicles in front of the vehicle, or a lane keeping index; transmit a recommendation to the mobile device, wherein the recommendation is generated based on the one or more dynamic risk values; and cause the recommendation to be displayed on an interface of the mobile device.

“17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the apparatus to: receive additional information, wherein the additional information includes at least one of additional sensor information or additional mobile information; and generate one or more updated dynamic risk values by applying a machine learning model to the additional information.

“18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the sensor information includes at least one of a vehicles speed, a rate of acceleration, braking, steering, impacts to the vehicle, or usage of vehicle controls.

“19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the sensor information includes vehicle operational data collected by one or more internal vehicle sensors, one or more computers, or one or more cameras.

“20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the mobile information includes at least one of: accident information, geographic information, environmental information, risk information, or vehicle information.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Chintakindi, Sunil. Systems and methods of connected driving based on dynamic contextual factors. U.S. Patent Number 11493351, filed September 1, 2020, and published online on November 8, 2022.

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