Patent Issued for Vehicle diagnostics (USPTO 11580792): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 MAR 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Hayes, Howard (Glencoe, IL, US), Kraft, Daniel (Libertyville, IL, US), Sankovsky, Jenny (Hawthorn Woods, IL, US), filed on May 29, 2019, was published online on February 14, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11580792 is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many modern vehicles include an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system. An OBD system receives data from sensors located in various areas of the vehicle and can trigger indicators (e.g., dashboard lights) to warn an operator of the vehicle of potentially dangerous or problematic conditions. While these indicators may notify an operator of the existence of a condition, they are often vague and fail to provide the operator with adequate information for addressing the condition. Typically, such indicators merely convey to the operator that they should service the vehicle. In such cases, in order to obtain additional information regarding the condition, the operator may be required to have the vehicle serviced by a qualified service provider (e.g., a dealer) with equipment capable of interpreting diagnostic codes generated by the OBD system.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary 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 intended neither to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor 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 description below.

“In accordance with one or more examples, a computing system may receive, from a vehicle (e.g., from a vehicle-management computing device installed on or otherwise affixed to the vehicle), a diagnostic code generated by an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system of the vehicle. The computing system may determine an issue with the vehicle based on the diagnostic code and may determine, based on the issue, a remedial action for addressing the issue and a timeframe for performing the remedial action. The computing system may store data identifying the issue, the remedial action, and the timeframe in a record associated with the vehicle.

“In accordance with one or more examples, a computing system may include a vehicle having one or more monitored vehicle systems and a computing device configured to at least monitor an operation of the vehicle systems. The computing device may receive, from the vehicle (e.g., from a vehicle-management computing device installed on or otherwise affixed to the vehicle), at least one signal (e.g., from one or more sensors monitoring the operation of each of a plurality of vehicle systems, where the signal may correspond to a status of a vehicle component). In some cases, the computing device may additionally, or alternatively, receive a diagnostic code generated by an on-board diagnostic (OBD) system of the vehicle. The computing system may predict when an issue with the vehicle is likely to occur based on the at least one signal and/or the diagnostic code and may determine, based on the issue, a remedial action for addressing the issue and a timeframe for performing the remedial action. The computing system may store data identifying the issue, the remedial action, and the timeframe in a record associated with the vehicle.

“In some cases, a vehicle system management device may include a first communication interface configured for wired or wireless communication to a remote computing system, such as via a wireless communication network (e.g., a cellular communication link, a WiFi communication link, a wide area network (WAN) communication link, etc.) and a second communication network configured to communicate to at least one vehicle monitoring device within the vehicle via a wired (e.g., an onboard diagnostic (OBD) communication link, etc.) or a wireless (e.g., a Bluetooth communication link, a wireless LAN link, etc.) communication network. The system may further include an analysis engine having a processor configured to execute instructions stored in a memory device. The analysis engine may receive status information corresponding to an operation of a component of the at least one vehicle system and analyze the status information to determine a current status of the at least one vehicle system. Based on the analysis of the status information, the analysis engine may predict a future status corresponding to the at least one vehicle system and transmit the future status information to a user interface device.

“In some cases, a vehicle management system may include a vehicle, a computing device communicatively coupled to one or more vehicle systems, and a mobile device configured to analyze vehicle system status information. In some cases, the vehicle may include an onboard diagnostic (OBD) system and/or a plurality of sensors additional to the OBD system configured to monitor a plurality of vehicle systems. The computing device may include a first communication interface communicatively coupled to the OBD system and to the plurality of sensors. The computing device may be configured to receive vehicle system status information from the OBD system and the plurality of sensors. In some cases, the system status information may include at least one of a diagnostic message received from the OBD system corresponding to at least one of the plurality of vehicle systems, and a signal from the plurality of sensors corresponding to a state of at least one system of the plurality of vehicle systems. In some cases, the computing device may further include a second communication interface communicatively coupled to the mobile device, where the mobile device may be associated with a user of the vehicle. In some cases, the mobile device may communicate to the computing device via a wired or wireless network, such as a WAN (e.g., a cellular communications network, etc.) or a LAN (e.g., a Bluetooth network). The mobile device may include a user interface device and an analysis engine comprising a processor configured to process instructions stored in a memory device. The analysis engine may identify vehicle information based on vehicle insurance information received from a remote computing system, analyze the vehicle system status information based, at least in part, on the vehicle insurance information to predict whether a remedial action is to be used to correct a future system status, present, via the user interface device, the vehicle system status information and a predicted remedial action to the user, and receive, via the user interface device, a user input specifying whether to proceed with the predicted remedial action.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computing device comprising: a communication interface; a display device; one or more processors; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to: receive, via the communication interface, and from a first sensor of a vehicle system, first sensor data generated by the first sensor, the first sensor data corresponding to a status of one or more portions of the vehicle system; generate a first user interface screen, the first user interface screen comprising a status indicator corresponding to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system, the status indicator generated using the first sensor data; output the first user interface screen to the display device; receive, from the display device, a first command associated with the status indicator; and transmit, based on the first command and via the communication interface, a first command signal to one or more computing devices of the vehicle system associated with the one or more portions of the vehicle system, the first command responsive to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system.

“2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing device to: receive, via the communication interface and from a second sensor, second sensor data generated by the second sensor; determine a user preference associated with the second sensor; transmit, based on the user preference and the second sensor data, a second command signal to the one or more computing devices of the vehicle system.

“3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the user preference comprises one or more threshold values.

“4. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing device to: request, from an external database, additional data, wherein the second command signal is further based on the additional data.

“5. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the second sensor data comprises at least one of weather data, tire data, or fluid data.

“6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more portions of the vehicle system includes at least one of a door of the vehicle system or a window of the vehicle system, the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system including at least one of unlocked, locked, open, closed, or partially open.

“7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the first user interface screen includes a representation of a vehicle associated with the vehicle system, the status indicator being overlaid on the representation of the vehicle.

“8. A method comprising: receiving, via a communication interface, and from a first sensor of a vehicle system, first sensor data generated by the first sensor, the first sensor data corresponding to a status of one or more portions of the vehicle system; generating a first user interface screen, the first user interface screen comprising a status indicator corresponding to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system, the status indicator generated using the first sensor data; outputting the first user interface screen to a display device; receiving, from the display device, a first command associated with the status indicator; and transmitting, based on the first command and via the communication interface, a first command signal to one or more computing devices of the vehicle system associated with the one or more portions of the vehicle system, the first command responsive to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system.

“9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, via the communication interface and from a second sensor of a vehicle system, second sensor data generated by the second sensor; determining a user preference associated with the second sensor; transmitting, based on the user preference and the second sensor data, a second command signal to the one or more computing devices of the vehicle system.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user preference comprises one or more threshold values.

“11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: requesting, from an external database, additional data, wherein the second command signal is further based on the additional data.

“12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second sensor data comprises at least one of weather data, tire data, or fluid data.

“13. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more portions of the vehicle system includes at least one of a door of the vehicle system or a window of the vehicle system, the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system including at least one of unlocked, locked, open, closed, or partially open.

“14. The method of claim 8, wherein the status indicator is at least one of visual, textual, audio, or numerical.

“15. A system comprising: one or more sensors configured to generate first sensor data, the first sensor data corresponding to a status of one or more portions of a vehicle system, a first user interface screen being generated using the first sensor data, the first user interface screen comprising a status indicator corresponding to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system; and one or more computing devices associated with one or more portions of the vehicle system, the one or more computing devices configured to control the one or more portions of the vehicle system based on a first command associated with the status indicator and responsive to the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system, the first command captured using a display device presenting the first user interface screen.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more sensors are further configured to generate second sensor data, the one or more computing devices further controlling the one or more portions of the vehicle system based on a user preference and the second sensor data.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user preference comprises one or more threshold values.

“18. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more computing devices further control the one or more portions of the vehicle system based on additional data obtained from an external database.

“19. The system of claim 16, wherein the second sensor data comprises at least one of weather data, tire data, or fluid data.

“20. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more portions of the vehicle system includes at least one of a door of the vehicle system or a window of the vehicle system, the status of the one or more portions of the vehicle system including at least one of unlocked, locked, open, closed, or partially open.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Hayes, Howard. Vehicle diagnostics. U.S. Patent Number 11580792, filed May 29, 2019, and published online on February 14, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11580792)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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