Patent Issued for Vehicle driver safety performance based on relativity (USPTO 11354616): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 JUN 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Fields, Brian Mark (Normal, IL, US), filed on May 11, 2017, was published online on June 7, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11354616, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator (e.g., a vehicle driver) who controls both steering and motive controls. Currently known methods for determining or rating a driver’s performance typically include collecting telematics data from the driver’s vehicle while a driver operates the vehicle, and analyzing the collected data to generate a rating or determination of the driver’s performance in operating the vehicle. Typical telematics data that is collected to rate a driver’s performance includes vehicle movement data such as speed, acceleration, cornering, braking, and the like. Other data that is conventionally used in rating a driver’s performance include the time of day, miles traveled, and whether (or not) and/or where the vehicle is garaged. Conventionally, a driver’s performance rating is reflected by an average over a period of time, such as a six-month or yearly average.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for determining or rating driver safety performance based on relativity, e.g., to other drivers and/or to particular combinations of environmental conditions or contexts. Embodiments of example systems and methods are summarized below. The methods and systems summarized below may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In an embodiment, a system for determining driver performance may comprise one or more communication interfaces; an access mechanism to a first set of data indicative of respective behavior of a plurality of drivers of a plurality of vehicles that traverse a plurality of routes, where the first set of data is based on data obtained by a set of sensors while the plurality of drivers operate respective vehicles along the plurality of routes; one or more processors; one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the one or more processors; and computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory memories thereby particularly configuring the one or more non-transitory memories. The computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, may cause the system to collect a second set of data, where at least a portion of the second set of data is obtained by a set of sensors disposed at a particular vehicle that is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, and each data point included in the second set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; filter, using the access mechanism, the first set of data based on the particular route to obtain a subset of the first set of data corresponding to the particular route; and analyze the subset of the first set of data corresponding to the particular route to determine relative weightings amongst a plurality of different parameters whose values are included in the subset of the first set of data, where the plurality of different parameters is indicative of at least one of a behavior of the particular driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the particular route, and the relative weightings correspond to one or more levels of driving performance. Additionally, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, may further cause the system to compare the second set of data corresponding to the particular driver with the analyzed subset of the first set of data; determine a level of driving performance of the particular driver based on the comparison; and transmit an indication of the determined level of driving performance of the particular driver corresponding to the particular route to at least one of: the particular vehicle operated by the particular driver, a user interface, or another computing device or system.

“In an embodiment, a method for determining driver performance may comprise collecting, by one or more computing devices communicatively connected to a set of sensors disposed at a particular vehicle, a first set of data, where at least a portion of the first set of data is obtained by the set of sensors while the particular vehicle is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, and each data point included in the first set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; accessing a second set of data indicative of respective behaviors of a plurality of drivers of a plurality of vehicles traversing a plurality of routes, where the second set of data is based on data obtained by a plurality of sensors while the plurality of drivers operated respective vehicles along the plurality of routes, and the plurality of routes includes the particular route; and filtering the second set of data based on the particular route to obtain a subset of the second set of data corresponding to the particular route. The method may further comprise analyzing the subset of the second set of data corresponding to the particular route to determine relative weightings amongst a plurality of different parameters whose values are included in the subset of the second set of data, where the plurality of different parameters is indicative of at least one of a behavior of the particular driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the particular route, and the relative weightings correspond to one or more levels of driving performance; comparing the first set of data corresponding to the particular driver with analyzed subset of the second set of data; determining a level of driving performance of the particular driver for the particular route based on the comparison; and transmitting an indication of the level of driving performance of the particular driver to at least one of: the particular vehicle being operated by the particular driver, a user interface, or another computing device or system.

“Systems or computer-readable media storing executable instructions for implementing all or part of the systems and/or methods described herein may also be provided in some embodiments. Systems for implementing such methods may include one or more of the following: a special-purpose computing device, a mobile computing device, a personal electronic device, an on-board computer, one or more remote servers or cloud computing system, one or more remote data storage entities, one or more sensors, one or more communication modules configured to communicate wirelessly via radio links, radio frequency links, and/or wireless communication channels, and/or one or more non-transitory, tangible program memories coupled to one or more processors of the special-purpose computing device, mobile computing device, personal electronic device, on-board computer, and/or one or more remote servers or cloud computing system. Such program memories may store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, may cause a system described herein to implement part or all of one or more methods described herein. Additional or alternative features described herein below may be included in some embodiments.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for determining driver performance, the system comprising: one or more communication interfaces; a plurality of sensors affixed to a plurality of vehicles; an access mechanism to a first set of data indicative of respective behaviors of a plurality of drivers traversing a plurality of routes, the first set of data obtained by the plurality of sensors while the plurality of drivers operate respective vehicles of the plurality of vehicles along the plurality of routes; one or more processors; one or more non-transitory memories storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive, by the one or more processors via the one or more communication interfaces, a second set of data from the plurality of sensors, at least a portion of the second set of data being captured by a set of sensors included in the plurality of sensors and disposed at a particular vehicle that is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, wherein: the second set of data includes information indicative of a dynamic contextual attribute of a portion of the particular route, the dynamic contextual attribute changes, in real time and proximate the particular vehicle, as the particular vehicle traverses the portion of the particular route, and each data point included in the second set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; determine, by the one or more processors and based on the dynamic contextual attribute, a safe driving threshold corresponding to the portion of the particular route, wherein the safe driving threshold differs from a predetermined driving threshold, the predetermined driving threshold corresponding to the portion of the particular route and established without the second set of data; filter, by the access mechanism, the first set of data based on the particular route to identify a subset of data of the first set of data, the subset of data corresponding to a subset of the plurality of the drivers associated with the particular route; determine, by the one or more processors and based at least in part on the subset of data, relative weightings amongst a plurality of different parameters having values that are included in the subset of data, wherein each parameter of the plurality of different parameters indicates a behavior of the particular driver and a behavior of the particular vehicle; determine, by the one or more processors, a level of driving performance of the particular driver based at least in part on (i) the second set of data, (ii) the subset of data, and (iii) the relative weightings amongst the plurality of different parameters; generate, based on the level of driving performance of the particular driver and on the dynamic contextual attribute of the portion of the particular route, an instruction to automatically modify an operational behavior of an additional system that is disposed at the particular vehicle and that controls one or more operational behaviors of the particular vehicle; and transmit the instruction to the particular vehicle, the instruction causing, when executed by the additional system of the particular vehicle, the operational behavior of the particular vehicle to temporarily satisfy the safe driving threshold and be outside of the predetermined driving threshold.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors disposed at the particular vehicle includes at least one of: one or more sensors that are fixedly attached to the particular vehicle, or one or more sensors that are included on a personal electronic device corresponding to the particular driver and disposed in the particular vehicle.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein: the set of sensors disposed at the particular vehicle is a first set of sensors, and the second set of data further includes data captured by a second set of sensors included in the plurality of sensors and disposed in an environment along the particular route; the second set of sensors includes at least one of: one or more sensors fixedly disposed in the environment along the particular route, or one or more sensors disposed at other vehicles in the environment along the particular route; the data captured by the second set of sensors indicates the dynamic contextual attribute of the particular route, wherein the dynamic contextual attribute of the particular route is included in the plurality of different parameters; and the subset of data includes data indicative of dynamic contextual attributes of the particular route.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic contextual attribute of the particular route comprises at least one of: weather, road congestion or traffic, or other environmental conditions.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of sensors disposed at the particular vehicle includes at least one or more types of sensors from a set of sensor types including: a camera, another type of optical sensor, a speed sensor, a weight sensor, a noise sensor, a heat sensor, an accelerometer, another type of force sensor, a location tracking sensor, a proximity sensor, a seat belt sensor, a sensor to detect an operation of an instrument included in the particular vehicle, a sensor to detect an operation of another system that controls one or more operational behaviors of the particular vehicle, and another type of sensor.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein: the subset of data includes time-series data; and the portion of the second set of data captured by the set of sensors disposed at the particular vehicle includes data points having respective time-stamps.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein: determining the relative weightings amongst the plurality of different parameters comprises generating a model defining the relative weightings amongst the plurality of different parameters; and determining the level of driving performance comprises applying the model to the second set of data corresponding to the particular driver.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the level of driving performance of the particular driver is obtained from an output of the model.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable to cause the system to: generate, based on the at least one of the level of driving performance of the particular driver or the at least some of the second set of data, additional information including at least one of: an alert, a suggested driving behavior; and transmit the additional information to the particular vehicle operated by the particular driver.

“10. A method for determining driver performance, the method comprising: collecting, by one or more computing devices communicatively connected to a set of sensors disposed at a particular vehicle, a first set of data, wherein at least a portion of the first set of data is captured while the particular vehicle is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, and wherein each data point included in the first set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; accessing a second set of data captured via a plurality of sensors, the second set of data being associated with a plurality of drivers of a plurality of vehicles traversing a plurality of routes, wherein the second set of data includes information indicative of dynamic a contextual attribute of a portion of the particular route, the dynamic contextual attribute changing, in real time and proximate the particular vehicle, as the particular vehicle traverses the portion of the particular route, and indicating respective driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers, the plurality of routes including the particular route; determining, by the one or more processors and based on the dynamic contextual attribute, a safe driving threshold corresponding to the portion of the particular route, wherein the safe driving threshold differs from a predetermined driving threshold, the predetermined driving threshold corresponding to the portion of the particular route and established without the second set of data; filtering the second set of data based on the particular route to identify a subset of the second set of data, the subset of the second set of data corresponding to a subset of the plurality of the drivers associated with the particular route; determining, based at least in part on the subset of the second set of data, relative weightings associated with a plurality of different parameters having values that are included in the subset of the second set of data, wherein each parameter of the plurality of different parameters indicates a behavior of the particular driver and a behavior of the particular vehicle; determining a level of driving performance of the particular driver for the particular route based at least in part on the first set of data, the subset of the second set of data, and the relative weightings amongst the plurality of different parameters; generating, based on the level of driving performance of the particular driver and on the dynamic contextual attribute of the portion of the particular route, an instruction to automatically modify an operational behavior of an additional system that is disposed at the particular vehicle and that controls one or more operational behaviors of the particular vehicle; and transmitting the instruction to the particular vehicle, the instruction causing, when executed by the additional system of the particular vehicle, the operational behavior of the particular vehicle to temporarily satisfy the safe driving threshold and be outside of the predetermined driving threshold.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent: Fields, Brian Mark. Vehicle driver safety performance based on relativity. U.S. Patent Number 11354616, filed May 11, 2017, and published online on June 7, 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=11354616.PN.&OS=PN/11354616RS=PN/11354616

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