Patent Issued for Vehicle monitoring system (USPTO 11551486): Progressive Casualty Insurance Company

2023 FEB 01 (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 Everett, William Curtis (Chagrin Falls, OH, US), Hutchinson, Richard Ashton (Chagrin Falls, OH, US), Ling, Raymond Scott (Westlake, OH, US), McMillan, Robert John (Divide, CO, US), O’Malley, Patrick Lawrence (Kirtland, OH, US), Say, William Andrew (Macedonia, OH, US), Shrallow, Dane Allen (Solon, OH, US), Steigerwald, III, Wilbert John (Kirtland, OH, US), filed on September 1, 2017, was published online on January 10, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11551486, is Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (Mayfield Village, Ohio, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors:

“1. Technical Field

“This disclosure relates to data acquisitions, and particularly to a system that acquires data related to evaluating risk.

“2. Related Art

“Methods that determine costs of insurance may gather data from personal interviews and legacy sources. The data may be used to classify applicants into actuarial classes that may be associated with insurance rates.

“Some data used to classify risk is not verified and has little relevance to measuring risk. Systems may accumulate and analyze significant amounts of data and yet discover that the data does not accurately predict losses. The data may not be validated, may be outdated, and may not support new or dynamic risk assessments.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A data logging device tracks the operation of a vehicle and/or operator behavior. The device includes a storage device (which may be removable or portable) having a first memory portion that may be read from and may be written to in a vehicle and a second memory portion that may be read from and may be written to in a vehicle. The second memory portion may retain data attributes associated with the data stored in the first memory portion. A processor reads data from an automotive bus that transfers data from vehicle sensors to other automotive components. The processor writes data to the first memory portion and the second memory portion that reflect a level of safety. A communication device links the data logging device to a network of computers. The communication device may be accessible through software that may be retained on a computer readable media. The software allows a user to access files related to a level of risk or safety and other software that may be related to those files.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following Figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: a processor; a server; a sensor that converts a biometric characteristic of a person into an output that authenticates a vehicle operator; an in-vehicle automotive device that stores the output and selects data from a bus by acquiring vehicle data related to a level of risk or safety of operation of a vehicle; the in-vehicle automotive device acquires the vehicle data from one or more in-vehicle sensors; the in-vehicle automotive device stores the vehicle data, data related to a safety standard, and the output in a memory within the vehicle and is configured to stores a network protocol information in the memory each time the in-vehicle automotive device is installed within the vehicle a plurality of times; and a wireless interface that accesses the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output; where the memory stores the vehicle data and data related to the safety standard; where the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output are transmitted by the processor through the wireless interface to the server; the processor is configured to assign the vehicle to an actuarial tier based on the vehicle data and the data related to the safety standard and predetermined actuarial parameters; and where the wireless interface is responsive to a wireless request that causes a transfer of an encrypted form of the vehicle data, the data related to the safety standard, and the output by a transceiver.

“2. The system of claim 1 where the in-vehicle automotive device automatically identifies the network protocol and autonomously identifies the network protocol by an initialization file executed by the in-vehicle automotive device automatically.

“3. The system of claim 1 where the wireless interface is operable to transmit data through two or more wireless modulation schemes.

“4. The system of claim 1 where the vehicle data comprises data that identifies a motor vehicle hard braking event.

“5. The system of claim 1 where the vehicle data comprises data that identifies a motor vehicle turning event.

“6. The system of claim 1 where the vehicle data comprises data that identifies a motor vehicle acceleration event.

“7. The system of claim 1 where a wireless transceiver is coupled to the wireless interface.

“8. The system of claim 7 where the server is programmed to transmit content to the wireless transceiver in response to an operating event in the vehicle.

“9. The system of claim 8 where the server comprises a cluster programmed to identify vehicle operation within a plurality of speed ranges.

“10. A system comprising: a sensor that converts a biometric characteristic of a person into an output; an in-vehicle automotive device that stores the output and filters data from an in-vehicle bus by selecting vehicle data related to a level of risk or safety of operation of a vehicle, the in-vehicle automotive device selects the vehicle data from one or more in-vehicle sensors; the in-vehicle automotive device stores the selected vehicle data, relationship data that associates the vehicle data to a user, and the output each within a plurality of memory portions, respectively within the vehicle; and a wireless transmitter that throttles the selected vehicle data at a transmission rate based on a network bandwidth; where the in-vehicle automotive device selects a network protocol from a plurality of selectable network protocols used by the wireless transmitter based on an exchange of signals by the wireless transmitter at a network channel’s capacity.

“11. The system of claim 10 where the selected vehicle data is transmitted in response to a trigger event.

“12. The system of claim 10 where the in-vehicle automotive device autonomously identifies an automotive communication protocol automatically and automatically selects an Ultrawideband protocol or a Mobile Fi protocol.

“13. The system of claim 10 where the wireless transmitter is configured to transmit data across a plurality of modulation schemes.

“14. The system of claim 10 further comprising a biometric scanner that stores biometric information in one of the plurality of memory portions within the vehicle that the in-vehicle automotive device compares against an operator list of biometric characteristics.

“15. A system comprising: a processor; a sensor that converts a biometric characteristic of a person into an output that authenticates a vehicle operator; an in-vehicle automotive device that processes the output and filters data from a bus by acquiring vehicle data related to a level of risk or safety of operation of a vehicle; the in-vehicle automotive device acquires the vehicle data from one or more in-vehicle sensors; the in-vehicle automotive device stores the vehicle data, data related to a safety standard, and the output in a memory within the vehicle and stores a network protocol information each time the in-vehicle automotive device is installed within the vehicle; and a wireless interface that accesses the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output; where the memory stores the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output and the in-vehicle automotive device is configured to be installed within the vehicle a plurality of time and store a network protocol information a plurality of times; where the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output are transmitted through the wireless interface and the processor is configured to assign the vehicle to an actuarial tier based on the vehicle data and the data related to the safety standard and predetermined actuarial parameters automatically; where the wireless interface is responsive to a wireless request that causes a transfer of an encrypted form of the vehicle data, the data related to the safety standard, and the output; and where the in-vehicle automotive device selects a second network protocol from a plurality of second selectable network protocols used by a wireless transmitter based on an exchange of signals by the wireless transmitter at a network channel’s capacity.

“16. A system comprising: a transducer that converts a biometric characteristic of a person into an output; an in-vehicle automotive device that processes the output and filters data from an in-vehicle bus by selecting vehicle data related to a level of risk or safety of operation of a first vehicle, the automotive device selects the vehicle data from one or more in-vehicle sensors; a memory that stores the selected vehicle data, a relationship data, and the output within a memory portion within a vehicle; and a wireless transmitter that is operable to throttle the selected vehicle data at a transmission rate based on a network bandwidth autonomously; where the in-vehicle automotive device selects a network protocol from a plurality of selectable network protocols used by the wireless transmitter based on an exchange of signals by the wireless transmitter at a network channel’s capacity.

“17. The system of claim 16 where a memory that stores the vehicle data, data related to the safety standard, and the output in a memory within a vehicle and stores a network protocol information each time the in-vehicle automotive device is installed within the vehicle.

“18. A system comprising: a transducer that converts a biometric characteristic of a person into an output; an in-vehicle automotive device that processes the output and filters data from an in-vehicle bus by selecting vehicle data related to a level of risk or safety of operation of a first vehicle, the automotive device selects the vehicle data from one or more in-vehicle sensors; a memory that stores the selected vehicle data, a user account data, and the output within a memory portion within a vehicle; and a wireless transmitter operable to throttle the selected vehicle data at a transmission rate based on a wireless network bandwidth autonomously; the wireless transmitter communicates a protocol used by the in-vehicle automotive device to communicate with an in-vehicle bus used by the vehicle; where the in-vehicle automotive device selects a network protocol from a plurality of selectable network protocols used by the wireless transmitter based on an exchange of signals by the wireless transmitter at a wireless network channel’s capacity.

“19. The system of claim 18 where the in-vehicle automotive device is programmed with a checkin interval comprising a predetermined time the wireless transmitter calls a destination for a scheduled call.

“20. The system of claim 18 where the in-vehicle automotive device is programmed with a port read frequency comprising a predetermined amount of time the in-vehicle automotive device reads information between a time when a motion of the vehicle is detected and when data is not detected.

“21. The system of claim 10 further including a processor in communication with the in-vehicle automotive device; the processor configured to assign the vehicle to an actuarial tier based on the vehicle data related to a safety standard and predetermined actuarial parameters.”

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

For more information, see this patent: Everett, William Curtis. Vehicle monitoring system. U.S. Patent Number 11551486, filed September 1, 2017, and published online on January 10, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11551486)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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