Patent Issued for Vehicle-to-vehicle accident detection (USPTO 11694487): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 JUL 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US), Higgins, Martin (Downpatrick, GB), Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL, US), Plachta, Christopher G. (Glenview, IL, US), Ramirez, Philip Peter (Arlington Heights, IL, US), filed on August 16, 2021, was published online on July 4, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11694487 is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many vehicles include sophisticated sensors and advanced internal computer systems designed to monitor and control vehicle operations and driving functions. Vehicle-based computer systems, such as on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems and telematics devices, may be used in automobiles and other vehicles, and may be capable of collecting various driving data and vehicle sensor data. For example, OBD systems may receive information from the vehicle’s on-board computers and sensors in order to monitor a wide variety of information relating to the vehicle systems, such as engine RPM, emissions control, vehicle speed, throttle position, acceleration and braking rates, use of driver controls, etc. Vehicles may also include Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and devices installed within or operating at the vehicle configured to collect vehicle location and time data.

“However, not all vehicles are equipped with systems capable of collecting, analyzing, and communicating driving data. In contrast to vehicle-based systems, mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and the like, are often carried and/or operated by a single user. Some mobile devices may include movement sensors, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, speedometer, and/or GPS receivers, capable of detecting movement.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents 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. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended 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.

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining, by a driving analysis computing device, whether a collision has occurred between a first vehicle and a second vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may receive first vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a first vehicle, the first vehicle driving data including X-axis positional data for the first vehicle, Y-axis positional data for the first vehicle, and Z-axis positional data for the first vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may receive second vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a second vehicle, the second vehicle driving data including X-axis positional data for the second vehicle, Y-axis positional data for the second vehicle, and Z-axis positional data for the second vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may determine a first difference between the X-axis positional data for the first vehicle and the X-axis positional data for the second vehicle, determine a second difference between the Y-axis positional data for the first vehicle and the Y-axis positional data for the second vehicle, and determine a third difference between the Z-axis positional data for the first vehicle and the Z-axis positional data for the second vehicle. The driving analysis computing device may determine whether a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on one or more of the first difference, the second difference, and the third difference.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, determining whether a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on one or more of the first difference, the second difference, and the third difference may include determining whether the first difference is within a first range of values, determining whether the second difference is within a second range of values, and/or determining whether the third difference is within a third range of values. In some examples, determining a third difference between the Z-axis positional data for the first vehicle and the Z-axis positional data for the second vehicle may be performed in response to determining that the first difference is within a first range of values, and determining that the second difference is within a second range of values.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the driving analysis computing device may receive the first vehicle driving data and the second vehicle driving data in real-time. The driving analysis computing device may determine whether a collision has occurred in real-time. The first vehicle driving data further may include a first direction data for the first vehicle, a first velocity data for the first vehicle, and a first acceleration data for the first vehicle. The second vehicle driving data may include a second direction data for the second vehicle, a second velocity data for the second vehicle, and a second acceleration data for the second vehicle.

“In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, the driving analysis computing device may determine a first projected location for the first vehicle at a first time based on the first direction data, the first velocity data, and the first acceleration data. The driving analysis computing device may determine a second projected location for the second vehicle at a first time based on the second direction data, the second velocity data, and the second acceleration data. The driving analysis computing device may determine a probability of a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle at the first time based on the first projected location and the second projected location. The driving analysis computing device may determine that the probability of the collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is above a threshold value, and may transmit a first set of warnings to the first vehicle and a second set of warnings to the second vehicle. The first set of warnings and the second set of warnings may be based on the historical behavior of a driver of the first vehicle and a driver of the second vehicle, respectively. The driving analysis computing device may determine that a third vehicle is within a predetermined radius of the first vehicle and may transmit a request for vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within the third vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A driving analysis computing device comprising: a processing unit comprising a processor; and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the driving analysis computing device to: determine a first projected location for a first vehicle during a first time interval based on first vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a first vehicle; determine a second projected location for a second vehicle within a first predetermined radius of the first projected location during the first time interval based on the second vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a second vehicle; determine a probability of a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle during the first time interval based on the first projected location and the second projected location and the second projected location being within the first predetermined radius; transmit a first set of warnings to the first vehicle based on the probability; generate a collision identification number associated with the probability of the collision; receive third vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within the first vehicle; receive fourth vehicle driving data collected by the vehicle operation sensors within the second vehicle; determine that a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on the third vehicle driving data and the fourth vehicle driving data and associate the collision with the collision identification number; send, to a mobile computing device associated with the first vehicle, a request for additional driving data of a third vehicle that is within a predetermined distance of the first vehicle upon determination that the collision has occurred; and receive, from the mobile computing device associated with the first vehicle and in response to sending the request, additional driving data of the third vehicle tagged with the collision identification number; and conduct an accident analysis based on the additional driving data of the third vehicle.

“2. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein determining whether a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on the third vehicle driving data and the fourth vehicle driving data comprises: determining whether a difference between first positional data of the third vehicle driving data and second positional data of the fourth vehicle driving data is within a first range of values, and wherein the predetermined distance is within a second predetermined radius, the second predetermined radius being less than, equal to, or greater than the first predetermined radius.

“3. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the accident analysis comprises at least a likelihood of fault analysis, a fraud detection analysis or combinations thereof, wherein the likelihood of fault analysis comprises determining, upon determination that the collision has occurred, a likelihood of fault of whether the first vehicle or the second vehicle was at fault for the collision based on a set of fault detection rules and the additional driving data of the third vehicle, and wherein the fraud detection analysis comprises validation of a claim submitted by a driver of the first vehicle indicating damage to the first vehicle based on comparison of the claim to the additional driving data of the third vehicle.

“4. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the receiving the first vehicle driving data and the second vehicle driving data is performed in real-time, and wherein the third vehicle driving data comprises three-dimensional position data.

“5. The driving analysis computing device of claim 4, wherein the determining whether the collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred is performed in real-time.

“6. The driving analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle driving data comprises a first direction data for the first vehicle and a first acceleration data for the first vehicle, and wherein the second vehicle driving data further comprises a second direction data for the second vehicle and a second acceleration data for the second vehicle.

“7. The driving analysis computing device of claim 6, wherein the first projected location for the first vehicle during the first time interval is further based on the first direction data and the first acceleration data, and wherein the second projected location for the second vehicle during the first time interval is further based on the second direction data and the second acceleration data.

“8. The driving analysis computing device of claim 7, the memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, further cause the driving analysis computing device to: transmit a second set of warnings to the second vehicle.

“9. The driving analysis computing device of claim 8, wherein: the first set of warnings is based on historical behavior of a first driver of the first vehicle; and the second set of warnings is based on historical behavior of a second driver of the second vehicle.

“10. The driving analysis computing device of claim 8, wherein the first time interval is determined by a driver of the first vehicle.

“11. A method, comprising: determining a first projected location for a first vehicle during a first time interval based on first vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a first vehicle; determining a second projected location for a second vehicle within a first predetermined radius of the first projected location during the first time interval based on the second vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within a second vehicle; determining a probability of a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle during the first time interval based on the first projected location and the second projected location and the second projected location being within the first predetermined radius; transmitting a first set of warnings to the first vehicle based on the probability; generating a collision identification number associated with the probability of the collision; receiving third vehicle driving data collected by vehicle operation sensors within the first vehicle; receiving fourth vehicle driving data collected by the vehicle operation sensors within the second vehicle; determining that a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on the third vehicle driving data and the fourth vehicle driving data and associating the collision with the collision identification number; sending, to a mobile computing device associated with the first vehicle, a request for additional driving data of a third vehicle that is within a predetermined distance of the first vehicle upon determination that the collision has occurred; receiving, from the mobile computing device associated with the first vehicle and in response to sending the request, additional driving data of the third vehicle tagged with the collision identification number; and conducting an accident analysis based on the additional driving data of the third vehicle.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining whether a collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle has occurred based on the third vehicle driving data and the fourth vehicle driving data comprises: determining whether a difference between first positional data of the third vehicle driving data and second positional data of the fourth vehicle driving data is within a first range of values.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein the third vehicle driving data comprises three-dimensional position data.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving the first vehicle driving data and the second vehicle driving data is performed in real-time.

“15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first vehicle driving data comprises a first direction data for the first vehicle and a first acceleration data for the first vehicle, and wherein the second vehicle driving data further comprises a second direction data for the second vehicle and a second acceleration data for the second vehicle.

“16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first projected location for the first vehicle during the first time interval is further based on the first direction data and the first acceleration data, and wherein the second projected location for the second vehicle during the first time interval is further based on the second direction data and the second acceleration data.

“17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: transmitting a second set of warnings to the second vehicle.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first set of warnings is based on historical behavior of a first driver of the first vehicle and the second set of warnings is based on historical behavior of a second driver of the second vehicle.

“19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first time interval is determined by a driver of the first vehicle.”

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

For additional information on this patent, see: Brandmaier, Jennifer A. Vehicle-to-vehicle accident detection. U.S. Patent Number 11694487, filed August 16, 2021, and published online on July 4, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11694487)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)