Patent Issued for Vehicular traffic alerts for avoidance of abnormal traffic conditions (USPTO 11450206): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 OCT 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11450206, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Alt, Jacob J. (Downs, IL, US), Baumann, Nathan W. (Bloomington, IL, US), Chan, Leo Nelson (Normal, IL, US), Cielocha, Steven C. (Bloomington, IL, US), Davis, Justin (Normal, IL, US), Fields, Brian Mark (Normal, IL, US), Gaudin, Kristopher Keith (Bloomington, IL, US), Roll, Giles (Bloomington, IL, US), Uphoff, Laura A. (Normal, IL, US), Wazeer, Mohamed A. (Normal, IL, US).

This patent was filed on April 21, 2020 and was published online on September 20, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Conventional telematics devices may collect certain types of data regarding vehicle operation. However, conventional telematics devices and data gathering techniques may have several drawbacks. Specifically, conventional telematics devices only monitor the movement and operating status of the vehicle in which they are disposed. Such data is limited to determining the vehicle location, whether the vehicle has been in an accident, or similar simple information regarding the vehicle.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, an electronic message is sent from a vehicle to a nearby vehicle to alert the nearby vehicle that an abnormal traffic condition has occurred in the vehicle’s operating environment. Various aspects may include detecting that an abnormal traffic condition exists in an operating environment of a vehicle and generating an electronic message regarding the abnormal traffic condition. The electronic message may then be transmitted via the vehicle’s transceiver using a wireless communication to the nearby vehicle to alert the nearby vehicle of the abnormal traffic condition and to allow the nearby vehicle to avoid the abnormal traffic condition. Examples of an abnormal traffic condition may include an erratic vehicle, an erratic driver, road construction, a closed highway exit, slowed or slowing traffic, slowed or slowing vehicular congestion, or one or more other vehicles braking ahead of the vehicle. The abnormal traffic condition may also be bad weather and the electronic message can be used to indicate a GPS location of the bad weather. An abnormal traffic condition may be detected by analyzing vehicular telematics data. In some embodiments, an alternate route may be generated to allow a nearby vehicle to avoid the abnormal traffic condition. In other embodiments, an auto insurance discount may be generated that is associated with the vehicle.

“The vehicle may include one or more processors, which can be vehicle-mounted sensors or vehicle-mounted processors. In some embodiments, transmitting the electronic message to a nearby vehicle may require transmitting the electronic message to a one or more remote processors. The nearby vehicle can also be any of an autonomous vehicle, a semi-autonomous vehicle or a self-driving vehicle, in which each of the vehicles includes one or more processors for receiving the transmitted electronic message. A nearby vehicle may also be a vehicle at a location that is in a direction of travel to the operating environment of the vehicle.

“In other aspects, telematics data and/or geographic location data may be collected, monitored, measured, and/or generated by one or more computing devices associated with a vehicle. The telematics data may include various metrics that indicate the direction, speed, acceleration, braking, cornering, and/or motion of the vehicle in which the data is associated. The geographic location data may include a geographic location of the vehicle, such as latitude and longitude coordinates, for example. The one or more computing devices may include smart vehicle controller, vehicle central computer, an on-board computer integrated within the vehicle, a mobile device, and/or a combination of these devices working in conjunction with one another. The one or more computing devices may broadcast the telematics data and/or the geographic location data to one or more other devices via V2x communication, such as to other vehicles, infrastructure, remote servers, or mobile devices, including mobile devices of other drivers, pedestrians and/or cyclists.

“The telematics data and/or the geographic location data may be received and/or processed by one or more other computing devices to determine whether an anomalous condition exists, such as a traffic accident, for example. These one or more other computing devices may be vehicle computing devices, external computing devices (e.g., a remote server), another mobile computing device, a smart traffic infrastructure device (e.g., a smart traffic light), etc. If an anomalous condition is detected, the geographic location of the vehicle associated with the telematics data may be used as a condition to decide whether to generate an alert at (or send an alert notification to) the one or more other computing devices associated with nearby vehicles.

“The telematics, location, and/or other data collected or generated by a connected vehicle may be used for various purposes. The data may be used by an insurance provider to generate auto insurance discount and/or risk averse profiles based upon average or typical vehicle travel environment. The data collected may be used for accident reconstruction and/or accident cause determination. The present embodiments may also entail electric or hybrid vehicle battery conservation. The data collected may be used to generate vehicle-usage profiles that more accurately reflect vehicle risk, or lack thereof, and facilitate more appropriate auto insurance pricing. The data collected may be used to generate a traffic condition broadcast that is broadcasted to nearby vehicles or smart infrastructure via V2x (such as Vehicle-to-Vehicle, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure or Vehicle-to-Person) wireless communication. Individual consumers may also collected their own telematics data, and then share their data when they choose with various merchants, such as rental car companies, to get discounted pricing on products or services.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of generating a vehicle traffic alert, the method comprising: detecting, via one or more processors, that an abnormal traffic condition exists in a vehicle operating environment; generating, via the one or more processors, an electronic message regarding the abnormal traffic condition; transmitting the electronic message to a smart infrastructure component within a proximity of the vehicle operating environment, wherein the smart infrastructure component analyzes the electronic message to determine a type of anomalous condition for the abnormal traffic condition, the abnormal traffic condition having already occurred in the vehicle operating environment, wherein the type of anomalous condition is selected from at least one of a set of transient conditions or non-transient conditions, and wherein determining the type of anomalous condition comprises comparing sensor data with previously recorded data for the operating environment, and wherein the smart infrastructure component performs an action based upon the type of anomalous condition in order to modify the anomalous condition into an altered roadway condition; and transmitting, via the one or more processors, the electronic message to a nearby vehicle, wherein the electronic message is transmitted via wireless communication to alert the nearby vehicle of the altered roadway condition, to allow the nearby vehicle to avoid or approach the altered roadway condition.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is one or more of the following: an erratic vehicle, an erratic driver, road construction, a closed highway exit, slowed or slowing traffic, slowed or slowing vehicular congestion, or one or more other vehicles braking ahead of the nearby vehicle.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is bad weather and the electronic message indicates a GPS location of the bad weather.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising updating, via the one or more processors, a vehicle-usage profile associated with the nearby vehicle based upon received telematics data regarding operation of the nearby vehicle, wherein updating the vehicle-usage profile causes an insurance premium adjustment to an insurance policy associated with an operator of the nearby vehicle.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the nearby vehicle comprises one or more of the following: an autonomous vehicle, a semi-autonomous vehicle or a self-driving vehicle, and wherein the nearby vehicle includes one or more processors for receiving the transmitted electronic message.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the electronic message to the nearby vehicle requires transmitting the electronic message to one or more remote processors.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is detected by analyzing vehicular telematics data.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the nearby vehicle travels to the vehicle operating environment.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the smart infrastructure component comprises a smart traffic light.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message contains location information of the abnormal traffic condition, and the nearby vehicle ignores the electronic message when the location information indicates that the abnormal traffic condition is beyond a threshold distance from the nearby vehicle.

“11. A computer system configured to generate a vehicle traffic alert, the computer system comprising one or more processors, the one or more processors configured to: detect that an abnormal traffic condition exists in a vehicle operating environment; generate an electronic message regarding the abnormal traffic condition; transmit the electronic message to a smart infrastructure component within a proximity of the vehicle operating environment, wherein the smart infrastructure component analyzes the electronic message to determine a type of anomalous condition for the abnormal traffic condition, the abnormal traffic condition having already occurred in the vehicle operating environment, wherein the type of anomalous condition is selected from at least one of a set of transient conditions or non-transient conditions, and wherein determining the type of anomalous condition comprises comparing sensor data with previously recorded data for the operating environment, and wherein the smart infrastructure component performs an action based upon the type of anomalous condition in order to modify the anomalous condition into an altered roadway condition; and transmit the electronic message to a nearby vehicle, wherein the electronic message is transmitted via wireless communication to alert the nearby vehicle of the altered roadway condition, to allow the nearby vehicle to avoid or approach the altered roadway condition.

“12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is one or more of the following: an erratic vehicle, an erratic driver, road construction, a closed highway exit, slowed or slowing traffic, slowed or slowing vehicular congestion, or one or more other vehicles braking ahead of the nearby vehicle.

“13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is bad weather, and the electronic message indicates a GPS location of the bad weather.

“14. The computer system of claim 11, the system further configured to generate an alternate route for the nearby vehicle to take to avoid the abnormal traffic condition.

“15. The computer system of claim 11, the system further configured to update a vehicle-usage profile associated with the nearby vehicle based upon received telematics data regarding operation of the nearby vehicle, wherein updating the vehicle-usage profile causes an insurance premium adjustment to an insurance policy associated with an operator of the nearby vehicle.

“16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors include one or more of the following: vehicle-mounted sensors or vehicle-mounted processors.

“17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the nearby vehicle comprises one or more of the following: an autonomous vehicle, a semi-autonomous vehicle or a self-driving vehicle, and the nearby vehicle includes one or more processors for receiving the transmitted electronic message.

“18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the transmission of the electronic message to the nearby vehicle requires transmission of the electronic message to one or more remote processors.

“19. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the abnormal traffic condition is detected by analyzing vehicular telematics data.

“20. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the nearby vehicle travels to the vehicle operating environment.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Alt, Jacob J. Vehicular traffic alerts for avoidance of abnormal traffic conditions. U.S. Patent Number 11450206, filed April 21, 2020, and published online on September 20, 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=11450206.PN.&OS=PN/11450206RS=PN/11450206

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