State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Assigned Patent for Alerting Driver to Vehicle Collision Risks

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 22 -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Bloomington, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (No. 9,922,374, initially filed March 7, 2017) developed by five co-inventors for "systems and methods for alerting a driver to vehicle collision risks." The co-inventors are Matthew E. Vose, Bloomington, Illinois, Michael Bernico, Bloomington, Illinois, Milton Mowery, Bloomington, Illinois, Tim G. Sanidas, Bloomington, Illinois, and Christopher Zimmer, Bloomington, Illinois.

The full-text of the patent can be found at 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=9,922,374.PN.&OS=PN/9,922,374&RS=PN/9,922,374

The abstract states: "Methods and systems for displaying a user interface that warns a driver that a vehicle is located within or is near a geographical area (and/or intersection) associated with a higher than average risk of animal-vehicle and/or vehicle-vehicle collisions are provided. According to certain aspects, an electronic device may access a database that identifies a plurality of high risk areas, including areas associated with prior vehicle accidents. The electronic device may display a virtual road map, as well as an icon indicating the vehicle's current location and a plurality of visual indications of high-risk areas. When the electronic device detects that the current location of the vehicle is within and/or approaching a high-risk area, the electronic device may then warn the driver about the higher than average risk of experiencing a vehicle collision."

Written by Ranjan Behera; edited by Sudarshan Harpal.