“Systems And Methods For Automatic Breakdown Detection And Roadside Assistance” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20210314753): Allstate Insurance Company

2021 OCT 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Ballesteros, Rodolfo Roberto (Aurora, IL, US); Chen, Tao (Northbrook, IL, US); Isaac, Emad S. (Downers Grove, IL, US); Newell, Stephen Robert (Belfast, GB); Rao, Manjunath (Wheeling, IL, US); Uppada, Umamaheshwar R. (Palatine, IL, US), filed on June 11, 2021, was made available online on October 7, 2021, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles, such as automobiles, can stop along a roadside for various different reasons such as a rest stop, because the driver has missed an exit, or for various emergency reasons, such as a flat tire, low fuel, or other mechanical issues. Obtaining roadside assistance can be difficult when in an unfamiliar area. Conventional systems can offer roadside assistance but often do not distinguish between vehicles being stopped for an urgent situation or a non-urgent situation.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention can proactively determine if an individual is likely in need of roadside assistance. Information can be collected from the individual’s phone, including the person’s location, the type of road, passing vehicles, and/or ambient noise. The likelihood of needing roadside assistance can be determined based on a configurable probability that the individual’s vehicle is experiencing a roadside event. If it is determined that the individual likely needs roadside assistance, the system can proactively contact the individual to see if roadside assistance is desired, and if so, initiates roadside assistance. The system also can provide helpful information, such as safety information, and/or automatically contact other individuals to alert them of the roadside event and the location of the individual.

“The arrangements described can also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard, other embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. The details of these and other embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: obtaining, from a mobile device associated with a vehicle, vehicle state data describing an operational state of the vehicle; determining, based on a location of the mobile device, vehicle location data indicating a location of the vehicle; obtaining, from the mobile device, device motion data indicating a speed of the vehicle; generating roadside event data based on the vehicle state data, the vehicle location data, and the device motion data, wherein the roadside event data comprises an indication of a roadside event causing the vehicle to stop and a probability that the roadside event occurred; and generating notification data indicating the roadside event when the probability exceeds a threshold value.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle state data is obtained using an accelerometer in the mobile device.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle location data is determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in the mobile device.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating a roadside event further comprises utilizing a risk map and the vehicle location data to determine if the vehicle is stopped in a dangerous area.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, from the mobile device, user input based on the notification data; and initiating a request for roadside assistance based on the user input.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the device motion data is determined by: receiving, from the mobile device, a wireless signal transmitted at a known frequency and received at a second frequency; and calculating a rate of travel of an object transmitting the wireless signal by calculating a Doppler shift of the wireless signal based on the known frequency and the second frequency.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the device motion data: is obtained from a vehicle message sent from a second vehicle via a vehicle-to-vehicle communications system; and comprises an identifier of the second vehicle and an indication of a speed of the second vehicle.

“8. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to: obtain, from a mobile device associated with a vehicle, vehicle state data describing an operational state of the vehicle; determine, based on a location of the mobile device, vehicle location data indicating a location of the vehicle; obtain, from the mobile device, device motion data indicating a speed of the vehicle; generate roadside event data based on the vehicle state data, the vehicle location data, and the device motion data, wherein the roadside event data comprises an indication of a roadside event causing the vehicle to stop and a probability that the roadside event occurred; and generate notification data indicating the roadside event when the probability exceeds a threshold value.

“9. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle state data is obtained using an accelerometer.

“10. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle location data is determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in a mobile device.

“11. The system of claim 8, wherein generating a roadside event further comprises utilizing a risk map and the vehicle location data to determine if the vehicle is stopped in a dangerous area.

“12. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to: obtain user input based on the notification data; and initiate a request for roadside assistance based on the user input.

“13. The system of claim 8, wherein the device motion data is determined by: receiving a wireless signal transmitted at a known frequency and received at a second frequency; and calculating a rate of travel of an object transmitting the wireless signal by calculating a Doppler shift of the wireless signal based on the known frequency and the second frequency.

“14. The system of claim 8, wherein the device motion data: is obtained from a vehicle message sent from a second vehicle via a vehicle-to-vehicle communications system; and comprises an identifier of the second vehicle and an indication of a speed of the second vehicle.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a processor, the instructions causing the processor to perform steps comprising: obtaining, from a mobile device associated with a vehicle, vehicle state data describing an operational state of the vehicle; determining, based on a location of the mobile device, vehicle location data indicating a location of the vehicle; obtaining, from the mobile device, device motion data indicating a speed of the vehicle; generating roadside event data based on the vehicle state data, the vehicle location data, and the device motion data, wherein the roadside event data comprises an indication of a roadside event causing the vehicle to stop and a probability that the roadside event occurred; and generating notification data indicating the roadside event when the probability exceeds a threshold value.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the vehicle state data is obtained using an accelerometer.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the vehicle location data is determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein generating a roadside event further comprises utilizing a risk map and the vehicle location data to determine if the vehicle is stopped in a dangerous area.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the processor further performs steps comprising: obtaining user input based on the notification data; and initiating a request for roadside assistance based on the user input.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the probability that the roadside event occurred is calculated based on the device motion data being over a threshold value.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Ballesteros, Rodolfo Roberto; Chen, Tao; Isaac, Emad S.; Newell, Stephen Robert; Rao, Manjunath; Uppada, Umamaheshwar R. Systems And Methods For Automatic Breakdown Detection And Roadside Assistance. Filed June 11, 2021 and posted October 7, 2021. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210314753%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210314753&RS=DN/20210314753

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