In-vehicle apparatus for early determination of occupant injury

• US 10,032,360 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2016
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Kelsh, John P., Marlow, Clint J., Hildebrandt, Nicole M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US15/351,945
• Time in Patent Office: 616 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided for determining injuries to occupants (e.g., drivers, passengers, etc.) of a vehicle after an accident. A telematics system may be configured to receive telematics data from one or more vehicles involved in an accident. Using the received telematics data, a computing device of the telematics system may determine injuries sustained by passengers of the one or more vehicles. In response to determining the injuries sustained, the computing device may provide such information to one or more of the occupants via a mobile device and an urgent care facility.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving data from a vehicle indicating that the vehicle occupied by a user is involved in an accident;

activating, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on a mobile device of the user involved in the accident;

prompting the user involved in the accident to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident via the injury determination application;

determining, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident;

providing the user with a list of urgent care facilities capable of providing the user with treatment for the determined one or more injuries;

receiving a user selection of an urgent care facility from the list of urgent care facilities; and

transmitting the received data, the responses to the one or more questions, and the determined one or more injuries to the urgent care facility selected by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompting the user involved in the accident to provide responses to the one or more questions regards the accident includes prompting the user to provide responses to at least one or more questions regarding injuries sustained during the accident.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving telematics data from the vehicle of the user, wherein the received telematics data indicates that the accident has occurred.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the telematics data includes at least velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing an alert to emergency personnel that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the telematics data associated with the vehicle of the user involved in the accident.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by GPS circuitry, a geographical location of the user at a time of the accident; and

generating the list of urgent care facilities based on the geographic location of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an alert to the mobile device associated with the user that urgent care is needed based on the determined one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident.

8. An injury determination apparatus comprising:

an electronic communication channel with a sensor of a vehicle;

an on-screen display;

a GPS circuitry;

a processor; and

memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the injury determination apparatus to;

receive data through the electronic communication channel from the vehicle indicating that the vehicle occupied by a user is involved in an accident;

activate, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on the injury determination apparatus of the user involved in the accident;

prompt the user involved in the accident to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident via the injury determination application;

determine, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident;

provide the user with a list of urgent care facilities on the on-screen display capable of providing the user with treatment for the determined one or more injuries;

receive a user selection on the on-screen display of an urgent care facility from the list of urgent care facilities;

transmit the received data and the determined one or more injuries to the urgent care facility selected by the user;

activate the GPS circuitry in response to the determining that one or more injuries has been sustained;

determine, by the activated GPS circuitry, a location of the user relative to the urgent care facility selected by the user; and

transmit, to the urgent care facility, an estimated time of arrival for the user at the urgent care facility.

9. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to:

determine the estimated time of arrival based on the location of the user relative to a location of the urgent care facility selected by the user.

10. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to:

receive telematics data through the electronic communication channel from the vehicle of the user, wherein the received telematics data indicates that the accident has occurred.

11. The injury determination apparatus of claim 10, wherein the telematics data includes at least velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

12. The injury determination apparatus of claim 11, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to:

provide an alert to emergency personnel that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the telematics data associated with the vehicle of the user involved in the accident.

13. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein the list of urgent care facilities provided to the user is determined based on a geographical location of the user at a time of the accident.

14. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to:

provide an alert to a mobile device associated with the user that urgent care is needed based on the determined one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident.

15. An injury determination system comprising:

a telematics device configured to transmit vehicle data to a mobile device associated with a user;

the mobile device, including;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to;

receive data from the telematics device indicating that a vehicle occupied by the user is involved in an accident;

activate, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on the mobile device of the user involved in the accident;

prompt the user involved in the accident to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident via the injury determination application;

determine, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident;

provide the user with a list of urgent care facilities capable of providing the user with treatment for the determined one or more injuries;

receive a user selection of an urgent care facility from the list of urgent care facilities; and

transmit the received data and the determined one or more injuries to the urgent care facility selected by the user.

16. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the mobile device to:

provide an alert to the user that urgent care is needed based on the determined one or more injuries sustained by the user during the accident.

17. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the mobile device to:

receive telematics data from the vehicle of the user, wherein the received telematics data indicates that the accident has occurred.

18. The injury determination system of claim 17, wherein the telematics data includes at least velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

19. The injury determination system of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the mobile device to:

provide an alert to emergency personnel that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the telematics data associated with the vehicle of the user involved in the accident.

20. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein the list of urgent care facilities provided to the user is determined based on a geographical location of the user at a time of the accident.