Telematics based on handset movement within a moving vehicle

• US 10,096,070 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arity International Limited (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Slusar, Mark V., Kleinhenz, Joseph, Huls, Eric D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/614,202
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: 705 38
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/227 Position in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/00 Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/09 for tracking people
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 : using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 : for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

At least a system for providing telematics data associated with a vehicle being driven by a driver is described. The vehicular telematics data may be obtained by tracking the movements of a wireless communications device of a driver of the vehicle. The telematics data may provide, among other things, speed, acceleration, deceleration, times of operation, duration of operation, mileage driven per day, and day of the week the vehicle has been used. At least a system for determining risk behavior of a driver is also described. While a vehicle is being driven, data is obtained related to the position and movement of a wireless communications device. The data may indicate the type of behavior exhibited by the driver while the vehicle is being driven.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processing module, an actual movement of a vehicle after an adjusting is performed based on movement data obtained from a global positioning system (GPS) associated with the vehicle;

periodically receiving data corresponding to a position of a wireless communication device relative to at least three RFID nodes located in the vehicle;

analyzing, by a processor, the data to determine one or more occurrences of one or more behavioral risk events, wherein the one or more occurrences is based on the position indicating that the wireless communication device is located at a height suitable for texting by a driver;

determining, by the processor, one or more probabilities of occurrence of the one or more behavioral risk events; and

based on the one or more probabilities, categorizing, by the processor, a driver of the vehicle into a risk category.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is generated by way of the wireless communication device transmitting a signal to each of the at least three RFID nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least three RFID nodes comprise a processor and a memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the position corresponds to the height of the driver seated in the vehicle, and the event corresponds to the driver speaking while the wireless communication device is placed on an ear of the driver.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more occurrence is based on the position indicating that the wireless communication device is located on a floor of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein insurance premium discounts are provided to an insured of the vehicle if the risk category indicates that the driver is associated with a good risk.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein alerts are transmitted to the wireless communication device if the position changes irregularly over time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein an insurance premium of an insured is increased if the risk category indicates that the driver is associated with a bad risk.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching an RFID tag to the wireless communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

affixing a fourth RFID node inside the vehicle, wherein the four RFID nodes are symmetrically attached to the vehicle.

11. A method involving at least three localization devices attached to a vehicle, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a wireless communication device in use in the vehicle, a signal to each of the at least three localization devices, wherein each of the at least three localization devices process the signal to determine a position of the wireless communication device relative to the at least three localization devices over time;

determine, by a telematics processing module located in the vehicle, an actual movement of the vehicle after an adjusting is performed based on movement data obtained from a global positioning system (GPS) in the vehicle;

determine, by a processor, one or more occurrences of one or more events, wherein the one or more occurrences is based on the position indicating that the wireless communication device is located at a height suitable for texting by a driver of the vehicle;

determine one or more probabilities of occurrence of the one or more occurrences of the one or more events; and

categorize the driver into a risk category based on the one or more probabilities.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least three localization devices comprise RFID nodes.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the position corresponds to the height of the driver seated in the vehicle and an event of the one or more events corresponds to the driver speaking while the wireless communication device is placed on an ear of the driver.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein insurance premium discounts are provided to an insured of the vehicle if the risk category indicates that the driver is associated with a good risk.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein an RFID tag is attached to the wireless communication device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signal.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least three localization devices comprises four localization devices that are attached to said vehicle symmetrically.

18. A method performed by a risk assessment module communicatively coupled with:

(i) at least three localization devices attached to a vehicle;

(ii) a wireless communication device configured to transmit a signal to the at least three localization devices, wherein each of the at least three localization devices processes the signal to determine position data of the wireless communication device relative to the at least three localization devices attached to the vehicle over time; and

(iii) a telematics processing module of a computing device configured to determine an actual movement of the vehicle after an adjusting is performed based on movement data obtained from a global positioning system (GPS);

wherein the method comprises;

analyzing the position data of the wireless communication device inside the vehicle to determine an occurrence of a behavioral risk event of a driver of the vehicle, wherein the occurrence is based on the position data indicating that the wireless communication device is located at a height suitable for texting by the driver;

determining a probability of the occurrence of the behavioral risk event; and

categorizing the driver into a risk category based on the probability.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the occurrence is based on the position data indicating that the wireless communication device is placed at a height corresponding to a head of the driver.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the signal comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signal.