Early notification of driving status to a mobile device

• US 10,560,824 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2018
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Kerr, Neil, McCullough, William, Murtagh, Suzi
• Primary Examiner(s): Phuong, Dai
• Application Number:
  US16/161,307
• Time in Patent Office: 483 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4563, 455457
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2745 using static electronic memories, e.g. chips
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• 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]

Abstract

Applications, systems, and methods, configured to automatically detect whether a vehicle containing a mobile device of a driver is being driven and automatically notify selected friends and family of the driving status of the vehicle so that the friends and family may opt not to send a message or other distraction to the driver.

Claims

1. A mobile device configured to detect a driving status of a person, the mobile device comprising:

a native address book stored in a memory of the mobile device; and

a software application stored in the memory that, when executed by a processor of the mobile device, causes the mobile device to;

request permission of the person to allow access to location, motion, notification services, and a list of contacts in a mobile device of the person;

detect driving indicators of the person;

transmit driving indicators to a server to determine if the person is driving; and

notify the driving status of the person to mobile devices of connected contacts; and

transform data records in the native address books with the driving status of the contact associated with the person by inserting a Unicode character in the data records of the native address books;

wherein transforming of data records in the native address books transform a third party application to display on a screen of the mobile devices the driving status alongside a contact name of the contact when the third party application is subsequently executed.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising at least one of GPS, accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope, and wherein the driving status is detected using the at least one of GPS, accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the software application, when executed by the processor, causes the mobile device to automatically transmit, if present in a vehicle, a notification of the driving status of the mobile device to mobile devices of contacts having granted permission.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the software application is configured to:

receive a notification of a change in driving status of a vehicle from the mobile device corresponding to the connected contacts; and

transform the data records in the native address book with the change of driving status of the contact associated with the mobile device corresponding to the connected contacts.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the software application transforms the data records of the native address book by inserting a Unicode in code identifying the contact of the person.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the transformed data records in the native address book causes a third party application to display on the screen an icon associated with the Unicode.

7. A method involving a server computer communicatively coupled to a second mobile device that stores contact information of a first mobile device including a contact name in a native address book of the second mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of the server computer, indicators of driving status of a vehicle transmitted by the first mobile device positioned inside the vehicle;

based on the indicators of driving status received from the first mobile device, determining, by a processor of the server computer, the driving status of the first mobile device;

creating, by the processor, a notification; and

transmitting, by the processor, the notification to at least the second mobile device to cause the second mobile to;

wake up a suspended application on the second mobile device; and

transform data records in the native address book with the driving status to cause a third party application executing on the second mobile device to display the driving status near the contact name when the third party application is subsequently executed, wherein display of the driving status is unbeknownst to the third party application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first mobile device requests permission to allow access to notification services in the second mobile device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first mobile device automatically transmits indicators of driving status to the server.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the processor detects the driving indicators using at least one of GPS, accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the data records of the native address book is transformed with a change of driving status by inserting a Unicode in code identifying the contact associated with the first mobile device.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the transformed data records in the native address book causes a third party application to display on a screen of the second mobile device an icon associated with a Unicode in code identifying the contact associated with a unique identifier.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the transformed data records in the native address book is updated by identifying a unique identifier associated with the contact name of the first mobile device, searching the native address book for the unique identifier;

and if the search locates the unique identifier, transforming the data records in the native address book by inserting a Unicode in code identifying the contact associated with the unique identifier.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to transmit the notification to a third mobile device, wherein the third mobile device is configured to:

transform the data records in the native address book in the third mobile device with the driving status; and

wherein the transformed data records in the native address book in the third mobile device causes a third party application executing on the third mobile device to display the driving the status alongside the contact name when the third party application is subsequently executed.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the data records of the native address book in a third mobile device is transformed with a change of driving status by inserting a Unicode in code identifying the contact associated with the first mobile device.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the transformed data records in the native address book in a third mobile device causes a third party application to display on a screen of the third mobile device an icon associated with a Unicode in code identifying the contact associated with a unique identifier.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile device, cause the mobile device to:

receive, from another mobile device, a notification of a driving status of a vehicle;

search a native address book stored on the mobile device for a contact associated with the another mobile device; and

transform data records in the native address book with the driving status of the contact associated with the another mobile device by inserting an Unicode character in the data records of the native address book;

wherein transforming of data records in the native address book transforms a third party application to display on a screen of the mobile device the driving status near a contact name of the contact when the third party application is subsequently executed.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to:

request permission to allow access to notification services in the mobile device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to:

request selection of at least one contact having a mobile device;

transmit a request for permission to send notifications; and

receive granted permissions for the at least one contact.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to:

automatically transmit a notification of the driving status of the mobile device, if present in a vehicle, to mobile devices of the contact having granted permission.