MANAGING A VEHICLE INCIDENT

• US 20150356793A1
• Filed: 09/04/2014
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jariwala, Ajit, Schembari, Francesco C., Dietz, William R., Holtzhauser, William R. III
• Granted Patent: US 11,074,766 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/30 Detection related to theft or to other events relevant to anti-theft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A system and computer implemented method for managing a vehicle incident is disclosed. The method may include monitoring, in response to a triggering event, a first vehicle having a first vehicle state including a set of physical condition characteristics. The method may also include detecting, for the first vehicle, a vehicle incident including a change of one or more physical condition characteristics of the set of physical condition characteristics. The method may also include collecting, in response to detecting the vehicle incident for the first vehicle, incident circumstance information including a set of potential causes of the vehicle incident. In certain embodiments, the method may include providing incident data based on at least a portion of the incident circumstance information and at least a portion of the change of one or more physical condition characteristics.

Claims

1. A system for managing a vehicle incident, the method comprising:

a monitoring module configured to monitor, in response to a triggering event, a first vehicle having a first vehicle state including a set of physical condition characteristics;

a detecting module configured to detect, for the first vehicle, a vehicle incident including a change of one or more physical condition characteristics of the set of physical condition characteristics;

a collecting module configured to collect, in response to detecting the vehicle incident for the first vehicle, incident circumstance information including a set of potential causes of the vehicle incident; and

a providing module configured to provide incident data based on at least a portion of the incident circumstance information and at least a portion of the change of one or more physical condition characteristics.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering event is an environmental stimuli including one or more selected from a group consisting of an audio trigger, a motion-based trigger, an impact trigger, or a visual trigger.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first vehicle is configured to detect the environmental stimuli using a sensor array having one or more sensors selected from a group consisting of cameras, microphones, motion sensors, or impact sensors.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle is stationary and unattended, and the vehicle incident includes an impact to the first vehicle from a second vehicle.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein collecting incident circumstance information further comprises obtaining, from the second vehicle, identification information including one or more of a license plate number, vehicle identification number, or insurance policy number.

6. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a determining module configured to determine, based on the incident circumstance information, a security action including one or more members selected from the group consisting of an alarm signal, an ignition lock, a door lock, or contacting an emergency response unit; and

a performing module configured to perform, in response to determining the security action based on the incident circumstance information, the first action.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein providing the incident data further comprises:

a transmitting module configured to transmit, via a mobile application communicatively connected to a vehicle management system, an incident notification to a communication device identified with the first vehicle; and

an uploading module configured to upload, to a secure management cloud, the incident data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the security action is determined by the mobile application communicatively connected to the vehicle management system.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising a managing module configured to manage, using the mobile application, a set of operation settings for the sensor array of the first vehicle.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein uploading the incident data to a secure management cloud includes:

an analyzing module configured to analyze the set of potential causes of the vehicle incident; and

a determining module configured to determine a rank-order for the set of potential causes based on the incident data.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a first computing device, causes the first computing device to:

monitor, in response to a triggering event, a first vehicle having a first vehicle state including a set of physical condition characteristics;

detect, for the first vehicle, a vehicle incident including a change of one or more physical condition characteristics of the set of physical condition characteristics;

collect, in response to detecting the vehicle incident for the first vehicle, incident circumstance information including a set of potential causes of the vehicle incident; and

provide incident data based on at least a portion of the incident circumstance information and at least a portion of the change of one or more physical condition characteristics.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first vehicle is configured to detect a triggering event including one or more selected from a group consisting of an audio trigger, a motion-based trigger, an impact trigger, or a visual trigger, using a sensor array having one or more sensors selected from a group consisting of cameras, microphones, motion sensors, or impact sensors.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer readable program code to:

determine, based on the incident circumstance information, a security action, wherein the security action is one or more selected from the group consisting of an alarm signal, an ignition lock, a door lock, or contacting an emergency response unit; and

perform, in response to determining the security action based on the incident circumstance information, the first action.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code to:

transmit, via a mobile application communicatively connected to a vehicle management system, an incident notification to a communication device identified with the first vehicle;

upload, to a secure management cloud, the incident data; and

wherein the security action is determined using the mobile application communicatively connected to the vehicle management system.