System and method for identifying heading of a moving vehicle using accelerometer data

• US 9,127,946 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2014
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Christensen, Scott Thomas, Menon, Sunish Shreenarayan, Dosher, David James
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US14/277,882
• Time in Patent Office: 481 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/36, 701/498, 701/500
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/024 Other means for determination of steering angle without directly measuring it, e.g. deriving from wheel speeds on different sides of the car
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 1/00 Measuring angles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/12 executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/185 for gravity
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 25/005 initial alignment, calibration or starting-up of inertial devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A computer implemented method for determining a yaw angle estimate or vehicle heading direction is presented. A data server may receive a plurality of telematics data originating from a client computing device and determine a first primary movement window from the telematics data. The data server may also determine a potential range of yaw angles from the plurality of telematics data from the first primary movement window and generate an equality that evaluates the potential range of yaw angles. The data server may further maximize the count of acceleration events of the telematics data from the first primary movement window to further generate one or more refined yaw angle estimates. The data server stores the one or more yaw angle estimates on a memory.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for determining a range of yaw angle estimates, the method comprising:

receiving, via a computer network, a plurality of telematics data originating from a client computing device;

determining, by one or more processors, a first primary movement window from the plurality of telematics data;

removing, by the one or more processors, the effect of gravity from the plurality of telematics data in the first primary movement window;

generating, by the one or more processors, a potential range of yaw angles;

generating, by the one or more processors, one or more yaw angle estimates from the potential range of yaw angles; and

determining, by the one or more processors, a driving pattern based at least on one of the yaw angle estimates.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the one or more processors, an arc length of a static region on a unit circle;

applying at the one or more processors, the static region to the one or more yaw angle estimates from the first primary movement window.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors;

a first region corresponding to the static region;

a first number of data points in the first region;

a second region corresponding to the static region; and

a second number of data points in the second region;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the number of data points in the first region with the number of data points in the second region;

determining, by the one or more processors, a static region with the greatest number of data points;

generating, by the one or more processors, a final yaw angle from the static region with the greatest number of data points; and

determining, by the one or more processors, a driving pattern using at least the final yaw angle.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

rotating, by the one or more processors, the static region from the first region to the second region on a unit circle.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

correlating, by the one or more data, the plurality of telematics data with a second plurality of telematics data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the potential range of yaw angles further includes:

creating a function that outputs four possible heading directions of the telematics data from the first primary movement window.

7. A computer device for determining a range of yaw angle estimates, the device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors;

wherein the one or more memories include non-transitory computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, via a computer network, a plurality of telematics data originating from a client computing device;

determine a first primary movement window from the plurality of telematics data;

remove the effect of gravity from the plurality of telematics data;

determine a potential range of yaw angles from the plurality of telematics data in the first primary movement window;

generate one or more yaw angle estimates; and

determine, a driving pattern based at least on one of the yaw angle estimates.

8. The computer device of claim 7, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

plot the one or more yaw angle estimates from the first primary movement window;

receive an arc length of a static region on a unit circle;

apply the static region to the one or more yaw angle estimates from the first primary movement window.

9. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine;

a first region corresponding to the static region;

a first number of data points in the first region;

a second region corresponding to the static region; and

a second number of data points in the second region;

compare the number of data points in the first region with the number of data points in the second region;

determine a static region with the greatest number of data points;

generate a final yaw angle from the static region with the greatest number of data points; and

determine a driving pattern using at least the final yaw angle.

10. The computer device of claim 9, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions cause the one or more processors to:

rotate the static region from the first region to the second region.

11. The computer device of claim 7, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

correlate the plurality of telematics data with a second plurality of telematics data.

12. The computer device of claim 7, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions to generate the potential range of yaw angles further causes the one or more processors to:

create a function that outputs four possible heading directions of the telematics data from the first primary movement window.

13. A computer readable storage medium comprising non-transitory computer readable instructions stored thereon for determining a range of yaw angle estimates, the instructions when executed on one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

receive, via a computer network, a plurality of telematics data originating from a client computing device;

summarize the plurality of telematics data at a specified sample rate;

remove the effect of gravity from the plurality of telematics data;

determine an a potential range of yaw angles from the telematics data from the first primary movement window;

generate one or more yaw angles from the potential range of yaw angles; and

determining, by the one or more processors, a driving pattern based at least on one of the yaw angles.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed on the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

receive an arc length of a static region on a unit circle;

apply the static region to the one or more yaw angles estimates from the first primary movement window.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions when executed on the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

determine at the one or more processors;

a first region corresponding to the static region;

a first number of data points in the first region;

a second region corresponding to the static region; and

a second number of data points in the second region;

compare, at the one or more processors, the number of data points in the first region with the number of data points in the second region;

determine, at the one or more processors, a static region with the greatest number of data points;

generate, at the one or more processors, a final yaw angle from the static region with the greatest number of data points; and

determine, at the one or more processors, a driving pattern using at least the final yaw angle.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising further instructions stored thereon that cause the one or more processors to:

correlate the plurality of telematics data with a second plurality of telematics data.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising further instructions stored thereon that cause the one or more processors to:

create a function that outputs four possible heading directions of the telematics data from the first primary movement window.