Systems and methods for performing driver and vehicle analysis and alerting

• US 9,424,751 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telogis Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Hodges, Eric Todd, Gee, Alexander C., Maier, Ralph Joseph, Morris, John Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Assistant Examiner(s): Worden, Tommy
• Application Number:
  US14/921,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20160117928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 305 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for collecting vehicle data from a vehicle engine computer of a vehicle and a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle and generating feedbacks for a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data. The systems and methods additionally provide for receiving user inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks so that the user inputs are associated with corresponding rule violations that triggered the feedbacks.

Claims

1. A system for collecting vehicle data from a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, generating feedbacks for a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, and communicating inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks to enable the driver to address the feedbacks, the system comprising:

an electronic device comprising digital logic circuitry and configured to be installed in a vehicle, the electronic device comprising a port configured to couple with a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle and have wired or wireless connections with a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle; and

a first memory device in communication with the electronic device, the first memory device storing;

a plurality of rules prescribing rule violations associated with activities of the vehicle, and

a plurality of driver feedbacks prescribing feedbacks to a driver of the vehicle about the rule violations,

wherein the electronic device is configured to;

while the driver is operating the vehicle, determine in real-time a first rule violation of the rule violations by the vehicle based at least on a comparison of the plurality of rules to vehicle data received from the vehicle engine computer or the plurality of sensors,

in response to determining the first rule violation, determine in real-time a first feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the first rule violation,

in response to determining the first feedback, output in real-time the first feedback for presentation to the driver,

receive, via a selectable interface element or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from the driver responding to the first feedback, the first user input comprising an explanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a request from the driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time,

store, in a second memory device, the first user input in association with an indication of the first rule violation,

transmit the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation to a vehicle management system so that the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation are presented to a manager of the vehicle,

receive, from the vehicle management system, user input data associated with user inputs from a plurality of drivers of a vehicle fleet that includes the vehicle, the user inputs being from the plurality of drivers responding to feedbacks associated with the rule violations by vehicles of the vehicle fleet driven by the plurality of drivers, and

change the plurality of rules or the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to receive the first user input via the acoustic sensor, and the acoustic sensor is positioned in the vehicle and configured to initiate capture of the first user input in response to the driver providing an audio input that matches a capture initiation input.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to:

output the first feedback as an alert on a display device, the display device comprising the selectable interface element;

output a plurality of textual explanations for the first rule violation on the display device; and

receive the first user input via a selection on the display device by the driver of one of the plurality of textual explanations for the first rule violation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein subsequent to receiving the first user input, the electronic device is configured to:

while the driver is operating the vehicle, determine in real-time a second rule violation of the rule violations by the vehicle based at least on (i) the comparison of the plurality of rules to the vehicle data and (ii) the first user input;

in response to determining the second rule violation, determine in real-time a second feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the second rule violation; and

in response to determining the second feedback, output in real-time the second feedback for presentation to the driver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to:

transmit the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation to the vehicle management system so that the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation are presented together to the manager;

while a driver is operating the vehicle, determine in real-time a second rule violation of the rule violations by the vehicle based at least on the comparison of the plurality of rules to the vehicle data;

in response to determining the second rule violation, determine in real-time a second feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the second rule violation;

in response to determining the second feedback, output in real-time the second feedback for presentation to the driver; and

in response to not receiving a second user input from the driver responding to the second feedback, transmit an indication of the second rule violation to the vehicle management system so that the indication of the second rule violation is presented to the manager differently than the indication of the first rule violation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first rule violation comprises a hard braking by the vehicle during which the vehicle experiences more than a threshold deceleration.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to no longer accept the first user input when the first user input is not received from the driver within a threshold period of time subsequent to the electronic device outputting the first feedback.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to remove the indication of the first rule violation from a driver profile associated with the driver based at least on the first user input.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver is causing the vehicle to move when the driver is operating the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user input comprises the explanation by the driver for the first rule violation.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user input comprises the request from the driver to be prompted at the later time to discuss the first rule violation, and the electronic device is configured to prompt the driver at the later time to discuss the first rule violation in response to receiving the first user input.

12. A method for collecting vehicle data from a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, generating feedbacks for a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, and processing inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks to enable the driver to address the feedbacks, the method comprising:

under control of an electronic device comprising digital logic circuitry and installed in a vehicle, the electronic device comprising a port coupled with a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle and having wired or wireless connections with a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle;

while a driver is operating the vehicle, determining in real-time a first rule violation of rule violations by the vehicle based at least on a comparison of a plurality of rules to vehicle data received from the vehicle engine computer or the plurality of sensors, the plurality of rules prescribing the rule violations associated with activities of the vehicle and retrieved from a first memory device in communication with the electronic device;

in response to determining the first rule violation, determining in real-time a first feedback of feedbacks to the driver from a plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the first rule violation, the plurality of driver feedbacks prescribing the feedbacks to the driver about the rule violations and retrieved from the first memory device;

in response to determining the first feedback, outputting in real-time the first feedback for presentation to the driver;

receiving, via a selectable interface element or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from the driver responding to the first feedback, the first user input comprising an explanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a request from the driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time;

storing, in a second memory device, the first user input in association with an indication of the first rule violation;

in response to a request from the driver, accessing the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation from the second memory device and outputting information associated with the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation for presentation to the driver on a display device;

receiving, from a vehicle management system, user input data associated with user inputs from a plurality of drivers of a vehicle fleet that includes the vehicle, the user inputs being from the plurality of drivers responding to feedbacks associated with the rule violations by vehicles of the vehicle fleet driven by the plurality of drivers; and

changing the plurality of rules or the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

under control of the electronic device;

capturing in real-time image data with an image sensor in response to determining the first rule violation; and

storing, in a third memory device, the image data and an association with the first user input and the indication of the first rule violation.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

under control of the electronic device;

while the driver is operating the vehicle, determining in real-time another occurrence of the first rule violation by the vehicle based at least on the comparison of plurality of rules to the vehicle data;

in response to determining the another occurrence of the first rule violation, determining in real-time a second feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the another occurrence of the first rule violation and the first user input, the second feedback being different from the first feedback; and

in response to determining the second feedback, outputting in real-time the second feedback for presentation to the driver.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

under control of the electronic device;

updating a driver score associated with the driver based at least on the first rule violation and the first user input to generate an updated driver score, the driver score comprising a value indicative of a driving performance by the driver and depending on a plurality of metrics related to the driving performance; and

outputting the updated driver score for presentation to the driver on the display device.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

under control of the electronic device;

requesting the first user input from the driver in response to an inquiry message received from the vehicle management system via a wireless communication network.

17. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising instructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors, a method comprising:

while a driver is operating a vehicle, determining in real-time a first rule violation of rule violations by the vehicle based at least on a comparison of a plurality of rules to vehicle data received from an vehicle engine computer of the vehicle or a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, the plurality of rules prescribing the rule violations associated with activities of the vehicle and retrieved from a first memory device;

in response to determining the first rule violation, determining in real-time a first feedback of feedbacks to the driver from a plurality of driver feedbacks based at least on the first rule violation, the plurality of driver feedbacks prescribing the feedbacks to the driver about the rule violations and retrieved from the first memory device;

in response to determining the first feedback, outputting in real-time the first feedback for presentation to the driver;

receiving, via a selectable interface element or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from the driver responding to the first feedback, the first user input comprising an explanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a request from the driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time;

storing, in a second memory device, the first user input in association with an indication of the first rule violation;

receiving, from a vehicle management system, user input data associated with user inputs from a plurality of drivers of a vehicle fleet that includes the vehicle, the user inputs being from the plurality of drivers responding to feedbacks associated with the rule violations by vehicles of the vehicle fleet driven by the plurality of drivers; and

changing the plurality of rules or the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data.

18. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein the first rule violation comprises an acceleration or deceleration event by the vehicle during which the vehicle experiences more than a threshold acceleration or deceleration.

19. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises receiving the first user input via the selectable interface element.

20. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein said changing comprises changing the plurality of rules or the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data so that a threshold used to determine the first rule violation or the first feedback changes.

21. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein said changing comprises changing the plurality of rules or the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data so that a weighting associated with processing an occurrence of the first rule violation or the first feedback changes.

22. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein said changing comprises changing the plurality of rules stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data.

23. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein said changing comprises the plurality of driver feedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the user input data.

24. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 17, wherein said receiving the user input data comprises receiving the user input data from the vehicle management system via a wireless communication network.