Vehicle telematics and account management

• US 9,754,425 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2014
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Iqbal, Imran, Gopalan, Srinath, Saban, Yuval
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Shardul
• Application Number:
  US14/505,014
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 701 315, 701 326, 701 70, 455417, 455418, 4554122, 4554563
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2209/04 Access control involving a hierarchy in access rights
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses provide a system that may facilitate communications so that parents or other superiors may monitor driving behavior of a vehicle carrying children or other subordinates. The system may allow communications to be sent from a parent computing device to a particular child computing device to set conditions for notifying the parent or superior of the driving behavior of a vehicle. Child computing devices may collect drive data (e.g., vehicle telematics data) for the system to evaluate and determine whether conditions are met (e.g., whether parental restrictions, like a geo-fence, are violated). Further, the system may send notifications to child computing devices and parent computing devices indicating whether the drive data meets the conditions of an agreement between a parent and teen. The system may also provide a web portal for use in forming the agreement between parents and their teens.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a first computing device associated with a first user in a vehicle, the first computing device configured to;

collect drive data representing a driving behavior of the vehicle via an application executing on the first computing device;

transmit information based on the drive data; and

transmit, to a second computing device, a notification indicating that the first computing device will stop transmitting additional information and a reason that the first computing device will stop transmitting the additional information, wherein the reason comprises at least an indication that the first computing device received an instruction from the first user to terminate the application; and

the second computing device associated with a second user, the second computing device configured to receive the information to monitor the driving behavior of the vehicle and to receive the notification.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a third computing device configured to;

receive the information from the first computing device;

identify that the second computing device corresponds to the first computing device; and

transmit the information to the second computing device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the third computing device is a server configured to:

receive the information, via a network, from the first computing device; and

transmit the information, via the network, to the second computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computing device comprises:

at least one first processor; and

memory storing first computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, cause the first computing device to collect the drive data, transmit the information, and transmit the notification;

wherein the second computing device comprises;

at least one second processor; and

memory storing second computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, cause the second computing device to receive the information and output an alert in response to receiving the information;

wherein the drive data comprises at least one of;

global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the first computing device;

GPS coordinates of the vehicle;

or data from an accelerometer of the first computing device; and

wherein the information indicates that a condition set by the second user has been met.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises a user selection received via a graphical user interface presented on the first computing device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the user selection comprises one of:

turning off a power of the first computing device; and

closing a program executing on the first computing device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification further comprises a battery condition of a battery of the first computing device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the battery condition comprises one of:

a battery power of the battery dropping below a preset threshold; and

a battery power of the battery dropping below a point at which the first computing device turns off.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification further comprises an identifier of the first computing device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computing device is further configured to automatically determine a start of a trip of the vehicle carrying the first user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first computing device is further configured to determine whether the first user is driving the vehicle after automatically determining the start of the trip of the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first computing device is configured to transmit the information comprising an indication that the first user is outside a geo-fence if the first computing device determines that the trip of the vehicle is ongoing and the first user is driving the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the first computing device is further configured to automatically determine an end of the trip of the vehicle.

14. A computing device, comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate, via a network, with a first set of computing devices and a second set of computing devices; and

at least one processor configured to;

receive, via the network interface and from an application executing on a first computing device from the first set of computing devices, information reflecting a performance of a driver driving a vehicle;

identify a second computing device from the second set of computing devices that corresponds to the first computing device;

transmit the information to the second computing device; and

transmit, to the second computing device, a notification indicating that the first computing device will stop transmitting additional information and a reason that the first computing device will stop transmitting the additional information, wherein the reason comprises at least an indication that the first computing device received an instruction from the driver to terminate the application.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the instruction is received via a graphical user interface displayed by the application on the first computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the notification further comprises a condition of a battery of the first computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the condition of the battery of the first computing device comprises a battery power of the battery dropping below a preset threshold.

18. A method, comprising:

automatically detecting, by a computing device, a start of a trip of a vehicle carrying a user associated with the computing device;

determining whether the user is driving the vehicle during the trip;

responsive to a determination that the user is driving the vehicle during the trip, collecting data representing a driving behavior of the vehicle via an application executing on the computing device;

transmitting, by the computing device, the data during the trip; and

transmitting, by the computing device and to a second computing device, a notification indicating that the computing device will stop transmitting additional data reflecting the driving behavior of the user and a reason that the computing device will stop transmitting the additional data, wherein the reason comprises at least an indication that the computing device received an instruction from the user to terminate the application.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the detecting the start of the trip of the vehicle comprises determining whether a speed of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the notification further comprises an indication of a battery condition of the computing device.