Automatic crash detection

• US 9,916,698 B1
• Filed: 08/01/2017
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arity International Limited (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Snyder, Jared S., Ferguson, Dana, Irey, Grady
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US15/665,710
• Time in Patent Office: 224 Days
• Field of Search: 701 315, 701121, 701 305, 701 309, 701 311, 701301, 701302
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/0891 with indication of predetermined acceleration values G01P15/135 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining whether or not a crash involving a vehicle has occurred. The acceleration of the vehicle may be measured using, for example, an accelerometer of a mobile device, which may be located inside the vehicle. The system may determine the magnitude of each accelerometer measurement and whether the magnitude exceeds one or more acceleration magnitude thresholds. The system may also determine the number of accelerometer events within a time window and whether the number exceeds one or more count thresholds. The system may determine whether a crash involving the vehicle has occurred based on the magnitudes of acceleration, number of acceleration events, and various thresholds. In some examples, the system may confirm that a crash has occurred based on, for example, the location of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device comprising:

an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer;

communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices;

a processor; and

memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to;

determine whether a trigger event has occurred;

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, initiate a time window for measuring acceleration using the accelerometer, wherein the time window comprises a start time and an end time;

between the start time and the end time of the time window, receive, from the accelerometer, a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer;

after the end time of the time window, determine, based on the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer and received between the start time and the end time of the time window, a number of acceleration events occurring during the time window; and

transmit, via the communication circuitry and to a crash detection server, data corresponding to the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window and indicative of whether the mobile computing device is within a vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in a crash.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the data includes the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window, and wherein the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window is configured to be used to determine whether the mobile computing device is within the vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in the crash.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to:

receive, from the accelerometer, an acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer; and

determine a magnitude of the acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises determining that the magnitude of the acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer exceeds an acceleration magnitude threshold.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to:

determine whether a change in speed of the vehicle exceeds a threshold change in speed, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises determining that the change in speed of the vehicle exceeds the threshold change in speed.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 4, further comprising a global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor, wherein determining whether the change in speed of the vehicle exceeds the threshold change in speed is based on a change in speed measured by the GPS sensor of the mobile computing device.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile computing device to:

periodically measure, via the accelerometer and within the time window for measuring acceleration using the accelerometer, acceleration, wherein receiving the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer comprises receiving the periodically measured acceleration measured via the accelerometer.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein a magnitude of each of the acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds an acceleration magnitude threshold.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to:

determine whether the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds a threshold number of acceleration events; and

in response to determining that the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds the threshold number of acceleration events, determine that the vehicle was involved in a crash.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to:

determine whether the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds a threshold number of acceleration events; and

in response to determining that the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window does not exceed the threshold number of acceleration events, determine that the vehicle was not involved in a crash.

10. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device comprises a mobile phone.

11. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor of a mobile computing device, whether a trigger event has occurred;

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, initiating, by the processor of the mobile computing device, a time window for measuring acceleration using an accelerometer of the mobile computing device, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer, and wherein the time window comprises a start time and an end time;

between the start time and the end time of the time window, receiving, by the processor of the mobile computing device and from the accelerometer, a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer;

after the end time of the time window, determining, by the processor of the mobile computing device and based on the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer and received between the start time and the end time of the time window, a number of acceleration events occurring during the time window; and

transmitting, via communication circuitry of the mobile computing device and to a crash detection server, data corresponding to the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window and indicative of whether the mobile computing device is within a vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in a crash, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data includes the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window, and wherein the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window is configured to be used to determine whether the mobile computing device is within the vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in the crash.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, from the accelerometer, an acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer; and

determining a magnitude of the acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises determining that the magnitude of the acceleration measurement measured by the accelerometer exceeds an acceleration magnitude threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether a change in speed of the vehicle exceeds a threshold change in speed, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises determining that the change in speed of the vehicle exceeds the threshold change in speed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether the change in speed of the vehicle exceeds the threshold change in speed is based on a change in speed measured by a global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor of the mobile computing device.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically measuring, via the accelerometer and within the time window for measuring acceleration using the accelerometer, acceleration, wherein receiving the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer comprises receiving the periodically measured acceleration measured via the accelerometer.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein a magnitude of each of the acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds an acceleration magnitude threshold.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds a threshold number of acceleration events; and

in response to determining that the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window exceeds the threshold number of acceleration events, determining that the vehicle was involved in a crash.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when read by a processor of a mobile computing device, cause the processor of the mobile computing device to:

determine whether a trigger event has occurred;

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, initiate a time window for measuring acceleration using an accelerometer of the mobile computing device, wherein the accelerometer is configured to measure acceleration of at least one axis of the accelerometer, and wherein the time window comprises a start time and an end time;

between the start time and the end time of the time window, receive, from the accelerometer, a plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer;

after the end time of the time window, determine, based on the plurality of acceleration measurements measured by the accelerometer and received between the start time and the end time of the time window, a number of acceleration events occurring during the time window; and

transmit, via communication circuitry of the mobile computing device and to a crash detection server, data corresponding to the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window and indicative of whether the mobile computing device is within a vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in a crash, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to wirelessly communicate with other devices.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the data includes the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window, and wherein the number of acceleration events occurring during the time window is configured to be used to determine whether the mobile computing device is within the vehicle and whether the vehicle was involved in the crash.