Systems and methods for monitoring a vehicle operator and for monitoring an operating environment within the vehicle

• US 10,269,226 B1
• Filed: 03/06/2018
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Freeck, Jason, Ford, Alex E., Sloan, Paul, Schmidt, Ryan T., Angal, Mihir D., Kothari, Neel
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Littlejohn, Jr., Mancil
• Application Number:
  US15/913,403
• Time in Patent Office: 413 Days
• Field of Search: 340576
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for monitoring a vehicle operator and for monitoring the environment of a vehicle operator. In particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining a physical position of an operator within a vehicle and for determining environmental conditions surrounding the vehicle operator. The systems may include at least one of: an image sensor, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a microphone or a combination or sub-combination thereof. The methods may determine a position and/or an orientation of a vehicle operator'"'"'s head, arms, hands, legs, feet, etc., a combination thereof or a sub-combination thereof. The methods may generate a warning when a position of the vehicle operator is inappropriate, such as when the vehicle operator has not looked in front of the vehicle for an extended period of time when the vehicle is travelling forward, when the vehicle operator is looking at a cellular telephone, when the vehicle operator has been looking downward for an extended period of time, etc.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating data representative of a position of at least a portion of a vehicle driver within an interior of a vehicle, the method comprising:

acquiring, from two or more position sensors, vehicle driver position data, wherein

(i) a first one of the two or more position sensors is a pressure transducer located within a vehicle driver-side seat, and a position of a vehicle driver within the vehicle driver-side seat is inferred from shifting weight on the vehicle driver-side seat, and

(ii) a second one of the two or more position sensors is used to generate a three-dimensional model of the vehicle driver within an interior of the vehicle;

comparing, using one or more processors, the vehicle driver position data with model data, the model data at least representing a model vehicle operator; and

determining, using one or more processors, a difference between the vehicle driver position data and the model data based upon the comparison of the vehicle driver position data with the model data to detect a vehicle driver position.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one of;

a warning to the vehicle driver that a position of at least a portion of the vehicle driver has deviated from a position of at least a portion of the model vehicle operator and an advisory to the vehicle driver how to correct a deviation of a position of at least a portion of the vehicle driver has deviated from a position of at least a portion of the model vehicle operator.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle driver position data is acquired from at least one of:

an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or an image sensor.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle driver position data includes information that is representative of at least one of:

a gaze direction of the vehicle driver, an in-car gesture of the vehicle driver, a position of the vehicle driver'"'"'s head, an orientation of the vehicle driver'"'"'s head, a position of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands, an orientation of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands, a position of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s feet or an item within at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the vehicle driver position data includes a time stamp and the information is tracked over time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring, from one or more audio sensors, audio data, wherein the audio data is representative of sound within the interior of the vehicle.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the audio data is indicative of a volume of the sound.

8. A computer system for generating data representative of a position of at least a portion of a vehicle driver within an interior of a vehicle, the computer system comprising:

a position data acquisition module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to acquire position data from at least two position sensors, wherein

(i) a first one of the at least two position sensors is a pressure transducer located within a vehicle driver-side seat, and a position of a vehicle driver within the vehicle driver-side seat is inferred from shifting weight on the vehicle driver-side seat, and

(ii) a second one of the at least two position sensors is used to generate a three-dimensional model of the vehicle driver within an interior of the vehicle;

a comparison module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to compare the position data with model data, the model data at least representing a model vehicle operator; and

a determination module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to determine differences between a vehicle driver position and a model vehicle operator position based upon the comparison of the position data with the model data to detect a vehicle driver position associated with a vehicle accident.

9. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising:

a data transmission module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the position data to a remote server.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the position data includes a time stamp and the information is tracked over time.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the model data acquisition module and the comparison module are executed by a processor within the remote server.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the position data includes information that is representative of at least one of:

a gaze direction of the vehicle driver, an in-car gesture of the vehicle driver, a position of the vehicle driver'"'"'s head, an orientation of the vehicle driver'"'"'s head, a position of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands, an orientation of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands, a position of at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s feet or an item within at least one of the vehicle driver'"'"'s hands.

13. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising:

an audio data acquisition module stored on a memory that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to acquire audio data, wherein the audio data is representative of sound within the interior of the vehicle.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a process of a computer system cause the computer system to generate data representative of a position of at least a portion of a vehicle driver within an interior of a vehicle, the instructions comprising:

a position data acquisition module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to acquire position data from at least two position sensors, wherein

(i) a first one of the at least two position sensors is a pressure transducer located within a vehicle driver-side seat, and a position of a vehicle driver within the vehicle driver-side seat is inferred from shifting weight on the vehicle driver-side seat, and

(ii) a second one of the at least two position sensors is used to generate a three-dimensional model of the vehicle driver within the interior of the vehicle;

a comparison module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to compare the position data with model data, the model data at least representing a model vehicle operator; and

a determination module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to determine differences between a vehicle driver position and a model vehicle operator position based upon the comparison of the position data with the model data.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

a data transmission module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the position data to a remote server.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the position data includes a time stamp and the information is tracked over time.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the model data acquisition module and the comparison module are executed by a processor within the remote server.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

an insurance rate computation module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to determine an insurance rate based, at least in part, on the differences between the vehicle driver position and the model vehicle operator position.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the audio data is representative of a volume of sound within the interior of the vehicle.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

a warning/advisory generation module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to generate at least one of;

a warning to the vehicle driver that a position of at least a portion of the vehicle driver has deviated from a position of at least a portion of the model vehicle operator and an advisory to the vehicle driver how to correct a deviation of a position of at least a portion of the vehicle driver has deviated from a position of at least a portion of the model vehicle operator.