Electrical data processing system for determining status of traffic device and vehicle movement

• US 10,515,543 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Madigan, Regina, Gibson, Timothy W., Hayes, Howard, Kumar, Surender
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US15/249,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20180061232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/08 according to detected number or speed of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 : where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096883 : where input information is obtained using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 : Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 : according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 : according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 : to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 : using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining the status of a traffic device and vehicle movement. A traffic device may have a traffic device computer, one or more traffic signals, and/or a transceiver. The traffic device may transmit, via the transceiver and to a vehicle and infrastructure computing device, information indicative of a status of the one or more traffic signals. The vehicle and infrastructure computing device may comprise a vehicle and infrastructure control computer. The vehicle and infrastructure computing device may receive, from the traffic device, the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals. The computing device may determine that the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals indicates that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from a red light to a green light and a time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light. In response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light, the computing device may determine an amount of time between the time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light and a time that a vehicle at a location of the traffic device moved. In response to determining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold amount of time, the computing device may determine that a driver of the vehicle is distracted.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a traffic device comprising;

a traffic device computer;

one or more traffic signals;

a transceiver; and

first memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the traffic device computer, cause the traffic device to;

transmit, via the transceiver and to a vehicle and infrastructure computing device, information indicative of a status of the one or more traffic signals; and

the vehicle and infrastructure computing device comprising;

a vehicle and infrastructure control computer;

second memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to;

receive, from the traffic device, the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals;

determine that the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals indicates that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from a red light to a green light and a time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light;

detect, after determining that that the one or more traffic signals a the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light, movement of a vehicle at a location of the traffic device;

determine an amount of time between the time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light and a time of the detected movement of the vehicle at the location of the traffic device; and

in response to determining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold amount of time, determine that a driver of the vehicle is distracted.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a traffic camera, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

receive, from the traffic camera, one or more images of the vehicle captured by the traffic camera; and

based on the one or more images of the vehicle captured by the traffic camera, determine the time that the vehicle at the location of the traffic device moved.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile device having one or more of a position sensor, speed sensor, or acceleration sensor, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

receive, from the mobile device or the vehicle, data indicative of one or more of a position, speed, or acceleration of the vehicle; and

based on the data indicative of one or more of the position, speed, or acceleration of the vehicle, determine the time that the vehicle at the location of the traffic device moved.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

determine that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red, send an instruction to a mobile device of the driver to prevent driver interaction with the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the instruction is configured to disable one or more applications of the mobile device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more applications comprises a messaging application.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

determine that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red, send an instruction to a mobile device of the driver to enable use of the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

determine that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from red to green; and

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from red to green, send an instruction to the mobile device of the driver to prevent driver interaction with the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is green.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

based on determining that the driver of the vehicle is distracted, adjust a risk score for the driver.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the second memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device has switched from the red light to the green light, send an instruction to a mobile device of the driver or to the vehicle to audibly or visually notify the driver that the one or more traffic signals is a green light.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a vehicle and infrastructure computing device and from a traffic device comprising one or more traffic signals, information indicative of a status of the one or more traffic signals;

determining that the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals indicates that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from a red light to a green light and a time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light;

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light, determining an amount of time between the time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light and a time that a vehicle at a location of the traffic device moved; and

in response to determining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold amount of time, determining that a driver of the vehicle is distracted.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, from a traffic camera, one or more images of the vehicle captured by the traffic camera; and

based on the one or more images of the vehicle captured by the traffic camera, determining the time that the vehicle at the location of the traffic device moved.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device or the vehicle, data indicative of one or more of a position, speed, or acceleration of the vehicle; and

based on the data indicative of one or more of the position, speed, or acceleration of the vehicle, determining the time that the vehicle at the location of the traffic device moved.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red, sending an instruction to a mobile device of the driver to prevent driver interaction with the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is not red.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the instruction is configured to disable one or more applications of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more applications comprises a messaging application.

17. A vehicle and infrastructure computing device comprising:

a vehicle and infrastructure control computer;

memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to;

receive, from a traffic device comprising one or more traffic signals, information indicative of a status of the one or more traffic signals;

determine that the information indicative of the status of the one or more traffic signals indicates that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from a red light to a green light and a time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light;

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light, determine an amount of time between the time that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from the red light to the green light and a time that a vehicle at a location of the traffic device moved; and

in response to determining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold amount of time, determine that a driver of the vehicle is distracted.

18. The vehicle and infrastructure computing device of claim 17, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

determine that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is at the location of the traffic device and that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red, send an instruction to a mobile device of the driver to enable use of the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is red.

19. The vehicle and infrastructure computing device of claim 18, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

determine that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from red to green; and

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device switched from red to green, send an instruction to the mobile device of the driver to prevent driver interaction with the mobile device while the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device is green.

20. The vehicle and infrastructure computing device of claim 17, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the vehicle and infrastructure control computer, cause the vehicle and infrastructure computing device to:

in response to determining that the one or more traffic signals of the traffic device has switched from the red light to the green light, send an instruction to one or more mobile device of the driver or to the vehicle to audibly or visually notify the driver that the one or more traffic signals is a green light.