Vehicle tracking techniques

• US 10,623,834 B1
• Filed: 01/14/2019
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Matheson, Cory A., Scott, Kade L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Quang
• Application Number:
  US16/247,224
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• 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: 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: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/75 by polling or interrogating the sub-stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

A vehicle monitoring system, includes a vehicle database, which includes information associated with a plurality of vehicles. The vehicle monitoring system also includes a sensor database, which includes information captured by a sensor of an observing vehicle, and one or more processors. The one or more processors may generate a request to determine information associated with a target vehicle and to transmit the request to the sensor in response to determining that the information captured by the sensor does not include the information associated with the target vehicle. The sensor captures the information associated with the target vehicle based at least in part on the request. The one or more processors may also receive and store the information associated with the target vehicle from the sensor. Further, the one or more processors may output the information associated with the target vehicle to a computing device.

Claims

1. A vehicle monitoring system, comprising:

a vehicle database comprising information associated with a plurality of vehicles;

a sensor database comprising information captured by a sensor of an observing vehicle of the plurality of vehicles; and

one or more processors configured to;

generate a request to determine information associated with a target vehicle;

transmit the request to the sensor of the observing vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle database and the sensor database do not comprise the information associated with the target vehicle, wherein the sensor of the observing vehicle is configured to capture the information associated with the target vehicle based at least in part on the request in response to the sensor of the observing vehicle detecting the target vehicle is within a proximity of the observing vehicle;

receive the information associated with the target vehicle from the sensor of the observing vehicle;

store the information associated with the target vehicle in the vehicle database; and

output the information associated with the target vehicle to a computing device.

2. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, comprising the sensor of the observing vehicle being a speedometer, a camera, a global positioning system, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared laser sensor, or a combination thereof.

3. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the target vehicle comprises a location, a behavior of a driver driving the target vehicle, a characteristic, or a combination thereof, of the target vehicle.

4. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the request in response to receiving an additional request for information associated with the target vehicle from the computing device.

5. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are configured to output the information associated with the target vehicle to an additional computing device, wherein the additional computing device did not submit the additional request.

6. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the request periodically according to a predetermined schedule.

7. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein outputting the information associated with the target vehicle comprises outputting a location of the target vehicle, wherein the location comprises an address, coordinates, a map indicating the location of the target vehicle, or a combination thereof.

8. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein outputting the information associated with the target vehicle comprises outputting information associated with a collision of the target vehicle and an object, wherein the information associated with the collision comprises a picture, video, speed of the target vehicle, road condition, weather condition, construction indication, or a combination thereof, captured by the sensor of the observing vehicle at or near the collision.

9. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein outputting the information associated with the target vehicle comprises outputting information associated with a behavior of the target vehicle, wherein the observing vehicle comprises the computing device.

10. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to display a visualization, play an audio message, vibrate, or a combination, thereof, in response to receiving the information associated with the target vehicle.

11. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 1, comprising a driver database comprising information associated with a driver, wherein the information associated with the driver comprises an indication of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, at one or more processors of a vehicle monitoring system, a request for information associated with a target vehicle from a first computing device;

the vehicle monitoring system comprising a vehicle database configured to store information associated with a plurality of vehicles and a sensor database configured to store information captured by a sensor of an observing vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;

transmitting, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the request to the sensor of the observing vehicle in response to determining by the one or more processors that the vehicle database and the sensor database do not comprise the information associated with the target vehicle, wherein the sensor of the observing vehicle is configured to capture the information associated with the target vehicle based at least in part on the request in response to detecting that the target vehicle is within a proximity of the observing vehicle;

receiving, at the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the information associated with the target vehicle from the sensor of the observing vehicle;

storing, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the information associated with the target vehicle in the vehicle database comprising information associated with the plurality of vehicles; and

outputting, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system the information associated with the target vehicle to a second computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

in response to receiving, at the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, an additional request for additional information associated with the target vehicle;

retrieving, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the additional information associated with the target vehicle from the vehicle database; and

outputting, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the additional information associated with the target vehicle to the second computing device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein storing the information associated with the target vehicle in the vehicle database comprises:

updating, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, a first profile of a plurality of profiles stored in the vehicle database to include the information associated with the target vehicle in response to determining that the first profile is associated with the target vehicle; and

creating, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, a second profile associated with the target vehicle in response to determining that none of the plurality of profiles stored in the vehicle database are associated with the target vehicle, wherein creating the second profile comprises populating the second profile with the information associated with the target vehicle.

15. The method of claim 12, comprising:

receiving, at the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, additional information associated with the target vehicle from the first computing device;

identifying, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, a profile of a plurality of profiles associated with the target vehicle and stored in the vehicle database; and

updating, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoring system, the profile based at least in part on the additional information associated with the target vehicle.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the first computing device is different from the second computing device.

17. A vehicle monitoring system, comprising:

a vehicle database comprising a first profile comprising first information associated with a first vehicle of a plurality of vehicles and a second profile comprising second information associated with a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;

a sensor database comprising information captured by a sensor of an observing vehicle of the plurality of vehicles; and

one or more processors configured to;

generate a request to capture third information associated with the first vehicle different from the first information associated with the first vehicle;

transmit the request to the sensor of the observing vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle database and the sensor database do not comprise the third information associated with the first vehicle, wherein the sensor of the observing vehicle is configured to capture the third information associated with the first vehicle in response to the sensor of the observing vehicle detecting the first vehicle is within a proximity of the observing vehicle;

receive the third information associated with the first vehicle from the sensor of the observing vehicle;

store the third information associated with the first vehicle in the vehicle database, wherein storing the third information associated with the first vehicle comprises updating the first profile based at least in part on the third information associated with the first vehicle; and

output the third information associated with the first vehicle to a computing device.

18. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the first profile and the second profile each comprise a set of data fields, wherein the first information comprises data associated with a first subset of the set of data fields, wherein the second information comprises data associated with a second subset of the set of data fields different from the first subset of the set of data fields.

19. The vehicle monitoring system of claim 17, comprising a cloud-based computing system, wherein the cloud-based computing system comprises the one or more processors.