Interactive driver development

• US 10,720,079 B1
• Filed: 11/21/2017
• Issued: 07/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Hsu-Hoffman, Chienlan, Gibbs, Evan, Dornadic, Alicia, Carbery, Andrew L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullington, Robert P
• Application Number:
  US15/819,557
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: 434 65
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/69 by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/90 Constructional details or arrangements of video game devices not provided for in groups A63F13/20 or A63F13/25, e.g. housing, wiring, connections or cabinets
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/14 Traffic procedures, e.g. traffic regulations
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/042 providing simulation in a real vehicle G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses provide an interactive application, such as a video game, that presents gaming and driving challenges to facilitate improvement of driving skills and development of safe driving behavior. Drive data may be collected while a user is driving a vehicle and the drive data may be used to define a graphically simulated virtual world. A drive score may also be calculated based on the drive data. Portions of the graphically simulated virtual world may be unlocked based on the drive score. Also, attributes of a character within the graphically simulated virtual world may be modified based on the drive score.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from at least one of an accelerometer and a global positioning system, at a safe driving software application, and while a user is driving a vehicle, acceleration data and location data for the vehicle;

computing, by the one or more computing devices and based on the acceleration data or the location data, a drive score representing driving performance of the user in relation to safe driving standards stored in a memory;

selecting, from a plurality of algorithms, an algorithm for computing a character condition score related to a condition of a character within a graphically simulated virtual world;

computing, by the one or more computing devices and using the drive score and the algorithm, the character condition score;

modifying, based on the character condition score, one or more attributes of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, wherein a degree of the modifying varies according to a level of the driving performance of the user;

updating, based on the character condition score and using a state machine, a status of the character; and

executing, based on the updated status of the character, an animation script for the character, wherein the animation script causes the character to perform, in the graphically simulated virtual world, a series of actions corresponding to the updated status.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying of the one or more attributes of the character comprises increasing a health of the character by an amount proportional to an amount by which the drive score exceeds a threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

unlocking a portion of a virtual recipe book based on the drive score.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a course within the graphically simulated virtual world based on the drive score;

receiving, via an input device, one or more commands from the user to control a position of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world; and

moving the character through the course within the graphically simulated virtual world based on the one or more commands.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the course comprises:

modifying, based on the drive score, sizes of hills within the graphically simulated virtual world and spacing between the hills.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on user interaction with the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, at least one of the one or more attributes of the character.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user interaction with the character comprises:

in response to a user input comprising swiping or touching a screen displaying the graphically simulated virtual world;

causing, within the graphically simulated virtual world, an object to be thrown for the character to fetch;

or

causing, within the graphically simulated virtual world, an object to be hidden for the character to track.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user interaction with the character comprises:

in response to a user input comprising touching a screen displaying the graphically simulated virtual world;

causing, within the graphically simulated virtual world, an object to be placed for the character to watch;

or

causing, within the graphically simulated virtual world, an object to be dangled in front of the character for the character to attack, wherein a location of the object within the graphically simulated virtual world corresponds to a location of the user input on the screen.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the user drives the vehicle while the character is sleeping within the graphically simulated virtual world; and

negatively impacting an attribute of the character in response to determining that the user drives the vehicle while the character is sleeping within the graphically simulated virtual world.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by the one or more computing devices and based on the acceleration data or the location data, a particular attribute, among a plurality of attributes, of the character to modify,

wherein the modifying the one or more attributes comprises modifying the particular attribute.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more computing devices and based on the acceleration data or the location data, that the user performed a hard brake or sharp turn while driving the vehicle; and

selecting, by the one or more computing devices and based on determining that the user performed the hard brake or the sharp turn while driving the vehicle, a particular attribute indicating a degree to which the character is scared,

wherein the modifying the one or more attributes comprises modifying the particular attribute by;

increasing the degree to which the character is scared; and

in response to increasing the degree to which the character is scared, changing an appearance of the character, changing a location of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, or applying an animation to the character.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computing devices and from a sensor or a third party computing device, information indicating a weather condition at a time while the user is driving the vehicle; and

applying, based on the weather condition, an animation to the character within the graphically simulated virtual world.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computing devices and from a sensor or a third party computing device, information indicating a weather condition, a traffic condition, or a time of day at a time while the user is driving the vehicle;

selecting, by the one or more computing devices and based on the information, an attribute indicating a degree to which the character is scared, happy, or tired;

changing the degree to which the character is scared, happy, or tired; and

in response to changing the degree to which the character is scared, happy, or tired, changing an appearance of the character, changing a location of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, or applying an animation to the character.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying, based on a period of time that the character remains in a state, an animation applied to the character.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the algorithm comprises selecting a first algorithm based on determining that the drive score is above a first predetermined threshold or selecting a second algorithm based on determining that the drive score is below a second predetermined threshold, wherein the second algorithm is different from the first algorithm.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein different animation scripts correspond to different character statuses.

16. A system, comprising:

a database storing safe driving standards; and

one or more computing devices configured to;

receive, from at least one of an accelerometer and a global positioning system and while a user is driving a vehicle, acceleration data and location data for the vehicle;

determine, based on the acceleration data or the location data, a drive score representing driving performance of the user in relation to the safe driving standards;

select, from a plurality of algorithms, an algorithm for determining a character condition score related to a condition of a character within a graphically simulated virtual world;

determine, using the drive score and the algorithm, the character condition score;

modify, based on the character condition score, one or more attributes of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, wherein a degree of modification varies according to a level of the driving performance of the user;

update, based on the character condition score and using a state machine, a status of the character; and

execute, based on the updated status of the character, an animation script for the character, wherein the animation script causes the character to perform, in the graphically simulated virtual world, a series of actions corresponding to the updated status.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a server-side computing device or server configured to;

provide interactive software for downloading; and

register the interactive software,

wherein the one or more computing devices, comprise a client-side computing device and a vehicle computing device, and are further configured to;

download the interactive software;

select the character from among a list of characters;

present the character on a first display of the client-side computing device;

perform interactions with the character based on inputs from an input device;

prevent interactions with the character while the user is driving;

present a driving mode screen on a second display of the vehicle while the user is driving; and

present the drive score on at least one of the first display and the second display.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:

determine, based on the character condition score, whether to change a state of the character; and

in response to determining to change the state of the character, update a variable that stores a value representing the state of the character.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a server of a system comprising a database storing safe driving standards;

at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to;

receive, from at least one of an accelerometer and a global positioning system, at a safe driving software application, and while a user is driving a vehicle, acceleration data and location data for the vehicle;

determine, based on the acceleration data or the location data, a drive score representing driving performance of the user in relation to the safe driving standards;

select, from a plurality of algorithms, an algorithm for determining a character condition score related to a condition of a character within a graphically simulated virtual world;

determine, using the drive score and the algorithm, the character condition score;

modify, based on the character condition score, one or more attributes of the character within the graphically simulated virtual world, wherein a degree of modification varies according to a level of the driving performance of the user;

update, based on the character condition score and using a state machine, a status of the character; and

execute, based on the updated status of the character, an animation script for the character, wherein the animation script causes the character to perform, in the graphically simulated virtual world, a series of actions corresponding to the updated status.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the modifying of the one or more attributes of the character comprises increasing a health of the character by an amount proportional to an amount by which the drive score exceeds a threshold.