Recording, Monitoring, and Analyzing Driver Behavior

• US 20140162219A1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Abalta Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Abalta Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Stankoulov, Pavel
• Granted Patent: US 9,569,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/65
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/408 Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/52 Radar, Lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/05 Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• 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: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/003 Maps

Abstract

A system adapted to monitor, record and analyze driver performance is described. The system includes: a vehicle sensor module adapted to receive data from a set of sensors that each measure a driving characteristic associated with a vehicle; a map data access module adapted to retrieve, from a map database, map data elements indicating various features associated with at least one path of the vehicle; and a driver behavior engine adapted to receive information from the vehicle sensor module and the map data access module, and to monitor and evaluate driver performance based on the received information.

Claims

1. A system adapted to monitor, record and analyze driver performance, the system comprising:

a vehicle sensor module adapted to receive data from a set of sensors that each measure a driving characteristic associated with a vehicle;

a map data access module adapted to retrieve, from a map database, map data elements indicating various features associated with at least one path of the vehicle; and

a driver behavior engine adapted to receive information from the vehicle sensor module and the map data access module, and to monitor and evaluate driver performance based on the received information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle sensor module receives data from at least one global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle sensor module receives data from at least one inertial sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle sensor module receives data from at least one radar sensor.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a path prediction engine adapted to receive data from the vehicle sensor module and the map data access module and determine a set of potential paths available to the vehicle based at least partly on the received data.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an event logging engine adapted to receive data from the vehicle sensor module and record the received data to a database.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a warning module adapted to determine whether data received from the vehicle sensor module exceeds any warning threshold.

8. An automated method of evaluating driver performance, the method comprising:

receiving a set of map data elements indicating various features associated with a path of a vehicle;

receiving a set of measured parameters from a set of sensors associated with the vehicle;

defining a set of evaluation curves based on the received set of map data elements; and

comparing each evaluation curve from the set of evaluation curves to a performance curve generated at least partly based on the set of measured parameters.

9. The automated method of claim 8 further comprising retrieving a profile associated with the vehicle, wherein the set of evaluation curves is defined at least partly based on the profile.

10. The automated method of claim 9, wherein the profile comprises information related to a particular driver.

11. The automated method of claim 8 further comprising storing an event log to a database, wherein the event log comprises data related to the set of evaluation curves and the performance curve.

12. The automated method of claim 8 further comprising determining a current position of the vehicle based at least partly on the set of map data elements and the set of measured parameters.

13. The automated method of claim 8 further comprising determining a set of possible future paths of the vehicle based at least partly on the set of map data elements and the set of measured parameters.

14. The automated method of claim 13, wherein each possible future path in the set of possible future paths is associated with a probability, the probability based at least partly on the set of measured parameters.

15. A curve-based automated method of analyzing driver behavior when operating a vehicle, the method comprising:

generating a set of reference curves based at least partly on a profile associated with the vehicle and a particular driver;

generating a measured performance curve based at least partly on data received from a set of sensors adapted to measure various parameters associated with the vehicle; and

comparing the set of reference curves to the measured performance curve.

16. The automated method of claim 15, wherein the reference curves represent vehicle speed.

17. The automated method of claim 15, wherein the set of reference curves is associated with a particular section of a path of the vehicle.

18. The automated method of claim 15, wherein the measured parameters include acceleration.

19. The automated method of claim 15, wherein the measured parameters include yaw rate.

20. The automated method of claim 15, wherein comparing the set of reference curves to the measured performance curve comprises determining a difference between each reference curve in the set of reference curves and the measured performance curve.