SYNCHRONIZATION OF VEHICLE SENSOR INFORMATION

• US 20150254781A1
• Filed: 05/21/2015
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Binion, Todd, Harr, Joe, Fields, Brian Mark, Cielocha, Steve C., Balbach, Steven J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,275,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/302 combining image information with GPS information or vehicle data, e.g. vehicle speed, gyro, steering angle data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/10 related to vehicle motion
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/02 Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/02 using reflection of acoustic waves G01S15/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/02 Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves G01S17/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• 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: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0891 Video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/12 in graphical form
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/01 Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled G08G1/07 - G08G1/14 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 : for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A method includes receiving and storing sensor data including a first plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of the environment external to a vehicle at a plurality of respective times, external data including a second plurality of data points indicative of an additional plurality of respective states of the external environment, and synchronization data. The external data is data that was received by the vehicle from a handheld mobile communication device of a pedestrian external to the vehicle via a wireless link, and is indicative of objects sensed by the handheld mobile communication device. The method also includes generating an animated re-creation of an event involving the vehicle using the stored data, and causing the animated re-creation of the event to be displayed.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic processing system comprising a memory and one or more processors, the method comprising:

receiving, at the electronic processing system, sensor data representing information collected by a sensor (i) located on or in a vehicle and (ii) configured to sense an environment external to the vehicle, wherein receiving sensor data includes receiving a first plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times;

receiving, at the electronic processing system, external data that (i) was received by the vehicle from a handheld mobile communication device of a pedestrian external to the vehicle via a wireless link and (ii) is indicative of objects sensed by the handheld mobile communication device, wherein receiving external data includes receiving a second plurality of data points indicative of an additional plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times;

receiving, at the electronic processing system, synchronization data indicating a temporal relationship between the first plurality of data points and the second plurality of data points;

storing the received sensor data, the received external data, and the received synchronization data in the memory;

generating, via the one or more processors, an animated re-creation of an event involving at least one vehicle using the stored first plurality of data points, the stored second plurality of data points, and the stored synchronization data; and

causing the animated re-creation of the event involving at least one vehicle to be displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving synchronization data includes receiving data indicating which of the first plurality of data points corresponds to which of the second plurality of data points.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving synchronization data includes receiving:

a first plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of data points; and

a second plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of data points.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving sensor data representing information collected by a sensor includes receiving sensor data representing information collected by:

a camera device;

a radar device;

a lidar device;

or

a sonar device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving sensor data includes receiving the sensor data at a server remote from the vehicle via a wireless communication network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving sensor data includes receiving the sensor data via a portable memory device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving sensor data includes receiving sensor data at a server remote from the vehicle via one of (i) a wireless communication network, or (ii) a portable memory device; and

receiving external data includes receiving external data at the server remote from the vehicle via one of (i) the wireless communication network, or (ii) the portable memory device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating an animated re-creation of an event involving at least one vehicle includes generating an animated re-creation of an accident involving at least one vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising at least one of:

determining fault for the accident based on the animated re-creation of the accident involving at least one vehicle;

or

determining damages resulting from the accident based on the animated re-creation of the accident involving at least one vehicle.

10. An electronic processing system comprising:

a memory;

a data collection unit configured to

receive sensor data representing information collected by a sensor (i) located on or in a vehicle and (ii) configured to sense an environment external to the vehicle, wherein receiving sensor data includes receiving a first plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times,

receive external data that (i) was received by the vehicle from a handheld mobile communication device of a pedestrian external to the vehicle via a wireless link and (ii) is indicative of objects sensed by the handheld mobile communication device, wherein receiving external data includes receiving a second plurality of data points indicative of an additional plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times,

receive synchronization data indicating a temporal relationship between the first plurality of data points and the second plurality of data points, and

store the received sensor data, the received external data, and the received synchronization data in the memory; and

a model generation unit coupled to the data collection unit and configured to generate an animated re-creation of an event involving at least one vehicle using the stored first plurality of data points, the stored second plurality of data points, and the stored synchronization data.

11. The electronic processing system of claim 10, wherein the synchronization data includes data indicating which of the first plurality of data points corresponds to which of the second plurality of data points.

12. The electronic processing system of claim 10, wherein the synchronization data includes:

a first plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of data points; and

a second plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of data points.

13. The electronic processing system of claim 10, further comprising the sensor.

14. The electronic processing system of claim 10, wherein the sensor is:

a camera device;

a radar device;

a lidar device;

or

a sonar device.

15. The electronic processing system of claim 10, wherein the event involving at least one vehicle is an accident involving at least one vehicle.

16. The electronic processing system of claim 10, wherein the model generation unit is further configured to:

cause the animated re-creation of the event involving at least one vehicle to be displayed.

17. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

store sensor data, external data, and synchronization data in a memory, wherein

the sensor data represents information collected by a sensor (i) located on or in a vehicle and (ii) configured to sense an environment external to the vehicle, the sensor data including a first plurality of data points indicative of a plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times,

the external data is data that (i) was received by the vehicle from a handheld mobile communication device of a pedestrian external to the vehicle via a wireless link and (ii) is indicative of objects sensed by the handheld mobile communication device, the external data including a second plurality of data points indicative of an additional plurality of respective states of the environment external to the vehicle at a plurality of respective times, and

the synchronization data indicates a temporal relationship between the first plurality of data points and the second plurality of data points; and

generate an animated re-creation of an event involving at least one vehicle using the stored first plurality of data points, the stored second plurality of data points, and the stored synchronization data.

18. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the synchronization data includes:

a first plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of data points; and

a second plurality of time stamps each corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of data points.

19. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the synchronization data includes data indicating which of the first plurality of data points corresponds to which of the second plurality of data points.

20. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

cause the animated re-creation of the event involving at least one vehicle to be displayed.