Methods using a mobile device to provide data for insurance premiums to a remote computer

• US 8,930,231 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2013
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Bowne, Benjamin F., Baker, Nicholas R., Marzinzik, Duane Lee, Riley, Matthew Eric Sr., Christopulos, Nick U., Fields, Brian Mark, Wilson, J Lynn, Wilkerson, Bryan T., Thurber, David W., Peng, Jufeng James
• Primary Examiner(s): HAMILTON, SARA CHANDLER
• Application Number:
  US13/763,050
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable
• 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: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A method for providing vehicle operation data to a remote computer or server for calculation of a vehicle insurance premium for a period of time based at least in part on collected vehicle operation data, wherein the method includes steps of: collecting vehicle operation data via a mobile device while the mobile device is associated with an operating vehicle, wherein the vehicle operation data has insurance risk predictive power; and transmitting the collected vehicle operation data from the mobile device to a remote computer. The remote computer or server receives collected vehicle operation data, stores the collected vehicle operation data in a database, a determines a vehicle insurance premium via a rating engine based at least in part on collected vehicle operation data.

Claims

1. A method for collecting, transmitting, and displaying vehicle-related information by a mobile device, the method comprising:

collecting, by the mobile device, vehicle operation data while a vehicle is in operation, the collecting step comprising automatically collecting the vehicle operation data via one or more sensors integrated in the mobile device during a data collection session, the collecting step including;

beginning to collect the vehicle operation data in response to a triggering event selected from the group consisting of vehicle engine start, threshold vehicle engine RPM, and vehicle mobility; and

stopping collection of the vehicle operation data in response to a triggering event selected from the group consisting of vehicle engine stop, threshold vehicle engine RPM, and vehicle immobility;

scoring, by the mobile device, via execution of an application stored locally in the mobile device, the driving behavior of a driver by;

comparing the vehicle operation data collected by the one or more integrated sensors with one or more predefined threshold values;

identifying one or more notable driving events based on the comparison of the collected vehicle operation data with the one or more predefined threshold values;

calculating one or more driving scores for the driver based at least on the collected vehicle operation data and the one or more identified notable driving events;

after calculating the one or more driving scores by the mobile device executing the locally stored application, transmitting, by the mobile device, the calculated one or more driving scores to a remote processing computer for insurance premium analysis;

receiving, by the mobile device from the remote processing computer, data comprising an insurance premium for the driver; and

displaying, by the mobile device, the insurance premium for the driver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said mobile device is a device selected from smartphone, cell phone, mobile telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and tablet-style computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the mobile device collecting vehicle operation data comprises sensing a characteristic of the mobile computing device selected from distance traveled, location, time, and g-force dynamics via the one or more sensors associated with the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the mobile device collecting vehicle operation data comprises the mobile device collecting vehicle operation data periodically during vehicle operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the mobile device transmitting the calculated one or more metrics related to driving behavior of the driver to the remote processing computer comprises the mobile device transmitting said one or more metrics to the remote processing computer periodically.

6. A mobile device for collecting, transmitting, and displaying vehicle-related information, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed by the processor of the mobile device, cause the processor to perform the following steps;

collect vehicle operation data from one or more sensors integrated in the mobile device while a vehicle is in operation, the collecting step including;

beginning to collect the vehicle operation data in response to a triggering event selected from the group consisting of vehicle engine start, the vehicle engine RPM, and vehicle mobility; and

stopping collection of the vehicle operation data in response to a triggering event selected from the group consisting of vehicle engine stop, threshold vehicle engine RPM, and vehicle immobility;

score the driving behavior of a driver by;

comparing the vehicle operation data collected by the one or more integrated sensors with one or more predefined threshold values;

identifying one or more notable driving events based on the comparison of the collected vehicle operation data with the one or more predefined threshold values; and

calculating one or more scores related to driving behavior of the driver based at least on the collected vehicle operation data and the one or more identified notable driving events;

after calculating the one or more driving scores by the mobile device executing the locally stored application, transmit the calculated one or more scores related to driving behavior of the driver to a remote processing computer for insurance premium analysis;

receive from the remote processing computer data comprising an insurance premium for the driver; and

display on a display device of the mobile device the insurance premium for the driver.