Driver performance analysis and consequence

• US 9,082,308 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2013
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Geoforce Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cartasite Incorporated (Geoforce Incorporated)
• Inventors: Armitage, David L., Kushnir, Gregory Froim, Mason, Mark Alvin
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US14/100,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20140099607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 340/439, 340/425.5, 340/461, 340/576, 701/29, 701/35
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/161 Explanation of functions, e.g. instructions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/168 Target or limit values
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

Methods, systems, and software are disclosed for operating a driver analysis system, including receiving vehicle operation data corresponding to operation of vehicles by drivers, identifying a peer group associated with a target driver, processing at least a portion of the vehicle operation data to determine driving performance of the target driver relative to driving performance of the peer group, generating a driving report which identifies the driving performance of the target driver, and transferring the driving report to a target device for viewing by the target driver and a member of the justice system.

Claims

1. A method of operating a driver analysis system, the method comprising:

receiving vehicle operation data corresponding to operation of a plurality of vehicles operated by a plurality of drivers;

generating a driving report which identifies the driving performance of the target driver; and

transferring the driving report to a target device for viewing by one or more parties,

wherein the one or more parties comprises an entity related to the justice system,

wherein a penalty comprising a legal driving infraction by the driver is modified based at least in part on the driving report.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying from the plurality of drivers a peer group associated with a target driver; and

processing at least a portion of the vehicle operation data to determine driving performance of the target driver relative to driving performance of the peer group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the penalty is reduced.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the penalty comprises points on a driver record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the penalty is increased.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parties further comprises the target driver.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle operation data is received at a communication interface in the driver analysis system from a plurality of monitoring systems located generally adjacent the plurality of vehicles, and further comprising powering each of the plurality of monitoring systems from an On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port on each of the plurality of vehicles and gathering at least a portion of the vehicle operation data from a source other than from the vehicle via the OBD port.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the source other than the OBD port comprises an accelerometer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving report comprises a safety score generally representing a level of safety of the driving performance of the target driver.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a plurality of graphical representations of the driving performance of the target driver relative to the driving performance of the peer group.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a first graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations comprises hard braking events.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein a second graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations comprises rapid acceleration events.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a third graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations comprises excessive speed events.

14. A driver analysis system comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive vehicle operation data corresponding to operation of a one or more of vehicles operated by one or more drivers;

a processing system configured to identify from the plurality of drivers a peer group associated with a target driver, process at least a portion of the vehicle operation data to determine driving performance of the target driver relative to driving performance of the peer group, and generate a driving score which generally identifies the driving performance of the target driver;

the communication interface further configured to transfer the driving score to an entity comprising an entity of the justice system,

wherein the processing system is further configured to determine a modification of a penalty comprising a legal driving infraction by the driver, based at least in part on the driving score.

15. The driver analysis system of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of monitoring systems located generally adjacent the plurality of vehicles wherein the communication interface is capable of receiving the vehicle operation data from the plurality of monitoring systems.

16. The driver analysis system of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of monitoring systems is powered from an On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port on each of the plurality of vehicles and gathers at least a portion of the vehicle operation data from a source other than the OBD port.

17. The driver analysis system of claim 16, wherein the source other than the OBD port comprises at least one of an accelerometer, memory, blue-tooth communication capabilities, wireless communication capabilities, and a real-time operating system.

18. A driver analysis network comprising:

a plurality of monitoring systems located on board a plurality of vehicles operated by a plurality of drivers wherein the plurality of monitoring systems is configured to transmit vehicle operation data corresponding to operation of the plurality of vehicles;

a server configured to receive the vehicle operation data at a communication interface, identify from the plurality of drivers a peer group associated with a target driver, process at least a portion of the vehicle operation data to determine driving performance of the target driver relative to driving performance of the peer group, generate a driving report which identifies the driving performance of the target driver, and transmit the driving report at the communication interface;

a target device configured to receive the driving report and display the driving report for viewing by the target driver and a member of the justice system, wherein a penalty comprising a legal driving infraction by the driver is modified based at least in part on the driving report.