Platform for acquiring driver behavior data

• US 9,533,688 B1
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Thunder Power Hong Kong Limited (Thunder Power Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lai, Sheng-Fu
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US14/983,455
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• 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: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Described herein is an onboard vehicle system capable of gathering driver behavior to be provided to a service provider computer. In some embodiments, the onboard vehicle system includes one or more input sensors, such as camera devices, configured to capture image information surrounding the onboard system. Upon detecting another vehicle within the image information, the onboard system may determine a vehicle identifier and determine, based on the vehicle'"'"'s movements, that the vehicle is exhibiting anomalous behavior. Upon detecting anomalous behavior of a vehicle within its vicinity, the onboard system may transmit an indication of the anomalous behavior and a vehicle identifier to the service provider computer to be stored in a database. In some embodiments, the information provided to the service provider computer may be accessed by one or more users over a public network.

Claims

1. An onboard vehicle apparatus, comprising:

one or more camera devices configured to capture image input related to one or more vehicles;

a processor device configured to;

receive image input from the one or more camera devices;

identify, from the received image input, an identifier of a target vehicle associated with the image input, the target vehicle being a vehicle other than one in which the onboard vehicle apparatus is installed, the identifier of the target vehicle being a license plate number;

track one or more movements of the target vehicle using the one or more camera devices;

identify one or more regulations relevant to the target vehicle;

determine, by analyzing the one or more movements of the target vehicle with respect to the one or more regulations relevant to the target vehicle, that the target vehicle is engaged in an anomalous behavior, the anomalous behavior determined based on a deviation from at least one traffic regulation; and

provide, via wireless transmission, behavior information to a service provider computer, the behavior information including the identifier of the target vehicle and information related to the anomalous behavior, wherein the service provider computer is further configured to;

identify, by querying a database that relates drivers to vehicle identifiers, a driver from the vehicle identifier;

identify a record of anomalous behavior associated with the identified driver;

append the behavior information to the record of anomalous behavior, the record of anomalous behavior being accessible via a web browser over a public network;

receive an indication of the identifier of the target vehicle from a second onboard vehicle apparatus; and

provide, to the second onboard vehicle apparatus, the record of the anomalous behavior that includes the behavior information.

2. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the received image input is an image depicting at least a portion of the target vehicle.

3. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 2, wherein the vehicle identifier is identified using one or more image processing techniques.

4. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the behavior information provided to the service provider includes the received image input.

5. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor device is further configured to provide, via wireless transmission, the behavior information to a local law enforcement agency.

15. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more regulations relevant to the target vehicle are identified based on a current geographic location of the target vehicle.

16. The onboard vehicle apparatus of claim 1, wherein multiple behavior information associated with the target vehicle is provided to the service provider computer by multiple onboard vehicle apparatuses, and the multiple behavior information is made available, by the service provider computer, to a driver associated with the target vehicle.

6. A method comprising:

receiving, from a camera device installed on a first vehicle, image information including at least a portion of a target vehicle other than the first vehicle;

identifying, from the image information, a vehicle identifier associated with the target vehicle, the vehicle identifier comprising a license plate number;

tracking, within the image information, a movement of the target vehicle;

determining a set of regulation data relevant to the target vehicle, the set of regulation data determined based on a geographic location of the first vehicle;

determining, based at least in part on the movement of the target vehicle with respect to the set of regulation data, that the target vehicle is engaged in an anomalous driving behavior;

providing, via wireless transmission to a service provider computer, the vehicle identifier of the target vehicle and the anomalous driving behavior, such that the service provider computer is caused to;

identify a driver from a driver database based on the identifier of the target vehicle;

append the anomalous driving behavior to a driving record associated with the identified driver; and

provide the driving record associated with the identified driver to a second vehicle upon receiving a request related to the driver.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the image information is stored at the service provider for future reference.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a user is able to view the stored image information or the driving record via a network connection.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the target vehicle is at least two vehicles and the anomalous driving behavior is the two vehicles coming into proximity below a safe distance threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein multiple vehicle identifiers are identified as being associated with each of the at least two vehicles, the multiple vehicle identifiers being provided to the service provider.

11. A service provider computer, comprising:

a processor device; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed with the processor device, cause the system to, at least;

receive, from an onboard system installed in a first vehicle, image information related to a driving behavior exhibited by at least one target vehicle other than the first vehicle;

identify, from the captured image information, a vehicle identifier of the at least one target vehicle, the vehicle identifier including a vehicle license plate number;

identify, based on a location of the first vehicle, at least one regulation relevant to the at least one target vehicle;

determine, based on the at least one regulation and the image information, that the driving behavior is an anomalous driving behavior;

determine, by querying a data store including relationships between vehicle identifiers and vehicle drivers, a vehicle driver associated with the at least one target vehicle;

store an indication of the driving behavior in a database with respect to a driving record associated with the vehicle driver, such that the indication of the driving behavior may be accessed by a second onboard system.

12. The service provider computer of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the system, to at least:

receive, from a client device via a network connection, a request to provide the stored indication of the driving behavior; and

provide, to the client device, the stored indication of the driving behavior.

13. The service provider computer of claim 11, wherein the request is received via a public network.

14. The service provider computer of claim 11, wherein the driving behavior is one of swerving, driving erratically, driving too fast, driving too slow, or driving outside of the bounds of a road.