Real-time driver observation and progress monitoring

• US 9,586,591 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2015
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Fields, Brian Mark, Roberson, Steve, Harish, Abhishek, Lim, Hyunji, Waughtel, Matthew James, Plummer, Bryan Allen, Brown, Parker Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Yuen
• Application Number:
  US14/703,482
• Time in Patent Office: 673 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/11 Instrument graphical user interfaces or menu aspects
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/143 Touch sensitive instrument input devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/16 Type of output information
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• 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: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• 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 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: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/10 Automotive applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092

Abstract

In an embodiment, movement-data is gathered with one or more sensors (e.g., accelerometers, GPS receivers, etc.) during a driver'"'"'s driving session. A score may be calculated for the driving session, and the driver'"'"'s progress is evaluated by a driver-evaluation system. A driving session report or graphical user-interface (GUI) is generated with a computer processor and displayed at a display device. The displayed report or GUI includes a graphic representing the driver'"'"'s progress relative to historical data.

Claims

1. A driver evaluation system for evaluating progress of a driver'"'"'s skill level, the driver evaluation system comprising:

a display device;

a driving-monitor system communicatively connected to the display device, the driving-monitor system including non-transitory computer readable media storing;

(i) a first driving skill score, and (ii) computer readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the driving-monitor system, cause the driving-monitor system to;

activate a sensor disposed in the vehicle to detect movement, wherein the sensor generates movement-data representing the detected movement and wherein the sensor is selected from a group consisting of;

a GPS unit or accelerometer to track movement of a vehicle; and

a camera to track a pose or motion of a driver of the vehicle;

generate a second driving skill score based on a comparison between;

(i) an analysis of the movement-data and (ii) reference-data representing a threshold range of movement;

generate a binary or ternary progress score for a driving session representing a state of progress of a driver'"'"'s skill based on a comparison between;

(i) the first driving skill score, and (ii) the second driving skill score; and

transmit data representing a first graphic indication of the first driving skill score, a second graphic indication of the second driving skill score, and a third graphic indication of the binary or ternary progress score, the third graphic indication selected based on the binary or ternary progress score to indicate a trend from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score as reflected by the binary or ternary progress score;

wherein when the display device receives the data representing the first, second, and third graphic indications, the display device presents the first graphic indication, the second graphic indication, and the third graphic indication to visually indicate the trend, represented by the progress score, from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score.

2. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, further comprising a first housing for the display device and a second housing for the driving-monitor system.

3. The driver evaluation system of claim 2, wherein the display device and the driving-monitor system are communicatively connected via a wireless link.

4. The driver evaluation system of claim 2, wherein:

the first housing is installed in a dash of the vehicle, the first housing configured to house the display device so that a visual output of the display device is observable from within a cabin of the vehicle;

wherein the display device is (i) communicatively connected to a multimedia system installed in the vehicle and (ii) configured to receive a display input signal from the multimedia system; and

wherein the multimedia system receives, from the driving-monitor system, the data representing the third graphic indication and transmits, to the display device, the data representing the third graphic indication.

5. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the display device and the driving-monitor system share a housing, the display device disposed within or on the housing so that a visual output of the display device is observable from outside of the housing.

6. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the sensor shares a housing with the driving-monitor system, and wherein the sensor is at least one of:

an accelerometer or a GPS receiver.

7. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is disposed within a mobile electronic device, the mobile electronic device communicatively connected to the driving-monitor system.

8. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is communicatively connected to an on-board computer for the vehicle;

wherein the on-board computer is communicatively connected to the driving-monitor system;

wherein the on-board computer is configured to transmit the movement-data, to be received by the driving-monitor system, when the sensor detects movement.

9. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is the camera, wherein the movement-data represents a tracked pose or motion of the driver, wherein the second driving skill score is generated based, at least in part, on an analysis of the tracked pose or motion of the driver.

10. The driver evaluation system of claim 9, wherein tracking the pose or motion of the driver comprises tracking an eye gaze of the driver, and wherein the analysis of the tracked pose or motion of the driver includes:

an analysis of the eye gaze to determine whether the driver is exhibiting safe scanning behavior.

11. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the third graphic indication is an upward arrow when the binary or ternary progress score indicates an improvement and is a downward arrow when the binary or ternary progress score indicates a regression.

12. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the third graphic indication is a first color when the binary or ternary progress score indicates an improvement and is a second color when the binary or ternary progress score indicates a regression.

13. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the third graphic indication is a bar including a first marker and a second marker;

wherein the first marker is the first graphic indication of the first driving skill score and the second marker is the second graphic indication of the second driving skill score;

wherein a distance between the first marker and the second marker represents the trend from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score.

14. The driver evaluation system of claim 1, wherein the second graphic indication includes an alphanumeric representation of the second driving skill score and wherein the first graphic indication includes an alphanumeric representation of the first driving skill score.

15. A computer-implemented method for evaluating progress of a driver'"'"'s skill level, the method comprising:

activating a sensor disposed in a vehicle to detect movement, wherein the sensor is selected from a group consisting of;

a GPS unit or accelerometer to track movement of the vehicle; and

a camera to track a pose or motion of a driver of the vehicle;

executing, by one or more processors of the driving-monitor system, computer-readable instructions that cause the driving-monitor system to perform the following;

identifying a first driving skill score stored to memory;

generating a second driving skill score based on a comparison between;

(i) an analysis of the movement-data and (ii) reference-data representing a threshold range of movement;

generating a binary or ternary progress score for a driving session representing a state of progress of a driver'"'"'s skill based on a comparison between;

(i) the first driving skill score, and (ii) the second driving skill score; and

transmitting data representing a first graphic corresponding to the first driving skill score, a second graphic corresponding to the second driving skill score, and a third graphic corresponding to the binary or ternary progress score, the third graphic selected based on the binary or ternary progress score, to indicate a trend from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score as reflected by the binary or ternary progress score;

receiving, at a display device, the data representing the first, second, and third graphics; and

presenting, at the display device, the first graphic, the second graphic, and the third graphic to visually indicate the trend, represented by the progress score, from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein executing, by one or more processors of the driving-monitor system, the computer-readable instructions further comprises:

generating, at an input-interface of the driving-monitor system, input-data representing user-input received at the input-interface;

identifying, from the input-data, a first identity associated with the driver driving the vehicle during a driving session; and

retrieving, based on the first identity, the first driving skill score from a plurality of driving skill scores stored to memory;

wherein each of the plurality of driving skill scores is uniquely associated with one of a plurality of identities, the first driving skill score uniquely associated with the first identity.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first driving skill score was calculated for a previous driving session during which the driver was driving the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first driving skill score represents a composite score for previous driving sessions during which the driver was driving the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the progress score is a binary progress score and wherein the third graphic is a binary indicator indicating either an improvement from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score or a regression from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the binary or ternary progress score is percentage indicating a percent improvement from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score, or a percent regression from the first driving skill score to the second driving skill score.