System and method for preventing fraud in the capture of trip telemetry data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12579581-B2
Application number	US-202318236740-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2023
Priority date	Oct 6, 2017
Publication date	Mar 17, 2026
Grant date	Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

Technology for identifying potentially fraudulent user behavior related to the capture and transmission of vehicle trip telemetry data is provided. Automatic and periodic attempts may be made to wake up (e.g., launch, or change to an active mode) an application installed on a mobile device configured to transmit mobile device data, including captured sensor data, to a remote computer device. Based on the sensor data, the remote computer device may determine a number, frequency, and/or duration of vehicle trips associated with the user of the mobile device. When one or more types of expected mobile device data are not received by the remote computer device after a particular attempt to wake the application, data indicating a failure to receive expected mobile device data may be recorded in a log. Based on the log, an alert indicating potentially fraudulent behavior associated with the user of the mobile device may be generated.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a heartbeat module of a mobile device via a network from a remote computing device, a heartbeat signal; in response to receiving the heartbeat signal by the heartbeat module of the mobile device,
activating, by a processor of the mobile device, an application on the mobile device, wherein the application is activated from a dormant mode to an active or background mode;
collecting, by the application of the mobile device, mobile device data including vehicle trip telemetry data associated with one or more vehicle operations; and
transmitting, by the application via the network to the remote computing device, the mobile device data for analysis to identify one or more time periods in which a user of the mobile device may be operating a vehicle;
receiving, by the application via the network from the remote computing device, an indication that one or more types of expected mobile device data of the vehicle trip telemetry data were not received by the remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device stores, in a memory of the remote computing device, absence data indicating an absence of the one or more types of expected mobile device data with a timestamp associated with the heartbeat signal; and receiving, by the application via the network from the remote computing device, an alert indicating potentially fraudulent behavior associated with the user of the mobile device, wherein the remote computing device generates the alert based on analyzing first data in the memory to identify a frequency of absences of the one or more types of expected mobile device data, wherein the frequency exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein the first data comprises the absence data.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the remote computing device generates the alert further based on determining that the mobile device is configured to prevent transmission of the at least one of the one or more types of expected mobile device data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the alert includes the remote computing device receiving data indicating that a first type of expected mobile device data was received by the remote computing device and a second type of expected mobile device data was not received by the remote computing device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the heartbeat signal comprises:
receiving, by the heartbeat module via the network from the remote computing device, a first heartbeat signal at a first time; receiving, by the heartbeat module via the network from the remote computing device, a second heartbeat signal at a second time, the second time occurring after the first time and separated from the first time by a predetermined time interval; and receiving, by the heartbeat module via the network from the remote computing device, a third heartbeat signal at a third time, the third time occurring after the second time and separated from the second time by the predetermined time interval.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device data includes data indicative of a lack of permission to access one or more sensors of the mobile device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the application via the network from the remote computing device, data identifying one or more time periods in which the user of the mobile device is operating a vehicle, wherein the remote computing device identifies the one or more time periods based on the mobile device data.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor of the mobile device, whether the application is running; and based on the determining: (i) launching, by the processor of the mobile device, the application if the application is determined to not be running, or (ii) waking up, by the processor of the mobile device, the application if the application is running in the dormant mode.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the heartbeat signal is received based on a location indication that the mobile device has changed to a second location, wherein a distance between the second location and a previous location of the mobile device is greater than a threshold distance, and wherein the previous location is a location of the mobile device when a previous heartbeat signal was received.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the location indication is based on data detected by a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor of the mobile device.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the heartbeat module of the mobile device is part of the application of the mobile device.

11 . A computing system comprising a remote computing device, including:
one or more processors; and one or more memories storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the remote computing device to perform operations comprising:
sending, via a network, a heartbeat signal to a heartbeat module of a mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured to activate, by a processor of the mobile device, an application on the mobile device from a dormant mode to an active or background mode upon receipt of the heartbeat signal by the heartbeat module of the mobile device;
receiving, via the network from the application of the mobile device, mobile device data, the mobile device data including vehicle trip telemetry data associated with one or more vehicle operations;
determining that one or more types of expected mobile device data, including the vehicle trip telemetry data, were not received in response to the heartbeat signal;
storing, in a memory of the remote computing device, absence data indicating an absence of the one or more types of expected mobile device data with a timestamp associated with the heartbeat signal;
generating an alert indicating potentially fraudulent behavior associated with a user of the mobile device based on analyzing first data in the memory to identify a frequency of absences of the one or more types of expected mobile device data, wherein the frequency exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein the first data comprises the absence data; and
transmitting, via the network to the application of the mobile device, the alert indicating potentially fraudulent behavior.

12 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein generating the alert further comprises determining that the mobile device is configured to prevent transmission of the one or more types of expected mobile device data.

13 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein determining that the one or more types of expected mobile device data were not received includes determining that a first type of expected mobile device data was received and a second type of expected mobile device data was not received.

14 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein sending the heartbeat signal comprises:
sending a first heartbeat signal at a first time; sending a second heartbeat signal at a second time, the second time occurring after the first time, the first time and the second time being separated from each other by a predetermined time interval; and sending a third heartbeat signal at a third time, the third time occurring after the second time, the second time and the third time being separated from each other by the predetermined time interval.

15 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile device data includes data indicating a lack of permission to access one or more sensors of the mobile device.

16 . The computing system of claim 11 , where

Assignees

• Quanata Llc

Inventors

• Smith Bennett
• Sanchez Kenneth J

Classifications

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q30/0185

  Product, service or business identity fraud · CPC title

• H04W52/0235

  where the received signal is a power saving command · CPC title

• G06Q40/08 Primary

  Insurance · CPC title