Granted Patent B2

US 12,579,581 · App. 18/236,740 · Granted Mar 17, 2026

Inventors: Bennett Smith (Inver Grove Heights, MN); Kenneth J. Sanchez (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: QUANATA, LLC

G06Q40/08G06Q30/0185G06Q30/0207H04W52/0235

Abstract

Claims (53)

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 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, further cause the remote computing device to identify one or more time periods in which the user of the mobile device is operating a vehicle based on the received mobile device data.

17 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile device is further configured to, based on a determination by the processor of the mobile device of whether the application is running: (i) launch the application if the application is determined to not be running, or (ii) transition the application from the dormant mode to the active or background mode if the application is determined to be running in the dormant mode.

18 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, further cause the remote computing device to send the heartbeat signal 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 sent.

19 . The computing system of claim 18 , wherein the location indication of the mobile device is based on data detected by a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor of the mobile device.

20 . The computing system of claim 18 , wherein the heartbeat module of the mobile device is part of the application of the mobile device.

21 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, wherein the instructions, upon execution by a processor of a mobile device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a heartbeat module of the 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 the 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.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (47)