Processing insured items holistically with mobile damage assessment and claims processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12079877-B2
Application number	US-202217862159-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2022
Priority date	Aug 16, 2012
Publication date	Sep 3, 2024
Grant date	Sep 3, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods provide for an automated system for analyzing damage and processing claims associated with an insured item, such as a vehicle. An enhanced claims processing server may analyze damage associated with the insured item using photos/video transmitted to the server from a user device (e.g., a mobile device). The mobile device may receive feedback from the server regarding the acceptability of submitted photos/video, and if the server determines that any of the submitted photos/video is unacceptable, the mobile device may capture additional photos/video until all of the data are deemed acceptable. To aid in damage analysis, the server may also interface with various internal and external databases storing reference images of undamaged items and cost estimate information for repairing previously analyzed damages to similar items. Further still, the server may generate a payment for compensating a claimant for repair of the insured item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An enhanced claims processing server structured to perform server operations comprising:
receive, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images of a vehicle;
compare, via object recognition logic of the enhanced claims processing server and using one or more edge detection techniques, the first plurality of images of the vehicle to one or more reference images associated with the vehicle, to identify one or more damaged areas of the vehicle and for each of the one or more damaged areas, one or more damaged parts within the respective damaged areas;
generate, based at least in part on a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a first damaged area and a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a second damaged area a total damage estimate;
determine an interaction term for the first damaged area and the second damaged area, the interaction term representing a modified cost associated with collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area, and wherein the modified cost is increased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area is more complex or decreased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area includes overlapping repair procedures based on a predetermined damage template that correlates at least one of a damage type or a damage location for with the modified cost;
generate an effective total damage estimate based on the total damage estimate and the interaction term;
generate a user interface comprising a settlement generated based on the effective total damage estimate, wherein the settlement comprises at least a cash compensation based on the effective total damage estimate; and
send, to the mobile device, the user interface, wherein the user interface is displayable by a display of the mobile device.

2. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 1 , wherein the interaction term is generated based on information stored in a database.

3. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
communicating, by the enhanced claims processing server and to the mobile device, one or more feedback instructions, wherein the feedback instructions are selected based on an optical character recognition performed on the first plurality of images by the enhanced claims processing server.

4. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 1 , wherein the server operations further comprise:
predict damage to an interior of the vehicle based on damage to an exterior of the vehicle.

5. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 1 , wherein the server operations further comprise:
send, to the mobile device, a notification associated with a repairing of the vehicle.

6. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 1 , wherein the server operations further comprise:
receive, from the mobile device, a notification indicating whether the settlement is acceptable.

7. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 6 , wherein the server operations further comprise:
when the settlement is acceptable, send funds to an account of a user of the mobile device.

8. The enhanced claims processing server of claim 6 , wherein the server operations further comprise:
when the settlement is not acceptable, send the settlement to a claims adjuster.

9. A method comprising:
receiving, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images of a vehicle;
compare, via object recognition logic of a server and using one or more edge detection techniques, the first plurality of images of the vehicle to one or more reference images associated with the vehicle, to identify one or more damaged areas of the vehicle and for each of the one or more damaged areas, one or more damaged parts within the respective damaged areas;
generating, based at least in part on a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a first damaged area and a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a second damaged area a total damage estimate;
determining an interaction term for the first damaged area and the second damaged area, the interaction term representing a modified cost associated with collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area, and wherein the modified cost is increased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area is more complex or decreased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area includes overlapping repair procedures based on a predetermined damage template that correlates at least one of a damage type or a damage location with the modified cost;
generating an effective total damage estimate based on the total damage estimate and the interaction term;
generating a user interface comprising a settlement generated based on the effective total damage estimate; and
sending, to the mobile device, the user interface, wherein the user interface is displayable by a display of the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the interaction term is generated based on information stored in a database.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
communicating, to the mobile device, one or more feedback instructions, wherein the feedback instructions are selected based on an optical character recognition performed on the first plurality of images.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
predicting damage to an interior of the vehicle based on damage to an exterior of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending, to the mobile device, a notification associated with a repairing of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, from the mobile device, a notification indicating whether the settlement is acceptable.

15. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images of a vehicle;
compare, via object recognition logic and using one or more edge detection techniques, the first plurality of images of the vehicle to one or more reference images associated with the vehicle, to identify one or more damaged areas of the vehicle and for each of the one or more damaged areas, one or more damaged parts within the respective damaged areas;
generate, based at least in part on a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a first damaged area and a cost associated with repair of the one or more damaged parts in a second damaged area a total damage estimate;
determine an interaction term for the first damaged area and the second damaged area, the interaction term representing a modified cost associated with collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area, and wherein the modified cost is increased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area is more complex or decreased when collectively repairing the first damaged area and the second damaged area includes overlapping repair procedures based on a predetermined damage template that correlates at least one of a damage type or a damage location with the modified cost;
generate an effective total damage estimate based the total damage estimate and the interaction term;
determine a settlement based on the effective total damage estimate;
generate a user interface comprising the settlement, wherein the settlement comprises at least a cash compensation based on the effective total damage

Assignees

• Allstate Insurance Co

Inventors

• Brandmaier Jennifer A
• Faga Mark E
• Johnson Robert H
• Koza Daniel
• Loo William
• Marlow Clint J
• Stricker Kurt M

Classifications

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• G06Q40/08 Primary

  Insurance · CPC title