“Automated Accident Detection, Fault Attribution, And Claims Processing” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20230260049): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 SEP 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US); Gillespie, James (Belfast, GB); Hughes, Stephen (Belfast, GB); Koza, Daniel (Hinsdale, IL, US); Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL, US); Lowry, Francis (Clogher, GB), filed on April 25, 2023, was made available online on August 17, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Processing an insurance claim following a vehicle accident can be a complex and time-consuming process. Individuals involved in the accident must exchange insurance information and file insurance claims. Insurance companies for the individuals involved in the accident must determine the amount of damage caused to the vehicles, pay out on insurance claims, and recover damages from the liable party.

“Current claims processing approaches may involve interaction with multiple insurance agents, claims adjusters, subrogation representatives, and the like. Accordingly, current approaches to claims processing may include the processing of paperwork, telephone calls, and face-to-face meetings. As a result, a significant amount of time can elapse between the time the claim is filed and final settlement of the claim.

“Therefore, a need exists for improved approaches to processing insurance claims in response to a vehicle accident.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below.

“A communication module may receive communications from a vehicle or sensors attached to a vehicle. A collision detection module may determine that a collision has occurred at a vehicle based on the one or more of the communications received from a vehicle or sensors attached to a vehicle. A participant identification module may identify one or more participants involved in the collision based on one or more communications received from the vehicle or sensors attached to the vehicle. A fault determination module may identify one of the participants as the at-fault participant based on a comparison of a fault determination ruleset to vehicle telematics data included in one or more of the communications received from the vehicle or sensors attached to the vehicle. A repair cost estimation module may calculate an estimated repair cost based on vehicle diagnostic data included in one or more of the communications received from the vehicle or sensors attached to the vehicle. A claims processing module may determine whether to file an insurance claim associated with one of the participants based on the estimated repair cost.

“Aspects of the disclosure may be provided in non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a processor of a computing device cause the processor to perform one or more of the processes described in this disclosure.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for automatically responding to a collision event comprising: in response to a collision involving a first vehicle having occurred: identifying, automatically by a computing device, a first participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on first vehicle telematics data, and determining, automatically by the computing device, whether a second vehicle was involved in the collision based on the first vehicle telematics data; and in response to the second vehicle being involved in the collision: identifying, automatically by the computing device, a second participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on the first vehicle telematics data, analyzing, automatically by the computing device, the first vehicle telematics data and second vehicle telematics data according to at least one of one or more fault determination rules; selecting, automatically by the computing device, one of the first or second participants as an at-fault participant based, at least in part, on the at least one of the one or more fault determination rules; and transmitting a message comprising an identification of the at-fault participant.

“2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more first communications are received from communication equipment installed at the first vehicle.

“3. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more first communications are received from a communication equipment attached to a diagnostics port of the first vehicle.

“4. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the first communications received identifies a current geographic location of the first vehicle and further comprising: identifying one or more repair service centers that are located within a predetermined radius of the current geographic location; and transmitting, to a communication device associated with an operator of the first vehicle, a communication that includes information that identifies the one or more repair service centers.

“5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: receiving, from the communication device, a communication that identifies one of the repair service centers selected by the operator.

“6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first vehicle telematics data received includes vehicle diagnostic data associated with the first vehicle and further comprising: transmitting the vehicle diagnostic data to a communication device associated with the identified one repair service center selected by the operator.

“7. The method of claim 4 further comprising: indicating, in the communication transmitted to the communication device, that one or more of the repair service centers are preferred repair service centers.

“8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: providing a reward to the operator in response to receipt of a communication from the communication device that identifies one of the preferred repair service centers selected by the operator.

“9. The method of claim 8 wherein the reward is a discount associated with an insurance policy purchased by the operator.

“10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: transmitting a request to the first vehicle for additional information regarding the collision; and receiving, at the computing device from the first vehicle, one or more additional communications that include the additional information regarding the collision.

“11. A system for automatically responding to a collision event comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that are executed by at least one of the processors and cause the system to in response to a collision involving a first vehicle having occurred: automatically identify a first participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on first vehicle telematics data, and automatically determine whether a second vehicle was involved in the collision based on the first vehicle telematics data; and in response to the second vehicle being involved in the collision: request from the second vehicle, one or more second communications comprising second vehicle telematics data generated by the second vehicle during operation of the first vehicle, wherein the second vehicle telematics data is generated, in part, by the second vehicle, automatically identify a second participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on the first vehicle telematics data, automatically analyze the first and second vehicle telematics data according to at least one of one or more fault determination rules, automatically select one of the first or second participants as an at-fault participant based, at least in part, on one or more of the fault determination rules and the first and second vehicle telematics data received, and transmit, to one of the first or second participants, a message comprising an identification of the at-fault participant.

“12. The system of claim 11 wherein the one or more first communications are received from a communications module installed at the first vehicle.

“13. The system of claim 11 wherein the one or more first communications are received from a communications module attached to a diagnostics port of the first vehicle.

“14. The system of claim 11 wherein: one of the first communications received identifies a current geographic location of the first vehicle; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to identify one or more repair service centers that are located within a predetermined radius of the current geographic location, and transmit, to a communication device associated with an operator of the first vehicle, a communication that includes information that identifies the one or more repair service centers.

“15. The system of claim 14 wherein: the instructions are executed by at least one of the processors and further cause the system to receive, from the communication device, a communication that identifies one of the repair service centers selected by the operator.

“16. The system of claim 15 wherein: the first vehicle telematics data received includes vehicle diagnostic data associated with the first vehicle; and the instructions are executed by at least one of the processors and further cause the system to transmit the vehicle diagnostic data to a communication device associated with the repair service center selected by the operator.

“17. The system of claim 14 wherein: the instructions are executed by at least one of the processors and further cause the system to indicate that one or more of the repair services centers are preferred repair service centers.

“18. The system of claim 17 wherein a reward is provided to the operator in response to receipt at the system of a communication from the communication device that identifies one of the preferred repair service centers selected by the operator, and the reward is a discount associated with an insurance policy purchased by the operator.

“19. The system of claim 11 wherein: the instructions are executed by at least one of the processors and further cause the system to: transmit a request to the first vehicle for additional information regarding the collision, and receive, at the system from the first vehicle, one or more additional communications that include the additional information regarding the collision.

“20. A system for automatically responding to a collision event comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that are executed by at least one of the processors and cause the system to in response to a collision involving a first vehicle having occurred: automatically identify a first participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on first vehicle telematics data, and automatically determine whether a second vehicle was involved in the collision based on the first vehicle telematics data; and in response to the second vehicle being involved in the collision: automatically identify a second participant involved in the collision based, at least in part, on the first vehicle telematics data, automatically analyze the first vehicle telematics data and second vehicle telematics data according to at least one of one or more fault determination rules, automatically select one of the first or second participants as an at-fault participant based, at least in part, on one or more of the fault determination rules and the first and second vehicle telematics data received, transmit, to one of the first or second participants via a mobile client device, a message comprising an identification of the at-fault participant, obtain via the mobile client device information transmitted from the one of the first or second participants receiving the message.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Brandmaier, Jennifer A.; Gillespie, James; Hughes, Stephen; Koza, Daniel; Loo, William; Lowry, Francis. Automated Accident Detection, Fault Attribution, And Claims Processing. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230260049, filed April 25, 2023 and posted August 17, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230260049)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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