Patent Application Titled “Methods Of Facilitating Emergency Assistance” Published Online (USPTO 20210043061)

2021 FEB 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors Potter, Thomas Michael (Normal, IL); Clauss, Mark E. (Bloomington, IL); Carter, Dustin Ryan (Normal, IL); Graff, Douglas Albert (Mountain View, MO); Baumann, Megan Michal (Bloomington, IL); Bonnom, Atlanta (Bloomington, IL); Cope, Craig (Bloomington, IL); Lawyer, Jennifer Luella (Bloomington, IL); Simpson, Curtis (Bloomington, IL); Baumann, Nathan W. (Bloomington, IL), filed on October 22, 2020, was made available online on February 11, 2021.

The assignee for this patent application is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “At times, insurance providers are able to provide helpful information to customers who have recently been in an accident. When a customer calls a claims associate to report an accident and initiate a claim, for example, the associate may be able to offer suggestions with respect to the next steps that the customer should take. Often, however, customers do not call their insurance providers promptly after an accident, and/or it takes a significant amount of time for the associate to locate and relay useful information. Moreover, in an emergency situation (e.g., a serious car accident), a claim associate may be very limited in his or her ability to provide assistance. In such a situation, the customer may be unable to contact a claim associate and, more importantly, may be unable to contact emergency services/responders.

“The present embodiments may overcome these and/or other deficiencies.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present embodiments disclose systems and methods that may relate to the intersection of telematics and insurance. In some embodiments, for example, telematics and/or other data may be collected and used to determine a likely severity of a vehicle accident. The data may be gathered from one or more sources, such as mobile devices (e.g., smart phones, smart glasses, smart watches, smart wearable devices, smart contact lenses, and/or other devices capable of wireless communication); smart vehicles; smart vehicle or smart home mounted sensors; third party sensors or sources of data (e.g., other vehicles, public transportation systems, government entities, and/or the Internet); and/or other sources of information. Based upon the likely severity, a communication related to emergency assistance or an emergency assistance request may be generated. The communication may be sent to a driver involved in the accident (e.g., for approval, rejection or modification prior to being sent to an emergency service provider), and/or sent directly to an emergency service provider, for example.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of loss mitigation may include (1) collecting, by one or more remote servers associated with an insurance provider, accident data associated with a vehicle accident involving a driver. The accident data may include vehicle telematics data, and/or the driver may be associated with an insurance policy issued by the insurance provider. The method may also include (2) analyzing, by the one or more remote servers, the accident data; (3) determining, by the one or more remote servers and based upon the analysis of the accident data, a likely severity of the vehicle accident; (4) generating, by the one or more remote servers and based upon the determined likely severity of the vehicle accident, a communication related to emergency assistance or an emergency assistance recommendation; (5) transmitting, via wireless communication, the communication related to the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation from the one or more remote servers to a mobile device associated with the driver; (6) receiving, at the one or more remote servers, a wireless communication from the driver indicating approval or modification of the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation; and/or (7) notifying, via a communication sent from the one or more remote servers, a third party of requested emergency assistance in accordance with the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation as approved or modified by the driver. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of loss mitigation may include (1) collecting, by one or more remote servers associated with an insurance provider, accident data associated with a vehicle accident involving a driver. The accident data may include vehicle telematics data, and/or the driver may be associated with an insurance policy issued by the insurance provider. The method may also include (2) analyzing, by the one or more remote servers, the accident data; (3) determining, by the one or more remote servers and based upon the analysis of the accident data, a likely severity of the vehicle accident; (4) generating, by the one or more remote servers and based upon the determined likely severity of the vehicle accident, a communication related to emergency assistance or an emergency assistance recommendation; and/or (5) transmitting the communication related to the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation from the one or more remote servers to a third party to facilitate a prompt and appropriate emergency responder response to the vehicle accident. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for facilitating loss mitigation may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The one or more memories may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to (1) collect accident data associated with a vehicle accident involving a driver. The accident data may include vehicle telematics data, and/or the driver may be associated with an insurance policy issued by the insurance provider. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to (2) analyze the accident data; (3) determine, based upon the analysis of the accident data, a likely severity of the vehicle accident; (4) generate, based upon the determined likely severity of the vehicle accident, a communication related to emergency assistance or an emergency assistance recommendation; (5) cause the communication related to the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation to be transmitted, via wireless communication, to a mobile device associated with the driver; (6) receive a wireless communication from the driver indicating approval or modification of the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation; and/or (7) cause a third party to be notified of requested emergency assistance in accordance with the emergency assistance or emergency assistance recommendation as approved or modified by the driver.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1.-20. (canceled)

“21. A computer-implemented method of vehicle accident response, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, telematics data associated with a vehicle at a time of a vehicle accident: determining, by the one or more processors, one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based upon the telematics data; generating, by the one or more processors, a confirmation request message including an indication of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations; transmitting, from the one or more processors, the confirmation request message to a mobile device associated with the vehicle; and receiving, at the one or more processors, an indication of an accident response to the confirmation request message based upon an interaction with the mobile device, wherein the accident response indicates at least one of: confirmation of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, modification of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, and rejection of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations.

“22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the telematics data is collected from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle or the mobile device.

“23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, the method further comprising: generating, by the one or more processors, an emergency response message to one or more emergency responders based upon the received indication of the accident response; and transmitting, from the one or more processors, the emergency response message to the one or more emergency responders.

“24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, further comprising: generating, by the one or more processors, a preliminary emergency response message indicating at least one of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations; and transmitting, from the one or more processors, the preliminary emergency response message prior to receiving the indication of the accident response, wherein: the accident response indicates modification or rejection of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, and the emergency response message includes a modification or a cancellation of the at least one of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations indicated by the preliminary emergency response.

“25. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein: the accident response indicates confirmation of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations; and the emergency response message includes a request to provide the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations.

“26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, the method further comprising: analyzing, by the one or more processors, the telematics data to determine an indication of severity of the vehicle accident, wherein: the confirmation request message further includes the indication of severity of the vehicle accident; and the accident response further indicates at least one of: confirmation of the indication of severity, modification of the indication of severity, and rejection of the indication of severity.

“27. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein: the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations are determined based upon one or more indications of damage to the vehicle or injuries to persons involved in the vehicle accident.

“28. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations are determined based upon a user profile indicating preferences of a driver of the vehicle.

“29. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: identifying, by the one or more processors, an insurance policy associated with the vehicle accident, wherein the insurance policy is associated with the vehicle or with a driver of the vehicle; and determining, by the one or more processors, a type of a claim associated with the insurance policy relating to the vehicle accident based upon an indication of severity of the vehicle accident determined from the telematics data.

“30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the claim is determined to be a minor type of claim, the computer-implemented method further comprising: causing, by the one or more processors, the mobile device to present one or more options, the one or more options facilitating submission of a self-service report associated with the claim.

“31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, an adjustment or update to the insurance policy based upon the self-service report; and causing, by the one or more processors, the adjustment or update to the insurance policy to be implemented.

“32. A computer system for responding to vehicle accidents, the system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to: collect telematics data associated with a vehicle at a time of a vehicle accident; determine one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based upon the telematics data; generate a confirmation request message including an indication of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations; transmit the confirmation request message to a mobile device associated with the vehicle; and receive an indication of an accident response to the confirmation request message from the mobile device, wherein the accident response is based upon an interaction with the mobile device and indicates at least one of: confirmation of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, modification of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, and rejection of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations.

“33. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the telematics data is collected from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle or the mobile device.

“34. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: access a user profile indicating preferences of a driver of the vehicle; and determine the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based at least in part upon the preferences indicated by the user profile.

“35. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: identify an insurance policy associated with the vehicle accident, wherein the insurance policy is associated with the vehicle or with a driver of the vehicle; determine a claim associated with the insurance policy relating to the vehicle accident is a minor type of claim based upon an indication of severity of the vehicle accident determined from the telematics data; cause the mobile device to present one or more options, the one or more options facilitating submission of a self-service report associated with the claim; receive the self-service report associated with the claim from the mobile device; determine an adjustment or update to the insurance policy based upon the self-service report; and cause the adjustment or update to the insurance policy to be implemented.

“36. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions for responding to vehicle accidents that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to: collect telematics data associated with a vehicle at a time of a vehicle accident; determine one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based upon the telematics data; generate a confirmation request message including an indication of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations; transmit the confirmation request message to a mobile device associated with the vehicle; and receive an indication of an accident response to the confirmation request from the mobile device, wherein the accident response is based upon an interaction with the mobile device and indicates at least one of: confirmation of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, modification of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations, and rejection of the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations.

“37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the telematics data is collected from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle computer or the mobile device.

“38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: analyze the telematics data to generate one or more indications of damage to the vehicle or injuries to persons involved in the vehicle accident; and determine the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based upon the one or more indications of damage to the vehicle or injuries to persons involved in the vehicle accident.

“39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: access a user profile indicating preferences of a driver of the vehicle; and determine the one or more emergency response actions or recommendations based at least in part upon the preferences indicated by the user profile.

“40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to: identify an insurance policy associated with the vehicle accident, wherein the insurance policy is associated with the vehicle or with a driver of the vehicle; determine a claim associated with the insurance policy relating to the vehicle accident is a minor type of claim based upon an indication of severity of the vehicle accident; cause the mobile device to present one or more options, the one or more options facilitating submission of a self-service report associated with the claim; receive the self-service report associated with the claim; determine an adjustment or update to an insurance policy based upon the self-service report; and cause the adjustment or update to the insurance policy to be implemented.”

For more information, see this patent application: Potter, Thomas Michael; Clauss, Mark E.; Carter, Dustin Ryan; Graff, Douglas Albert; Baumann, Megan Michal; Bonnom, Atlanta; Cope, Craig; Lawyer, Jennifer Luella; Simpson, Curtis; Baumann, Nathan W. Methods Of Facilitating Emergency Assistance. Filed October 22, 2020 and posted February 11, 2021. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210043061%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210043061&RS=DN/20210043061

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)