Patent Issued for Agent-facilitated claims damage estimation (USPTO 11367144): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 JUL 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Banerjee, Suchandra (Northbrook, IL, US), Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US), Campbell, Josh (Northbrook, IL, US), Faga, Mark E. (Evanston, IL, US), Johnson, Robert H. (Hoffman Estates, IL, US), Marlow, Clint J. (Barrington Hills, IL, US), Murphy, Curtis (Northbrook, IL, US), Stricker, Kurt M. (Northfield, IL, US), filed on August 17, 2020, was published online on June 21, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11367144, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Conventional insurance claims processing is a complex process that starts with a first notification of loss related to an insured item. Upon notification of loss, the claim may be routed to multiple claims adjusters that analyze different aspects of the damage associated with the insured item in order to determine whether compensation for the loss is appropriate.

“In general, conventional claims adjustment can involve paperwork processing, telephone calls, and potentially face-to-face meetings between claimant and adjuster. In addition, a significant amount of time can elapse between a first notice of loss from the claimant and the final settlement of the claim.

“In addition, while consumers may take advantage of conventional claims processing to determine if they will receive any compensation for loss associated with an item, consumers have traditionally had very few options for obtaining advice associated with loss prior to submission of an insurance claim.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or 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 more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure involve a streamlined and efficient process for claims management and disclose methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for automating the processing and settling of claims related to an insured item. A mobile device may transmit data (e.g., images, video, etc.) related to damage associated with an insured item to an enhanced claims processing server. The enhanced claims processing server may manage analysis of damage associated with the insured item and settlement of a claim related to the damage.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, an enhanced claims processing server may analyze damage data received from a mobile device to generate a repair cost estimate for repairing the insured item.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, an enhanced claims processing server may receive damage data associated with damage to an insured item, prior to submission of a claim for the damage. This data may be analyzed along with other data related to terms of an insurance policy that insures the insured item to provide advice to insurance consumers on the overall monetary valuation of submitting an insurance claim for damage to the insured item.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, a user device may be used as a portal that enables a third party entity such as a repair agency to view and learn more about damage associated with an insured item while the damage is still being assessed through a claims adjustment process.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A mobile computing device comprising: one or more processors; a wireless network interface; a camera; a display screen configured to present a viewfinder for the camera; and a memory in signal communication with the one or more processors and storing computer-executable instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile computing device at least to: (a) present, on the display screen and using the viewfinder, a view of a damaged vehicle; (b) indicate a proper positioning of the damaged vehicle within the viewfinder by presenting, on the display screen and within the viewfinder, a visual marker indicating a location at which to position a portion of the view of the damaged vehicle that depicts a side of the damaged vehicle; © obtain, using the camera, an image of the damaged vehicle; (d) transmit, via the wireless network interface and to a server associated with an insurance company that insures the damaged vehicle, the image obtained; (e) receive, via the wireless network interface from the server, a request for an additional image of the damaged vehicle; (f) obtain, using the camera and based on the request, the additional image of the damaged vehicle; (g) transmit, using the wireless network interface and to the server, the additional image of the damaged vehicle; and (h) receive, via the wireless network and from the server, an indication that the server has received a set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfies image criteria that, when satisfied, indicate the set of images is acceptable to determine a cost estimate associated with the damage to the damaged vehicle.

“2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises one or more of a proposed settlement of an insurance claim associated with the damaged vehicle, a determined cost estimate to repair the damage to the damaged vehicle, a determined cost estimate to replace the damaged vehicle with a new vehicle, a determined cost estimate to repair a part of the damaged vehicle, or a determined cost estimate to replace a part of the damaged vehicle with a new part.

“3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to present, on the display screen, the indication that the server has received the set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfy the image criteria.

“4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the image criteria comprise one or more of an image quality criterion indicating a predetermined image quality or a completeness criterion indicating one or more types of images of the damaged vehicle.

“5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to indicate a second proper positioning of the damaged vehicle within the viewfinder by presenting, on the display screen and within the viewfinder, a second visual marker indicating a second location at which to position the view of the damaged vehicle that depicts a second side of the damaged vehicle.

“6. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the request for the additional image of the damaged vehicle is based on the image of the damaged vehicle not satisfying at least one image criterion of the image criteria.

“7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to present, on the display screen, an indication of a type of image of the damaged vehicle to be obtained and an instruction describing the type of image.

“8. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to iteratively repeat ©-(g) until the server has received a set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfy the image criteria.

“9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to present, on the display screen, a summary of one or more insurance claims initiated by a user of the mobile computing device.

“10. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to: obtain, using the camera, a second image of the damaged vehicle; determine whether the second image satisfies a blurriness criterion indicating an objective measure of non-blurriness that, when satisfied, indicates the second image is acceptable to determine the cost estimate to repair the damage to the vehicle; based on determining that the second image does not satisfy the blurriness criterion, present, on the display screen, a prompt to obtain a replacement image of the same type as the second image; and obtain, using the camera, the replacement image.

“11. A method performed by a mobile computing device, the method comprising: (a) presenting, on a display screen of the mobile computing device and within a viewfinder for a camera of the mobile computing device, a view of a damaged vehicle; (b) indicating a proper positioning of the damaged vehicle within the viewfinder by presenting, on the display screen and within the viewfinder, a visual marker indicating a location at which to position a portion of the view of the damaged vehicle that depicts a side of the damaged vehicle; © obtaining, using the camera, an image of the damaged vehicle; (d) transmitting, using a wireless network interface of the mobile computing device and to a server associated with an insurance company that insures the damaged vehicle, the image obtained; (e) receiving, via the wireless network interface from the server, a request for an additional image of the damaged vehicle; (f) obtaining, using the camera and based on the request, the additional image of the damaged vehicle; (g) transmitting, using the wireless network interface and to the server, the additional image of the damaged vehicle; and (h) receiving, via the wireless network and from the server, an indication that the server has received a set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfies image criteria that, when satisfied, indicate the set of images is acceptable to determine a cost estimate associated with the damage to the damaged vehicle.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indication comprises one or more of a determined cost estimate to repair the damage to the damaged vehicle, a determined cost estimate to replace the damaged vehicle with a new vehicle, a determined cost estimate to repair a part of the damaged vehicle, or a determined cost estimate to replace a part of the damaged vehicle with a new part.

“13. The method of claim 11, further comprising presenting, on the display screen, the indication that the server has received the set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfy the image criteria.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the image criteria comprise one or more of an image quality criterion indicating a predetermined image quality or a completeness criterion indicating one or more types of images of the damaged vehicle.

“15. The method of claim 11, further comprising indicating a second proper positioning of the damaged vehicle within the viewfinder by presenting, on the display screen and within the viewfinder, a second visual marker indicating a second location at which to position the view of the damaged vehicle that depicts a second side of the damaged vehicle.

“16. The method of claim 11, wherein the request for the additional image of the damaged vehicle is based on the image of the damaged vehicle not satisfying at least one image criterion of the image criteria.

“17. The method of claim 11, further comprising presenting, on the display screen, an indication of a type of image of the damaged vehicle to be obtained and an instruction describing the type of image.

“18. The method of claim 11, further comprising iteratively repeating ©-(g) until the server has received a set of images of the damaged vehicle that satisfy the image criteria.

“19. The method of claim 13, further comprising presenting, on the display screen, a summary of one or more insurance claims initiated by a user of the mobile computing device.

“20. The method of claim 11, further comprising: obtaining, using the camera, a second image of the damaged vehicle; determining, by one or more processors of the mobile computing device, whether the second image satisfies a blurriness criterion indicating an objective measure of non-blurriness that, when satisfied, indicates the second image is acceptable to determine the cost to repair the damage to the vehicle; based on determining that the second image does not satisfy the blurriness criterion, presenting, on the display screen, a prompt to obtain a replacement image of the same type as the second image; and obtaining, using the camera, the replacement image.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent: Banerjee, Suchandra. Agent-facilitated claims damage estimation. U.S. Patent Number 11367144, filed August 17, 2020, and published online on June 21, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11367144.PN.&OS=PN/11367144RS=PN/11367144

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