Patent Issued for Configuration and transfer of image data using a mobile device (USPTO 11403713): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 AUG 24 (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 Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US), Faga, Mark E. (Evanston, IL, US), Johnson, Robert H. (Hoffman Estates, IL, US), Koza, Daniel (Hinsdale, IL, US), Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL, US), Marlow, Clint J. (Barrington Hills, IL, US), Stricker, Kurt M. (Northfield, IL, US), filed on September 21, 2020, was published online on August 2, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11403713, 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 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.

“Further aspects of the disclosure may be provided in a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer, user terminal, or other apparatus to at least perform one or more of the processes described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A mobile computing device, comprising: a display device; a camera; a wireless network interface; one or more processors; memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile computing device to: present, on the display device, a plurality of image capture instructions, wherein each image capture instruction of the plurality of image capture instructions indicates a different type of image of a damaged object to capture; obtain, using the camera, a plurality of digital images of the damaged object at least by, for each image capture instruction of the plurality of image capture instructions: presenting, on the display device, an indication of a type of image of the damaged object to capture; and capturing, using the camera, a digital image of the plurality of digital images, wherein the digital image corresponds to the image capture instruction; transmit, via the wireless network interface and to a server associated with an insurance company that insures the damaged object, one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images; automatically process, using the one or more processors, image data of a captured digital image of the plurality of digital images to determine whether the captured digital image satisfies at least one objective criterion indicating suitability of the captured digital image for an assessment of damage to the damaged object and for a determination of a cost estimate associated with the damage, wherein the at least one objective criterion comprises an objective blurriness criterion indicating an objective measure of non-blurriness the captured digital image must satisfy to be suitable for the assessment of the damage and the determination of the cost estimate; based on determining that the captured digital image does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion, present, on the display device, a prompt to capture an additional digital image of the same type as the captured digital image that does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion; capture, using the camera, the additional digital image of the same type as the captured digital image that does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion; transmit, via the wireless network interface and to the server, the additional digital image; and receive, via the wireless network interface and from the server, an indication that the server has received a set of images of the damaged object that satisfy image criteria that, when satisfied, indicate the set of images is acceptable to determine the cost estimate associated with the damage to the damaged object.

“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 object, a determined cost estimate to repair the damage to the damaged object, a determined cost estimate to replace the damaged object with a new object, a determined cost estimate to repair a part of the damaged object, or a determined cost estimate to replace a part of the damaged object with a new part.

“3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, further comprising an input device, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the mobile computing device to: present, on the display device, a digital image of the plurality of digital images; and receive, via the input device, an input indicating an acceptability of the digital image.

“4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile computing device to automatically process the image data of the captured image before transmitting the one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images.

“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: receive, via the wireless network interface and from the server, an indication of a type of image to re-capture; present, on the display device, a prompt to re-capture a second additional digital image of the type of image indicated; capture, using the camera, the second additional digital image of the type of image indicated; and transmit, via the wireless network interface and to the server, the second additional digital image captured.

“6. The mobile computing device of claim 5, wherein the indication of the type of image to re-capture is received based on a transmitted image of the one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images not satisfying at least one image criterion of the image criteria.

“7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of image capture instructions comprise a first instruction to capture a first image of damage to the damaged object and a second instruction to capture a second image of the damaged object in its entirety.

“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 present, on the display screen, the indication that the server has received the set of images of the damaged object that satisfy the image criteria.

“9. 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 object.

“10. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the damaged object comprises a vehicle.

“11. A method performed by a mobile computing device, the method comprising: presenting, on a display device of the mobile computing device, a plurality of image capture instructions, wherein each image capture instruction of the plurality of image capture instructions indicates a different type of image of a damaged object to capture; obtaining, using a camera of the mobile computing device, a plurality of digital images of the damaged object by at least, for each image capture instruction of the plurality of image capture instructions: presenting, on the display device, an indication of a type of image of the damaged object to capture; and capturing, using the camera, a digital image of the plurality of digital images, wherein the digital image corresponds to the image capture instruction; transmitting, via a wireless network interface of the mobile computing device and to a server associated with an insurance company that insures the damaged object, one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images; automatically processing, using one or more processors of the mobile computing device, image data of a captured digital image of the plurality of digital images to determine whether the captured digital image satisfies at least one objective criterion indicating suitability of the captured digital image for an assessment of damage to the damaged object and for a determination of a cost estimate associated with the damage, wherein the at least one objective criterion comprises an objective blurriness criterion indicating an objective measure of non-blurriness the captured digital image must satisfy to be suitable for the assessment of the damage and the determination of the cost estimate; based on determining that the captured digital image does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion, presenting, on the display device, a prompt to capture an additional digital image of the same type as the captured digital image that does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion; capturing, using the camera, the additional digital image of the same type as the captured digital image that does not satisfy the objective blurriness criterion; transmitting, via the wireless network interface and to the server, the additional digital image; and receiving, via the wireless network interface and from the server, an indication that the server has received a set of images of the damaged object that satisfy image criteria that, when satisfied, indicate the set of images is acceptable to determine the cost estimate associated with the damage to the damaged object.

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

“13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: presenting, on the display device, a digital image of the plurality of digital images; and receive, via an input device of the mobile computing device, an input indicating an acceptability of the digital image.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatically processing the image data of the captured image is before the transmitting the one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images.

“15. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving, via the wireless network interface and from the server, an indication of a type of image to re-capture; presenting, on the display device, a prompt to re-capture a second additional digital image of the type of image indicated; capturing, using the camera, the second additional digital image of the type of image indicated; and transmitting, via the wireless network interface and to the server, the second additional digital image captured.”

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

For more information, see this patent: Brandmaier, Jennifer A. Configuration and transfer of image data using a mobile device. U.S. Patent Number 11403713, filed September 21, 2020, and published online on August 2, 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=11403713.PN.&OS=PN/11403713RS=PN/11403713

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