Patent Issued for Processing insured items holistically with mobile damage assessment and claims processing (USPTO 11386503): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 AUG 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- 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 August 31, 2020, was published online on July 12, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11386503 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: “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 the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists 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 system comprising: a mobile device; and a server, wherein the mobile device performs mobile device operations comprising: send, to the server, a first plurality of images depicting a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle; receive, from the server, one or more feedback instructions based on the first plurality of images; and send, to the server, and responsive to the one or more feedback instructions, a second plurality of images, wherein the server performs server operations comprising: receive, from the mobile device, the second plurality of images; identify the plurality of damaged areas of the insured vehicle within the second plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the second plurality of images; access a damage template associated with a reference image and comprising a damage estimate; compare three-dimensional coordinates of the second plurality of images to three-dimensional coordinates of the reference image; generate, for a first damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas, and based on the damage estimate and a result of the comparing, a modified damage estimate; generate a total damage estimate based on the modified damage estimate and a second damage estimate for a second damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas; determine an interaction term based on the first damaged area and the second damaged area, wherein the interaction term represents 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; 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 system of claim 1, wherein the interaction term is generated based on information stored in a database.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the feedback instructions are based on an optical character recognition performed on the first plurality of images by the server.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server operations further comprise: predict damage to an interior of the insured vehicle based on damage to an exterior of the insured vehicle.

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

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server operations further comprise: receive, from the mobile device, a notification indicating whether or not the settlement is acceptable.

“7. The system 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 system 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: sending, by an enhanced claims processing server and to a mobile device, user instructions to capture images depicting damage to an insured item; receiving, by the enhanced claims processing server and from the mobile device, a first plurality of images depicting a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle; sending, by the enhanced claims processing server, one or more feedback instructions to the mobile device based on an analysis of the first plurality of images; receiving, by the enhanced claims processing server and from the mobile device and responsive to the one or more feedback instructions, a second plurality of images; identifying, by the enhanced claims processing server, the plurality of damaged areas of the insured vehicle within the second plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the second plurality of images; accessing, by the enhanced claims processing server, a damage template associated with a reference image and comprising a damage estimate; comparing, by the enhanced claims processing server, three-dimensional coordinates of the second plurality of images to three-dimensional coordinates of the reference image; generating, by the enhanced claims processing server and for a first damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas, and based on the damage estimate and a result of the comparing, a modified damage estimate; generating, by the enhanced claims processing server, a total damage estimate based on the modified damage estimate and a second damage estimate for a second damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas; determining, by the enhanced claims processing server, an interaction term based on the first damaged area and the second damaged area, wherein the interaction term represents 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; generating, by the enhanced claims processing server, an effective total damage estimate based on the total damage estimate and the interaction term; generating, by the enhanced claims processing server, a user interface comprising a settlement generated based on the effective total damage estimate; and sending, by an enhanced claims processing server and 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, wherein the feedback instructions are based on an optical character recognition performed on the first plurality of images.

“12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: predicting, by the enhanced claims processing server, damage to an interior of the insured vehicle based on damage to an exterior of the insured vehicle.

“13. The method of claim 9, further comprising: sending, by an enhanced claims processing server and to the mobile device, a notification associated with a repairing of the insured vehicle.

“14. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving, by an enhanced claims processing server and from the mobile device, a notification indicating whether or not 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: send, to a mobile device, user instructions to capture images depicting damage to an insured item; receive, from a software application executing on the mobile device, a first plurality of images depicting a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle; send one or more feedback instructions to the mobile device based on an analysis of the first plurality of images; receive, from the mobile device and responsive to the one or more feedback instructions, a second plurality of images; identify the plurality of damaged areas of the insured vehicle within the second plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the second plurality of images; compare three-dimensional coordinates of the second plurality of images to three-dimensional coordinates of a reference image of a damage template associated with a reference image; determine an interaction term based on the first damaged area and the second damaged area, wherein the interaction term represents 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; generate a total damage estimate based a first damage estimate and the interaction term, wherein the first damage estimate is for a first damaged area and is based on the comparing; determine a settlement based on the 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 estimate; and send, to the mobile device, the user interface, wherein the user interface is displayable by a display of the mobile device.

“16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the interaction term is generated based on information stored in a database.

“17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the feedback instructions are based on an optical character recognition performed on the first plurality of images.

“18. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: predict damage to an interior of the insured vehicle based on damage to an exterior of the insured vehicle.

“19. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: send, to the mobile device, a notification associated with a repairing of the insured vehicle.”

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

URL and more information on this patent, see: Brandmaier, Jennifer A. Processing insured items holistically with mobile damage assessment and claims processing. U.S. Patent Number 11386503, filed August 31, 2020, and published online on July 12, 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=11386503.PN.&OS=PN/11386503RS=PN/11386503

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