Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Vehicle Accident Detection Based On Intelligent Micro Devices (USPTO 10,510,124)

2019 DEC 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 10,510,124, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Medina, III, Reynaldo (San Antonio, TX); Bueche, Jr., Michael P. (San Antonio, TX).

This patent was filed on December 17, 2018 and was published online on December 30, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Automobile accidents are an all too common and unfortunate fact of life. In 2005, there were over 6,400,000 automobile accidents in the United States resulting in a financial cost of more than 230 billion dollars. In addition, 2.9 million people were injured and over 42,000 fatalities occurred in the same year. Currently, over 100 people die every day in the United States due to vehicle crashes, equating to one death every 13 minutes.

“Being involved in an automobile accident can be traumatic, with reactions ranging from poor concentration, nervousness, anxiety, irritability, to agitation, or even being in a state of shock. As a result, the scene of an accident can be confusing to all involved, including eyewitnesses. Recalling what was seen and said, by whom and in what context, can prove problematic under the best of circumstances. Witnesses’ memories fade as time passes, and the details of the accident become vague. In some cases, a witness may even begin to rationalize what they believe they may or may not have witnessed. In addition, investigation of automobile accidents is often hampered by lack of evidence, especially in the case of a hit-and-run accident involving two automobiles. Even if eyewitnesses happen to be present, their recollections may be unreliable. In other cases, there are no eyewitnesses at all, just damage to one or more vehicles, and in some cases, other property as well. All too often, there is no reliable way to identify the automobile that was the cause of the hit-and-run accident.

“One issue relating to automobile accidents is the repair of damaged vehicles. Insurance claims adjusters are typically tasked with assessing the damage to a vehicle, determining a reasonable cost to repair, providing a financial settlement for the repairs, and then certifying that the repairs were performed properly using legitimate parts. However, unscrupulous body shops have been known to use counterfeit parts to increase theft profits. In some cases, the substitution of these counterfeit parts is not immediately apparent, but their use soon leads to dissatisfaction with the repairs. While such cases may be the exception, the traffic in counterfeit body parts is not inconsequential. In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that counterfeiting cost the global auto Industry $12 billion, $3 billion of which is in the United States. It is the consensus of aftermarket parts manufacturers that those estimates are for too conservative today. Worse yet are cases where the perpetrator of a hit-and-run accident, or an auto body repair shop, attempts to hide evidence of damage to the perpetrator’s vehicle, which is a criminal act. Another related issue is the sale of repaired vehicles that have been damaged in an accident. In general, repairs of a damaged vehicle are reported and subsequently disclosed to a potential buyer by the seller. Currently, services such as CARFAX.RTM. provide a history of accident repairs and related information to prospective buyers of an automobile. However, such services are only as good as the information they are provided. Furthermore, not all accident repairs are properly reported or recorded. Even when they are, there is no way for the buyer to verify the provenance of the body parts used to repair the automobile.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Systems and methods for vehicle accident detection may comprise scanning a vehicle using a computer device. The vehicle may comprise a plurality of intelligent micro devices, such as machine-readable markers. The machine-readable markers may be embedded in the vehicle or affixed to the vehicle. A map of the plurality of machine-readable markers may be generated based on the scanning. A loss, transfer, or acquisition of one or more of the machine-readable markers may be determined based on the map. An accident associated with the vehicle may be determined based on the map, such as based on the determination of the loss, transfer, or acquisition of the one or more machine-readable markers. The accident may be determined based on historical data of the vehicle. The accident may be determined based on information stored on one or more of the plurality of machine-readable markers. Determining the accident may comprise determining an impact to the vehicle or damage to the vehicle.

“Systems and methods for vehicle accident detection may comprise a marker-reading device. The marker-reading device may be configured to determine a plurality of intelligent micro devices, such as machine-readable markers, on a vehicle. An indication of the plurality of machine-readable markers on the vehicle may be received, such as by a computing device, from the marker reading device. A loss, transfer, or acquisition of one or more of the machine-readable markers may be determined based on the indication of the plurality of machine-readable markers on the vehicle. An accident associated with the vehicle may be determined based on the plurality of machine-readable markers on the vehicle, such as based on the determination of the loss, transfer, or acquisition of the one or more of the machine-readable markers. The accident associated with the vehicle may be determined based on historical data of the vehicle. The accident may be determined based on information stored on one or more of the plurality of machine-readable markers. Determining the accident may comprise determining an impact to the vehicle or damage to the vehicle.

“Systems and methods for vehicle accident detection may comprise determining a plurality of intelligent micro devices, such as machine-readable markers, on a first vehicle. The machine-readable markers may be embedded in the first vehicle or adhered to the first vehicle, as an example. The machine-readable markers may store information. The information may be determined by reading the machine-readable markers. At least one of the plurality of machine-readable markers associated with a second vehicle may be determined, such as by reading the least one of the plurality of machine-readable markers. An accident associated with the first vehicle may be determined based on the least one of the plurality of machine-readable markers associated with the second vehicle. Determining the accident may comprise determining an impact to the vehicle or damage to the vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A system comprising: a marker-reading device configured to determine a plurality of machine-readable markers on a vehicle; and a computing device in communication with the marker-reading device, wherein the computing device is configured to: receive, from the marker-reading device, an indication of the plurality of machine-readable markers on the vehicle; and determine, based on the plurality of machine-readable markers on the vehicle and historical data associated with the vehicle, damage to the vehicle.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to: determine, based on the plurality of machine-readable markers, an identifier associated with the vehicle; and query, using the identifier, a database for the historical data associated with the vehicle.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine the damage to the vehicle by determining that one or more of the plurality of machine-readable markers is unreadable.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical data associated with the vehicle comprises an indication of machine-readable markers on the vehicle that was previously received from the marker-reading device.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of machine-readable markers is located on a component of the vehicle and comprises data identifying the component of the vehicle; and wherein the computing device is configured to determine, based on the plurality of machine-readable markers, at least one component of the vehicle.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the historical data associated with the vehicle comprises a record of components of the vehicle; and wherein the computing device is configured to determine the damage to the vehicle by determining, based on the determined at least one component of the vehicle and the record of components of the vehicle, that the determined at least one component of the vehicle comprises a replacement component.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical data associated with the vehicle comprises an indication of a time that one or more of the plurality of machine-readable markers was read by one or more machines.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computing device is configured to determine the damage to the vehicle by determining that at least one of the plurality of machine-readable markers had not previously been read.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Medina, III, Reynaldo; Bueche, Jr., Michael P. Systems And Methods For Vehicle Accident Detection Based On Intelligent Micro Devices. U.S. Patent Number 10,510,124, filed December 17, 2018, and published online on December 30, 2019. 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=10,510,124.PN.&OS=PN/10,510,124RS=PN/10,510,124

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