Patent Issued for User interactions in mobile damage assessment and claims processing (USPTO 11532048): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 JAN 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11532048, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are 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, IL, US), Stricker, Kurt M. (Northfield, IL, US).

This patent was filed on May 5, 2014 and was published online on December 20, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “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.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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 method comprising: receiving, by a processor on an enhanced claims processing server via a network, at least one image of an insured item from a remote user computing device associated with a user of an insured item; determining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, a minimum criteria associated with images received via a network; analyzing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the at least one image; based on determining the at least one image does not meet the determined minimum criteria, transmit, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, a request for additional images; based on determining that the at least one image or an image from the additional images meet the determined minimum criteria, automatically determining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, a type of insurance claim associated with the at least one image; automatically determining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, whether the type of insurance claim is included in an automated processing system; and performing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, an automated damage assessment process to the at least one image, the automated damage assessment process comprising: performing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, object detection on the at least one image to determine whether a specific portion of the insured item shown in the at least one image is computer readable and whether the at least one image is acceptable for determining a damage estimate for the insured item; performing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, object detection on the at least one image to determine a damaged area; analyzing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the damaged area of the at least one image for raw depth data; determining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the raw depth data of the damaged area from the at least one image to identify a dent within the damaged area, the raw depth data associated with characteristics of the damaged area which define the dent within the damaged area; calculating, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the damage estimate based on the raw depth data of the damaged area, the damaged area and the dent; performing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, object detection on one or more reference images from a reference image database including a plurality of the reference images; identifying, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, one or more selected reference images from the reference image database including the plurality of the reference images, wherein the one or more selected reference images selected from the one or more reference images depict damage similar to damage to the insured item and are identified by comparing three-dimensional coordinates of the at least one image to three-dimensional coordinates of the plurality of the one or more reference images; performing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, image alteration to the one or more selected reference images to isolate the damage similar to the damage to the insured item; obtaining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server from a data store, a damage template having damage data associated with the isolated damage of the one or more selected reference images; comparing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the damage to the insured item to the damage data in the damage template; and automatically adjusting, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the damage estimate based on the damage data in the damage template and based on a result of the comparing of the damage to the insured item to the damage data in the damage template.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, from the processor on the enhanced claims processing server to the remote user computing device, instructions about how to capture image data related to the damage of the insured item.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, an additional reference image of an undamaged version of the insured item; and comparing, using an image processing algorithm, the additional reference image to the at least one image to identify the damaged area of the insured item.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the damaged area which define the dent within the damaged area include a general slope of the dent.

“5. The method of claim 2, further comprising: when at least one of the images is not acceptable, transmitting, from the processor on the enhanced claims processing server to the remote user computing device, one or more additional instructions.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising coloring and texturing, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the damaged area in the at least one image.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the damage estimate, determining, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, a settlement for settling an insurance claim related to the damage to the insured item.

“8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: transmitting, from the processor on the enhanced claims processing server to the remote user computing device, the settlement.

“9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server from the remote user computing device, a notification indicating whether or not the settlement has been accepted.

“10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: when the settlement has been accepted, transmitting, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, funds indicated in the settlement to an account of an owner of the insured item.

“11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: when the settlement has not been accepted, transmitting, by the processor on the enhanced claims processing server, the settlement to a claims adjuster for manual processing of the insurance claim associated with the insured item.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein the insured item comprises a vehicle.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the damage estimate by the processor on the enhanced processing server, includes determining, by the processor on the enhanced processing server, a depth of the damage using at least one of stereoscopic techniques and three-dimensional video.

“14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: upon accepting, by the processor on the enhanced processing server, the at least one image received from the user computing device, associating, by the processor on the enhanced processing server, the at least one image accepted with a record of the insurance claim stored in a database.

“15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, from the processor on the enhanced claims processing server to the remote user computing device, a list of recommended repair shops for repairing the damage to the insured item.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Brandmaier, Jennifer A. User interactions in mobile damage assessment and claims processing. U.S. Patent Number 11532048, filed May 5, 2014, and published online on December 20, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11532048)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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