“Processing Insured Items Holistically With Mobile Damage Assessment And Claims Processing” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20220343435): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 NOV 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application 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 July 11, 2022, was made available online on October 27, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application 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 application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “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. An enhanced claims processing server structured to perform server operations comprising: receive, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images; identify a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle within the first plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the first plurality of images; determine an interaction term based on a first damaged area and a second damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas, 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 enhanced claims processing server of claim 1, wherein the interaction term is generated based on information stored in a database.

“3. The enhanced claims processing server 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 enhanced claims processing server 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 enhanced claims processing server 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 enhanced claims processing server 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 enhanced claims processing server 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 enhanced claims processing server 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: receiving, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images; identifying a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle within the first plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the first plurality of images; determining an interaction term based on a first damaged area and a second damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas, 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 an effective total damage estimate based on the total damage estimate and the interaction term; generating a user interface comprising a settlement generated based on the effective total damage estimate; and sending, 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 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, to the mobile device, a notification associated with a repairing of the insured vehicle.

“14. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving, 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: receive, from a mobile device, a first plurality of images; identify a plurality of damaged areas of an insured vehicle within the first plurality of images by applying an object recognition algorithm to the first plurality of images; determine an interaction term based on a first damaged area and a second damaged area of the plurality of damaged areas, 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.

“20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: receive, from the mobile device, a notification indicating whether or not the settlement is acceptable.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Brandmaier, Jennifer A.; Faga, Mark E.; Johnson, Robert H.; Koza, Daniel; Loo, William; Marlow, Clint J.; Stricker, Kurt M. Processing Insured Items Holistically With Mobile Damage Assessment And Claims Processing. Filed July 11, 2022 and posted October 27, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220343435%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220343435&RS=DN/20220343435

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