State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Assigned Patent for Reconstructing Accident Scene Using Telematics Data

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 24 -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Bloomington, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,387,962, initially filed July 14, 2015) developed by 10 co-inventors for "methods of reconstructing an accident scene using telematics data." The co-inventors are Thomas Michael Potter, Normal, Illinois, Mark E. Clauss, Bloomington, Illinois, Dustin Ryan Carter, Normal, Illinois, Douglas Albert Graff, Mountain View, Missouri, Megan Michal Baumann, Bloomington, Illinois, Atlanta Bonnom, Bloomington, Illinois, Craig Cope, Bloomington, Illinois, Jennifer Luella Lawyer, Bloomington, Illinois, Curtis Simpson, Bloomington, Illinois, and Nathan W. Baumann, Bloomington, Illinois.

The full-text of the patent can be found at 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=10,387,962.PN.&OS=PN/10,387,962&RS=PN/10,387,962

The abstract states: "In systems and methods for accident scene reconstruction, accident data associated with a vehicle accident involving a driver may be collected. The accident data may include vehicle telematics and/or other data, and/or the driver may be associated with an insurance policy. The accident data may be analyzed and, based upon the analysis of the accident data, a sequence of events occurring before, during, and/or after the vehicle accident may be determined. Based upon the determined sequence of events, a virtual reconstruction of the vehicle accident and/or a scene of the vehicle accident may be generated. The virtual reconstruction may include images of vehicles and/or road, weather, traffic, or construction conditions at the time of the accident. Based upon the virtual reconstruction, fault of the driver, or lack thereof, for the accident may be determined. The determined fault may be used to handle an insurance claim associated with the vehicle accident."

Written by Ranjan Behera; edited by Sudarshan Harpal.