Accident reconstruction implementing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of vehicle collision or crash reconstruction using drone data, comprising:
- receiving, by one or more processors, drone data via wireless communications, the drone data being generated by one or more drones and including vehicle collision or crash images of (i) vehicles involved in a vehicular collision or crash, and (ii) a scene of the vehicle collision or crash,performing, by one or more processors, a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the photogrammetric analysis including calculating respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash;
generating, by one or more processors, a virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash based upon the photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the virtual accident reconstruction model generated by overlaying respective movements of the vehicles, as indicated by the respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash, onto respective locations of a model of a road on which the vehicle crash or collision occurred; and
assigning, by one or more processors, a percentage of fault to each driver and vehicle involved in the vehicle collision or crash based upon an analysis of the virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may facilitate the generation of a virtual reconstruction model of a vehicle collision. UAVs may collect data (including images) related to the vehicle collision, such as with the insured'"'"'s permission, which may be received by an external computing device associated with the insurer and utilized to perform a photogrammetric analysis of the images to determine vehicle impact points, the road layout at the scene of the collision, the speeds and directions of vehicles, etc. This data may be used to generate a virtual reconstruction model of the vehicle collision. An insurer may use the virtual reconstruction model to perform various insurance-related tasks, such as allocating fault to drivers or autonomous vehicles involved in the vehicle collision, and adjustment of insurance pricing based upon the fault allocation. As a result, innocent drivers or vehicles may not be unfairly penalized for vehicle collisions not their fault.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of vehicle collision or crash reconstruction using drone data, comprising:
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receiving, by one or more processors, drone data via wireless communications, the drone data being generated by one or more drones and including vehicle collision or crash images of (i) vehicles involved in a vehicular collision or crash, and (ii) a scene of the vehicle collision or crash, performing, by one or more processors, a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the photogrammetric analysis including calculating respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash; generating, by one or more processors, a virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash based upon the photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the virtual accident reconstruction model generated by overlaying respective movements of the vehicles, as indicated by the respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash, onto respective locations of a model of a road on which the vehicle crash or collision occurred; and assigning, by one or more processors, a percentage of fault to each driver and vehicle involved in the vehicle collision or crash based upon an analysis of the virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An external computing device associated with an insurance provider, comprising:
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a communication unit configured to receive drone data via wireless communications, wherein the drone data is generated by one or more drones and includes vehicle collision or crash images of (i) vehicles involved in a vehicular collision or crash, and (ii) a scene of the vehicle collision or crash; and a processor configured to; perform a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the photogrammetric analysis including calculating respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash; generate a virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash based upon the photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the virtual accident reconstruction model generated by overlaying respective movements of the vehicles, as indicated by the respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash, onto respective locations of a model of a road on which the vehicle crash or collision occurred; and assigning a percentage of fault to each driver involved in the vehicle collision or crash based upon an analysis of the virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 12, 13, 14)
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11. The external computing device of 8, wherein the calculation of the respective speeds and the respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash includes (i) a respective identification of a respective one or more impact points of each of the vehicles by analyzing the images of the vehicles involved in the vehicular collision or crash, (ii) a respective measurement of a respective structural crush distance of each of the respective one or more impact points of each of the vehicles, and (iii) the respective speed and the respective direction of each of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash based upon a respective location and the respective structural crush distance of each of the respective one or more impact points of each of the vehicles.
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15. A non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
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receive drone data via wireless communications, the drone data being generated by one or more drones and including vehicle collision or crash images of (i) vehicles involved in a vehicular collision or crash, and (ii) a scene of the vehicle collision or crash; perform a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images to thereby calculate respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash; generate a virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash based upon the photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle collision or crash images, the virtual accident reconstruction model generated by overlaying respective movements of the vehicles, as indicated by the respective speeds and respective directions of the vehicles before, during, and after the vehicle collision or crash, onto respective locations of a model of a road on which the vehicle crash or collision occurred; and assigning a percentage of fault to each driver involved in the vehicle collision or crash based upon an analysis of the virtual accident reconstruction model of the vehicle collision or crash. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification