Determining and assessing post-accident vehicle damage

• US 10,410,439 B1
• Filed: 10/07/2016
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Gingrich, Jess W., Chavez, Carlos J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US15/287,838
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0258 Structural degradation, e.g. fatigue of composites, ageing of oils
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0289 Internal structure, e.g. defects, grain size, texture
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/044 Internal reflections (echoes), e.g. on walls or defects
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/069 Defect imaging, localisation and sizing using, e.g. time of flight diffraction [TOFD], synthetic aperture focusing technique [SAFT], Amplituden-Laufzeit-Ortskurven [ALOK] technique
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/12 by measuring frequency or resonance of acoustic waves measuring frequency or resonant frequency of mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in general G01H1/06, G01H3/04, G01H13/00; acoustic resonators G10K11/04; vibration or shock testing of structures G01M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/265 by moving the sensor relative to a stationary material
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/4427 with stored values, e.g. threshold values
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/4436 with a reference signal amplitude comparison G01N29/48
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/4445 Classification of defects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, machine-readable media, and methods for detecting and assessing damage to a motor vehicle. One or more embodiments include dispositioning the motor vehicle based on the detected damage using a repair/scrap threshold.

Claims

1. A system for detecting damage, comprising:

a sensor to detect damage to a motor vehicle;

a network interface communicative with a data store, wherein the data store includes baseline acoustic response information associated with the motor vehicle;

a processor operatively connected to the network interface and the sensor, and communicative connected with a memory having instructions recorded thereon that, when read by the processor, cause the processor to;

cause the sensor to issue acoustic energy toward the motor vehicle and receive reflected acoustic energy therefrom;

receive acoustic response data related to the motor vehicle subsequent to damage, wherein the acoustic response data is collected by the sensor;

compare the received acoustic data to the baseline acoustic response information associated with the motor vehicle to determine an amount of damage to the motor vehicle;

determine a repair/scrap threshold for the motor vehicle; and

determine a disposition of the motor vehicle based on the amount of damage to the motor vehicle and the repair/scrap threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data store includes a repair/scrap disposition threshold particular to the motor vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to process an insurance claim using the determined disposition of the motor vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions recorded on the memory further cause the processor to perform frequency analysis on the received reflected acoustic energy.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor to:

cause a sensor to issue acoustic energy toward a motor vehicle and receive reflected acoustic energy therefrom;

receive acoustic response data related to the motor vehicle subsequent to damage, wherein the acoustic response data is collected by the sensor;

compare the received acoustic data to baseline acoustic response information associated with the motor vehicle to determine an amount of damage to the motor vehicle;

determine a repair/scrap threshold for the motor vehicle; and

determine a disposition of the motor vehicle based on the amount of damage to the motor vehicle and the repair/scrap threshold.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions include instructions executable by the processor to determine an amount of damage to a frame of the motor vehicle.

7. A method of dispositioning a motor vehicle, comprising:

receiving acoustic response data related to a motor vehicle subsequent to damage, wherein the acoustic response data is collected by a sensor;

comparing the received acoustic data to baseline acoustic response information associated with the motor vehicle to determine an amount of damage to the motor vehicle;

determining a repair/scrap threshold for the motor vehicle; and

determining a disposition of the motor vehicle based on the amount of damage to the motor vehicle and the repair/scrap threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, including displaying an indication of the disposition of the motor vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the repair/scrap threshold is based on at least one of information from a data store and characteristics of the motor vehicle before damage was incurred.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the characteristics of the motor vehicle before damage was incurred includes a remaining service life of a motor vehicle component.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the repair/scrap threshold is calculated dynamically for the motor vehicle based.