System and method for using a specialty vehicle data identifier to facilitate treatment of a vehicle damaged in a crash

• US 10,733,814 B1
• Filed: 10/28/2016
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Mullen, Christina P., Leise, William J., Graff, Douglas Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Antonucci, Anne Marie
• Application Number:
  US15/337,809
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

A system, method, and computer-readable medium to facilitate treatment of a damaged vehicle by gathering crash information, estimating an extent of vehicle damage, and transmitting information associated with treating the damaged vehicle.

Claims

1. A method implemented with a computer system for treating a vehicle damaged in a crash, the method comprising:

providing a specialty vehicle data identifier template for facilitating translation of a specialty vehicle data identifier used to identify a vehicle, the specialty vehicle data identifier template stored on one or more memory devices coupled to the computer system and including a plurality of segments, each segment of the plurality of segments capable of including a code representative of a vehicle insurance data associated with a vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle;

providing a database configured in the one or more memory devices, the database including the vehicle insurance data;

monitoring, by one or more sensors coupled to the vehicle, operating characteristics of a vehicle damaged in a crash, the operating characteristics including acceleration and direction of the damaged vehicle;

receiving, from the one or more sensors, acceleration and direction of the damaged vehicle proximate the crash;

calculating, via one or more processors coupled to the one or more sensors, crash information of the damaged vehicle based on the received acceleration and direction of the damaged vehicle proximate the crash;

incorporating, by the one or more processors, the calculated crash information with the vehicle insurance data stored in the database;

receiving, by the one or more processors coupled to the one or more memory devices, a request for vehicle collision data stored in the database, the request including at least one segment of the plurality of segments of the specialty vehicle data identifier used to identify the damaged vehicle and the code representative of the vehicle insurance data;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, the vehicle collision data from the memory in response to the received request;

automatically evaluating, by the one or more processors, the calculated crash information with the retrieved vehicle collision data and the vehicle insurance data;

automatically calculating, by the one or more processors, a treatment complexity level associated with repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle based on the evaluation of the calculated crash information, the treatment complexity level including a price schedule and/or a time duration for repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle;

automatically selecting, by the one or more processors, a treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle based on the calculated treatment complexity level, wherein the damaged vehicle is transported directly to the selected treatment facility from the crash site; and

transmitting information associated with repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle to the selected treatment facility.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle insurance data includes one or more of the following:

vehicle actuarial data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-rating data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-underwriting data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, and vehicle insurance claims data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the received crash information with the received vehicle collision data includes comparing the calculated crash information to the received vehicle insurance data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving crash information about the damaged vehicle includes receiving a damage description of the damaged vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting information includes a request for proposal to treat the damaged vehicle, and wherein the request includes a list of at least one undamaged replacement vehicle part that corresponds to at least one damaged vehicle part of the damaged vehicle, and further wherein the at least one undamaged replacement vehicle part is available from a storage of undamaged vehicle parts salvaged from other vehicle collisions.

6. A system for treating a vehicle damaged in a crash, the system comprising:

a specialty vehicle data identifier template for facilitating translation of a specialty vehicle data identifier associated with a vehicle, the specialty vehicle data identifier template stored on one or more memory devices of a computing system and including a plurality of segments, each segment of the plurality of segments capable of including a code representative of a vehicle insurance data associated with a vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle;

a database configured in the one or more memory devices and including the vehicle insurance data;

one or more sensors coupled to the vehicle and capable of monitoring operating characteristics of the vehicle, the operating characteristics including acceleration and direction of the vehicle;

one or more processors coupled to the one or more memory devices and configured to calculate crash information of the vehicle based on the acceleration and the direction of the vehicle proximate the crash, incorporate the calculated crash information with the vehicle insurance data stored in the database, and receive the specialty vehicle data identifier including the code representative of the vehicle insurance data;

vehicle collision data stored in the database, the vehicle collision data associated with at least one segment of the specialty vehicle data identifier including the code representative of the vehicle insurance data;

executable instructions stored on the one or more memory devices, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the system to evaluate the calculated crash information with the vehicle collision data and the vehicle insurance data to calculate an output including a treatment complexity level for repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle, the treatment complexity level including a price schedule and/or a time duration for repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle, and select a treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle based on the calculated treatment complexity level, wherein the damaged vehicle is transported directly to the selected treatment facility from the crash site;

an output module operatively coupled to the one or more processors and providing the calculated treatment complexity level in an accessible format; and

a communication module coupled to the one or more processors and configured to transmit the calculated treatment complexity level to another computer device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the vehicle insurance data includes one or more of the following:

vehicle actuarial data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-rating data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-underwriting data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, and vehicle insurance claims data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the treatment complexity level further includes a damaged vehicle parts list including vehicle parts of the damaged vehicle estimated to be damaged by the crash.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a user interface module coupled to the one or more processors and facilitating user interaction with the system;

an interface module coupled to the user interface and the one or more processors and configured to receive a request for the treatment complexity level of the damaged vehicle based on the at least one segment of the specialty vehicle data identifier of the damaged vehicle; and

a search module operatively coupled to the user interface and the one or more processors and configured to identify the vehicle insurance data stored in the one or more memory devices that substantially matches the at least one segment of the specialty vehicle data identifier of the damaged vehicle; and

a compiler module operatively coupled to the one or more processors and configured to accumulate any of the identified vehicle insurance data into the output.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a correlation module coupled to the one or more processors and configured to correlate the received crash information with the at least one segment of the plurality of segments of the specialty vehicle data identifier template.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the output includes a request for proposal to treat the damaged vehicle, and wherein the request includes a list of at least one undamaged replacement vehicle part that corresponds to at least one damaged vehicle part of the damaged vehicle, and further wherein the at least one undamaged replacement vehicle part is available from a storage of undamaged vehicle parts salvaged from other vehicle collisions.

12. A system for treating a vehicle damaged in a crash, the system comprising:

a specialty vehicle data identifier template for facilitating translation of a specialty vehicle data identifier associated with a vehicle, the specialty vehicle data identifier template stored on a database configured in one or more memory devices of a computer system and including a plurality of segments, each segment of the plurality of segments capable of including a code representative of a vehicle insurance data associated with a vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle;

one or more sensors coupled to the vehicle and capable of monitoring operating characteristics of the vehicle, the operating characteristics including acceleration and direction of the damaged vehicle;

one or more processors coupled to one or more memory devices one or more user interfaces, and the one or more sensors, the one or more processors configured to receive the specialty vehicle data identifier, and wherein the system is configured to automatically;

receive, from the one or more sensors, the acceleration and the direction of the damaged vehicle proximate the crash;

calculate crash information of the damaged vehicle based on the received acceleration and direction of the damaged vehicle proximate the crash;

incorporate the calculated crash information with the vehicle insurance data stored in the database;

receive a request for vehicle collision data stored in the database on the one or more memory devices, the request including at least one segment of the plurality of segments of the specialty vehicle data identifier used to identify the damaged vehicle and the code representative of the vehicle insurance data;

retrieve the requested vehicle collision data from the one or more memory devices in response to the received request;

evaluate the calculated crash information with the retrieved vehicle collision data and the vehicle insurance data;

calculate a treatment complexity level associated with repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle based on the evaluation of the calculated crash information, the treatment complexity level including a price schedule and/or a time duration for repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle;

select a treatment facility for repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle based on the calculated treatment complexity level, wherein the damaged vehicle is transported directly to the selected treatment facility from the crash site; and

transmit information associated with repairing and/or salvaging the damaged vehicle to the selected treatment facility.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle insurance data includes one or more of the following:

vehicle actuarial data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-rating data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, vehicle insurance-underwriting data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle, and vehicle insurance claims data of the vehicle type that includes the damaged vehicle.