SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FILING INSURANCE CLAIMS USING MOBILE IMAGING

• US 20130297353A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mitek Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mitek Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Strange, Mike, DeBello, James
• Application Number:
  US13/844,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20130297353A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3276 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being read by the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/146 Aligning or centring of the image pick-up or image-field
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/162 Quantising the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/166 Normalisation of pattern dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/001 Sharing resources, e.g. processing power or memory, with a connected apparatus or enhancing the capability of the still picture apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera

Abstract

An application on a mobile device provides for the initiation and submission of an insurance claim by capturing information and images of documents using an image capture capability, then processing the images to extract content which is transmitted to an insurance company for processing of the claim. Documents such as an automobile insurance card (AIC), driver'"'"'s license, vehicle identification number (VIN), license plate, police report, damage estimate and repair invoice may all be captured and processed by image processing techniques on the mobile device or an image processing unit in order to extract relevant content. Other features and capabilities of the mobile device—such as video and image capture, location-based services, accelerometers and tracking—may automatically populate relevant fields of a claim report and permit the user to upload photographic and video evidence of an accident and related damage.

Claims

1. A method of submitting an insurance claim using a mobile device, comprising:

capturing at least one mobile image with the mobile device, or other camera-equipped capture device, of an object which includes information related to an insurance claim;

processing the at least one mobile image to extract the information related to the insurance claim;

preparing an insurance claim using the extracted information; and

transmitting the insurance claim to an image processing unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is at least one of an automobile insurance card (AIC), driver'"'"'s license, license plate, vehicle registration, vehicle identification number (VIN) or police report.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the at least one mobile image by correcting an aspect of the image to improve the image quality of the at least one mobile image.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting information from the at least one image based on the type of object in the image.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising preparing the insurance claim based on information input by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising preparing the insurance claim based on information collected by the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted information is information about a person involved in the insurance claim.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted information is information about a vehicle involved in the insurance claim.

9. A system for submitting an insurance claim using a mobile device, comprising:

an image capture unit which captures at least one mobile image with the mobile device of an object which includes information related to an insurance claim;

an image processing unit which processes the at least one mobile image to extract the information related to the insurance claim;

a collection unit which prepares an insurance claim using the extracted information;

an offer calculation unit for creating an offer for an insurance policy based on the information related to obtaining an insurance quote; and

a remote transmitting unit which transmits the insurance claim to an image processing unit.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the object is at least one of an automobile insurance card (AIC), driver'"'"'s license, license plate, vehicle registration, vehicle identification number (VIN) or police report.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the image capture unit captures an image of at least one of an automobile insurance card (AIC), driver'"'"'s license, license plate, vehicle registration, vehicle identification number (VIN) or police report using the mobile device or other camera-equipped capture device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the image capture unit automatically captures the desired image without requiring user input, based on embedded capabilities on a mobile device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the image capture unit compresses and optimizes the image before the image is processed by the image processing unit.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the image processing unit processes the at least one mobile image by correcting an aspect of the image to improve the image quality of the at least one mobile image.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the image processing unit processes the at least one mobile image by evaluating and scoring a quality of the at least one mobile image which is used as a measure of usability by the collection unit.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the image processing unit extracts information from the at least one image based on the type of object in the image.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the collection unit prepares the insurance claim based on information input by the user.

18. The system of claim 9, wherein the collection unit prepares the insurance claim based on information collected by the mobile device.

19. The system of claim 9, wherein the extracted information is information about a person involved in the insurance claim.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the extracted information is information about a vehicle involved in the insurance claim.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the extracted information regarding the person involved in the insurance claim and the vehicle involved in the insurance claim are consolidated to facilitate the processing of the resulting insurance claim.