REMOTE CLAIMS ADJUSTER

• US 20140320590A1
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Esurance Insurance Services Incorporated (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Esurance Insurance Services Incorporated (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Laurentino, Joseph S., Rodoni, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 9,407,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/155 involving storage of or access to video conference sessions tracking arrangements for later retrieval of a computer conference content or participants activities H04L12/1831

Abstract

Various aspects of the subject technology relate to systems, methods, and machine-readable media for investigating an insurance claim. A system may be configured to perform operations including establishing a video conferencing session with a mobile device associated with an insurance product and providing a user interface configured to provide a claims adjuster with remote control of a set of functions on the mobile device associated with the insurance product during the video conferencing session. The operations further include receiving, via the user interface, instructions for requesting the mobile device to perform at least one function in the set of functions on the mobile device and transmitting, to the mobile device, a request to perform the at least one function on the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for investigating an insurance claim, the method comprising:

establishing a video conferencing session between a mobile device associated with a user and a system associated with a claims adjuster;

providing an interface on the system to enable control of a set of functions on the mobile device associated with the user during the video conferencing session, wherein the set of functions comprises capturing an image with a camera using the mobile device;

receiving, via the interface, instructions for requesting the mobile device to capture the image;

transmitting, during the video conferencing session and based on the received instructions, a request to capture an image by the mobile device, wherein the request is configured to cause the mobile device to capture the image in response to the request; and

receiving, in response to the transmitted request, the captured image from the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of functions further comprise at least one of activating a flash when capturing an image, turning on a light on the mobile device, zooming the camera, focusing the camera, adjusting an exposure setting on the camera, or switching a view on a display on the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, via the interface, instructions for requesting the mobile device perform at least one function in the set of functions on the mobile device; and

transmitting to the mobile device a request for the at least one function based on the instructions.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the switching of the view on the display of the mobile device comprises switching the view to at least one of a front-facing camera view, a rear-facing camera view, a portrait view, a landscape view, or a video conferencing view.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of functions further comprise displaying a visual indicator overlay on a display of the mobile device, the visual indicator overlay comprising at least one of an arrow, a box, a bracket, or a highlighting of an object in the display of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one connection metric for the video conferencing session;

adjusting, based on the at least one connection metric, the video conferencing session.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one connection metric comprises a network bandwidth available for the video conferencing session.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the adjusting of the video conferencing session comprises at least one of switching from a bi-directional video stream in the video conferencing session to a uni-directional video stream, switching from a video stream in the video conferencing session to an audio stream, or switching from an audio stream in the video conferencing session to text communications.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the captured image from the mobile device is of a vehicle associated with an insurance product.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, from the claims adjuster via the interface, at least one determination associated with the insurance product; and

adjusting the insurance product based on the at least one determination.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing at least one of the captured image or a video stream from the mobile device in a memory.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the claims adjuster is a human representative of an insurance platform.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

establishing a video conferencing session with a mobile device associated with an insurance product;

providing a user interface configured to provide a claims adjuster with remote control of a set of functions on the mobile device associated with the insurance product during the video conferencing session;

receiving, via the user interface, instructions for requesting the mobile device to perform at least one function in the set of functions on the mobile device; and

transmitting, to the mobile device, a request to perform the at least one function on the mobile device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the transmitted request is for capturing an image with a camera using the mobile device, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, in response to the transmitted request, a captured image from the mobile device, wherein the captured image is of a vehicle involved in an incident; and

storing the captured image in a memory.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining at least one connection metric for the video conferencing session;

adjusting, based on the at least one connection metric, the video conferencing session.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

establishing a video conferencing session with a mobile device associated with a user with an insurance policy;

providing an interface configured to provide a claims adjuster with remote control of functions on the mobile device associated with the user during the video conferencing session, wherein the functions comprises capturing an image with a camera using the mobile device;

receiving, via the interface, instructions to request the mobile device to capture the image with the camera;

transmitting, during the video conferencing session and based on the instructions, a request to capture the image to the mobile device, wherein the request is configured to cause the mobile device to capture the image in response to the request; and

receiving, in response to the transmitted instructions, the captured image from the mobile device.

17. A method for investigating an insurance claim, the method comprising:

establishing video conferencing session between a mobile device associated with a user and a system associated with a claims adjuster;

receiving, during the video conferencing session, a request to capture an image;

capturing, in response to the request, the image using a camera using the mobile device; and

transmitting the captured image to the system associated with the claims adjuster.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving a request for at least one of activating a flash when capturing the image, zooming the camera before capturing the image, focusing the camera before capturing the image, adjusting an exposure setting on the camera before capturing the image, or switching a view on a display on the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining at least one connection metric for the video conferencing session;

adjusting, based on the at least one connection metric, the video conferencing session.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the adjusting of the video conferencing session comprises at least one of switching from a bi-directional video stream in the video conferencing session to a uni-directional video stream, switching from a video stream in the video conferencing session to an audio stream, or switching from an audio stream in the video conferencing session to text communications.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the adjusting of the video conferencing session comprises:

temporarily storing the captured image in an image buffer on the mobile device; and

determining a change in the at least one connection metric for the video conferencing session,

wherein the captured image is transmitted to the system associated with the claims adjuster based on the change in the at least one connection metric.