Method and system for facilitating vehicle inspection to detect previous damage and repairs
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for detecting damage to a vehicle, the method comprising:
- receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is indicative of direct damage to the vehicle;
based upon the received indication, automatically determining one or more areas likely to reveal a nonconformity due to indirect damage and generating instructions to inspect the determined one or more areas;
receiving an indication of the results of inspecting the determined one or more areas; and
producing an indication of the results.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Computer-based methods and systems for facilitating the inspection of a vehicle to detect the presence of damage and problems with previous repair and to guide the inspection, estimation, and repair of direct and indirect damage are provided. Exemplary embodiments provide an inspection facilitator, which includes an inspection engine and an inspection interface. The inspection engine and inspection interface can be implemented as an expert system, which directs a technician or apparatus to perform a uniform inspection process. When used to detect prior damage and problems with previous repair, the inspection facilitator, after receiving vehicle specific information, first directs and guides an inspection of the underbody of the vehicle to detect gross-level or relevant damage and repair. The inspection facilitator then dynamically directs and guides an inspection of the outerbody of the vehicle based upon the nonconformities indicated in response to each directed inspection task. When used to guide an inspection, estimate, and/or repair of direct and indirect damage, the inspection facilitator first directs an inspection of direct damage. The inspection facilitator then dynamically directs and guides an inspection of areas that are likely to have sustained indirect damage. The areas to be inspected and the inspection tasks are determined dynamically by comparing nonconformity input to facts and rules programmed into the inference engine of the inspection facilitator, in combination with retrieved manufacturing specifications, industry standard repair procedures, principles of energy management, and other relevant data.
129 Citations
62 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for detecting damage to a vehicle, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is indicative of direct damage to the vehicle;
based upon the received indication, automatically determining one or more areas likely to reveal a nonconformity due to indirect damage and generating instructions to inspect the determined one or more areas;
receiving an indication of the results of inspecting the determined one or more areas; and
producing an indication of the results. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-based method of facilitating repair of damage to a vehicle, the method comprising:
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retrieving a vehicle-related specification;
receiving an indication of a nonconformity of the vehicle relative to the retrieved specification; and
based upon the received indication of the nonconformity, automatically directing an inspection and repair of the vehicle by repeating acts of;
indicating areas to inspect;
receiving the result of inspecting the indicated area; and
when the received results indicate a nonconformity, indicating repair procedures;
until no additional nonconformities are indicated by the received results. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method in a computer system for facilitating a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence of indirect damage comprising:
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receiving an indication of direct damage to the vehicle;
using an inference engine, automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal indirect damage to the vehicle;
receiving results from the directed inspection; and
indicating whether indirect damage to the vehicle has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer-based inspection system comprising:
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an inspection engine that, receives an indication of initial damage to a vehicle;
automatically generates a sequence of inspection steps based upon the inspection results received at each step to determine the presence of additional damage; and
when additional damage is detected, generates a sequence of repair instructions ordered to correct detected additional damage prior to indicated initial damage; and
an inspection interface that, directs an inspection according to the sequence of inspection steps generated by the inspection engine; and
receives indications of nonconformities and forwards the received indications to the inspection engine as inspection results. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence of indirect damage by:
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receiving an indication of direct damage to the vehicle;
using an inference engine, automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal indirect damage to the vehicle;
receiving results from the directed inspection; and
indicating whether indirect damage to the vehicle has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate the detection of damage to a vehicle, by:
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receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is indicative of direct damage to the vehicle;
based upon the received indication, automatically determining one or more areas likely to reveal a nonconformity due to indirect damage and generating instructions to inspect the determined one or more areas; and
receiving an indication of the results of inspecting the determined one or more areas. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to detect damage to a vehicle based upon the energy management design of the vehicle by:
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receiving an indication of initial damage;
based upon the location and force of impact of the initial damage indicated, determining other areas of the vehicle that may have experienced damage caused by shock waves initiating from a point of impact; and
automatically generating a sequence of inspection steps based upon the determined other areas, so that additional damage can be detected. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
receiving indications of damage based upon an inspection performed according to the generated inspection steps; and
automatically generating an estimate based upon the indicated damage.
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37. The storage medium of claim 36 wherein the estimate is a cost estimate for repairing the vehicle.
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38. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate inspection of a vehicle to detect damage and problems with previous repair, the vehicle having a plurality of portions, by:
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retrieving vehicle specifications and repair specifications;
determining whether at least one of damage and repair has occurred to the vehicle by receiving an indication of the existence of a nonconformity of a first portion of the vehicle to the retrieved vehicle specifications;
when it is determined that at least one of damage and repair has occurred to the vehicle, automatically generating and indicating inspection instructions based upon the indicated nonconformities of the first portion of the vehicle;
receiving an indication of whether previous repair work to a second portion of the vehicle has been performed; and
when the indication of previous repair work indicates that previous repair work was performed, receiving indications of repair nonconformities, the repair nonconformities based upon the retrieved repair specifications; and
determining an overall condition of the vehicle based upon the received indications of repair nonconformities. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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42. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence and quality of prior repair or the existence of prior damage by:
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receiving indications of nonconformities that are indicative of prior repair or prior damage;
using an inference engine, automatically directing the inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection based upon the received indications of nonconformities;
for each indicated nonconformity, encoding an inspection result; and
storing the encoded inspection results in a manner that indicates the condition of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
retrieving the stored single encoding of the inspection results; and
decomposing the retrieved encoding into individual encoded inspection results so that the nonconformities indicated during the inspection can be retrieved.
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45. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 42 wherein each encoding of an inspection result encodes a location of the nonconformity on the vehicle and a weighting of the nonconformity that indicates the severity of the nonconformity.
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46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 42, further containing instructions that control a computer processor by:
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computing an overall defect rating based upon the encoded inspection results further qualified by overall rating qualifiers; and
storing the overall defect rating.
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47. The storage medium of claim 42, further containing instructions that control the computer processor by generating an estimate for repairing each indicated nonconformity.
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48. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to assess prior repair or damage by:
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receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is potentially indicative of prior repair or damage;
retrospectively determining a set of repair steps that should have been performed to the vehicle to avoid the indicated nonconformity;
automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle according to the determined set of repair steps to identify whether damage was sustained to the vehicle and whether each repair step, if performed, was properly performed;
receiving a plurality of inspection results; and
determining from the received inspection results an overall assessment of the vehicle that indicates whether the vehicle sustained damage and whether the vehicle was repaired properly. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50)
coalescing the received inspection results into a single encoded inspection result; and
storing the single encoded inspection result as part of an identity of the vehicle.
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51. A method in a computer system for estimating damage to a vehicle, comprising:
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receiving an indication of initial damage to the vehicle;
using an inference engine, directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal additional damage to the vehicle;
receiving results from the directed inspection including indications of whether additional damage has occurred to the vehicle; and
determining an estimate of the indicated damage.
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52. The method of claim 51 wherein the directed inspection is based upon the energy management design of the vehicle.
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53. The method of claim 51, further comprising generating a sequence of repair instructions based upon the indications of initial and additional damage.
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54. The method of claim 51 wherein the determined estimate is part of an insurance cost estimate output.
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55. A vehicle damage estimating system comprising:
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inference engine structured to receive an indication of initial damage;
generate a sequence of inspection steps based upon the results received at each prior step and direct an inspection according to each step to determine the presence of additional damage; and
determine an estimate of the initial and additional damage.
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56. The system of claim 55 wherein the generated sequence of inspection steps is based upon the energy management design of the vehicle.
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57. The system of claim 55 wherein the inference engine is further structured to generate a sequence of repair instructions based upon the indications of initial and additional damage.
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58. The system of claim 55 wherein the determined estimate is part of an insurance cost estimate output.
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59. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor to estimate damage to a vehicle, by:
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receiving an indication of initial damage to the vehicle;
using an inference engine, directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal additional damage to the vehicle;
receiving results from the directed inspection including indications of whether additional damage has occurred to the vehicle; and
determining an estimate of the indicated damage.
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60. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein the directed inspection is based upon the energy management design of the vehicle.
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61. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59, further containing instructions that control a computer processor by generating a sequence of repair instructions based upon the indications of initial and additional damage.
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62. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein the determined estimate is part of an insurance cost estimate output.
Specification