System and method for acquiring and quantifying vehicular damage information

• US 6,470,303 B2
• Filed: 02/04/1998
• Issued: 10/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CCC Information Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Injury Sciences, LLC (CCC Information Services Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Rogers, Linda J., Smith, Darrin A., Kidd, Scott D., Pancratz, David J., Bomar, John B. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOI, KYLE JAEHUN
• Application Number:
  US09/018,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20020013685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,721 Days
• Field of Search: 703/8, 703/7, 703/1, 703/6, 345/339, 345/349, 345/340, 700/303, 702/33, 705/4
• US Class Current: 703/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system and method enables nontechnical personnel to provide information relating to vehicle damage information via a graphical user interface of a computer system. The information provided by the user includes damaged vehicle area information, crush depth of the damaged areas information, and vehicle component-by-component damage information. This information is utilized by a ΔV determination module executing on a processor to, for example, obtain respective overall vehicle damage ratings for each vehicle of two vehicles involved in a collision. The overall damage rating is obtained by applying a set of rules, based on a uniform quantification of component-by-component damage, to the subject vehicles and an identical or sister test vehicle from one or more crash tests which provide damage information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for obtaining and using data from a vehicle collision for determination of a rating of vehicle damage extent for at least one vehicle involved in said vehicle collision, comprising:

generating a first graphical user interface, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a first screen object representing said at least one vehicle, and a second screen object having data entry fields to allow entry of damaged vehicle components and repair/replace information for each of said damaged vehicle components;

assigning a non-monetary damage level value to each of said damaged vehicle components based on said repair/replace information; and

determining an overall non-monetary damage level value for said at least one vehicle based on said non-monetary damage level value for each of said damaged vehicle components.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second graphical user interface, wherein the second graphical user interface includes a third screen object representing a second vehicle, and a fourth screen object having data entry fields to allow entry of damaged vehicle components of said second vehicle and repair/replace information for each of said damaged vehicle components of said second vehicle; and

assigning a non-monetary damage level value to each of said damaged vehicle components of said second vehicle based on said repair/replace information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

inferring whether override/underride situation exists between said at least one vehicle and said second vehicle based on at least one of said non-monetary damage level values for each of said at least one vehicle and said second vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

confirming the existence of said override/underride situation via a selectable outcome inquiry.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said inferring comprises analyzing for at least one preselected vehicle component said non-monetary damage level value for said at least one vehicle and said second vehicle, and finding said override/underride situation where said non-monetary damage level values of said at least one vehicle and said second vehicle differ.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said at least one preselected vehicle component comprises a bumper.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second graphical user interface, wherein the second graphical user interface includes a third screen object representing the at least one vehicle having selectable portions to indicate damage areas, a fourth screen object representing crush depth regions corresponding to the selectable damage area portions of the vehicle, and a fifth screen object to allow entry of crush depth information; and

using said crush depth information to determine energy absorbed by said at least one vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, said overall non-monetary damage level value comprising:

a value equal to said non-monetary damage level value for the one of said damaged vehicle components having the greatest physical damage.

9. A computer-implemented method for obtaining and using data from a vehicle collision for determination of a rating of vehicle damage extent for a subject vehicle involved in said vehicle collision, comprising:

generating a first graphical user interface, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a first screen object representing said subject vehicle, and a second screen object having data entry fields to allow entry of damaged vehicle components and repair/replace information for each of said damaged vehicle components;

assigning a non-monetary subject vehicle damage level value to each of said damaged vehicle components based on said repair/replace information;

obtaining a crash test damage level value corresponding to each of said damaged vehicle components, said crash test damage level value based on repair information; and

comparing said non-monetary subject vehicle damage level value to said crash test damage value to determine whether to use said crash test damage level value for further processing for each of said damaged vehicle components.

10. A computer-implemented method for obtaining and using data relating to at least one vehicle involved in a collision, comprising:

generating a first graphical user interface, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a first screen object representing said at least one vehicle, and a second screen object having data entry fields to allow entry of damaged vehicle components and repair/replace information for each of said damaged vehicle components;

assigning a damage level value to each of said damaged vehicle components based on said repair/replace information;

determining an overall damage level value for said at least one vehicle based on said damage value for each of said damaged vehicle components;

obtaining a crash test damage level value corresponding to each of said damaged vehicle components, said crash test damage value based on repair information;

determining a crash test overall damage level value, said crash test overall damage value based on said damage value for each of said damaged vehicle components; and

comparing said overall damage level value for said at least one vehicle to said crash test overall damage value to determine whether to use said crash test overall damage level value for further processing.