Remote claims adjuster

• US 9,407,874 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US14/158,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20140320590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 381/14.01, 381/14.02, 381/14.03, 381/14.04, 381/14.05, 381/14.06, 381/14.07, 381/14.08, 381/14.09, 381/14.1, 381/14.11, 381/14.12, 381/14.13, 381/14.14, 381/15.15, 381/14.16, 379/265.03, 455/414.1, 455/566, 704/270
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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, with an insurance claim application stored in a memory of a mobile device associated with a user, a video conferencing session between the mobile device and a system associated with a claims adjuster;

providing, for display, a user 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 control, at the mobile device including a camera, the capture of an image with the camera;

receiving, via the user 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 via a wireless channel to the mobile device, wherein the request indicates to the mobile device to capture the image by the mobile device, wherein the request is configured to cause the mobile device to capture the image in response to the request;

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

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

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

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 user 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, wherein the at least one connection metric comprises a network bandwidth available for the video conferencing session.

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

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

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

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

9. 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.

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

11. The method of claim 1, 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.

12. 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, with an insurance claim application stored in a memory of a mobile device associated with a user, a video conferencing session between the mobile device and a system associated with a claims adjuster;

providing, for display, a user 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 control, at the mobile device including a camera, the capture of an image with the camera;

receiving, via the user 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 via a wireless channel to the mobile device, wherein the request indicates to the mobile device to capture the image by the mobile device, wherein the request is configured to cause the mobile device to capture the image in response to the request;

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

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

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

13. The system of claim 12, 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.

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

establishing, with an insurance claim application stored in a memory of a mobile device associated with a user, a video conferencing session between the mobile device and a system associated with a claims adjuster;

providing, for display, a user 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 control, at the mobile device including a camera, the capture of an image with the camera;

receiving, via the user 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 via a wireless channel to the mobile device, wherein the request indicates to the mobile device to capture the image by the mobile device, wherein the request is configured to cause the mobile device to capture the image in response to the request;

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

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

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

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

loading, at the mobile device, an insurance claim application stored in a memory of a mobile device associated with a user;

establishing, upon request of the insurance claim application stored in the memory of the mobile device, a video conferencing session between the mobile device and a system associated with a claims adjuster, the video conference session being displayed at the mobile device;

receiving, during the video conferencing session, a request to capture an image with a camera at the mobile device;

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

transmitting, by the mobile device, the image to the system associated with the claims adjuster; and

switching, based on an adjustment provided by the system in response to at least one connection metric, the video conferencing session, 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, and/or

switching from an audio stream in the video conferencing session to text communications.

16. The method of claim 15, 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.