Method and system for categorizing vehicle treatment facilities into treatment complexity levels

• US 9,495,667 B1
• Filed: 11/19/2015
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Leise, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US14/946,111
• Time in Patent Office: 362 Days
• Field of Search: 701/74
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/021 Means for detecting failure or malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/00 Measuring arrangements or details thereof, where the measuring technique is not covered by the other groups of this subclass, unspecified or not relevant
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/00 Testing of vehicles testing fluid tightness G01M3/00; testing elastic properties of bodies or chassis, e.g. torsion-testing, G01M5/00; testing alignment of vehicle headlight devices G01M11/06; testing of engines G01M15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0275 Fault isolation and identification, e.g. classify fault; estimate cause or root of failure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 : Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

To determine a vehicle treatment facility for treating a damaged vehicle after a crash, several treatment facilities within a predetermined distance of the damaged vehicle may be categorized by treatment complexity level. Treatment facilities within the same treatment complexity level category as the damaged vehicle may be ranked based on several treatment facility evaluation characteristics such as repair duration data, quality rating, availability, price schedule, location data, or a quality rating for one or more suppliers used by the treatment facility. A treatment facility may then be selected for treating the damaged vehicle based on the rankings.

Claims

1. A method for categorizing vehicle treatment facilities into treatment complexity levels, the method executed by one or more processors programmed to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, at the one or more processors, impact characteristics for a damaged vehicle based on at least one of;

vehicle part position data from spatial sensors disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle image data from an image capturing device disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle acceleration data from an accelerometer disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle velocity data from a positioning device disposed within the damaged vehicle, or vehicle direction data from the positioning device;

generating, by one or more processors, a plurality of treatment complexity levels, each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels representing a different degree of difficulty associated with treating damaged vehicles;

receiving, at the one or more processors, a plurality of indications of treatment facilities;

assigning, by the one or more processors, each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities to one of the plurality of treatment complexity levels;

for each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels, sorting, by the one or more processors, each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the respective treatment complexity level;

determining, by the one or more processors, a treatment complexity level of the plurality of treatment complexity levels for treating the damaged vehicle based on the impact characteristics; and

selecting, by the one or more processors, the treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle based on the sorted indications of treatment facilities corresponding to the determined treatment complexity level of the damaged vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sorting each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities based on the assigned treatment complexity level comprises:

for each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels, ranking, by the one or more processors, each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the treatment complexity level based on one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein ranking each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level comprises:

assigning, by the one or more processors, a score for each of the one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics to each of the treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level;

aggregating, by the one or more processors, the assigned scores for each of the treatment facilities to determine an overall score for the treatment facility; and

ranking, by the one or more processors, each of the indications of treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level based on the overall score for the treatment facility.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics includes at least one of:

duration data for the treatment facility, a treatment facility quality rating, a treatment facility availability, a price schedule for treating damaged vehicles, treatment facility location data, or a quality rating for one or more suppliers used by the treatment facility.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle comprises:

transmitting, by the one or more processors, to an owner of the damaged vehicle, a subset of treatment facilities assigned to the same complexity level as the determined complexity level for treating the damaged vehicle and ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking; and

receiving, at the one or more processors, a selection of one of the treatment facilities in the subset of treatment facilities.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein assigning a score for the quality rating for the one or more suppliers comprises ranking, by the one or more processors, each of the one or more suppliers based on one or more supplier evaluation characteristics.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein ranking each of the one or more suppliers based on one or more supplier evaluation characteristics comprises:

assigning, by the one or more processors, a score for each of the one or more supplier evaluation characteristics to each of the one or more suppliers;

aggregating, by the one or more processors, the assigned scores for each of the one or more suppliers to determine an overall score for the supplier; and

ranking, by the one or more processors, each of the one or more suppliers based on the overall score for the supplier.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more supplier evaluation characteristics includes at least one of:

duration data for the supplier, a quality rating of the parts received from the supplier, or a proximity of the supplier to the treatment facility that receives the parts from the supplier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities is assigned to one of the plurality of treatment complexity levels based on at least one of:

a repair level capability of the treatment facility, or a work quality history of the treatment facility; and

wherein each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels includes a price schedule for treating the damaged vehicles, and a time duration for completing treatment of the damaged vehicles.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, at the one or more processors, information associated with transporting the damaged vehicle to the selected treatment facility.

11. A system for categorizing vehicle treatment facilities into treatment complexity levels, the system comprising:

a communication network; and

one or more computing devices communicatively coupled to the communication network, each of the one or more computing devices having a memory and one or more processors and at least one of the computing device configured to;

receive impact characteristics for a damaged vehicle based on at least one of;

vehicle part position data from spatial sensors disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle image data from an image capturing device disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle acceleration data from an accelerometer disposed within the damaged vehicle, vehicle velocity data from a positioning device disposed within the damaged vehicle, or vehicle direction data from the positioning device;

generate a plurality of treatment complexity levels, each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels representing a different degree of difficulty associated with treating damaged vehicles,

receive a plurality of indications of treatment facilities via the communication network,

assign each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities to one of the plurality of treatment complexity levels,

for each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels, sort each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the respective treatment complexity level, determine a treatment complexity level of the plurality of treatment complexity levels for treating the damaged vehicle based on the impact characteristics; and

select the treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle based on the sorted indications of treatment facilities corresponding to the determined treatment complexity level of the damaged vehicle.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein to sort each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities based on the assigned treatment complexity level, the at least one computing device is configured to:

for each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels, rank each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the treatment complexity level based on one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein to rank each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level, the at least one computing device is configured to:

assign a score for each of the one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics to each of the treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level,

aggregate the assigned scores for each of the treatment facilities to determine an overall score for the treatment facility, and

rank each of the indications of treatment facilities assigned to the complexity level based on the overall score for the treatment facility.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more treatment facility evaluation characteristics includes at least one of:

duration data for the treatment facility, a treatment facility quality rating, a treatment facility availability, a price schedule for treating damaged vehicles, treatment facility location data, or a quality rating for one or more suppliers used by the treatment facility.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein to select the treatment facility for treating the damaged vehicle, the at least one computing device is configured to:

transmit to an owner of the damaged vehicle, a subset of treatment facilities assigned to the same complexity level as the determined complexity level for treating the damaged vehicle and ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and

receive a selection of one of the treatment facilities in the subset of treatment facilities.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein to assign a score for the quality rating for the one or more suppliers, the at least one computing device is configured to rank each of the one or more suppliers based on one or more supplier evaluation characteristics.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein to rank each of the one or more suppliers based on one or more supplier evaluation characteristics, the at least one computing device is configured to:

assign a score for each of the one or more supplier evaluation characteristics to each of the one or more suppliers,

aggregate the assigned scores for each of the one or more suppliers to determine an overall score for the supplier, and

rank each of the one or more suppliers based on the overall score for the supplier.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more supplier evaluation characteristics includes at least one of:

duration data for the supplier, a quality rating of the parts received from the supplier, or a proximity of the supplier to the treatment facility that receives the parts from the supplier.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of indications of treatment facilities is assigned to one of the plurality of treatment complexity levels based on at least one of:

a repair level capability of the treatment facility, or a work quality history of the treatment facility, and

wherein each of the plurality of treatment complexity levels includes a price schedule for treating the damaged vehicles, and a time duration for completing treatment of the damaged vehicles.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:

transmit information associated with transporting the damaged vehicle to the selected treatment facility.