In-vehicle apparatus for early determination of occupant injury

• US 10,276,033 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2018
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Kelsh, John P., Marlow, Clint J., Hildebrandt, Nicole M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US16/018,373
• Time in Patent Office: 308 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided for determining injuries to occupants (e.g., drivers, passengers, etc.) of a vehicle after an accident. A telematics system may be configured to receive telematics data from one or more vehicles involved in an accident. Using the received telematics data, a computing device of the telematics system may determine whether injuries were sustained by passengers of the one or more vehicles. In response to the determination, the computing device may perform one or more pre-first notice of loss assessments.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a vehicle occupied by a user, data indicating that the vehicle is involved in an accident;

activating, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on a mobile device of the user;

prompting, via the injury determination application, the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident;

determining, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, whether one or more injuries were sustained by an occupant of the vehicle during the accident;

based on the determination of whether the one or more injuries were sustained, determining whether to provide the user with a list of urgent care facilities; and

based on determining not to provide the user with the list of urgent care facilities, performing one or more pre-first notice of loss (FNOL) assessments.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments comprises performing at least one of:

determining property damaged during the accident, estimating repair costs for repairing the property damaged during the accident, and calculating a change in a premium amount of an insurance policy of the user based on the estimated repair costs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein prompting the user to provide responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident comprises prompting the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding:

injuries sustained during the accident, whether the vehicle is drivable, a number of vehicles damaged in the accident, and a level of detail of repair costs needed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments is further based on the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident and determining that no injuries were involved.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident is received from a telematics device associated with the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident comprises at least one of a velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing, to emergency personnel, an alert that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the data indicating that the vehicle is the accident.

8. An injury determination apparatus comprising:

an on-screen display;

a GPS circuitry;

a processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the injury determination apparatus to;

receive, from a vehicle occupied by a user, data indicating that a vehicle is involved in an accident;

activate, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on a mobile device of the user;

prompt, via the injury determination application, the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident;

determine, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, whether one or more injuries were sustained by an occupant of the vehicle during the accident;

based on the determination of whether the one or more injuries were sustained, determine whether to provide the user with a list of urgent care facilities; and

based on determining not to provide the user with the list of urgent care facilities, perform one or more pre-first notice of loss (FNOL) assessments.

9. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments comprises performing at least one of:

determining property damaged during the accident, estimating repair costs for repairing the property damaged during the accident, and calculating a change in a premium amount of an insurance policy of the user, based on the estimated repair costs.

10. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, wherein prompting the user to provide responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident comprises prompting the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding:

injuries sustained during the accident, whether the vehicle is drivable, a number of vehicles damaged in the accident, and a level of detail of repair costs needed.

11. The injury determination apparatus of claim 10, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments is further based on the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident and determining that no injuries were involved.

12. The injury determination apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

an electronic communication channel with a sensor of the vehicle,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to receive the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident, from the sensor and through the electronic communication channel.

13. The injury determination apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident comprises at least one of a velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

14. The injury determination apparatus of claim 13, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the injury determination apparatus to:

provide, to emergency personnel, an alert that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident.

15. An injury determination system comprising:

a telematics device configured to transmit vehicle data, of a vehicle, to a mobile device associated with a user; and

the mobile device, including;

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to;

receive, from the telematics device, data indicating that the vehicle is involved in an accident, wherein the vehicle is occupied by a user;

activate, in response to receiving the data, an injury determination application installed on the mobile device of the user;

prompt, via the injury determination application, the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding the accident;

determine, based on the received data and the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident, whether one or more injuries were sustained by an occupant of the vehicle during the accident;

based on the determination of whether the one or more injuries were sustained, determine whether to provide the user with a list of urgent care facilities; and

based on determining not to provide the user with the list of urgent care facilities, perform one or more pre-first notice of loss (FNOL) assessments.

16. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments comprises performing at least one of:

determining property damaged during the accident, estimating repair costs for repairing the property damaged during the accident, and calculating a change in a premium amount of an insurance policy of the user, based on the estimated repair costs.

17. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein prompting the user to provide responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident comprises prompting the user to provide responses to one or more questions regarding:

injuries sustained during the accident, whether the vehicle is drivable, a number of vehicles damaged in the accident, and a level of detail of repair costs needed.

18. The injury determination system of claim 17, wherein performing the one or more pre-FNOL assessments is further based on the responses to the one or more questions regarding the accident and determining that no injuries were involved.

19. The injury determination system of claim 15, wherein the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident comprises at least one of a velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.

20. The injury determination system of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the mobile device to provide, to emergency personnel, an alert that the accident has occurred, wherein the alert includes the data indicating that the vehicle is involved in the accident.