Method and apparatus for obtaining and using impact severity triage data

• US 20070203866A1
• Filed: 02/27/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CCC Information Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Injury Sciences, LLC (CCC Information Services Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Smith, Darrin, Kidd, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,502,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving data for a vehicle involved in an accident, analyzing the data for classification of damaged components and operations to be performed on the vehicle, and generating a triage decision for the vehicle based on a rules-based analysis of the classification and the operations. The triage decision may be used to route a claim corresponding to the accident to an appropriate resource for analysis and handling.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving accident data for a vehicle involved in an accident;

analyzing the accident data for classification of damaged components and operations to be performed thereon; and

generating a triage decision for the vehicle based on a rules-based analysis of the classification and the operations.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the accident data comprises receiving repair estimate information from a third party via a computer network.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the triage decision to the third party via the computer network, the triage decision indicating the accident as either a low severity impact or a non-low severity impact.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising storing an entry corresponding to the accident in a database, the entry including vehicle component damage information for the accident data and the triage decision.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein storing the entry further comprises storing a damage pattern of the vehicle in the entry.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the accident data for the classification and the operations comprises classifying the damaged components as structural or non-structural.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the rules-based analysis comprises:

determining if any structural components of the vehicle are identified for replacement; and

generating the triage decision as a low severity impact if no structural components of the vehicle are identified for replacement.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the rules-based analysis comprises:

if any structural components of the vehicle are identified for replacement, determining if a damage pattern of the vehicle corresponds to a low severity profile of an accident database; and

generating the triage decision as a low severity impact if the damage pattern of the vehicle corresponds to a low severity profile, otherwise generating the triage decision as a non-low severity impact.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

flagging a claim associated with the triage decision for fraud analysis based on the rules-based analysis, wherein the rules-based analysis further comprises analysis of a second vehicle involved in the accident and a relative mass of the first and second vehicles.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

triaging first estimate data for a first vehicle involved in an accident to obtain a first severity estimate;

triaging second estimate data for a second vehicle involved in the accident to obtain a second severity estimate;

determining a probability of impact severity for the accident based at least in part on the first severity estimate and the second severity estimate; and

reporting the probability of impact severity.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein determining the probability of impact severity further comprises comparing a physical parameter of the first vehicle and the second vehicle if the first severity estimate and the second severity estimate differ.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising flagging a claim associated with the accident for fraud analysis if one of the first and second severity estimates do not meet a predetermined rule, based on the physical parameters of the first and second vehicles.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein triaging the first estimate data comprises determining if any structural components of the first vehicle are identified for replacement.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising obtaining the first estimate data and the second estimate data from a third party via a computer network.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the probability of impact severity to the third party via the computer network.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising storing an entry in a database corresponding to the accident, the entry including the first and second estimate data, the first and second severity estimates, and the probability of impact severity.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein storing the entry further comprises storing a first damage pattern for the first vehicle and a second damage pattern for the second vehicle.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising:

comparing the first damage pattern to a subset of damage patterns in the database, the subset of damage patterns for at least one vehicle related to the first vehicle; and

updating a rules-based triage analysis program based on the comparison.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising applying the rules-based triage analysis program to triage an unrelated accident.

20. An article comprising a machine-accessible medium including instructions that when executed cause a system to:

receive a triage report indicative of a non-low severity impact for an accident involving a vehicle, the triage report including a vehicle damage pattern and a repair estimate;

receive an impact analysis report indicative of a low severity impact for the accident;

analyze the vehicle damage pattern and vehicle damage patterns stored in a database for similarities; and

modify triage evaluation criteria based on the similarities.

21. The article of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to store the repair estimate in the database.

22. The article of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to apply the modified triage evaluation criteria to an unrelated accident.

23. The article of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to generate the impact analysis report via a program to determine impact severity based on vehicle component damage.

24. The article of claim 23, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to generate the impact analysis report based at least in part on event data recorder (EDR) data obtained from the vehicle.