COMPUTER-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR AIDING THE REPAIR OF MOTOR VEHICLES

• US 20120297337A1
• Filed: 04/30/2012
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Manheim Investments Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Manheim Investments Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: St. Denis, Ronald, Mitchell, Terry, Humble, Mark, Haegelin, Marc, Couch, William Henry, Warpool, Julie Elizabeth, Krise, Stephen, Chastain, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,960 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

A computer-assisted inspection system provides computer architectures and software controlled algorithms to automatically provide vehicle inspections and repair recommendations including estimated repair time and cost of depression type damage such as dents. Features provided by a handheld wireless touchscreen based inspection device include flat car part picking, auto grading including seller grading, and automatic calculation of body and bumper dent repair parameters and directions.

Claims

1. A method of parameterizing repair of damage to a motor vehicle by using at least one processor and at least one non-transitory storage device storing executable code, said processor executing said stored executable code to provide a visually-perceptible display on a touch screen display, the method comprising:

(1) automatically requesting, with the processor, a user to input dimensions of a dent;

(2) automatically requesting, with the processor, the user to input via the touch screen whether there are sharp creases or folds in a repair surface corresponding to the dent;

(3) automatically requesting, with the processor, the user to input via the touch screen whether there are gouges, tears or crushed material in the repair surface;

(4) automatically requesting, with the processor, the user to input via the touch screen how many hard worked surfaces are subject to repair in repairing the dent;

(5) in response to at least the received user inputs, automatically parameterizing at least time and cost to repair the dent;

(6) automatically, with the processor, iterating steps (1)-(5) for each of plural dents in the motor vehicle; and

(7) automatically providing, with the processor, totalized parameterized repair outputs that will result in changing the repair state of the motor vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 further including displaying vehicle condition on said display device, said displayed condition interactively changing based on whether the user recommends approval of selected ones of a list of damage to the motor vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the touch screen display is provided on a handheld housing containing a camera, and the method further includes automatically analyzing image data from the camera to ascertain extent of damage to the vehicle.

4. The method as in claim 1 further including providing an overall condition grade of a vehicle based on said user inputs.

5. The method of claim 1 further including requesting the user to identify damaged portions of a motor vehicle by touching a flat depiction of the motor vehicle on a touch screen.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said requesting is provided using dropdown menus and radio buttons.

7. In a computing system including a processor, at least one input device, and a display, said computing device including at least one storage device storing executable code to be executed by the processor, said processor at least in part controlling the display to display information that is visually perceptible by a user, said processor accepting input from the user via the at least one input device and affecting the information displayed on the display in order to provide interaction with the user, the computing device processor executing the executable code stored by the storage device to perform the following functions:

(a) enable the user to input length and width dimensions of a dent in a motor vehicle body;

(b) enable the user to input number of work hardened areas to be repaired;

(c) enable the user to input the number of panel edges to be repaired;

(d) enable the user to input the number of body lines to be repaired;

(e) enable the user to input additional damage associated with the dent;

(f) accept and process said user inputs;

(g) in response to the accepted and processed user inputs, automatically calculating how much time required to repair the dent based on the length and width of the dent, adjusting the calculated repair time based on the input number of work hardened areas, panel edges, body lines, and additional damage;

(h) based on the automatically calculated and adjusted time, automatically calculating how much it will cost to repair the dent; and

(h) providing an electronic presentation enabling a user to authorize repair to thereby change the state of the motor vehicle body.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein (a) includes requesting the user to input length, width and depth of the dent and the calculating includes using a lookup table to determine repair time based on the length, width and depth of the dent.

9. The system of claim 7 further including requesting the user to input whether there are any additional damages including sharp creases or folds, crushed metal, tears or gouges.

10. The system of claim 7 further including requesting the user to input whether the body part having the dent is made of aluminum.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said processor executes said instructions to calculate repair time at least in response to work in hard area, lines within dent, and dimensions of dent.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor requests the user to input the length and width of the dent using a dropdown menu.

13. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor requests the user to enter number of panel edges using a dropdown menu.

14. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor requests the user to enter the number of work hard areas using a dropdown box.

15. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor requests the user to input the depth of the dent using radio buttons.

16. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor uses formulas and data matrices to calculate body labor hours by calculating labor hours based on dent width and length parameters, and then adjusts the number of labor hours based on number of work hard areas, number of panel edges, number of body lines, depth of the dent and additional damages.

17. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor calculates a running total of repair estimate of all dents on the same vehicle panel.

18. The system of claim 7 wherein said display comprises a touch screen, and said enabling is provided by the user touching the touch screen either directly or with a stylus.

19. The system of claim 7 wherein said computing device comprises a portable, wirelessly-connected inspection device having said display on a surface thereof and housing said at least said processor and a wireless communications device.

20. A non-transitory storage device storing executable instructions that when executed by at least one processor control the processor to parameterize repair of damage to a motor vehicle, said processor being configured to provide a visually-perceptible display on a touch screen display, the non-transitory storage device storing:

first instructions controlling the processor to automatically request a user to input dimensions of a dent;

second instructions controlling the processor to automatically request the user to input via the touch screen whether there are sharp creases or folds in a repair surface corresponding to the dent;

third instructions controlling the processor to automatically request the user to input via the touch screen whether there are gouges, tears or crushed material in the repair surface;

fourth instructions controlling the processor to automatically request the user to input via the touch screen how many hard worked surfaces are subject to repair in repairing the dent;

fifth instructions controlling the processor to, in response to at least the received user inputs, automatically parameterize at least time and cost to repair the dent by using a length and width lookup matrix to calculate labor hours based on the width and length parameters, add additional body time based on number of work hard areas, number of panel edges, number of body lines, depth of the dent, sharp crease or fold, crushed metal and other factors;

sixth instructions controlling the processor to automatically iterate execution of the first through fifth instructions for each of plural dents in the motor vehicle; and

seventh instructions controlling the processor to automatically provide parameterized repair outputs that will result in changing the repair state of the motor vehicle.

21. A computer-assisted process for allowing a seller to disclose parameterized condition information to potential purchasers by using a handheld device comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory storage device storing executable code, said processor executing said stored executable code to provide a visually-perceptible display on a touch screen display, the process comprising:

(1) automatically requesting, with the processor, an inspector to input condition information referring to the condition of a motor vehicle by guiding the inspector through a virtual walk around of the vehicle using on-screen instructions and a pre-defined, resulting in data collection including item and damage values;

(2) automatically requesting, with the processor, the inspector to capture and store photographs of the vehicle with a camera operatively connected to the handheld device;

(3) automatically, wirelessly transmitting, from the handheld device processor to a further processor remote from the handheld device processor, at least the input condition information referring to the motor vehicle condition to a further processor;

(4) with the further processor, mapping the input condition information to a seller parameterized grade, including mapping a higher precision grade parameter to a lower precision seller grade value, the mapping which the further processor automatically performs mapping at least Item and damage values and at least three of severity, item description, item code, damage description, damage code, severity description, action description, and action code; and

(5) with the further processor, automatically delivering the lower precision seller grade value and other mapped information for inclusion in a human-and-machine readable seller condition report including at least some captured and stored photographs.