System and method for assessing a claim using an inspection vehicle

• US 9,262,789 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Tofte, Nathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tien
• Application Number:
  US14/656,185
• Time in Patent Office: 341 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 705/4, 705/38, 705/39, 705/40, 705/41, 701/32.2, 701/11, 701/28, 702/151, 345/420, 367/116, 382/286, 382/124, 382/209, 382/305, 700/255
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/87 Mounting of imaging devices, e.g. mounting of gimbals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/176 Urban or other man-made structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

Disclosed systems and methods automatically assess claims. A device may receive one or more images of a claimed object, such as a building or vehicle, compare the images to reference images and generate an estimate of financial damages to the object. The device may then generate a claim assessment based on previous comparisons and generated estimates. The claim assessment may be sent directly to a client or to an agent for review and/or processing.

Claims

1. A system configured to automatically assess a claim, the system comprising:

a controllable inspection vehicle including an image sensor, the controllable inspection vehicle controlled via a transportation module configured to cause the controllable inspection vehicle to travel around a geographic area; and

one or more computing devices communicatively coupled to the controllable inspection vehicle, the one or more computing devices configured to;

(a) receive from the controllable inspection vehicle one or more captured images of a building, the one or more captured images captured, via the image sensor, from one or more locations traversed by the controllable inspection vehicle;

(b) automatically perform an analysis of the one or more captured images, the analysis of the one or more captured images including;

(i) an image comparison between the one or more captured images and one or more reference images;

(ii) a calculation of damage to the building that corresponds to damage to parts of the building to be repaired or replaced, said calculation based on results of the image comparison; and

(iii) an estimate of a remedial financial cost to remedy the damage calculated from the image comparison; and

(c) generate a claim assessment based, at least in part, on results of the analysis of the one or more captured images, the results of the analysis including the estimated remedial financial cost.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:

transmit the generated claim assessment to a device to further process by an agent.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the generated claim assessment denies financial compensation.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the controllable inspection vehicle is controlled by signals transmitted from a radio-frequency controller.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the controllable inspection vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the proposed claim assessment is an insurance claim assessment.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to perform a fraud assessment, wherein the claim assessment is generated based, at least in part, on (a) the results of the analysis of the one or more captured images, and (b) results of the fraud assessment.

8. A method of automatically assessing a claim, the method comprising:

moving a controllable inspection to one or more locations;

at the one or more locations;

capturing, using an image sensor of the controllable inspection vehicle, one or more images of a building;

transmitting the one or more captured images from the controllable inspection vehicle to one or more computing devices;

receiving, at the one or more computing devices, the one or more captured images;

automatically performing, by the one or more computing devices, an analysis of the one or more captured images, wherein performing the analysis of the one or more captured images includes;

(i) performing an image comparison between the one or more captured images and one or more reference images;

(ii) performing a calculation of damage to the building corresponding to damage to parts of the building to be repaired or replaced, said calculation based on results of the image comparison; and

(iii) generating an estimate of a remedial financial cost to remedy the damage calculated from the image comparison; and

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a claim assessment based, at least in part, on results of the analysis of the one or more captured images, the results of the analysis including the estimated remedial financial cost.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

automatically transmitting the proposed claim assessment to a device to further process by an agent.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the proposed claim assessment denies financial compensation.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the proposed claim assessment is an insurance claim assessment.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to perform a fraud assessment, wherein the claim assessment is generated based, at least in part, on (a) the results of the analysis of the one or more captured images, and (b) results of the fraud assessment.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein performing the calculation of damage to the building that accounts for damage to parts of the building to be repaired or replaced comprises:

generating a three-dimensional model of the building based on the one or more captured images; and

comparing the generated three-dimensional model of the building to one or more pre-defined building models.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein generating an estimate of a remedial financial cost to remedy the damage calculated from the image comparison comprises:

identifying a cost for one or more of;

repairing a part of the building, or replacing a part of the building; and

wherein identifying the cost includes accessing pricing data stored at a database coupled to the one or more computing devices, the pricing data relating to labor costs or component costs.