Accident assessment and reconstruction systems and applications

• US 9,691,189 B1
• Filed: 12/15/2011
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Creath, Jacquelyn D
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, Ryan R
• Application Number:
  US13/327,731
• Time in Patent Office: 2,021 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/00 Registering, indicating or recording the time of events or elapsed time, e.g. time-recorders for work people registering or indicating the working of machines or vehicles G07C3/00, G07C5/00

Abstract

Accident assessment and reconstruction systems and applications are described. A computer system and software application to reconstruct the scene of an automobile accident by rendering two-dimensional or three-dimensional visual perspectives of an accident. Furthermore, a computer system and software application to assess damage to a vehicle following an accident by rendering a three-dimensional perspective of a vehicle. The three-dimensional perspective of a vehicle illustrates the severity of damage to the vehicle. The rendered visual perspectives create more realistic and detailed documentation of an accident may be useful in accident reporting and insurance claim reporting.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed on a computer, cause the computer to effectuate operations comprising:

receiving, by a processor of the computer, location-specific information for an accident scene, wherein the location-specific information comprises an image of a roadway;

receiving, by the processor, map information that includes the accident scene;

creating, by the processor, a base image for a representation of the accident scene using the map information and the location-specific information;

augmenting, by the processor, the base image based on traffic information;

causing, by the processor, the base image to be transmitted to a party involved in an accident that occurred at the accident scene; and

receiving, by the processor, an indication from the party that the base image is accurate.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location-specific information further comprises an image of a landscape.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location-specific information further comprises weather data.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions to annotate a perspective of the accident scene using voice.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions to record further comprise instructions to receive data representing a change in position of a symbol when a user drags the symbol from start to end.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

adding, by the processor, at least one symbol to the base image to create a representation of the accident scene;

recording, by the processor, movement of the at least one symbol representing a vehicle in the accident scene; and

rendering, by the processor, a perspective of the accident scene including the base image, the at least one symbol and the movement.

7. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled with the processor, the memory storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving data from a recording device, the data representative of a vehicle'"'"'s movement;

receiving location-specific information for an accident scene, wherein the location-specific information comprises an image of a roadway;

receiving map information that includes the accident scene;

creating a reconstructed accident scene, based on the data representative of the vehicle'"'"'s movement, the map information, and the location-specific information;

augmenting the reconstructed accident scene based on traffic information;

causing the base image to be transmitted to a party involved in an accident that occurred at the accident scene; and

receiving an indication from the party that the base image is accurate.

8. The computer system of claim 7, the operations further comprising integrating the reconstructed accident scene with an insurance loss report.

9. The computer system of claim 7, the operations further comprising integrating the reconstructed accident scene with a police report.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the computer system further comprises a recording device.

11. The computer system used of claim 7, wherein the computer system is a mobile device.

12. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising a graphics processing unit to enable offloading of three-dimensional graphics converted by the processor.

13. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising a graphics processing unit to enable offloading of three-dimensional graphics converted by the processor.