Methods and systems of managing accident communications over a network

• US 9,866,673 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2016
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Medlegal Network, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medlegal Network, Inc.
• Inventors: Gabel, Gershon
• Primary Examiner(s): Fang, Keith
• Assistant Examiner(s): HANNAN, B M M
• Application Number:
  US15/048,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20160182707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 4554042, 4554142, 455440, 4554561, 455457, 707803, 707E17028, 707E17058, 707E17101, 340436, 34053911, 705 4, 701301
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72424 with manual activation of emergency-service functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems and methods are configured to detect the occurrence of accidents, and to collect, process, and distribute accident related data. The accident related information may include location information, accident image information, and/or other information. Optionally, upon detection of an accident, emergency contacts of a user involved in the accident may be automatically notified of the accident. Data may be imaged using a camera of a mobile device, barcode locations may be identified, and barcodes may be decoded.

Claims

1. A mobile device configured to manage accident-related communications, comprising:

a wireless interface;

a processing system;

a touch screen;

a camera;

non-transitory computer readable memory that stores instructions that when executed by the processing system cause the mobile device to;

provide a first user interface that enables a user to report an event that the user experienced, wherein the first user interface provides a menu of a plurality of different event types comprising at least a vehicular accident event type and an immigration event type, wherein the first user interface enables the user to select an event-type among the plurality of different event types;

receive via the touch screen an event type selection from the user;

based at least in part on the received event type selection from the user from the first user interface that provides a menu of a plurality of different event types comprising at least a vehicular accident event type and an immigration event type, select an information capture process among a plurality of information capture process;

identify an estimated current location of the user based at least in part on WiFi, cell tower, or GPS location information;

select a map based at least in part on the user'"'"'s estimated current location;

present via the touch screen the map of the user'"'"'s estimated current location;

enable the user to move, pinch, and zoom the map of the user'"'"'s estimated current location;

enable the user to identify, on the map selected based at least in part on the user'"'"'s estimated current location, a precise event location of the event that the user experienced by touching a location on the map and/or via a touch keyboard entry;

provide a second user interface requesting an image of a document;

in response to a user input received via the touch screen, cause a viewfinder corresponding to the mobile device camera to be displayed, wherein the viewfinder displays a live image being viewed by the mobile device camera;

cause an alignment indicator to be displayed with the viewfinder while the live image is displayed;

enable the user to capture an image of a document displayed via the viewfinder;

determine a location of an optical code comprising a barcode on the document;

cause the barcode to be decoded to obtain at least alphanumeric information, the alphanumeric information comprising;

a user name on the document, and

a document identifier;

populate a name field of a third user interface with the user name decoded from the barcode;

populate a document identifier field of the third user interface with the document identifier decoded from the barcode;

provide a fourth user interface enabling the user to record content from an event observer by touching a record control presented via the touch screen;

cause event observer content to be recorded in response to the user touching the record control;

provide a user interface configured to receive a signature via the touch screen;

digitize a received signature of the of the event observer;

store the digitized signature of the event observer in association with the content recorded from the event observer;

compress the digitized signature of the event observer using a first type of compression, wherein the first type of compression is a lossless compression;

compress the document image using a second type of compression, wherein the second type of compression is a lossy compression;

transmit the digitized signature, compressed using the first type of compression, and the document image, compressed using the second type of compression, to a remote system;

transmit to the remote system, using the wireless interface, at least the precise location, at least a portion of the alphanumeric information obtained by decoding the barcode, and the recorded observer content;

provide an emergency contact user interface enabling the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact;

present on the touch screen an emergency notification control;

detect activation of the emergency notification control; and

at least partly in response to the detection of the activation of the emergency notification control, automatically transmit a notification to one or more contacts previously specified by the user, via the emergency contact user interface that enables the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact, the emergency notification comprising;

a map of the precise event location of the event that the user experienced;

a name of the user;

a time indicating when the notification was transmitted and/or a time indicating when the notification was received;

a contact control enabling place a voice call to the user.

2. The mobile device as defined in claim 1, wherein the recorded content comprises at least audio content.

3. The mobile device as defined in claim 1, wherein the optical code comprises a two dimension barcode including a locator symbol, wherein the mobile device is configured to determine the location of the optical code using the locator symbol.

4. The mobile device as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of different event types further comprises a workplace injury event type, and a personal injury event type.

5. A method of managing accident-related communications, comprising:

providing an application, comprising software, configured to be downloaded to a mobile device of a user having a touch screen and camera, wherein the application is configured to;

provide a first user interface enabling the user to report an event that the user experienced, wherein the first user interface provides a menu of a plurality of different event types comprising at least a vehicular accident event type and a workplace accident event type, wherein the first user interface enables the user to select an event-type among a plurality of different event types;

receive an event type selection from the user, wherein the event type selection is received via the touch screen;

based at least in part on the received event type selection from the user from the first user interface that provides a menu of a plurality of different event types comprising at least a vehicular accident event type and workplace injury event type, select an information capture process among a plurality of information capture process;

identify an estimated location of the user based at least in part on WiFi, cell tower, or GPS location information;

select a map based at least in part on the user'"'"'s estimated location;

provide the selected map for display via the user device;

enable the user to move, pinch, and zoom the map of the user'"'"'s estimated location;

enable the user to identify, on the map selected based at least in part on the user'"'"'s estimated location, a precise event location of the event that the user experienced by touching a location on the map and/or via a touch keyboard entry;

display an indicator at the map location touched by the user that indicates the precise event location of the event that the user experienced in response to the user identifying the precise event location of the event that the user experienced;

provide a second user interface requesting an image of a document;

in response to a user input, cause a viewfinder corresponding to the mobile device camera to be displayed;

cause an alignment indicator to be displayed with the viewfinder;

enable the user to capture an image of a document displayed via the viewfinder;

determine a location of an optical code comprising a barcode on the document based at least in part on a detection of a finder pattern;

determine a barcode type for the optical code;

decode the optical code to obtain at least alphanumeric information, the alphanumeric information comprising;

a user name on the document, and

a document identifier;

populate a name field of a third user interface with the user name decoded from the barcode;

populate a document identifier field of the third user interface with the document identifier decoded from the barcode;

provide a fourth user interface enabling the user to record content from an event observer;

cause event observer content to be recorded in response to the user activating a record control;

provide a user interface configured to receive a signature via the touch screen;

digitize a received signature of the of the event observer;

store the digitized signature of the event observer in association with the content recorded from the event observer;

compress the digitized signature of the event observer using a first type of compression;

compress the document image using a second type of compression;

transmit the digitized signature, compressed using the first type of compression, and the document image, compressed using the second type of compression, to a remote system;

transmit to the remote system, using a wireless interface, at least the precise location, at least a portion of the alphanumeric information obtained by decoding the barcode, and the recorded observer content;

provide an emergency contact user interface enabling the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact;

present on the touch screen an emergency notification control;

detect activation of the emergency notification control; and

at least partly in response to the detection of the activation of the emergency notification control, automatically transmit a notification to one or more contacts previously specified by the user, via the emergency contact user interface that enables the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact, the emergency notification comprising;

a map of the precise event location of the event that the user experienced;

a name of the user;

a time indicating when the notification was transmitted and/or a time indicating when the notification was received;

a contact control enabling a contact to place a voice call to the user.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the recorded content comprises at least audio content.

7. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the optical code comprises a two dimension barcode including a locator symbol.

8. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the plurality of different event types further comprises a personal injury event type, and immigration event type.

9. A method of managing accident-related communications, comprising:

providing a first user interface for display on a user device, the user device comprising a touch screen and a camera, the first user interface enabling the user to report an event that the user experienced;

identifying an estimated location of the user based at least in part on WiFi, cell tower, or GPS location information;

enabling a map corresponding to the estimated location to be displayed on the user device;

enabling the user to move, pinch, and zoom the map of the user'"'"'s estimated location;

enabling the user to identify, on the map corresponding to the user'"'"'s estimated location, a precise event location of the event that the user experienced by touching a location on the map and/or via a touch keyboard entry;

providing an indicator at the map location touched by the user that indicates the precise event location of the event that the user experienced in response to the user identifying the precise event location of the event that the user experienced;

providing a second user interface requesting an image of a document;

in response to a user input, causing a viewfinder corresponding to the mobile device camera to be displayed;

enabling the user to capture an image of a document displayed via the viewfinder;

determining a location of an optical code comprising a barcode on the document;

decoding the barcode to obtain at least alphanumeric information, the alphanumeric information comprising;

a user name on the document, and

a document identifier;

populating a name field of a third user interface with the user name decoded from the barcode;

populating a document identifier field of the third user interface with the document identifier decoded from the barcode;

providing a fourth user interface enabling the user to record content from an event observer that observed the event that the user experienced;

causing event observer content to be recorded in response to the user activating a record control;

providing a user interface configured to receive a signature via the touch screen;

digitizing a received signature of the of the event observer that observed the event that the user experienced; and

storing the digitized signature of the event observer that observed the event that the user experienced in association with the content recorded from the event observer;

compressing the digitized signature, of the event observer that observed the event that the user experienced, using a first type of compression;

compressing the document image using a second type of compression;

transmit the digitized signature, compressed using the first type of compression, and the document image, compressed using the second type of compression, to a remote system;

transmitting to the remote system, using a wireless interface, at least the precise location, at least a portion of the alphanumeric information obtained by decoding the barcode, and the recorded observer content;

providing an emergency contact user interface enabling the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact;

providing on the touch screen an emergency notification control;

detecting activation of the emergency notification control; and

at least partly in response to the detection of the activation of the emergency notification control, transmitting a notification to one or more contacts previously specified by the user, via the emergency contact user interface that enables the user to specify one or more contacts from the user'"'"'s contact data store as an emergency contact, the emergency notification comprising;

a map of the precise event location of the event that the user experienced;

a name of the user;

a time indicating when the notification was transmitted and/or a time indicating when the notification was received;

a contact control enabling a contact receiving the notification to contact the user.

10. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein the recorded content comprises at least audio content.

11. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein the optical code comprises a two dimension barcode including a locator symbol, the further comprising determining the location of the optical code using the locator symbol.