Method and system for facilitating vehicle inspection to detect previous damage and repairs

A computer-based method of facilitating repair of damage to a vehicle, the method comprising:

• retrieving a vehicle-related specification;
• receiving an indication of a nonconformity of the vehicle relative to the retrieved specification;
• and
• based upon the received indication of the nonconformity, automatically directing an inspection and repair of the vehicle by repeating acts of:
• indicating areas to inspect;
• receiving the result of inspecting the indicated area;
• and
• when the received results indicate a nonconformity, indicating repair procedures;
• until no additional nonconformities are indicated by the received results.

A method in a computer system for facilitating a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence of indirect damage comprising:

• receiving an indication of direct damage to the vehicle;
• using an inference engine, automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal indirect damage to the vehicle;
• receiving results from the directed inspection;
• and
• indicating whether indirect damage to the vehicle has occurred.

A computer-based inspection system comprising:

• an inspection engine that,
• receives an indication of initial damage to a vehicle;
• automatically generates a sequence of inspection steps based upon the inspection results received at each step to determine the presence of additional damage;
• and
• when additional damage is detected, generates a sequence of repair instructions ordered to correct detected additional damage prior to indicated initial damage;
• and
• an inspection interface that,
• directs an inspection according to the sequence of inspection steps generated by the inspection engine;
• and
• receives indications of nonconformities and forwards the received indications to the inspection engine as inspection results.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence of indirect damage by:

• receiving an indication of direct damage to the vehicle;
• using an inference engine, automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal indirect damage to the vehicle;
• receiving results from the directed inspection;
• and
• indicating whether indirect damage to the vehicle has occurred.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate the detection of damage to a vehicle, by:

• receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is indicative of direct damage to the vehicle;
• based upon the received indication, automatically determining one or more areas likely to reveal a nonconformity due to indirect damage and generating instructions to inspect the determined one or more areas;
• and
• receiving an indication of the results of inspecting the determined one or more areas.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to detect damage to a vehicle based upon the energy management design of the vehicle by:

• receiving an indication of initial damage;
• based upon the location and force of impact of the initial damage indicated, determining other areas of the vehicle that may have experienced damage caused by shock waves initiating from a point of impact;
• and
• automatically generating a sequence of inspection steps based upon the determined other areas, so that additional damage can be detected.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate inspection of a vehicle to detect damage and problems with previous repair, the vehicle having a plurality of portions, by:

• retrieving vehicle specifications and repair specifications;
• determining whether at least one of damage and repair has occurred to the vehicle by receiving an indication of the existence of a nonconformity of a first portion of the vehicle to the retrieved vehicle specifications;
• when it is determined that at least one of damage and repair has occurred to the vehicle,
• automatically generating and indicating inspection instructions based upon the indicated nonconformities of the first portion of the vehicle;
• receiving an indication of whether previous repair work to a second portion of the vehicle has been performed;
• and
• when the indication of previous repair work indicates that previous repair work was performed, receiving indications of repair nonconformities, the repair nonconformities based upon the retrieved repair specifications;
• and
• determining an overall condition of the vehicle based upon the received indications of repair nonconformities.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to determine the existence and quality of prior repair or the existence of prior damage by:

• receiving indications of nonconformities that are indicative of prior repair or prior damage;
• using an inference engine, automatically directing the inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection based upon the received indications of nonconformities;
• for each indicated nonconformity, encoding an inspection result;
• and
• storing the encoded inspection results in a manner that indicates the condition of the vehicle.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that control a computer processor to facilitate a retrospective inspection of a vehicle to assess prior repair or damage by:

• receiving an indication of a nonconformity that is potentially indicative of prior repair or damage;
• retrospectively determining a set of repair steps that should have been performed to the vehicle to avoid the indicated nonconformity;
• automatically directing an inspection of the vehicle according to the determined set of repair steps to identify whether damage was sustained to the vehicle and whether each repair step, if performed, was properly performed;
• receiving a plurality of inspection results;
• and
• determining from the received inspection results an overall assessment of the vehicle that indicates whether the vehicle sustained damage and whether the vehicle was repaired properly.

A method in a computer system for estimating damage to a vehicle, comprising:

• receiving an indication of initial damage to the vehicle;
• using an inference engine, directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal additional damage to the vehicle;
• receiving results from the directed inspection including indications of whether additional damage has occurred to the vehicle;
• and
• determining an estimate of the indicated damage.

A vehicle damage estimating system comprising:

• inference engine structured to
• receive an indication of initial damage;
• generate a sequence of inspection steps based upon the results received at each prior step and direct an inspection according to each step to determine the presence of additional damage;
• and
• determine an estimate of the initial and additional damage.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor to estimate damage to a vehicle, by:

• receiving an indication of initial damage to the vehicle;
• using an inference engine, directing an inspection of the vehicle to indicate areas of inspection likely to reveal additional damage to the vehicle;
• receiving results from the directed inspection including indications of whether additional damage has occurred to the vehicle;
• and
• determining an estimate of the indicated damage.