By Targeted News Service

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 13 -- Allstate Insurance, Northbrook, Ill., has been assigned a patent (8,265,963) developed by Randall Hanson, Grayslake, Ill., James A. Ledder, Prairie Grove, Ill., and Charles Ronald O'Halloran, Downers Grove, Ill., for a "communication of insurance claim data."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Aspects of the invention are directed to methods and systems for efficiently communicating data between an insurer and a non-referral repair shop, e.g., vehicle repair shops that are normally not preapproved by the insurer to perform the estimating and repair work. The methods and systems described herein are particularly useful for insurers utilizing non-referral repair shops for servicing vehicles involved in insurance claims. According to aspects of this invention, the insured may be able to select a non-referral repair shop, not delegated or preapproved by the insurer, thereby generally allowing the insured to select any available vehicle repair shop."

The patent application was filed on June 1, 2011 (13/150,969). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=8,265,963&OS=8,265,963&RS=8,265,963

Written by Satyaban Rath; edited by Hemanta Panigrahi.

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