“Agent-Facilitated Claims Damage Estimation” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20240037671): Allstate Insurance Company

2024 FEB 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Banerjee, Suchandra (Northbrook, IL, US); Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US); Campbell, Josh (Northbrook, IL, US); Faga, Mark E. (Evanston, IL, US); Johnson, Robert H. (Hoffman Estates, IL, US); Marlow, Clint J. (Barrington Hills, IL, US); Murphy, Curtis (Northbrook, IL, US); Stricker, Kurt M. (Northfield, IL, US), filed on October 9, 2023, was made available online on February 1, 2024, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Conventional insurance claims processing is a complex process that starts with a first notification of loss related to an insured item. Upon notification of loss, the claim may be routed to multiple claims adjusters that analyze different aspects of the damage associated with the insured item in order to determine whether compensation for the loss is appropriate.

“In general, conventional claims adjustment can involve paperwork processing, telephone calls, and potentially face-to-face meetings between claimant and adjuster. In addition, a significant amount of time can elapse between a first notice of loss from the claimant and the final settlement of the claim.

“In addition, while consumers may take advantage of conventional claims processing to determine if they will receive any compensation for loss associated with an item, consumers have traditionally had very few options for obtaining advice associated with loss prior to submission of an insurance claim.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure involve a streamlined and efficient process for claims management and disclose methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for automating the processing and settling of claims related to an insured item. A mobile device may transmit data (e.g., images, video, etc.) related to damage associated with an insured item to an enhanced claims processing server. The enhanced claims processing server may manage analysis of damage associated with the insured item and settlement of a claim related to the damage.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, an enhanced claims processing server may analyze damage data received from a mobile device to generate a repair cost estimate for repairing the insured item.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, an enhanced claims processing server may receive damage data associated with damage to an insured item, prior to submission of a claim for the damage. This data may be analyzed along with other data related to terms of an insurance policy that insures the insured item to provide advice to insurance consumers on the overall monetary valuation of submitting an insurance claim for damage to the insured item.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, a user device may be used as a portal that enables a third party entity such as a repair agency to view and learn more about damage associated with an insured item while the damage is still being assessed through a claims adjustment process.

“Further aspects of the disclosure may be provided in a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer, user terminal, or other apparatus to at least perform one or more of the processes described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A pre-claim consultation system comprising: an enhanced claims processing data server, the enhanced claims processing data server comprising at least one processor and a memory storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive, via the network and from a mobile device, at least one photo corresponding to one or more of the plurality of photo categories, the plurality of photo categories including at least entire vehicle, VIN, and damaged area related to an insured item; receive, via the network and from the mobile device, damage data related to the insured item; determine that the damage data is related to the insured item corresponding with an insured individual; retrieve, from a database, policy information data corresponding with the insured individual; analyze the damage data and the policy information data; calculate, based on the analysis of the damage data and the policy information data, an overall monetary valuation of submitting an insurance claim for the insured item; transmit, to the mobile device, a recommendation regarding claim submission based upon the overall monetary valuation; and transmit, to the mobile device, at least one incentive based upon the analyzing of the damage data and the policy information data.

“2. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one incentive is based on one or more of consumer details, insurance policy details, and details associated with the insured item.

“3. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one incentive relates to one or more of an offer for an insurance policy that better covers any assessed loss for the insured item, or an offer to pay for the assessed loss or a portion thereof if the insured individual agrees to become a customer.

“4. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 3, wherein if the insured individual agrees to become a customer, the at least one incentive further relates to an extension of accident forgiveness for an accident related to the insured item.

“5. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to: provide access, via the network and to the mobile device, to a portal enabling access to services provided by third parties, wherein the third parties comprise one or more of repair agencies, junkyards, vehicle dealers, and governmental agencies.

“6. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to transmit, via the network, to the mobile device of the individual and based on the policy information data, upsell material data comprising one or more of information about new products, special promotions, and discounts.

“7. The pre-claim consultation system of claim 1, wherein the overall monetary valuation comprises calculations of one or more of a projected increase in premium amount and a projected settlement amount for submitting the claim.

“8. A method of providing a pre-claim consultation, the method comprising: receiving, by an enhanced claims processing data server and from a mobile device, at least one photo corresponding to one or more of the plurality of photo categories, the plurality of photo categories including at least entire vehicle, VIN, and damaged area related to an insured item; receiving, from the mobile device, damage data related to the insured item; determining that the damage data is related to the insured item corresponding with an insured individual; retrieving, from a database, policy information data corresponding with the insured individual; analyzing the damage data and the policy information data; calculating, based on the analysis of the damage data and the policy information data, an overall monetary valuation of submitting an insurance claim for the insured item; transmitting, to the mobile device, a recommendation regarding claim submission based upon the overall monetary valuation; and transmitting, to the mobile device, at least one incentive based upon the analyzing of the damage data and the policy information data.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the at least one incentive is based on one or more of consumer details, insurance policy details, and details associated with the insured item.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the at least one incentive relates to one or more of an offer for an insurance policy that better covers any assessed loss for the insured item, or an offer to pay for the assessed loss or a portion thereof if the insured individual agrees to become a customer.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein if the insured individual agrees to become a customer, transmitting the at least one incentive further relates to an extension of accident forgiveness for an accident related to the insured item.

“12. The method of claim 8 further comprising: providing access, via a network and to the mobile device, to a portal enabling access to services provided by third parties, wherein the third parties comprise one or more of repair agencies, junkyards, vehicle dealers, and governmental agencies.

“13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, via a network to the mobile device of the individual and based on the policy information data, upsell material data comprising one or more of information about new products, special promotions, and discounts.

“14. The method of claim 8, wherein calculating the overall monetary valuation comprises calculating one or more of a projected increase in premium amount and a projected settlement amount for submitting the claim.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of an enhanced claims data server of an enhanced claims processing system, cause the enhanced claims processing system to: receive, via a network and from a mobile device, at least one photo corresponding to one or more of the plurality of photo categories, the plurality of photo categories including at least entire vehicle, VIN, and damaged area related to an insured item; receive, via the network and from the mobile device, damage data related to the insured item; determine that the damage data is related to the insured item corresponding with an insured individual; retrieve, from a database, policy information data corresponding with the insured individual; analyze the damage data and the policy information data; calculate, based on the analysis of the damage data and the policy information data, an overall monetary valuation of submitting an insurance claim for the insured item; transmit, to the mobile device, a recommendation regarding claim submission based upon the overall monetary valuation; and transmit, to the mobile device, at least one incentive based upon the analyzing of the damage data and the policy information data.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least one incentive is based on one or more of consumer details, insurance policy details, and details associated with the insured item.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least one incentive relates to one or more of an offer for an insurance policy that better covers any assessed loss for the insured item, or an offer to pay for the assessed loss or a portion thereof if the insured individual agrees to become a customer.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein if the insured individual agrees to become a customer, the at least one incentive further relates to an extension of accident forgiveness for an accident related to the insured item.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the enhanced claims processing system further caused to: provide access, via the network and to the mobile device, to a portal enabling access to services provided by third parties, wherein the third parties comprise one or more of repair agencies, junkyards, vehicle dealers, and governmental agencies.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further causing the enhanced claims processing system to transmit, via the network to the mobile device of the individual and based on the policy information data, upsell material data comprising one or more of information about new products, special promotions, and discounts.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Banerjee, Suchandra; Brandmaier, Jennifer A.; Campbell, Josh; Faga, Mark E.; Johnson, Robert H.; Marlow, Clint J.; Murphy, Curtis; Stricker, Kurt M. Agent-Facilitated Claims Damage Estimation. U.S. Patent Application Number 20240037671, filed October 9, 2023 and posted February 1, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20240037671)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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