“Connected Home And Alert Notifications” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20230196473): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 JUL 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Corder, Bryan Keith (Gurnee, IL, US); Johnson, Robert H. (Hoffman Estates, IL, US); Madigan, Regina (Mountain View, CA, US); Parker, Carolyn (Libertyville, IL, US); Srey, Rothana (Dekalb, IL, US); Suizzo, Nicholas A. (Cody, WY, US); Willett, Sean P. (Chicago, IL, US); Zhang, Nan (Buffalo Grove, IL, US), filed on December 15, 2022, was made available online on June 22, 2023, 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: “People are often looking for ways to protect their homes. People buy insurance for exactly that reason-to protect against unforeseen risks. In conventional arrangements, it may be difficult or impossible to know when a failure of a home device may occur that may lead to damage to the home, an insurance claims etc. In addition, homes located in the same neighborhood may be exposed to similar risks such as damage from weather events or neighborhood crime. For example, roof damage from a storm event on one home in a neighborhood may indicate potential damage of other roofs of homes in the same neighborhood. Without accurate information associated with a particular home or neighborhood of homes an insurance company might not be able to accurately assess neighborhood risk and the impact of such risk. This may result in an insurance premium that is based on a generic risk assessment, rather than a risk assessment tailored to the specific home in a specific neighborhood.”

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 in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor 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 description below.

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to systems, methods, apparatuses and computer-readable media for receiving data from one or more sensors associated with one or more home devices, such as appliances, home systems, etc. from a plurality of homes. The data may be analyzed to identify abnormal operating conditions in a first home.

“In an aspect of the disclosure, based on the identified abnormal operating conditions a root cause of the abnormal operating conditions may be determined. A message may be transmitted to at least one additional home. The message may include the root cause of the abnormal operating conditions occurring in the first home. The message may be used to alert other homes to current conditions so that they can take preventive action.

“In an aspect of the disclosure, participating homes may receive incentive offers. The incentive offers may include insurance rate adjustments, cash back, additional insurance coverage, privileges such as automated claims processing, and other rewards. In an embodiment, information from the homes may be used to detect fraudulent claims in homes that are not monitored. In another embodiment, information from homes may be used to generate a heat map of notifications, which can assist in deploying adjusters or for tracking patterns.

“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system, comprising: a display device; a processor coupled to a network and the display device; and a memory storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the system to: receive signals via the network from a connected first home and a connected second home in a geographical location, wherein the signals have data from data collection devices in the connected first home and the connected second home, the data indicating an abnormal operating condition in the geographical location; generate, using one or more of a plurality of application programs, a heat map of a plurality of signals having data indicating the abnormal operating condition in the geographical location, the plurality of signals comprising the signals from the connected first home and the connected second home; output the heat map on the display device, the heat map indicating one or more patterns of the abnormal operating condition in the geographical location; and automatically initiate insurance claims for the connected first home and the connected second home based on the abnormal operating condition.

“2. The system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the system to provide an incentive offer to the connected first home in response to the connected first home transmitting the signals via the network.

“3. The system of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the system to determine that the abnormal operating condition occurred in the geographical location based on the data.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collection devices include at least one of water heater, refrigerator, furnace, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, light switch, roof monitor, smoke detector, sump pump, and security system.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the abnormal operating condition includes an abnormal event that has occurred in the geographical location.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the abnormal operating condition includes an abnormal event that will occur in the geographical location.

“7. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving signals via a network from a connected first home and a connected second home in a geographical location, wherein the signals have data from data collection devices in the connected first home and the connected second home, the data indicating an abnormal operating condition in the geographical location; generating, using one or more of a plurality of application programs, a heat map of a plurality of signals having data indicating the abnormal operating condition in the geographical location, the plurality of signals comprising the signals from the connected first home and the connected second home; outputting the heat map on a display device, the heat map indicating one or more patterns of the abnormal operating condition in the geographical location; and automatically initiating insurance claims for the connected first home and the connected second home.

“8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: providing an incentive offer to the connected first home or the connected second home in response to the connected first home and the connected second home transmitting the signals via the network.

“9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: determining that the abnormal operating condition occurred in the geographical location based on the data.

“10. The method of claim 7, wherein the abnormal operating condition includes an abnormal event that has occurred in the geographical location.

“11. The method of claim 7, wherein the abnormal operating condition includes an abnormal event that will occur in the geographical location.

“12. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, at least one first signal via a wireless communication device in a network and having first data from a first data collection device at a first home in a geographical location, wherein the first data collection device is communicatively coupled to the wireless communication device; receiving at least one second signal via the wireless communication device in the network and having second data from a second data collection device at the first home in the geographical location, wherein the second data collection device is communicatively coupled to the wireless communication device; determining an operating condition of the geographical location based on the first data and the second data; generating, using one or more of a plurality of application programs, a heat map of a plurality of signals having data indicating the operating condition of the geographical location, the plurality of signals comprising the at least one first signal and the at least second signal; automatically initiating an insurance claim for the first home in the geographical location based on the determined operating condition

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determined operating condition is a normal operating condition.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein the determined operating condition is an abnormal operating condition.

“15. The method of claim 12, wherein the determined operating condition is a normal operating condition, and wherein the step of identifying the fraudulent insurance claim comprises: identifying, using the one or more of a plurality of application programs, a fraudulent insurance claim from a second home in the geographical location based on the determined operating condition of the geographical location and the heat map, indicating one or more patterns of the determined operating condition in the geographical location; and determining that an insurance claim from the second home is associated with an abnormal operating condition.

“16. The method of claim 12, wherein the determined operating condition is an abnormal operating condition, and wherein the step of identifying the fraudulent insurance claim comprises: identifying, using the one or more of a plurality of application programs, a fraudulent insurance claim from a second home in the geographical location based on the determined operating condition of the geographical location and the heat map, indicating one or more patterns of the determined operating condition in the geographical location; and determining that an insurance claim from the second home is associated with a second abnormal condition different from the abnormal condition.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Corder, Bryan Keith; Johnson, Robert H.; Madigan, Regina; Parker, Carolyn; Srey, Rothana; Suizzo, Nicholas A.; Willett, Sean P.; Zhang, Nan. Connected Home And Alert Notifications. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230196473, filed December 15, 2022 and posted June 22, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230196473)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)