Patent Application Titled “Agent-Facilitated Claims Damage Estimation” Published Online (USPTO 20220318923): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 OCT 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, 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 June 20, 2022, was made available online on October 6, 2022.

The assignee for this patent application is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote 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 obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors 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. An enhanced claims processing system comprising: an enhanced claims processing data server at an insurance company, 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 a network and from a mobile device of an individual, damage data related to an insured item; determine that the damage data is related to the insured item corresponding with the individual; retrieve, from a database, policy information data corresponding with the individual; analyze the damage data to determine damage information to insured item; analyze the policy information data; calculate, based on the policy information data and damage information, an overall valuation score; determine, based on the overall valuation score, a claim submission determination; and transmit, via a network and to the mobile device of the individual, the claim submission determination.

“2. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to: based on determining that the damage data is not related to the insured item, transmit a request for external policy information data to the mobile device via a network; receive, from the mobile device, the external policy information data; and analyze the external policy information data.

“3. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 1, wherein the overall valuation score is determined by at least one of a monetary valuation, change in premium, and settlement amount.

“4. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to transmit, via a network, to the mobile device of the individual and based on the policy information data, upsell material data.

“5. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 4, wherein the upsell material data includes at least one of information about new products and special promotions.

“6. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further caused to: calculate an increase in premium based on the policy information data and the damage data; and transmit, via a network and to the mobile device of the individual, the calculated increase in premium.

“7. The enhanced claims processing system of claim 1, wherein the damage data includes images of the damage to a portion of the insured item.

“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 of an individual, damage data related to an insured item; determining, by the enhanced claims processing data server, the damage data is related to an insured item corresponding with the individual; retrieving, by the enhanced claims processing data server, policy information data corresponding to the individual; analyzing, by the enhanced claims processing data server, the damage data to determine damage information to the insured item; analyzing, by the enhanced claims processing data server, the policy information data; calculating, by the enhanced claims processing data server and based on the policy information data and the damage information, an overall valuation score; determining, by the enhanced claims processing data server based on the overall valuation score, a claim submission determination; and transmitting, by the enhanced claims processing data server to the mobile device of the individual, the claim submission determination.

“9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: based on determining that the damage data is not related to the insured item, transmitting a request for external policy information data to the mobile device via a network; receiving, from the mobile device, the external policy information data; and analyzing the external policy information data.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the overall valuation score is determined by at least one of a monetary valuation, change in premium, and settlement amount.

“11. 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.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the upsell material data includes at least one of information about new products and special promotions.

“13. The method of claim 8 further comprising: calculating an increase in premium based on the policy information data and the damage data; and transmitting, via a network and to the mobile device of the individual, the calculated increase in premium.

“14. 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 the wireless network interface and from a mobile device of an individual, damage data related to an insured item; determine that the damage data is related to the insured item corresponding with the individual; retrieve, from a database, policy information data corresponding with the individual; analyze damage data to determine damage information to insured item; analyze the policy information data; calculate, based on the policy information data and damage information, an overall valuation score; determine, based on the overall valuation score, a claim submission determination; and transmit, via a network and to the mobile device of the individual, the claim submission determination.

“15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, the enhanced claims processing system further caused to: based on determining that the damage data is not related to the insured item, transmit a request for external policy information data to the mobile device via a network; receive, from the mobile device, the external policy information data; and analyze the external policy information data.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the overall valuation score is determined by at least one of a monetary valuation, change in premium, and settlement amount.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further causing the enhanced claims processing system to transmit, via a network to the mobile device of the individual and based on the policy information data, upsell material data.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the upsell material data includes at least one of information about new products and special promotions.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the enhanced claims processing system is further caused to: calculate an increase in premium based on the policy information data and the damage data; and transmit, via a network and to the mobile device of the individual, the calculated increase in premium.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the damage data includes images of the damage to a portion of the insured item.”

For more information, see this patent application: 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. Filed June 20, 2022 and posted October 6, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220318923%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220318923&RS=DN/20220318923

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