Patent Application Titled “Bilateral Communication In A Login-Free Environment” Published Online (USPTO 20230179710): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 JUN 22 (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 Beavers, Sean (Morton Grove, IL, US); Gutsell, Christopher Paul (Gurnee, IL, US); Kelsh, John P. (Antioch, IL, US); Lewis, Cheryl (Libertyville, IL, US); Striebich, Margaret K. (Chicago, IL, US), filed on February 6, 2023, was made available online on June 8, 2023.

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: “Traditional customer service systems may allow contact between users without travel or making appointments, but telephonic communication is virtually useless for allowing accurate property evaluation by remote means. Sending pictures is similarly deficient, especially if an owner does not understand how best to portray the property.”

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 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 methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing two-way audiovisual communication between a client, who may be an owner of the property being evaluated and an agent, who may be a user of a plurality of users associated with one or more systems or devices evaluating the property. The two-way audiovisual communication may be performed using a camera and microphone of a mobile computing device of the client and a camera and microphone of a computer of the agent remote from the client.

“The plurality of users may be organized in a queue ranked by amount of time spent waiting to answer an owner’s call. When the system receives a client call, the system may automatically route the call to an appropriate queue based on the prioritized ranking. The system may then utilize a camera on the client device to capture images and/or video of property according to the systems and methods described herein. Information gathered from the call may be used by the agent in evaluating the property.

“Managers may be able to monitor the queue and to manage individual agents by modifying their attributes in order to keep the queue balanced with demand for agents appropriate to the distribution of clients currently calling.

“Calls may be dynamically connected in a login-free environment in order to facilitate data collection for one or more organizations. Methods and systems may facilitate data collection, reconnection in the event of disconnections, and/or call degradation handling in the event of weak or unstable connections.

“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 method, comprising: receiving, by a virtual collaboration server and from a mobile computing device, a request to initiate a communication session regarding an insurance claim, wherein the request comprises a login-free request; receiving, by the virtual collaboration server, contact information of a customer associated with bidirectional transmission; selecting, by the virtual collaboration server and based on a list of available agents, a computing device associated with an agent of the list of available agents; monitoring, by the virtual collaboration server, wait times associated with connecting to computing devices associated with one or more agents of a list of available agents; determining, by the virtual collaboration server, the wait times each exceed a threshold wait time; presenting, by the virtual collaboration server and to the mobile computing device, an option to request a call back; maintaining, by the virtual collaboration server and in response to the customer selecting the option to request the call back, a ticket associated with the customer in a queue associated with the one or more agents; determining, by the virtual collaboration server, an agent of the one or more agents is available to initiate the communication session with the customer; providing, by the virtual collaboration server and to the computing device of the agent, the ticket; receiving, by the virtual collaboration server and from the computing device of the agent, an indication that the agent has accepted the request to initiate the communication session; determining, by the virtual collaboration server, the previously received contact information of a customer associated with the bidirectional transmission; generating, by the virtual collaboration server, a login-free reconnection code associated with the bidirectional transmission; using the determined contact information, causing, by the virtual collaboration server, the login-free reconnection code to be electronically transmitted to the mobile device; causing, by the virtual collaboration server, the mobile computing device to display a notification comprising the login-free reconnection code; receiving, by the virtual collaboration server and from the mobile computing device, a request to reconnect, wherein the request indicates the login-free reconnection code; and reconnecting, by the virtual collaboration server and based on determining the request comprises the indication of the login-free reconnection code, the bidirectional transmission between the mobile computing device and the computing device of the agent.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the login-free request comprises a property type or location associated with the insurance claim.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises at least one of: a push notification, a text message, or an email, displayed on the mobile computing device.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold wait time is two minutes.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the virtual collaboration server, a notification regarding a next course of action, the next course of action comprising at least one of: providing instructions to physically inspect property, or determining an amount of compensation to provide to a customer associated with the insurance claim.

“6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, in response to determining the amount of compensation to provide to an individual associated with the insurance claim, automatically causing, by the virtual collaboration server, a creation of a check; and in response to providing instruction to physically inspect property, transmitting, by the virtual collaboration server, the provided instruction to physically inspect.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the video comprises one or more images of damaged property for evaluation, and further comprising: transmitting the one or more images of damaged property for storage by a database external to the virtual collaboration server.

“8. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to: receive, by a virtual collaboration server and from a mobile computing device, a request to initiate a communication session regarding an insurance claim, wherein the request comprises a login-free request; receive, by the virtual collaboration server, contact information of a customer associated with bidirectional transmission; select, by the virtual collaboration server and based on a list of available agents, a computing device associated with an agent of the list of available agents; monitor, by the virtual collaboration server, wait times associated with connecting to computing devices associated with one or more agents of a list of available agents; determine, by the virtual collaboration server, the wait times each exceed a threshold wait time; present, by the virtual collaboration server and to the mobile computing device, an option to request a call back; maintain, by the virtual collaboration server and in response to the customer selecting the option to request the call back, a ticket associated with the customer in a queue associated with the one or more agents; determine, by the virtual collaboration server, an agent of the one or more agents is available to initiate the communication session with the customer; provide, by the virtual collaboration server and to the computing device of the agent, the ticket; receive, by the virtual collaboration server and from the computing device of the agent, an indication that the agent has accepted the request to initiate the communication session; determine, by the virtual collaboration server, the previously received contact information of a customer associated with the bidirectional transmission; generate, by the virtual collaboration server, a login-free reconnection code associated with the bidirectional transmission; using the determined contact information, cause, by the virtual collaboration server, the login-free reconnection code to be electronically transmitted to the mobile device; cause, by the virtual collaboration server, the mobile computing device to display a notification comprising the login-free reconnection code; receive, by the virtual collaboration server and from the mobile computing device, a request to reconnect, wherein the request indicates the login-free reconnection code; and reconnect, by the virtual collaboration server and based on determining the request comprises the indication of the login-free reconnection code, the bidirectional transmission between the mobile computing device and the computing device of the agent.

“9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the request to initiate the communication session comprises a property type or location associated with the insurance claim.

“10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the notification comprises at least one of: a push notification, an email, or a text message, displayed on the mobile computing device.

“11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the threshold wait time is two minutes.

“12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to transmit a notification regarding a next course of action, the next course of action comprising at least one of: providing instructions to physically inspect property, or determining an amount of compensation to provide to a customer associated with the insurance claim.

“13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors: in response to determining the amount of compensation to provide to an individual associated with the insurance claim, automatically cause a creation of a check; and in response to providing instructions to physically inspect property, transmitting the instruction to physically inspect the property.

“14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the video comprises one or more images of damaged property for evaluation, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to: transmit the one or more images of damaged property for storage by a database.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent application: Beavers, Sean; Gutsell, Christopher Paul; Kelsh, John P.; Lewis, Cheryl; Striebich, Margaret K. Bilateral Communication In A Login-Free Environment. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230179710, filed February 6, 2023 and posted June 8, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230179710)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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