Patent Application Titled “Systems And Methods For Utilizing Electricity Monitoring Devices To Mitigate Or Prevent Structural Damage” Published Online (USPTO 20230071296): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 MAR 23 (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 Kawakita, Christopher N. (Bloomington, IL, US); Olander, Erin Ann (Bloomington, IL, US); Riblet, Jeff (Normal, IL, US), filed on November 16, 2022, was made available online on March 9, 2023.

The assignee for this patent application is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Conventional homes are subject to electrical fires or other electrical issues that lead to damage to the home, as well as to personal property. Also, with the proliferation of the “internet of things,” more household devices are gaining communication and network connectivity capabilities. Still, conventional homes may remain subject to insurance-related events, such as those caused by electrical issues.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, facilitate communications with connected devices and items, and/or facilitate insurance-related processing associated with the connected devices and items, among other functionalities. For instance, the present embodiments may dynamically monitor electricity flow to various electronic devices associated with a property (e.g., smart or conventional home) that may be populated with a plurality of devices. An Electricity Monitoring (EM) device may be within the home or proximal to the home, such as in the vicinity of the home’s main electrical distribution board (or “breaker box”). The EM device may wirelessly sense, detect, monitor, and/or generate Electricity Flow (EF) data indicative of the electricity flowing to each and every electric or electronic device within a home (such as every device connected to the home’s electrical system and drawing power therefrom). The wireless EM device may wirelessly identify the electricity flow to and from each electric or electronic device based upon each device’s unique electronic signature (or “fingerprint”). The EF data may be monitored for trends, and/or abnormal or unexpected conditions, and based upon the trends and/or abnormal electricity flow one or more corrective actions may be taken. The corrective actions may mitigate or prevent insurance-related events, such as electrical fires or suddenly failed equipment at the most inconvenient time.

“The electricity usage or flow data for individual electric or electronic devices that are located within, or powered by, a home generated by the EM device may be used for various purposes, such as (1) device and appliance fault, irregularity, and/or degradation detection; (2) preventative maintenance programs or logs; (3) control and optimization of energy usage within a home; (4) safe and/or low energy usage compliance programs; (5) risk evaluation and underwriting; (6) insurance claim verification; (7) insurance fraud or “buildup” detection (e.g., theft or arson); (8) insurance-related event or disaster reconstruction and analysis (e.g., cause of a fire); (9) analysis of quality and stability of energy/electricity received from an energy provider; (10) home occupancy detection, monitoring, and verification, and subsequently risk profile adjustment for insureds and/or the home; (11) home, auto, life, health, and personal articles insurance discount or rewards programs; (12) quote generation for home, auto, and/or personal articles insurance; (13) updating risk profiles associated with (i) homes, (ii) personal articles and/or electric devices within or about a home, and/or (iii) vehicles that routinely connect and exchange electrical power with the home’s electrical system; (14) determining electric arc sparking; (15) identifying home wiring degradation or issues; and/or other purposes, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“The EF data or other data generated by the EM device may be combined with other sources of data, such as home telematics data, vehicle telematics data, data gathered from consumer wearable devices and/or mobile devices, and/or data gather by other electronic devices. The combined data may be used for various purposes, including the purposes discussed directly above and elsewhere herein.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of taking corrective action based upon abnormal electricity usage within a home may be provided. The method may include (1) building, via one or more processors, a historic or an expected electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption profile for a home and electric devices therein, the expected electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption profile including day-of-week and time-of-day information, and may be based upon electricity detected by a wireless Electricity Monitoring (EM) device (which may include one or more processors, sensors, and/or transceivers) over a period of time; (2) monitoring, via the wireless EM device, current home and individual electric device/appliance electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption via the EM device, the EM device being an electric or electronic component that wirelessly detects unique electric or electronic signatures of each electric or electronic device being powered by the home’s electricity or electrical system; (3) comparing, via the one or more processors, the current electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption with the expected electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption to detect an abnormal electricity usage or abnormal trend; and/or (4) when the abnormal electricity usage or trend is detected, via the one or more processors, take a corrective action to mitigate or prevent potential damage to the home or the electric devices being monitored. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of determining home occupancy may be provided. The method may include (1) monitoring, via a wireless Electricity Monitoring (EM) device (which may include one or more processors, sensors, and/or transceivers), (i) current home electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption, and/or (ii) current individual electric device/appliance electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption, the EM device configured to wirelessly detect unique electric signatures of each electric device being powered via the home’s electrical system; (2) receiving, via one or more processors and/or transceivers, data indicative of (i) current home electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption, and/or (ii) current individual electric device/appliance electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption from the EM device via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or communication channels; (3) determining, via one or more processors, an average amount of home occupancy (such as for a period of time) based upon the (i) current home electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption, and/or (ii) current individual electric device/appliance electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption (such as comparing actual home or appliance electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption with historic or expected electricity usage, flow, and/or consumption for a home presently occupied by one or more persons); (4) updating, via the one or more processors, (i) an home occupancy profile, or (ii) a risk profile for the home (or for the home owner, or a vehicle associated with the home) based upon the average amount of home occupancy; and/or (5) updating, via the one or more processors, an insurance discount for the home or insured home owner based upon the home occupancy profile and/or risk profile to facilitate providing insurance discounts to risk averse home owners or households. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer system equipped with a machine learning program may be configured for evaluating the integrity of a home’s electrical system and the electric devices therein may be provided. The computer system may include one or more processors, transceivers, and/or sensors configured to: (1) train a processing element (programmed with a machine learning program or algorithm) to identify deficiencies or degradation of electric devices based upon electricity flow, usage, or consumption (EF) data gathered or generated by a wireless Electricity Monitoring (EM) device, the EM device configured to wirelessly identify individual electricity flow to a specific electric device and/or correlate that individual electricity flow to that specific electric device based upon the unique electrical signature of the specific electric device; (2) receive, via a communication element (such as via wired or wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or communication channels), current electricity flow, usage, or consumption (EF) data for the home and electric devices therein gathered or generated by the wireless Electricity Monitoring (EM) device; (3) analyze the current EF data for the home and electric devices therein with the trained processing element to determine or detect one or more deficiencies or degradations for the home and electric devices therein; and/or (4) initiate, via the processing element, a corrective action that mitigates or prevents damage to the home or the electric device when one or more deficiencies or degradations for the home and electric devices therein are detected to facilitate proactive home monitoring and maintenance. The system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1-20. (canceled)

“21. A computer-implemented method of determining occupancy of a structure at a time of an abnormal event, the method comprising: monitoring, via an electricity monitoring device, electrical activity of a plurality of electric devices associated with the structure by detecting at least one electrical characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices; building, via one or more processors, an electricity profile for the structure based upon the monitored electrical activity of the plurality of electric devices, the electricity profile indicating expected electricity characteristics when the structure is occupied and when the structure is unoccupied; receiving, via the one or more processors, an indication that an abnormal event occurred at a particular time resulting in damage to the structure; comparing, via the one or more processors, the monitored electrical activity of the plurality of electric devices during a time period including the particular time of the abnormal event to the electricity profile; and determining, via the one or more processors, whether the structure was occupied at the particular time based upon the comparison.

“22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the at least one electrical characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices includes at least one of electricity usage, electricity flow, and electricity consumption.

“23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the electricity monitoring device wirelessly detects the at least one characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices.

“24. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein comparing the monitored electrical activity of the plurality of electric devices during a time period including the particular time of the abnormal event to the electricity profile includes comparing an electricity consumption of the plurality of electric devices to an expected electricity consumption during the time period.

“25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further including identifying each of the plurality of electric devices using the monitored electrical activity.

“26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred is received from a mobile device of a party associated with the structure.

“27. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred includes an indication of damage to or a defect of one or more of the plurality of electric devices.

“28. A system configured to determine occupancy of a structure at a time of an abnormal event, the system comprising: an electricity monitoring device; one or more processors; and one or more computer memories storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed via the one or more processors cause the electricity monitoring device to monitor electrical activity of a plurality of electric devices associated with the structure by detecting at least one electrical characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices; wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions via the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to: build an electricity profile for the structure based upon the monitored electrical activity of the plurality of electric devices, the electricity profile indicating expected electricity characteristics when the structure is occupied and when the structure is unoccupied; receive an indication that an abnormal event occurred at a particular time resulting in damage to the structure; compare the monitored electrical activity of the plurality of electric devices during a time period including the particular time of the abnormal event to the electricity profile; and determine whether the structure was occupied at the particular time based upon the comparison.

“29. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one electrical characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices includes at least one of electricity usage, electricity flow, and electricity consumption.

“30. The system of claim 28, wherein the electricity monitoring device wirelessly detects the at least one characteristic of each of the plurality of electric devices.

“31. The system of claim 28, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions via the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to compare an electricity consumption of the plurality of electric devices to an expected electricity consumption during the time period.

“32. The system of claim 28, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions via the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to identify each of the plurality of electric devices using the monitored electrical activity.

“33. The system of claim 28, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred is received from a mobile device of a party associated with the structure.

“34. The system of claim 28, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred includes an indication of damage to or a defect of one or more of the plurality of electric devices.

“35. A system configured to determine occupancy of a structure at a time of an abnormal event, the system comprising: an electricity monitoring device positioned adjacent an electrical distribution board of the structure to wirelessly detect electricity consumption of each of a plurality of electric devices associated with the structure; and one or more processors in communication with one or more storage devices storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed via the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: build an electricity profile for the structure based upon the detected electricity consumption of the plurality of electric devices, the electricity profile indicating expected electricity consumption when the structure is occupied and when the structure is unoccupied; receive an indication that an abnormal event occurred at a particular time resulting in damage to the structure; respond to receipt of an indication that an abnormal event occurred at a particular time resulting in damage to the structure by comparing the detected electricity consumption of the plurality of electric devices during a time period including the particular time of the abnormal event to the electricity profile; and determine whether the structure was occupied at the particular time based upon the comparison.

“36. The system of claim 35, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions via the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to identify each of the plurality of electric devices using the monitored electrical activity.

“37. The system of claim 35, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred is received from a mobile device of a party associated with the structure.

“38. The system of claim 35, wherein the indication that an abnormal event occurred includes an indication of damage to or a defect of one or more of the plurality of electric devices.

“39. The system of claim 35, wherein the structure is a home.

“40. The system of claim 35, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions further causes the one or more processors to determine whether the abnormal event was voluntary.”

For more information, see this patent application: Kawakita, Christopher N.; Olander, Erin Ann; Riblet, Jeff. Systems And Methods For Utilizing Electricity Monitoring Devices To Mitigate Or Prevent Structural Damage. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230071296, filed November 16, 2022 and posted March 9, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230071296)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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