Patent Issued for Computer implemented insurance selection systems and methods (USPTO 11315192): Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

2022 MAY 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Higgins, Barry (Westfield, NJ, US), Hoffman, Teresa M. (Austin, TX, US), Major, Eric L. (Salem, NH, US), filed on January 24, 2020, was published online on April 26, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11315192, is Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (New York, New York, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The ability to earn an income can enable a person to live a comfortable lifestyle, while saving for future circumstances. Due to illness or injury, however, a person can lose his or her ability to earn an income for a brief or prolonged period of time, which can destroy future plans dependent on continuing income.

“While various options exist for supplementing income during a period of disability, many of these options are insufficient for supplementing income over an extended period of disability. For example, while some employers may provide disability insurance, the benefit amount and coverage length of that insurance may be insufficient to meet one’s needs. To receive social security a disabled person must meet a strict definition of disability. Worker’s compensation is not applicability unless the disability was caused by a workplace incident. Personal, retirement, or education savings or a home equity loan can be quickly depleted and insufficient for longtime needs, and use of these savings can negatively affect future plans. A home equity loan can quickly deplete long sought equity in one’s property. A credit card cash advance can impose high interest rates, leading to further financial difficulties in the future. Disability insurance, in contrast to the above options, can guarantee income during a short or long period of disability without negatively impacting a disabled person’s future plans. However, the task of identifying an appropriate disability insurance policy can be daunting for those who are unfamiliar with disability insurance.

“Therefore, there is a need for an effective means of recommending disability insurance to assist individuals in preparing for the future. In an exemplary embodiment, a disability insurance selection system can provide prompts to a client directed toward identifying an appropriate disability insurance package and can recommend a disability insurance package based on a client’s responses to the prompts. It is to such a disability insurance selection system that various embodiments of the present invention are directed.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Briefly described, various embodiments of the present invention are systems and methods for selecting and recommending disability insurance. A selection system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, can query a user regarding issues related to disability insurance and can recommend a disability insurance package based on the user’s responses to the queries. An exemplary selection system can comprise a query unit, a scoring unit, and a recommendation unit.

“The query unit can present to a user two or more prompts related to disability insurance. For each prompt, the query unit can provide two or more response choices from which the user can choose. The user can select his or her desired response choices, which can be received by the query unit.

“The scoring unit can be in communication with the query unit and can calculate a response score based on the user’s responses to the prompts. Each response choice associated with the prompts can be assigned a point value, and the scoring unit can combine the point values of the selected responses to arrive at the response score. In an exemplary embodiment, for example, the score unit can calculate the response score as the sum of the point values corresponding to the selected response choices.

“The recommendation unit can be in communication with the scoring unit and can recommend a disability insurance package to the user based on the user’s responses to the presented prompts. The recommendation unit can receive the response score from the scoring unit, and can select one of a plurality of available disability insurance packages as the recommended disability insurance package, based on the response score.

“Accordingly, selection system can use the user’s responses to the presented prompts to recommend an appropriate disability insurance package. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for recommending a disability insurance, the method comprising: displaying, via one or more processors of a computer device, a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface configured to: display a first set of prompts depending on disability insurance packages available for recommendation; display a plurality of predefined responses to each of the first set of prompts to be selected by a user; receive one or more user inputs comprising selected predefined responses, the selected predefined responses comprising a selected predefined response to each of the first set of prompts; display a recommended disability insurance package based on an aggregated response score calculated by combining point values of the selected predefined responses to the first set of prompts, wherein the recommended disability insurance package includes a disability insurance category, and wherein the disability insurance category includes a plurality of disability insurance types; display an additional prompt related to a user preference regarding any change of policy premium; in response to a user input comprising a response to the additional prompt, select a recommended disability insurance type from a plurality of disability insurance types of the recommended disability insurance package based on a point value of the response to the additional prompt; display the recommended disability insurance type; and display a plurality of rider options to be added to the recommended disability insurance package for the user’s selection.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface has web pages displayed in a web browser on the computer device.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of prompts includes: a first prompt related to an occupation of the user; and a second prompt related to a particular user preference to pay a flat amount or an increased premium amount over time, wherein each prompt eliminates at least one of the disability insurance packages from consideration.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of predefined responses to each of the first set of prompts indicate whether the user agrees, is neutral to, or disagrees with a statement in the prompt, and wherein each predefined response of each prompt is assigned a different point value.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the recommended disability insurance package includes a combination of disability insurance policies in an unspecified allocation.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: display another prompt related to a preference for an allocation of the disability insurance policies within the recommended disability insurance package; and automatically determine an appropriate allocation of the disability insurance policies within the recommended disability insurance package after receiving a user response to the another prompt related to the preference.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: display a second plurality of predefined responses to the additional prompt to be selected by the user, wherein the second plurality of predefined responses to the additional prompt indicate whether the user agrees, is neutral to, or disagrees with a statement in the additional prompt, wherein each predefined response of the additional prompt is assigned a different point value, and wherein the response to the additional prompt is selected from the second plurality of predefined responses.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: parsing from a stored lookup table of selectable values, a point value for each selected predefined response; and determining the aggregated response score based on the point values of the selected predefined responses.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors determine the aggregated response score by calculating a sum of point values corresponding to selected predefined responses.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of predefined responses to the first set of prompts include “true”, “false”, “agree” or “disagree”.

“11. The method of claim 1, the recommended disability insurance package includes two or more types of disability insurance.

“12. A system for recommending a disability insurance, the system comprising: one or more processors; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to present a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface configured to: display a first set of prompts depending on disability insurance packages available for recommendation; display a plurality of predefined responses to each of the first set of prompts to be selected by a user; receive one or more user inputs comprising selected predefined responses, the selected predefined responses comprising a selected predefined response to each of the first set of prompts; display a recommended disability insurance package based on an aggregated response score calculated by combining point values of the user’s selected predefined responses to the first set of prompts, wherein the recommended disability insurance package includes a disability insurance category, and wherein the disability insurance category includes a plurality of disability insurance types; display an additional prompt related to a user preference regarding any change of policy premium; in response to a user input comprising response to the additional prompt, select a recommended disability insurance type from a plurality of disability insurance types of the recommended disability insurance package based on a point value of the response to the additional prompt; display the recommended disability insurance type; and display a plurality of rider options to be added to the recommended disability insurance package for the user’s selection.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the graphical user interface has web pages displayed in a web browser on a computer associated with the user.

“14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first set of prompts include: a first prompt related to an occupation of the user; and a second prompt related to a particular user preference to pay a flat amount or an increased premium amount over time, wherein each prompt eliminates at least one of the disability insurance packages from consideration.

“15. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of predefined responses indicate whether the user agrees, is neutral to, or disagrees with a statement in the prompt, and wherein each predefined response of each prompt is assigned a different point value.

“16. The system of claim 12, wherein the recommended disability insurance package includes a combination of disability insurance policies in an unspecified allocation.

“17. The system of claim 12, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: display another prompt related to a preference for an allocation of the disability insurance policies within the recommended disability insurance package; and automatically determine an appropriate allocation of the disability insurance policies within the recommended disability insurance package after receiving a response to the another prompt related to the preference.

“18. The system of claim 12, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: display a second plurality of predefined responses to the additional prompt to be selected by the user, wherein the second plurality of predefined responses to the additional prompt indicate whether the user agrees, is neutral to, or disagrees with a statement in the additional prompt, wherein each predefined response of the additional prompt is assigned a different point value, and wherein the response to the additional prompt is selected from the second plurality of predefined responses.

“19. The system of claim 12, further comprising: a scoring unit for calculating the aggregated response score by: parsing from a first stored lookup table of selectable values, the point value for each of the selected predefined responses to the first set of prompts; and determining the aggregated response score based on the point values of the selected predefined responses.

“20. The system of claim 19, further comprising: a recommendation unit for mapping the aggregated response score to the recommended disability insurance package stored in a second lookup table of aggregated point value ranges, wherein the second lookup table associates possible disability insurance packages to each possible aggregated point value range.”

For more information, see this patent: Higgins, Barry. Computer implemented insurance selection systems and methods. U.S. Patent Number 11315192, filed January 24, 2020, and published online on April 26, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11315192.PN.&OS=PN/11315192RS=PN/11315192

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