Patent Issued for Deductible determination system (USPTO 11651436): Allstate Insurance Company
2023 JUN 02 (NewsRx) -- By a
Patent number 11651436 is assigned to
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Insurance policies, such as automotive insurance policies, typically specify, among other things, a premium and a deductible. The premium is an amount of money a policy holder pays on a regular basis (e.g., monthly) to maintain the insurance policy. The deductible is the amount of money a policy holder is responsible for paying for any given claim before an insurance company takes responsibility to cover the remaining amount of the claim. Premiums and deductibles may be different for different policy holders and different insurance companies may offer the same person different premiums and deductibles. Premiums and deductibles may be determined by a variety of factors, including demographic information and geographic information. Premiums and deductibles may also be based on a policy holder’s past claims. For example, a policy holder who has submitted numerous insurance claims may have a higher premium and/or deductible than a policy holder who has not made any insurance claims.
“In some cases, a premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may change over time. For example, the premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may rise because of inflation or a cost in automotive repairs. In contrast, the premium and deductible for a specific policy holder may fall because the policy holder has maintained a safe driving record over some period of time (e.g., has not been involved in an accident for five years). Knowing that their driving record may affect their premiums and deductibles, some policy holders may alter their driving behavior to avoid automotive accidents. However, some policy holders doubt that changing their driving behavior will reduce the likelihood of being in an automotive accident and some policy holders doubt that they will ever receive a decrease in their insurance premium and/or deductible even if they are not involved in an accident. Thus, promises to reduce premiums and deductibles of those who avoid accidents will not persuade some policy holders to improve their driving behavior.
“Generally, insurance companies, like most companies, are interested in keeping costs down. For automotive insurance companies, costs may be incurred when customers are involved in accidents. Therefore, automotive insurance companies may be interested in reducing the likelihood of automotive accidents. As such, an automotive insurance company may be interested in incentivizing its customers (e.g., policy holders) to drive safely.
“Accordingly, new systems, devices, methodologies, and software are desired to adjust insurance deductibles on-the-fly while policy holders are driving to incentivize them to drive safely.”
In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.
“Aspects of the disclosure address one or more of the issues mentioned above by disclosing methods, computer readable storage media, software, systems, and apparatuses for providing a deductible determination system that may determine and/or adjust a deductible of an insurance policy while a policy holder is driving. The system allows an insurance deductible to be modified or adjusted on the fly in accordance with a current driving situation. The deductible may be based on various factors, such as current external conditions, current internal conditions, a current condition of the driver, a current condition of the vehicle. The system also provides the adjusted deductible to the driver while she is driving so as to incentive her to drive safely or take other measures to avoid an accident. The value provided to the driver may correspond to an amount of the adjustment (e.g., an amount of an increase or decrease) or the newly determined deductible (e.g., the full deductible that is in effect).
“Aspects of this disclosure provide a system comprising an end user computing device (e.g., a mobile computing device, such as a cell phone, tablet, personal digital assistant, etc. or vehicle computing device, such as a device installed in a vehicle dashboard) associated with a vehicle and a network computing device (e.g., a server). The end user device may include a wireless network interface configured to communicate over a wireless network. Meanwhile, the network computing device may include a network interface configured to exchange communications with the end user computing device. The network computing device may be configured to obtain, from the end user computing device or another network computing device (e.g., a third party server), driving situation information indicating a driving situation related to the vehicle while the vehicle is moving (e.g., a current driving situation at a point in time during a trip). For example, the driving situation information may include weather information regarding weather at a location of the vehicle, traffic information regarding traffic at the location of the vehicle, road information regarding a condition or level of safety of a road on which the vehicle travels, vehicle status information regarding a condition of the vehicle, vehicle condition information regarding a condition inside or in proximity to the vehicle, driving behavior information regarding a speed, acceleration, or deceleration of the vehicle, driver status information regarding a condition of a driver of the vehicle, or driver choice information regarding whether the driver of the vehicle chose to block a text message or phone call.
“The network computing device may also be configured to determine a degree of safety of the driving situation based on at least a portion of the driving situation information. Determining the degree of safety of the driving situation may include determining a safety score. In some embodiments, determining the degree of safety of the driving situation based on at least the portion of the driving situation information may include determining a value based on at least the portion of the driving situation information and determining a safety score by computing an algorithm using the value. Also, the network computing device may be further configured to select the algorithm from a plurality of algorithms, and determine a weight to be assigned to the value.
“The network computing device may be further configured to obtain a deductible of an insurance policy for the vehicle and adjust the deductible based on the degree of safety of the driving situation. Adjusting the deductible based on the degree of safety of the driving situation may include using data regarding past accidents or past insurance claims. In some embodiments, adjusting the deductible using the data regarding past accidents or past insurance claims may include decreasing the deductible when a number of past accidents on a route along which the vehicle is moving is below a first threshold or increasing the deductible when the number of past accidents on the route is above a second threshold. The first and second thresholds may be the same or different.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“1. A system comprising: a computing device configured to: exchange communications with a second computing device associated with a vehicle over a wireless network; obtain driving situation information indicating a driving situation related to the vehicle during a trip, the driving situation information including real-time data from one or more sensors of at least one of the vehicle or the second computing device when the second computing device is in the vehicle during the trip; select one of a plurality of algorithms based on at least one characteristic of a driver of the vehicle or based on at least a portion of the driving situation information, wherein the one of the plurality of algorithms defines one or more weights for one or more algorithm variables; determine a safety score of the driving situation based on the real-time data by applying the one of the plurality of algorithms to at least a portion of the driving situation information, wherein the applied algorithm includes determining whether the safety score or a change in the safety score passes a threshold; adjust a deductible of an insurance policy for the vehicle based on the threshold being passed during the trip; and transmit the adjusted deductible to the second computing device and record an associated time that the adjusted deductible was transmitted to the second computing device.
“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second computing device is a mobile computing device or a vehicle computing device associated with the vehicle.
“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes a server of an insurance company associated with the insurance policy.
“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the driving situation information includes at least one of: weather information regarding weather at a location of the vehicle; traffic information regarding traffic at the location of the vehicle; road information regarding a condition or level of safety of a road on which the vehicle travels; vehicle status information regarding a condition of the vehicle; vehicle condition information regarding a condition inside or in proximity to the vehicle; driving behavior information regarding a speed, acceleration, or deceleration of the vehicle; driver status information regarding a condition of a driver of the vehicle; or driver choice information regarding whether the driver of the vehicle chose to block a text message or phone call.
“5. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the safety score of the driving situation includes determining a numeric safety score.
“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to: prior to obtaining the driving situation information, select one or more factors to be considered; and obtain the driving situation information based on the one or more factors selected.
“7. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of algorithms is based on the at least one characteristic of the driver of the vehicle.
“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one characteristic of the driver of the vehicle includes the insurance policy of the driver.
“9. The system of claim 1, wherein adjusting the deductible based on the safety score of the driving situation includes using data regarding past accidents or past insurance claims.
“10. The system of claim 9, wherein the adjusting the deductible using the data regarding past accidents or past insurance claims includes decreasing the deductible when a number of past accidents on a route along which the vehicle is moving is below a first threshold or increasing the deductible when the number of past accidents on the route is above a second threshold.
“11. The system of claim 1, wherein adjusting the deductible based on the safety score of the driving situation includes decreasing the deductible in response to an increase in the safety score of the driving situation or increasing the deductible in response to a decrease in the safety score of the driving situation.
“12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to determine whether to adjust the deductible prior to adjusting the deductible.
“13. A computing device comprising: a network interface configured to communicate with a server while the computing device is traveling within a vehicle; a memory configured to store a plurality of algorithms, each algorithm of the plurality of algorithms configured to process real-time data from one or more sensors; and at least one processor configured to cause the computing device to: obtain driving situation information indicating a driving situation related to the vehicle during a trip, the driving situation information including the real-time data from the one or more sensors; select one of the plurality of algorithms based on at least one characteristic of a driver of the vehicle or based on at least a portion of the driving situation information, wherein the one of the plurality of algorithms defines one or more weights for one or more algorithm variables; determine a safety score of the driving situation based on the real-time by applying the one of the plurality of algorithms to at least a portion of the driving situation information, wherein the applied algorithm includes determining whether the safety score or a change in the safety score passes a threshold; adjust a deductible based on the threshold being passed during the trip; and transmit the adjusted deductible to a second computing device and record an associated time that the adjusted deductible was transmitted to the second computing device.
“14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to further cause the computing device to store the adjusted deductible resulting from adjusting the deductible by an amount determined based on the safety score of the driving situation in memory.
“15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to further cause the computing device to store, in memory, an amount by which the deductible is adjusted and a time at which the amount is determined.
“16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to further cause the computing device to transmit a notification indicating an amount by which the deductible is adjusted.
“17. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device from a sensor in proximity to a vehicle, driving situation information indicating a driving situation related to the vehicle during a trip, the driving situation information including real-time data detected by the sensor; selecting one of a plurality of algorithms based on at least one characteristic of a driver of the vehicle or based on at least a portion of the driving situation information, each of the plurality of algorithms configured to process data from one or more sensors, wherein the one of the plurality of algorithms defines one or more weights for one or more algorithm variables; determining a safety score of the driving situation based on the real-time data by applying the one of the plurality of algorithms to the driving situation information, wherein the applied algorithm includes determining whether the safety score or a change in the safety score passes a threshold; determining an adjustment to a deductible based on the threshold being passed during the trip; outputting, via a display of the computing device or a speaker of the computing device, a notification during the trip, the notification indicating the adjustment to the deductible is being applied to the driving situation related to the vehicle; and recording an associated time that the adjustment to the deductible was outputted at the computing device.
“18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining the adjustment to the deductible based on the safety score of the driving situation includes determining the safety score of driving on a route based on past accident information or past insurance claim information.
“19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: transmitting, by the computing device to an insurance company server, the adjustment to the deductible and a time at which the adjustment to the deductible was determined.”
URL and more information on this patent, see: Biemer, Edward A. Deductible determination system.
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