Patent Issued for Display tool (USPTO 11468080): The Prudential Insurance Company of America

2022 OCT 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Dennie, Jeff Lee (Champlin, MN, US), Perra, Brian James (Andover, MN, US), Potter, Christopher Brian (Mooresville, NC, US), Samuel, Michelle Nicole (West Lafayette, IN, US), Stephani, Caroline Frances (Maple Grove, MN, US), Wark, Lisa Marie (Zimmerman, MN, US), filed on January 15, 2021, was published online on October 11, 2022.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11468080 is The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Newark, New Jersey, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “In a variety of industries, it is standard practice for companies to provide information to their consumers and producers (agents who sell directly to consumers) in the form of multi-page documents. For example, customers commonly receive information about accounts, opportunities, and policies through such documents.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In a variety of industries, it is standard practice for companies to provide information to their consumers and producers (agents who sell directly to consumers) in the form of multi-page documents. For example, consumers commonly receive information about accounts, opportunities, and policies through such documents. With the explosion of the Internet and the use of personal computers, companies have also begun to provide consumers and producers electronic access to the information contained in such documents, by developing graphical user interfaces through which the consumers and producers can view such information. However, such graphical user interfaces tend to be quite complex, given the large volume of data to which they provide access. Given the limited display area of a typical computer monitor, such graphical user interfaces are generally unable to present all the data contained in traditional multi-page documents to a user on a single display page. As a result, such graphical user interfaces frequently contain a large number of menus and linked pages that users may find difficult to navigate through. For example, if accessing a particular piece of information first requires a user to click through two menus and six links, the user may simply avoid accessing this information.

“As discussed above, such issues exist in a variety of industries in which graphical user interfaces are used to present information traditionally contained in multi-page documents to producers and/or consumers. As a specific example, in the life insurance industry, companies traditionally provide information about their insurance policies to consumers and producers in the form of illustrations. For example, an “as sold” illustration provides information reflecting the original intent of the consumer in purchasing the policy, a “baseline” illustration provides information reflecting the current intent of the consumer, and an “in force” illustration provides information regarding the likely future performance of the policy over time, given the policy’s actual, historic performance. Such illustrations are typically 20 to 30 pages in length and are filled with a large quantity of numbers and disclosures. Currently available graphical user interfaces are unable to display this information in an easy to understand format, making it difficult for producers to actively monitor the policies they have sold to consumers. This can lead to a variety of issues. For example, a producer may be unaware that a policy owner has initiated large withdrawals or loans against his/her policy that put the policy in danger of lapsing. Without such knowledge, the producer may be unable to counsel the policy owner about the effect of such actions in time to prevent the lapse.

“This disclosure contemplates a display tool that addresses one or more of the above issues. This tool provides an improved graphical user interface for use in a variety of industries, through which a user can access a given piece of information provided by the graphical user interface directly from the main page of the interface (either by viewing the information directly on the main page of the graphical user interface, by following a single link, of a set of such links displayed on the main page, to the particular information, or by expanding an additional section of the interface, display on the main page).

“While this disclosure contemplates the use of the display tool in any industry, for ease of explanation and understanding but not by way of limitation, this disclosure describes the tool as implemented for the life insurance industry. Such an implementation simplifies the process by which life insurance policy producers monitor the policies they have sold; rather than requiring producers to search through multiple complex documents stored at a variety of locations, accessible only by clicking through multiple links, the display tool provides a producer with any information the producer may want to know about a given policy directly from the main page of the graphical user interface for that particular policy. For example, in certain embodiments, the tool accesses information about a policy that is stored in a database and then uses this information to display the expected and historical values of the policy over time in an easy to understand, graphical format. This graphical information is presented to a user on a first region of a display. Various other regions of the display are used to provide links to other types of policy information. In this manner, certain embodiments of the tool provide an improved user interface that is easier to navigate than previous interfaces. Certain embodiments of the display tool are described below.

“According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a display, a memory, and a hardware processor communicatively coupled to the memory. The hardware processor accesses a database. The database includes a set of initial assumptions, a set of current assumptions, a set of values of a life insurance policy over time, a list of transactions, and a list of payments. The set of values of the life insurance policy over time includes an initial value and a current value. The processor displays on a first region of the display defined by a vertical price axis and a first horizontal time axis a baseline curve, a historical performance curve, and an in-force curve. The baseline curve includes a first series of points representing a first illustration of values for the life insurance policy over time. The first illustration is based on the set of initial assumptions and the initial value. The historical performance curve includes a second series of points representing the set of values of the life insurance policy over time. The in-force curve includes a third series of points representing a second illustration of values for the life insurance policy over time. The second illustration is based on the set of current assumptions and the current value. The processor further displays on a second region of the display located below the first region of the display and defined by a second horizontal time axis a fourth series of points representing the list of transactions. The processor also displays on a third region of the display located above the first region of the display the current value. The processor additionally displays on a fourth region of the display located below the second region of the display a first link to download a first file, a second link to display the set of current assumptions, a third link to download a second file, and a fourth link to display the set of initial assumptions. The first file includes an in-force illustration and the second file includes a baseline illustration. The in-force illustration includes the second illustration and the baseline illustration includes the first illustration. The processor further displays on a fifth region of the display located below the second region of the display and to the right of the fourth region of the display a fifth link to open an in-force illustrator used to generate an illustration, and a sixth link to create or update a new baseline. The processor also displays on a sixth region of the display located below the second region of the display and to the right of the fifth region of the display a seventh link to display the list of payments and an eighth link to display the list of transactions.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An apparatus comprising: a display; and a hardware processor communicatively coupled to the display, the hardware processor configured to: display, on a first region of the display, one or more curves comprising at least one of: a baseline curve comprising a first series of points representing a first illustration of values for a life insurance policy over time, the first illustration based on a set of initial assumptions and an initial value of the life insurance policy; a historical performance curve comprising a second series of points representing a set of values of the life insurance policy over time; and an in-force curve comprising a third series of points representing a second illustration of values for the life insurance policy over time, the second illustration based on a set of current assumptions and a current value of the life insurance policy; display, on a second region of the display, a first form for input of a first set of parameters defining a first scenario associated with the life insurance policy, the first scenario comprising a first change to the life insurance policy; and in response to displaying the first form for input of the first set of parameters: receive the first set of parameters; determine, based on the first set of parameters, a first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time; and display, on the first region of the display, together with the one or more curves, the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time.

“2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: display, on the second region of the display, a second form for input of a second set of parameters, the second set of parameters defining a second scenario associated with the life insurance policy, the second scenario comprising a second change to the life insurance policy; and in response to displaying the second form for input of the second set of parameters: receive the second set of parameters; determine, based on the second set of parameters, a second set of new values of the life insurance policy over time; and display, on the first region of the display, together with the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time, the second set of new values of the life insurance policy over time.

“3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second form is displayed adjacent to the first form on the display.

“4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the first set of parameters, the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time comprises determining an effect of the first set of parameters on the in-force curve.

“5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the hardware processor is further configured to: display a link to create a model scenario; and receive a selection of the link; and displaying the first form is performed in response to receiving the selection of the link.

“6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first form comprises: a first field for input of a first parameter of the first set of parameters; and a second field for input of a second parameter of the first set of parameters.

“7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first field and the second field are chosen from a set comprising: a field for input of a new net annual rate of return for the life insurance policy; a field for input of a new premium value for the life insurance policy; and a field for input of a lump sum premium payment.

“8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy are displayed on the first region of the display over at least one of an annual timescale and a monthly timescale; and the hardware processor is further configured to: display, on the first region of the display, a set of links comprising a first link associated with a first timescale corresponding to an expected lifetime of the life insurance policy; and in response to receiving a selection of the first link, display, on the first region of the display, the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over the first timescale.

“9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to display a link to download a file comprising the one or more curves.

“10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to display, on a third region of the display, at least one of a current rate of return of the life insurance policy, a current net death benefit amount for the life insurance policy, and a predicted lapse date for the life insurance policy.

“11. A method comprising: displaying, on a first region of the display, one or more curves comprising at least one of: a baseline curve comprising a first series of points representing a first illustration of values for a life insurance policy over time, the first illustration based on a set of initial assumptions and an initial value of the life insurance policy; a historical performance curve comprising a second series of points representing a set of values of the life insurance policy over time; and an in-force curve comprising a third series of points representing a second illustration of values for the life insurance policy over time, the second illustration based on a set of current assumptions and a current value of the life insurance policy; displaying, on a second region of the display, a first form for input of a first set of parameters defining a first scenario associated with the life insurance policy, the first scenario comprising a first change to the life insurance policy; and in response to displaying the first form for input of the first set of parameters: receiving the first set of parameters; determining, based on the first set of parameters, a first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time; and displaying, on the first region of the display, together with the one or more curves, the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: displaying, on the second region of the display, a second form for input of a second set of parameters, the second set of parameters defining a second scenario associated with the life insurance policy, the second scenario comprising a second change to the life insurance policy; and in response to displaying the second form for input of the second set of parameters: receiving the second set of parameters; determining, based on the second set of parameters, a second set of new values of the life insurance policy over time; and displaying, on the first region of the display, together with the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time, the second set of new values of the life insurance policy over time.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second form is displayed adjacent to the first form on the display.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining, based on the first set of parameters, the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over time comprises determining an effect of the first set of parameters on the in-force curve.

“15. The method of claim 11, further comprising: displaying a link to create a model scenario; and receiving a selection of the link, wherein displaying the first form is performed in response to receiving the selection of the link.

“16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first form comprises: a first field for input of a first parameter of the first set of parameters; and a second field for input of a second parameter of the first set of parameters.

“17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first field and the second field are chosen from a set comprising: a field for input of a new net annual rate of return for the life insurance policy; a field for input of a new premium value for the life insurance policy; and a field for input of a lump sum premium payment.

“18. The method of claim 11, wherein: the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy are displayed on the first region of the display over at least one of an annual timescale and a monthly timescale; and the method further comprises: displaying, on the first region of the display, a set of links comprising a first link associated with a first timescale corresponding to an expected lifetime of the life insurance policy; and in response to receiving a selection of the first link, displaying, on the first region of the display, the one or more curves and the first set of new values of the life insurance policy over the first timescale.

“19. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying a link to download a file comprising the one or more curves.

“20. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying, on a third region of the display, at least one of a current rate of return of the life insurance policy, a current net death benefit amount for the life insurance policy, and a predicted lapse date for the life insurance policy.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Dennie, Jeff Lee. Display tool. U.S. Patent Number 11468080, filed January 15, 2021, and published online on October 11, 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=11468080.PN.&OS=PN/11468080RS=PN/11468080

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