Patent Issued for Display tool (USPTO 11727026): The Prudential Insurance Company of America

2023 SEP 05 (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 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 December 16, 2021, was published online on August 15, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11727026, is The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Newark, New Jersey, United States).

Reporters 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.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors 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 hardware processor configured to: present, on a display, a curve comprising a series of points representing an illustration of values for a life insurance policy over time, the curve comprising at least one of: a baseline curve, wherein the illustration is based on a set of initial assumptions and an initial value of the life insurance policy; a historical performance curve, wherein the series of points comprises actual values of the life insurance policy over a period of time prior to a present time; or an in-force curve, wherein the series of points comprises predictions for future values for the life insurance policy over time, the predictions based on a set of current assumptions and a current value of the life insurance policy; and present, on the display, a link, selectable by a user, the link corresponding to at least one of: a first link to download a file comprising at least one of the first illustration and the second illustration; a second link to display at least one of: the set of current assumptions; the set of initial assumptions; a list of payments; and a list of transactions; a third link to open an in-force illustrator application to generate an illustration; and a fourth link to create or update a new baseline.

“2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to present, on a region of the display defined by a horizontal time axis, a fourth series of points, wherein: each point of the fourth series of points corresponds to a transaction identified in the list of transactions; and a position of each point of the fourth series of points on the horizontal time axis identifies a time of the corresponding transaction.

“3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the link corresponds to the third link to open the in-force illustrator application; and in response to receiving a selection of the link, the hardware processor is further configured to: receive a set of parameters; and generate, based on the set of parameters, a file comprising the illustration.

“4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein receiving the set of parameters comprises presenting, on the display, a set of fields for input of one or more parameters of the set of parameters.

“5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the set of parameters comprises a parameter associated with at least one of: a change to a premium payment associated with the life insurance policy; a change to a death benefit associated with the life insurance policy; a change to an owner of the life insurance policy; and one or more distributions associated with the life insurance policy.

“6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the list of transactions is stored in a memory; and the hardware processor is further configured to: determine that a first transaction has occurred that is not identified in the list of transactions; and in response to determining that the first transaction has occurred, present a first notification associated with the first transaction on the display.

“7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the list of transactions is stored in a memory; and the hardware processor is further configured to: determine that a second transaction that is identified in the list of transactions is scheduled to occur within a set time interval; and in response to determining that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval, present a second notification associated with the second transaction on the display.

“8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein in response to determining that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval, the hardware processor is further configured to send a message to a device, the message alerting a user of the device that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval.

“9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the link corresponds to the fourth link to create or update the new baseline; and in response to receiving a selection of the link, the hardware processor is further configured to: receive a set of parameters used to define the new baseline; generate, based on the set of parameters, a fourth series of points representing the new baseline; and present, on the display, a new baseline curve comprising the fourth series of points.

“10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein: the curve comprises the baseline curve; and presenting the new baseline curve comprises replacing the baseline curve with the new baseline curve.

“11. A method comprising: displaying a curve comprising a series of points representing an illustration of values for a life insurance policy over time, the curve comprising at least one of: a baseline curve, wherein the illustration is based on a set of initial assumptions and an initial value of the life insurance policy; a historical performance curve, wherein the series of points comprises actual values of the life insurance policy over a period of time prior to a present time; or an in-force curve, wherein the series of points comprises predictions for future values for the life insurance policy over time, the predictions based on a set of current assumptions and a current value of the life insurance policy; and displaying a link, selectable by a user, the link corresponding to at least one of: a first link to download a file comprising at least one of the first illustration and the second illustration; a second link to display at least one of: the set of current assumptions; the set of initial assumptions; a list of payments; and a list of transactions; a third link to open an in-force illustrator application to generate an illustration; and a fourth link to create or update a new baseline.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising presenting, on a region of a display defined by a horizontal time axis, a fourth series of points, wherein: each point of the fourth series of points corresponds to a transaction identified in the list of transactions; and a position of each point of the fourth series of points on the horizontal time axis identifies a time of the corresponding transaction.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein: the link corresponds to the third link to open the in-force illustrator application; and in response to receiving a selection of the link, the method further comprises: receiving a set of parameters; and generating, based on the set of parameters, a file comprising the illustration.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the set of parameters comprises displaying a set of fields for input of one or more parameters of the set of parameters.

“15. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of parameters comprises a parameter associated with at least one of: a change to a premium payment associated with the life insurance policy; a change to a death benefit associated with the life insurance policy; a change to an owner of the life insurance policy; and one or more distributions associated with the life insurance policy.

“16. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining that a first transaction has occurred that is not identified in the list of transactions, wherein the list of transactions is stored in a memory; and in response to determining that the first transaction has occurred, displaying a first notification associated with the first transaction.

“17. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining that a second transaction that is identified in the list of transactions is scheduled to occur within a set time interval, wherein the list of transactions is stored in a memory; and in response to determining that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval, displaying a second notification associated with the second transaction.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein in response to determining that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval, the method further comprises sending a message to a device, the message alerting a user of the device that the second transaction is scheduled to occur within the set time interval.

“19. The method of claim 11, wherein: the link corresponds to the fourth link to create or update the new baseline; and in response to receiving a selection of the link, the method further comprises: receiving a set of parameters used to define the new baseline; generating, based on the set of parameters, a fourth series of points representing the new baseline; and displaying a new baseline curve comprising the fourth series of points.

“20. The method of claim 19, wherein: the curve comprises the baseline curve; and displaying the new baseline curve comprises replacing the baseline curve with the new baseline curve.”

For more information, see this patent: Dennie, Jeff Lee. Display tool. U.S. Patent Number 11727026, filed December 16, 2021, and published online on August 15, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11727026)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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