Patent Issued for Evidence oracles (USPTO 11593888): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 MAR 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11593888, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL, US), Clayton, Wendy H. (Franklin, TN, US), Flesher, Kim E. (Normal, IL, US), Graff, Douglas A. (Mountain View, MO, US), Leise, William J. (Normal, IL, US), Magerkurth, Melinda Teresa (Utica, IL, US), McCoy, Anthony (Normal, IL, US), McCullough, Stacie A. (Bloomington, IL, US), Runge, Travis Charles (Heyworth, IL, US), Skaggs, Jaime (Chenoa, IL, US).

This patent was filed on October 7, 2020 and was published online on February 28, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “The insurance claim process may involve a tremendous number of communications and interactions between parties involved in the process. Potential parties to the claim process may be insurance companies, repair shops, lawyers, arbitrators, government agencies, hospitals, drivers, and collection/collections agency. Sometimes the costs of repairs may be disputed and parties may pursue subrogation for particular charges. As an example, when an insured person suffers a covered loss, an insurer may pay costs to the insured person and pursue subrogation from another party involved in the loss. If an insured vehicle is involved in a collision and suffers a loss, the insurer may compensate the vehicle owner according to an insurance agreement. If, for example, the vehicle owner was not at fault in the collision, the insurer may pursue damages from another party, such as the insurer of the party who was at fault in the collision. An insurance agreement may include an obligation of an insured to assign the insured’s claim against a party at fault to the insurer, who may then collect on the claim on the insured’s behalf.

“Settling a subrogation payment may be a lengthy, complicated process. The various parties (e.g., parties at fault in a vehicle collision, owners of the vehicles, insurers, etc.) may need to exchange information relating to the collision to determine which party was at fault. Sources of information relevant to a fault information and/or subrogation payment may include information regarding parties involved in a loss, forensic data regarding the loss, vehicle data regarding a loss, etc. The various parties may verify and share information from a variety of sources, including information held by parties involved in a loss and their insurers, and information obtained from third parties (e.g., governmental entities, independent contractors, etc.).

“The parties to a subrogation payment (e.g., insurers) may make proposals to one another to settle the subrogation claim. A proposal may include an accounting of damages, such as the costs to a vehicle owner whose vehicle was damaged. If an insured person suffered an injury in a collision, the injured person’s health care costs may be included in the accounting of damages. One or both of the parties to a subrogation claim may rely on independent third parties to assess costs, such as a repair cost estimate by an authorized automotive repair services provider for damage incurred in a collision. To settle the subrogation claim, the parties may indicate acceptance or approval of damages calculations and a payment amount that is agreed between the parties to settle the claim. Parties may rely on a third-party intermediary to handle subrogation negotiations and resolution (e.g., validate information relating to a loss and facilitating communications between the insurers) at added expense.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Systems and methods are disclosed for utilizing a distributed ledger, or blockchain, to manage an insurance claim process, in particular, a subrogation claim process. The systems and methods disclose using evidence oracles for inputting information into the blockchain, utilizing machine learning to suggest amounts for the subrogation process, a line item dispute mechanism, and/or creating/managing a distributed ledger in response to a vehicle being in an collision. The methods and systems may make use of secure transactions and smart contracts stored on the blockchain.

“The present embodiments further relate to insurance and handling insurance claims. Sensor, image, or other data may be collected from various sources, such as mobile devices, one or more vehicles (such as smart or autonomous vehicles), smart infrastructure, satellites, drones, and/or smart or interconnected homes. The data collected may be analyzed by artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms to identify whether a vehicle collision occurred; determine a percentage of fault (for the drivers or autonomous vehicles); determine the veracity of an insurance claim or identify potential fraud or buildup; facilitate subrogation or arbitration processes; determine and assign liability to vehicle manufacturers or drivers; create new blockchains and/or individual blocks for blockchains associated with a particular insurance claim, individual, or vehicle; provide payments or e-payments among parties; and/or facilitate other functionality discussed herein.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for providing data relevant to collision s and subrogation claims by interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants may be provided. The method may include, via one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or associated transceivers: (1) receiving, at one or more processors, recorded data from one or more connected devices at a geographic location; (2) analyzing, at the one or more processors, the recorded data, wherein analyzing the recorded data may include determining that an collision has occurred involving one or more vehicles; (3) generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including the data indicative of the collision based upon the analysis; and/or (4) transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for providing data relevant to collisions and subrogation claims by interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants may be provided. The method may include, via one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or associated transceivers: (1) receiving, at one or more processors, a request for recorded data from at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network; (2) verifying, at the one or more processors, an access level for the at least one other participant; (3) analyzing, at the one or more processors, the request for recorded data, wherein analyzing may include determining data relevant to the request; (4) generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including the data relevant to the request; and/or (5) transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction to the at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another aspect, a computer system configured to handle or process an insurance claim via a shared ledger may be provided. The system may include one or more processors, servers, sensors, and/or associated transceivers configured to: (1) receive recorded data from one or more connected devices at a geographic location; (2) analyze the recorded data, wherein analyzing the recorded data may include determining that an collision has occurred involving one or more vehicles; (3) generate a transaction including the data indicative of the collision based upon the analysis; and/or (4) transmit the transaction to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network. The system may include additional, less, or alternate components and actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for providing data relevant to collisions and subrogation claims by interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, recorded data from one or more connected devices at a geographic location, wherein the one or more processors are one or more processors of an evidence oracle located at a traffic intersection; analyzing, at the one or more processors, the recorded data, wherein analyzing the recorded data comprises determining that a collision has occurred involving one or more vehicles by comparing, at the one or more processors, the recorded data to a baseline data profile for a type of recorded data related to the received recorded data; generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including the data indicative of the collision based upon the analysis; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the recorded data are one of sensor data, audio data, video data, and combinations thereof.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location is a traffic intersection, a road segment, a waterway, a bridge, or combinations thereof.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a collision has occurred, further comprises: comparing, at the one or more processors, the recorded data to a baseline data profile for a type of recorded data related to the received recorded data.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the transaction further comprises: identifying, at the one or more processors, identity data for the one or more connected devices; augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with the identity data for the one or more connected devices; generating, at the one or more processors, a cryptographic signature based upon the transaction; and augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with the cryptographic signature.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: adding, at the one or more processors, the transaction to a block of transactions; solving, at the one or more processors, a cryptographic puzzle based upon the block of transactions; adding, at the one or more processors, the solution to the cryptographic puzzle to the block of transactions; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the block of transactions to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, at the one or more processors, that a collision has not occurred; and in response to the determination that a collision has not occurred, updating, at the one or more processors, a database with the recorded data.

“8. A computer-implemented method for providing data relevant to collisions and subrogation claims by interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, a request for recorded data from at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network, wherein the recorded data is relevant to the collisions and the subrogation claims; verifying, at the one or more processors, an access level for the at least one other participant; analyzing, at the one or more processors, the request for recorded data, wherein analyzing comprises determining data relevant to the request; generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including the data relevant to the request; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction to the at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network; wherein the one or more processors are one or more processors of an evidence oracle located at a traffic intersection.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the request for recorded data is triggered by a transaction on the distributed ledger network related to a subrogation claim.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein verifying the access level for the at least one participant requesting the recorded data further comprises: determining, at the one or more processors, an identity for the at least one other participant; and checking, at the one or more processors, the identity against a database of access levels listing who may access the recorded data.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein analyzing the request for recorded data further comprises: determining, at the one or more processors, a type of data requested; and determining, at the one or more processors, an amount of data requested.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein generating the transaction further comprises: identifying, at the one or more processors, identity data for one or more connected devices that recorded the recorded data; augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with the identity data for the one or more connected devices; generating, at the one or more processors, a cryptographic signature based upon the transaction; and augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with the cryptographic signature.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: adding, at the one or more processors, the transaction to a block of transactions; solving, at the one or more processors, a cryptographic puzzle based upon the block of transactions; adding, at the one or more processors, the solution to the cryptographic puzzle to the block of transactions; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the block of transactions to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network.

“14. A computer system for providing data relevant to collisions and subrogation claims by interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants, the system comprising: a hardware network interface configured to interface with a processor; one or more sensors located at a traffic intersection; a memory configured to store non-transitory computer executable instructions and configured to interface with the processor; and the processor configured to interface with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: receive recorded data from one or more connected devices at a geographic location; analyze the recorded data, wherein analyze the recorded data comprises determining that a collision has occurred involving one or more vehicles; generate a transaction including the data indicative of the collision based upon the analysis; and transmit the transaction to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network.

“15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the recorded data are one of sensor data, audio data, video data, and combinations thereof.

“16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the geographic location is a traffic intersection, a road segment, a waterway, a bridge, or combinations thereof.

“17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein to determine a collision has occurred, the processor is further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: compare the recorded data to a baseline data profile for a type of recorded data related to the received recorded data.

“18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein to generate the transaction, the processor is further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: identify identity data for the one or more connected devices; augment the transaction with the identity data for the one or more connected devices; generate a cryptographic signature based upon the transaction; and augment the transaction with the cryptographic signature.

“19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: add the transaction to a block of transactions; solve a cryptographic puzzle based upon the block of transactions; add the solution to the cryptographic puzzle to the block of transactions; and transmit the block of transactions to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger network.

“20. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: if a collision has not occurred, update a database with the recorded data.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Call, Shawn M. Evidence oracles. U.S. Patent Number 11593888, filed October 7, 2020, and published online on February 28, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11593888)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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