Patent Issued for Evidence oracles (USPTO 11682082): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 JUL 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors 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), filed on March 30, 2021, was published online on June 20, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11682082 is assigned to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “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.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists 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 interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, sensor data indicative of a vehicle accident; determining, at the one or more processors, that the vehicle accident has occurred based on the received sensor data; analyzing, at the one or more processors, a plurality of vehicle components to assess potential damage, the plurality of vehicle components including an engine of a vehicle involved in the accident, brakes, and a suspension system of the vehicle involved in the accident; generating, at the one or more processors, a damages dataset based upon the analysis; generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including an identifier for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction including the identifier for the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset to at least one other participant via the distributed ledger.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is received from the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is vehicle data indicative of speed, position, orientation, location, impact, or combinations thereof.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of vehicle components further comprises: collecting, at the one or more processors, accident data from the plurality of vehicle components.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of vehicle components further comprises: determining, at the one or more processors, a subrogation claim related to the vehicle accident; generating, at the one or more processors, a smart contract related to the subrogation claim; and deploying, at the one or more processors, the smart contract to the distributed ledger.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising, for the subrogation claim, identifying a claimant with a first cryptographic public key, and identifying a defendant with a second cryptographic public key; and, subsequently, sending data including a message signed by private keys corresponding to the first and second public keys identifying the claimant and the defendant in a smart contract.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the claimant and defendant generate the public and private keys offline, and only the public keys are provided to other network participants.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the damages dataset further comprises: determining, at the one or more processors, a component status for each member of the plurality of vehicle components.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the damages dataset includes an insurance provider for the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the transaction further comprises: augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with identity data for the vehicle; 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.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the transaction to at least one other participant further comprises: transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction to a smart contract stored on the distributed ledger.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vehicle components further includes: tires of the vehicle involved in the accident; air bags of the vehicle involved in the accident; and a steering wheel of the vehicle involved in the accident.

“13. A computer-implemented method for interacting with a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, sensor data indicative of a vehicle accident; determining, at the one or more processors, that the vehicle accident has occurred based on the received sensor data; analyzing, at the one or more processors, a plurality of vehicle components for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident to assess potential damage, the plurality of vehicle components including an engine of a vehicle involved in the accident, and brakes, and a suspension system of the vehicle involved in the accident; generating, at the one or more processors, a damages dataset based upon the analysis; creating, at the one or more processors, a distributed ledger for the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident; deploying, at the one or more processors, a smart contract including the damages dataset and an identifier for the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident on the distributed ledger; generating, at the one or more processors, a transaction including the identifier for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset; and transmitting, at the one or more processors, the transaction including the identifier for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset to at least one other participant in the distributed ledger.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the sensor data is vehicle data indicative of speed, position, orientation, location, impact, or combinations thereof.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein analyzing the plurality of vehicle components further comprises: collecting, at the one or more processors, accident data from the plurality of vehicle components.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein analyzing the plurality of vehicle components further comprises: determining, at the one or more processors, a subrogation claim related to the vehicle accident; generating, at the one or more processors, a smart contract related to the subrogation claim; and deploying, at the one or more processors, the smart contract to the distributed ledger.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein generating the transaction further comprises: augmenting, at the one or more processors, the transaction with identity data for the vehicle; 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.

“18. A computer system for interacting with a distributed ledger, the system comprising: a network interface configured to interface with a processor; 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 sensor data indicative of a vehicle accident; determine that the vehicle accident has occurred based on the received sensor data; analyze, to assess potential damage, a plurality of vehicle components including an engine of a vehicle involved in the accident, and brakes, and a suspension system of the vehicle involved in the accident by: determining a subrogation claim related to the vehicle accident including analyzing a damage level done to the engine of the vehicle; generating a smart contract related to the subrogation claim; and deploying the smart contract to the distributed ledger; generate a damages dataset based upon the analysis; generate a transaction including an identifier for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset; and transmit the transaction including the identifier for a vehicle involved in the vehicle accident and the damages dataset to at least one other participant via the distributed ledger.

“19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the sensor data is received from the vehicle involved in the vehicle accident.

“20. The computer system of claim 18, further including: a camera mounted about the vehicle; and a road side camera; and wherein the received sensor data indicative of the vehicle accident includes data from both the camera mounted about the vehicle and the roadside camera.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Call, Shawn M. Evidence oracles. U.S. Patent Number 11682082, filed March 30, 2021, and published online on June 20, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11682082)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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