Patent Issued for Graphical User Interface For Tracking Data Access And Data Changes In A Centralized Database (USPTO 10,650,060)

2020 MAY 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Alexander, Candice R. (East Hartford, CT); Schantz, Jonathan M. (Southwick, MA), filed on August 31, 2018, was published online on May 25, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,650,060 is assigned to Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Large corporations, for example national insurance providers, recreate certain documents (e.g., contracts, policy information, invoice requests, etc.) repeatedly during the course of normal business. Generally, these documents are created using language that is specific to the current implementation. For example, states have varying laws regarding business practices within their jurisdiction, thus contract language can vary greatly based on the law of the state where the contract is formed.

“Therefore, large corporations, especially those operating across multiple states or countries are subject to an overwhelming amount of governmental regulations. These regulations are typically extremely specific, difficult to comprehend, and vary in minute but significant ways from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Thus, it can be difficult for an entity, even a large corporation, to manage the overwhelming amount of jurisdictional specific information as well as ensuring they are utilizing the current regulations.

“In addition to the variability based on jurisdiction, the language used to create these documents is put through a rigorous vetting process that ensures they are accurate and complete in nature. This process may involve many iterations and revisions of the language and may involve different individuals (e.g., drafter, legal counsel, state regulator, etc.). Because of the vastness of the information, and the frequency with which the information may be updated from different sources keeping all of the information centralized is of vital importance.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In summary an embodiment provides a method, comprising: receiving, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; accessing, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; populating the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; accessing, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; modifying the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; finalizing, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and displaying, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.

“An additional embodiment provides an apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the processor, the computer readable program code comprising code configured to: receive, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; access, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; populate the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; access, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; modify the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; finalize, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and display, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.

“A further embodiment provides a computer program product, comprising: a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code executable by a processor and comprising: computer readable program code that receives, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; computer readable program code that accesses, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; computer readable program code that populates the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; computer readable program code that accesses, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; computer readable program code that modifies the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; computer readable program code that finalizes, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and computer readable program code that displays, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.

“Additional embodiments are described, including other methods, as well as devices/apparatuses, systems including multiple devices, and products.

“The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.

“For a better understanding of the embodiments, together with other and further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A method, comprising; receiving, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; accessing, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; populating the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; accessing, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; modifying the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; finalizing, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and displaying, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a search function at the graphical user interface.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein the search function searches the modules based on at least one of: keyword, module number, and module name.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface includes elements for selecting the at least one modifiable module to be gapped.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising pre-filling at least one data field within the at least one modifiable module based on the indicated gap.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a status of the gap at the graphical user interface.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising releasing an approved gap as a modified module in response to selection of a gap release icon within the graphical user interface.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input comprising user credentials.

“9. The method of claim 8, further comprising authorizing, based upon the user credentials, the user before allowing modification of the at least one modifiable module.

“10. The method of claim 8, further comprising identifying, based upon the user credentials, an authorization level of the user, wherein the authorization of the user has a plurality of access levels, the levels granting different amounts of access to the database.

“11. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the processor, the computer readable program code comprising code configured to: receive, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; access, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; populate the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; access, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; modify the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; finalize, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and display, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.

“12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising providing a search function at the graphical user interface and wherein the search function searches the modules based on at least one of: keyword, module number, and module name.

“13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface includes elements for selecting the at least one modifiable module to be gapped.

“14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising pre-filling at least one data field within the at least one modifiable module based on the indicated gap.

“15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising displaying a status of the gap at the graphical user interface.

“16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising releasing an approved gap as a modified module in response to selection of a gap release icon within the graphical user interface.

“17. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising receiving user input comprising user credentials.

“18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising authorizing, based upon the user credentials, the user before allowing modification of the at least one modifiable module.

“19. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising identifying, based upon the user credentials, an authorization level of the user, wherein the authorization of the user has a plurality of access levels, the levels granting different amounts of access to the database.

“20. A computer program product, comprising: a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code executable by a processor and comprising: computer readable program code that receives, at a graphical user interface, a request from a user to create a new document having a document type, wherein the request identifies an intended state of use for the new document; computer readable program code that accesses, from a web-based data repository storing modules corresponding to portions of a document, a plurality of modules for the document type; computer readable program code that populates the new document using the plurality of modules for the document type; computer readable program code that accesses, from the web-based data repository, at least one modifiable module having default parameters intended for use within a section of the new document and modifiable for the intended state of use; computer readable program code that modifies the at least one modifiable module based upon user input received at the graphical user interface, wherein the user input comprises indication of a gap between the at least one modifiable module and the intended state of use, wherein the gap is determined based on the laws and regulations of the selected intended state of use, wherein the gap identifies a difference between requirements included in the at least one modifiable module and requirements of the selected intended state of use of the first language module and wherein the modifying comprises incorporating the information related to the gap into the modifiable module for insertion into the new document; computer readable program code that finalizes, using the modified at least one modifiable module, the populated new document by inserting the modified at least one modifiable module into the section of the new document; and computer readable program code that displays, at the graphical user interface, the finalized new document.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Alexander, Candice R.; Schantz, Jonathan M. Graphical User Interface For Tracking Data Access And Data Changes In A Centralized Database. U.S. Patent Number 10,650,060, filed August 31, 2018, and published online on May 25, 2020. 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=10,650,060.PN.&OS=PN/10,650,060RS=PN/10,650,060

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