Patent Issued for Method And System For Dynamically Changing Automobile Insurance (USPTO 10,748,219)

2020 AUG 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Pearce, Richard J. (Conroe, TX), filed on January 8, 2019, was published online on August 31, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,748,219 is assigned to ONOFF Inc. (Conroe, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “It is not uncommon for a person or family to own multiple automobiles. Some people have a collectible or sport automobile in addition to a commuter automobile used for daily/weekday driving. Some people collect automobiles and have several automobiles in their collection. Since each automobile is an asset, it is desirable to insure each automobile. In many jurisdictions insurance is required to drive an automobile on public roadways. Although some insurance companies provide a discount for insuring multiple vehicles together on one policy, each automobile is essentially fully covered, even though it is not possible for a person to drive more than one automobile at a time.

“At the same time, insurance companies would like to offer more competitive discounts, but have no way of verifying which automobile covered under a policy is being driven, driven the most, rarely driven, etc. Thus, they have to assume any car owned by a person could be driven at any time.

“Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “The invention provides a method and system for dynamically changing automobile insurance coverage that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and that allows a policy holder having several automobiles to select one or more for active coverage in order to drive the automobile on public roadways, and to deactivate active coverage when an automobile is not going to be driven by the policy holder.

“With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with some embodiments a method for dynamically updating and verifying an active automobile designation for a multi-automobile insurance policy that includes accessing, by a mobile device, insurance information associated with an account maintained by an insurance company. The insurance information can include a plurality of vehicle records associated with an insurance policy provided by the insurance company. The plurality of vehicle records each include a data field indicating whether the corresponding vehicle is presently an actively covered vehicle or a base covered vehicle. The method can further include displaying, by the mobile device, a plurality of interface objects on a display of the mobile device, each one of the plurality of interface objects corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of vehicle records. The method can further include receiving, at the mobile device, a selection of one of the plurality of interface objects. The selection indicates that the vehicle corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of interface objects is to be an actively covered vehicle. The method can further include, subsequent to receiving the selection, the mobile device automatically acquiring, by other than manual entry, an identifier of the vehicle. The mobile device can determine whether the received identifier corresponds to an actively covered vehicle associated with the insurance policy. The mobile device can issue a notification indicating whether, based on the identifier, the vehicle is actively covered.

“In accordance with a further feature, automatically acquiring the identifier of the vehicle can include connecting to a personal area wireless network transceiver of the vehicle.

“In accordance with a further feature, acquiring the identifier can include acquiring a media access controller address of the personal area wireless network transceiver as the identifier.

“In accordance with a further feature, the personal area wireless network transceiver can provide the identifier to the mobile device as a vehicle identification number.

“In accordance with a further feature, automatically acquiring the identifier of the vehicle can include the mobile device connecting to a telematics unit of the vehicle and receiving the identifier from the telematics unit.

“In accordance with a further feature, the identifier provided by the telematics unit can be a vehicle identification number of the vehicle.

“In accordance with a further feature, automatically acquiring the identifier of the vehicle can include connecting a personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector of the vehicle and receiving the identifier from the personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector.

“In accordance with a further feature, automatically acquiring the identifier of the vehicle can include performing an image recognition process on an image captured by the mobile device and recognizing the identifier in the image.

“In accordance with a further feature, the image is an image of a license tag of the vehicle, recognizing the identifier in the image can include recognizing a license tag number of the license tag.

“In accordance with a further feature, the image is an image of a pictographic code associated with the vehicle, recognizing the identifier in the image can include recognizing the pictographic code and decoding information from the pictographic code to obtain the identifier.

“In accordance with some embodiments there is provided a method for dynamically updating information for an automobile insurance policy for a plurality of automobiles to indicate an actively covered one of the plurality of automobiles including receiving, at a mobile device, an identifier associated with a specific automobile. The method can further include the mobile device transmitting the identifier to a policy management processor, the policy management processor being configured to manage and determine a premium for a policy covering the specific automobile and at least one other automobile. The method can further include, in response to receiving the identify from the mobile device, the policy management processor updating a record associated with the specific automobile to indicate that the specific automobile is active and in use. The method can further include the policy management processor determining a premium based on the specific automobile being active for a period of time.

“In accordance with a further feature, receiving the identifier of the specific automobile can include the mobile device detecting a connection to a personal area wireless network transceiver of the specific automobile.

“In accordance with a further feature, receiving the identifier can include receiving a media access controller address of the personal area wireless network transceiver as the identifier.

“In accordance with a further feature, the personal area wireless network transceiver provides the identifier to the mobile device as a vehicle identification number.

“In accordance with a further feature, receiving the identifier of the specific automobile can include the mobile device detecting and connecting to a telematics unit of the specific automobile and receiving the identifier from the telematics unit.

“In accordance with a further feature, the identifier provided by the telematics unit is a vehicle identification number of the specific automobile.

“In accordance with a further feature, automatically receiving the identifier of the specific automobile can include connecting a personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector of the specific automobile and receiving the identifier from the personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector.

“In accordance with a further feature, receiving the identifier of the specific automobile can include performing an image recognition process on an image captured by the mobile device and recognizing the identifier in the image.

“In accordance with a further feature, the image is an image of a license tag of the specific automobile, recognizing the identifier in the image comprises recognizing a license tag number of the license tag.

“In accordance with a further feature, the image is an image of a pictographic code associated with the specific automobile, recognizing the identifier in the image comprises recognizing the pictographic code and decoding information from the pictographic code to obtain the identifier.

“Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method and system for dynamically changing automobile insurance, it is, nevertheless, not intended to be limited to the details shown because various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention.

“Other features that are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims. As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one of ordinary skill in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting; but rather, to provide an understandable description of the invention. While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward. The figures of the drawings are not drawn to scale.

“Before the present invention is disclosed and described, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. The terms ‘a’ or ‘an,’ as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term ‘plurality,’ as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term ‘another,’ as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms ‘including’ and/or ‘having,’ as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term ‘coupled,’ as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The term ‘providing’ is defined herein in its broadest sense, e.g., bringing/coming into physical existence, making available, and/or supplying to someone or something, in whole or in multiple parts at once or over a period of time.

“’In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, azimuth or positional relationships indicated by terms such as ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘inside’, ‘outside’, ‘front’, ‘back’, ‘head’, ‘tail’ and so on, are azimuth or positional relationships based on the drawings, which are only to facilitate description of the embodiments of the present invention and simplify the description, but not to indicate or imply that the devices or components must have a specific azimuth, or be constructed or operated in the specific azimuth, which thus cannot be understood as a limitation to the embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, terms such as ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’ and so on are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

“In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, terms such as ‘installed’, ‘coupled’, ‘connected’ should be broadly interpreted, for example, it may be fixedly connected, or may be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it may be mechanically connected, or may be electrically connected; it may be directly connected, or may be indirectly connected via an intermediate medium. As used herein, the terms ‘about’ or ‘approximately’ apply to all numeric values, whether or not explicitly indicated. These terms generally refer to a range of numbers that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited values (i.e., having the same function or result). In many instances these terms may include numbers that are rounded to the nearest significant figure. The terms ‘program,’ ‘software application,’ and the like as used herein, are defined as a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system. A ‘program,’ ‘computer program,’ or ‘software application’ may include a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meanings of the above-mentioned terms in the embodiments of the present invention according to the specific circumstances”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A method for dynamically updating information for an automobile insurance policy for a plurality of automobiles to indicate an actively covered one of the plurality of automobiles, wherein all of the plurality of automobiles are subject to a base policy coverage under the automobile insurance policy and wherein only one of the plurality of automobiles can be an active, and wherein any one of the plurality of automobiles can be selected to be the actively covered automobile at any time by a user, the method comprising: receiving, at a mobile device, an identifier associated with a specific automobile of the plurality of automobiles presently covered under the automobile insurance policy; the mobile device transmitting the identifier to a policy management processor, the policy management processor being configured to manage and determine a premium for a policy covering the specific automobile and at least one other automobile under the automobile insurance policy; in response to receiving the identify identifier from the mobile device, the policy management processor updating a record associated with the specific automobile to indicate that the specific automobile is active and in use and wherein the at least one other automobile is not active on the automobile insurance policy; the policy management processor determining a premium based on the specific automobile being active for a period of time; detecting, by the mobile device, that the specific automobile has been started; and in response to detecting that the specific automobile has been started, the mobile device indicating that the specific automobile is active under the automobile insurance policy.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the identifier of the specific automobile comprises the mobile device detecting a connection to a personal area wireless network transceiver of the specific automobile.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the identifier comprises receiving a media access controller address of the personal area wireless network transceiver as the identifier.

“4. The method of claim 2, wherein the personal area wireless network transceiver provides the identifier to the mobile device as a vehicle identification number.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the identifier of the specific automobile comprises the mobile device detecting and connecting to a telematics unit of the specific automobile and receiving the identifier from the telematics unit.

“6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifier provided by the telematics unit is a vehicle identification number of the specific automobile.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically receiving the identifier of the specific automobile comprises connecting a personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector of the specific automobile and receiving the identifier from the personal area network transceiver that is connected to an on board diagnostic connector.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the identifier of the specific automobile comprises performing an image recognition process on an image captured by the mobile device and recognizing the identifier in the image.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the image is an image of a license tag of the specific automobile, recognizing the identifier in the image comprises recognizing a license tag number of the license tag.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the image is an image of a pictographic code associated with the specific automobile, recognizing the identifier in the image comprises recognizing the pictographic code and decoding information from the pictographic code to obtain the identifier.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Pearce, Richard J. Method And System For Dynamically Changing Automobile Insurance. U.S. Patent Number 10,748,219, filed January 8, 2019, and published online on August 31, 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=10,748,219.PN.&OS=PN/10,748,219RS=PN/10,748,219

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