Patent Issued for Recommendation Of Insurance Products Based On An Inventory Analysis (USPTO 10,467,700)

2019 NOV 14 (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 Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL); Hughes, Stephen (Belfast, GB); Gillespie, James (Belfast, GB); Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL); Koza, Daniel (Hinsdale, IL), filed on October 28, 2013, was published online on November 18, 2019.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,467,700, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Conventional software applications for generating an inventory of items associated with property such as a home, office, business, etc. are little more than non-intelligent databases for storing each item input by a user. In addition, conventional inventory applications are stand-alone systems that are not configured to interact with external systems to better leverage the information included in the inventory.

“Therefore, there is a need for optimized systems and methods for generating an inventory and leveraging the information included within the inventory.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure involve optimized systems and methods for generating, maintaining, and using documentation of an inventory of items associated with an entity such as a home, office, vehicle, and other types of property.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, an optimized inventory analysis server may interface with external systems and may generate an inventory configured for various purposes, including insurance analysis. In particular, the optimized inventory analysis server may identify users associated with an entity such as an insurance company and may generate a profile associated with the users. In addition, the optimized inventory analysis server may store information related to ownership of various inventory items. Using the inventory information associated with each user profile, the optimized inventory analysis server may also recommend items that each user may want to own or may already own but has forgotten to add to the inventory. In another aspect, the optimized inventory analysis server may determine a depreciated price for items within an inventory.

“In another aspect, an optimized inventory analysis server may calculate loss associated with an insurance claim by interfacing with a database storing items within an inventory. The server may also allow users to provide more information to recalculate the loss and generate a finalized settlement.

“In another aspect, an optimized inventory analysis server may manage the storage of information related to what a user owns, insurance coverage for items owned by the user, and the value of items owned and insured by the user. Based on an analysis of this information, the optimized inventory analysis server may determine if each item owned/stored is insured at all (e.g., via an item-by-item insurance policy) and/or adequately insured. In another aspect, the optimized inventory analysis server may determine if there are any additional and/or alternative insurance products from which users may benefit.

“In other aspects, an optimized inventory analysis server may recommend incentives for purchasing items sold by third party entities. The optimized inventory analysis server may also offer incentives for purchasing insurance products for insuring items sold by third party entities.

“Further aspects of the disclosure may be provided in a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer, user terminal, or other apparatus to at least perform one or more of the processes described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a server, cause the server at least to: receive one or more images or videos of a plurality of insured physically-owned items, wherein each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items is associated with a respective existing insurance coverage level, under an existing insurance policy; analyze, using one or more of a blur filter, grey-scaling, optical recognition, or edge detection, the one or more images or videos to obtain at least an identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; generate an inventory in a database, the inventory comprising at least the identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; for each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items in the inventory, analyze information related to whether that insured physically-owned item is adequately covered by the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with that insured physically-owned item; determine that a first insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item by determining that a value of the first insured physically-owned item is less than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item and that there is no deductible under the existing insurance policy for the first insured physically-owned item; determine that a second insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is not adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item; determine that an additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists; based on determining that the additional or alternative insurance product exists, determine details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product; and transmit, via a network interface of the server and to a user device associated with the existing insurance policy, a message comprising a recommendation to obtain the additional or alternative insurance product, the recommendation comprising the details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product.

“2. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the server to receive, from the user device, a message comprising an indication of whether the additional or alternative insurance product will be purchased.

“3. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product relate to a deductible, a premium, and a coverage level of the additional or alternative insurance product.

“4. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the server to: determine that a third insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the third insured physically-owned item by determining that the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the third insured physically-owned item is above a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is less than a value of the third insured physically-owned item.

“5. The non-transitory-computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to, determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by determining that a value of the second insured physically-owned item is greater than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item.

“6. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by determining that a value of the second insured physically-owned item is greater than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item and determining that the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item is less than a predetermined threshold.

“7. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by determining that the second insured physically-owned item is under-insured by the existing insurance policy.

“8. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by determining that the second insured physically-owned item is over-insured by the existing insurance policy.

“9. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists by determining that an insurance product is available to cover a difference between a value of the second insured physically-owned item and a value of the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item.

“10. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists by determining, based on a value of the second insured physically-owned item, a second insurance policy with an insurance coverage level for the second insured physically-owned item that is greater than or equal to the value of the second insured physically-owned item and with a second deductible that is equal to or less than a first deductible of the existing insurance policy.

“11. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists by determining, based on a value of the second insured physically-owned item, a second insurance policy with an insurance coverage level for the second insured physically-owned item that is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold that is set for the second insured physically-owned item and with a second deductible that is equal to or less than a first deductible of the existing insurance policy.

“12. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that a third insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by determining that a value of the third insured physically-owned item is less than a respective existing insurance coverage level for the third insured physically-owned item and that a particular deductible under the existing insurance policy for the third insured physically-owned item is below a threshold, wherein the particular deductible is greater than zero.

“13. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the value of the first insured physically-owned item corresponds to a depreciated value of the first insured physically-owned item, and wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the server to determine the depreciated value of the first insured physically-owned item.

“14. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by the respective existing insurance coverage level by comparing a value of the second insured physically-owned item with the respective existing insurance coverage level for the second insured physically-owned item, the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item being different from the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item.

“15. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by determining that a value of the second insured physically-owned item is less than the respective existing insurance coverage level for the second insured physically-owned item and that there is a deductible under the existing insurance police for the second insured physically-owned item.

“16. The non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to: determine whether a third insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the third insured physically-owned item by determining that the respective existing insurance coverage level matches a predefined insurance coverage level.

“17. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, one or more images or videos of a plurality of insured physically-owned items, wherein each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items is associated with a respective existing insurance coverage level, under an existing insurance policy; analyzing, by the computing device using one or more of a blur filter, grey-scaling, optical recognition, or edge detection, the one or more images or videos to obtain at least an identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; generating, by the computing device, an inventory in a database, the inventory comprising at least the identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; for each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items in the inventory, analyzing, by the computing device, information related to whether that insured physically-owned item is adequately covered by the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with that insured physically-owned item; determining, by the computing device, that a first insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item by determining that a value of the first insured physically-owned item is less than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item and that there is no deductible under the existing insurance policy for the first insured physically-owned item; determining, by the computing device, that a second insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is not adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item; determining, by the computing device, that an additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists; based on determining that the additional or alternative insurance product exists, determining, by the computing device, details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product; and transmitting, via a network interface of the computing device and to a user device associated with the existing insurance policy, a message comprising a recommendation to obtain the additional or alternative insurance product, the recommendation comprising the details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining that the second insured physically-owned item is not adequately covered by the respective existing insurance coverage level comprises: determining that a value of the second insured physically-owned item is greater than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item; and determining that the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item is less than a predetermined threshold.

“19. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting the recommendation comprises: generating a short message system (SMS) message comprising the details, wherein the user device comprises a mobile device associated with a telephone number associated with the existing insurance policy.

“20. A system, comprising: a mobile device, comprising a camera, wherein the mobile device is configured to capture, using the camera, one or more images or videos of a plurality of insured physically-owned items and transmit the one or more images or videos to a server; a database; and a server comprising a non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of the server, cause the server to: receive, from the mobile device, the one or more images or videos of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, wherein each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items is associated with a respective existing insurance coverage level, under an existing insurance policy; analyze, using one or more of a blur filter, grey-scaling, optical recognition, or edge detection, the one or more images or videos to obtain at least an identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; generate an inventory in the database, the inventory comprising at least the identification of the plurality of insured physically-owned items; for each of the plurality of insured physically-owned items in the inventory, analyze information related to whether that insured physically-owned item is adequately covered by the respective existing insurance coverage level; determine that a first insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item by determining that a value of the first insured physically-owned item is less than the respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the first insured physically-owned item and that there is no deductible under the existing insurance policy for the first insured physically-owned item; determine that a second insured physically-owned item, of the plurality of insured physically-owned items, is not adequately covered by a respective existing insurance coverage level associated with the second insured physically-owned item; determine that an additional or alternative insurance product that adequately covers the second insured physically-owned item exists; based on determining that the additional or alternative insurance product exists, determine details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product; and transmit, via a network interface of the server and to a user associated with the existing insurance policy, a recommendation to obtain the additional or alternative insurance product, the recommendation comprising the details associated with the additional or alternative insurance product.”

For more information, see this patent: Loo, William; Hughes, Stephen; Gillespie, James; Brandmaier, Jennifer A.; Koza, Daniel. Recommendation Of Insurance Products Based On An Inventory Analysis. U.S. Patent Number 10,467,700, filed October 28, 2013, and published online on November 18, 2019. 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=10,467,700.PN.&OS=PN/10,467,700RS=PN/10,467,700

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