Patent Issued for Remote mobile device interactions with multiple remote servers (USPTO 11232520): Hartford Fire Insurance Company

2022 FEB 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Amigo, Andrew J. (Gloucester, MA, US), Borden, Richard M. (West Hartford, CT, US), Busque, Keven J. (Manchester, CT, US), Peak, David F. (Avon, CT, US), Walters, Eugene J. (Avon, CT, US), filed on December 4, 2017, was published online on January 25, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11232520 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: “Many types of insurance coverage, such as those for personal or commercial property, have coverage terms and conditions in which the insurer will reimburse the insured for damage or loss to personal property items (in the case of personal lines insurance policies) or for damage or loss to commercial property items such as inventory or equipment (in the case of commercial lines policies). For example, if an item of personal property is stolen or damaged, many insurance policies may reimburse the insured so that the insured may obtain a suitable replacement. Similar coverage is provided for businesses. For example, a retailer may carry a commercial lines policy which covers the retailer’s inventory in the case of loss or damage. Often, however, it can be difficult for an insurer to verify that an item of property was, in fact, owned by the insured. In the case of businesses, such as retailers, it is difficult to verify what items were actually in the retailer’s inventory at the time of a loss, as inventories change on a daily basis.

“Further, many losses arise from events such as fires or floods. In such situations, it can be difficult for an insured to remember all of the items that may have been lost or damaged. It is also difficult to locate receipts, or otherwise locate evidence of ownership or value. It would be desirable to provide systems and methods for insurance policy holders to create and maintain an inventory of personal property. It would further be desirable to allow the use of such an inventory to document claims in the event of a loss.

“Insurance policies have coverage limits and exclusions. For example, a homeowner policy may cover up to $100,000 of personal property items (a “coverage limit”) but will not cover fine art (an “exclusion”). Insurance policy holders often do not know if the value of their personal property exceeds these limits or what items are excluded from coverage. It would be desirable to provide systems and methods to alert policy holders if the value of covered items exceeds the coverage limits of an existing policy, or if an item is excluded from coverage. It would further be desirable to provide systems and methods to price and provide coverage based on the current value of property owned by an insured.

“It would further be desirable to provide systems and methods which allow the creation and updating of such proof of ownership data to be collected and updated using mobile devices.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for establishing evidence or information about insured items for use in proof of insurance and for use in analyzing and/or updating coverage. Embodiments provide applications and mobile devices to allow the ready, convenient and accurate collection, submission, storage and analysis of information about items of property for insurance purposes. Embodiments relate to both personal insurance as well as commercial insurance (as well as other types of insurance where property, including inventory or equipment is insured, such as in bailment situations where an entity holds inventory or property for delivery to others).

“As used herein, the term “property” or “insured property” is used to refer to items that are insured (or are to be insured or are claimed to be insured) including items of personal property (in the case of personal lines insurance) as well as items of commercial property (such as inventory, equipment, or the like, in the case of commercial lines insurance).

“As used herein, the term “user” is used to refer to an operator of a mobile device (or other data collection system) which is operated to collect, report or otherwise provide information about items of property to an insurer or agent of an insurer. For example, a “user”, in the case of a personal lines insurance policy, may be a homeowner, a renter, or the like, who operates a mobile device configured pursuant to the present invention to collect and provide information about items of personal property. As another example, a “user”, in the case of a commercial lines insurance policy, may be an employee, owner, or other operator of one or more mobile devices (or other data collection systems) configured pursuant to the present invention to collect and provide information about items of commercial property (such as items of inventory, equipment or the like).

“In some embodiments, mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, or other portable communication and computing devices, are provided with software (referred to herein as “applications,” “mobile applications,” or “mobile insurance applications”) that allow users to easily collect, submit, store information about items of property that are (or will be) covered by one or more insurance policies. Further, embodiments allow users to be notified of situations when there is insufficient insurance coverage for an item, and, if needed, allow the user to obtain additional insurance coverage. For example, in some embodiments, users may operate mobile devices operating a mobile application to capture information about items of property. The mobile device may then be used to transmit the information to an insurance company or other entity for storage in an inventory database associated with the user. Further, in some embodiments, an analysis or evaluation of the user’s inventory or each item may occur to determine if the user’s insurance coverage is sufficient. In some embodiments, the user may apply for and obtain additional coverage based on the determination.

“Pursuant to some embodiments, the pricing, exclusions and/or coverage limits of an insurance policy may be updated based on the current value of items in an inventory. For example, in the case of a commercial lines policy for a retailer, some embodiments allow daily, weekly or other regular updates to a policy based on the value of items owned by the retailer, which may vary as the retailer adds items to inventory and sells items from inventory. In this manner, a retailer may enjoy coverage which accurately reflects the retailer’s actual inventory as well as policy pricing which varies as the inventory turns over. As another example, in the case of a personal lines insurance policy which excludes coverage for fine art, or high-value jewelry, some embodiments notify an insured that an item of property is excluded from coverage when the insured attempts to add it to a property inventory. In some embodiments, a rider to extend coverage (and to cover the excluded item) may be provided (either automatically or in response to further interaction with the insured).”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer system, comprising: a mobile device application download system, storing, for download to a mobile device, an application program which configures mobile devices to capture a first image of a first item, generate an interface prompting a user for data relating to the first item, prompt the user to capture, via a camera of the mobile device, an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, receive in response to the prompt an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, communicate with one or more comparison services to obtain, independent of purchase transaction data for the first item, comparative pricing information associated with the first item employing the at least one of bar code, serial number or product code, communicate with one or more other services to provide proof of ownership, and automatically transmit a request to add the first item to an inventory and a record including the captured image data, data entered via the user interface, location information automatically captured via a GPS receiver of the mobile device, time information, the image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, the obtained comparative pricing information; the application program being further configured to, responsive to receipt of a response to a request to add an item, automatically display the received response on an interface of the mobile device; a data storage device storing, updating and providing access to data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules, including at least a first geographical limit and a value limit; a computer processor for executing program instructions and for retrieving the data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules from the data storage device; a memory, coupled to the computer processor, storing program instructions for execution by the computer processor to: receive, from the mobile device, the transmitted record; determine, based on the received record, the comparative pricing information, and stored property inventory data, a current total value of a property inventory including a value of the first item; compare the current total value of the property inventory, the location information and the information identifying the first item added with the data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules; and generate and transmit to the mobile device a response to the request to add the first item based on a result of the comparison, the response including an indication of whether the current total value of the property inventory exceeds the value limit and whether the location information is within the at least a first geographical limit.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the application program is configured to activate a sensor for determining quality of items coupled to the mobile device to determine quality of the first item, perform an analysis based on data from the sensor, and to include in the transmitted record the quality data received from the sensor and data resulting from the analysis.

“3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for execution by the processor to receive, from the mobile device, a request to create a new property inventory, wherein the request to add the first item is a request to add the first item to the new property inventory.

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the transmitted record further comprises a date of acquisition of the first item.

“5. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions for execution by the processor to receive, from a retailer, data indicative of a value of the first item.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first image is a still image captured using a camera of the mobile device.

“7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first image is a video image including a plurality of images of a plurality of items, the program instructions further comprising program instructions for execution by the computer processor to analyze the video image to extract data associated with each of the plurality of items.

“8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the data storage device further stores at least one insurance exclusion rule.

“9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the response further includes an indication that coverage of the first item is excluded by the at least one insurance exclusion rule.

“10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the data storage device further stores a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to a mobile device indicating that a user of the mobile device has insufficient coverage.

“11. A computerized data processing method, comprising: providing, for download from a mobile device application download system, a mobile device application program configured to: cause a mobile device to obtain a first image of a first item, generate an interface for receipt of data relating to the first item, receive an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, communicate with one or more comparison services to obtain, independent of purchase transaction data for the first item, comparative pricing information associated with the first item employing the at least one of bar code, serial number or product code, communicate with one or more other services to provide proof of ownership, and automatically transmit a request to add the first item to an inventory and a record including the captured image data, data received via the interface, location information automatically captured via a GPS receiver of the mobile device, time information, the image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, the obtained comparative pricing information, and responsive to receipt of a response to a request to add an item, automatically display the received response on an interface of the mobile device; receiving, by a server system, from the mobile device, the transmitted request and the transmitted record; determining, by the server system, based on the received record, the comparative pricing information, and stored property inventory data, a current total value of a property inventory including a value of the first item; comparing, by the server system, the current total value of the property inventory, the location information and the information identifying the first item added with stored data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules, the insurance coverage rules including at least a first geographical limit and a value limit; and generating and transmitting, by the server system, to the mobile device, a response to the request to add the first item based on a result of the comparison, the response including an indication of whether the current total value of the property inventory exceeds the value limit and whether the location information is within the at least a first geographical limit.

“12. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the application program is configured to activate a sensor for determining quality of items coupled to the mobile device to determine quality of the first item, perform an analysis based on data from the sensor, and to include in the transmitted record the quality data received from the sensor and data resulting from the analysis.

“13. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, by the server system, a request to create a new property inventory, wherein the request to add a first item is a request to add the first item to the new property inventory.

“14. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the transmitted record further comprises a date of acquisition of the first item.

“15. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, from a retailer, data indicative of a value of the first item.

“16. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the first image is a still image captured using a camera of the mobile device.

“17. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the first image is a video image including a plurality of images of a plurality of items, the method further comprising analyzing the video image to extract data associated with each of the plurality of items.

“18. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the stored data further defines at least one insurance exclusion rule.

“19. The computerized data processing method of claim 18, wherein the response further includes an indication that coverage of the first item is excluded by the at least one insurance exclusion rule.

“20. The computerized data processing method of claim 11, wherein the stored data further defines a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to a mobile device indicating that a user of the mobile device has insufficient coverage.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Amigo, Andrew J. Remote mobile device interactions with multiple remote servers. U.S. Patent Number 11232520, filed December 4, 2017, and published online on January 25, 2022. 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=11232520.PN.&OS=PN/11232520RS=PN/11232520

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