Patent Issued for Risk relationship resource allocation servicing system and method (USPTO 11663671): Hartford Fire Insurance Company

2023 JUN 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Brown, Jonathan (Glastonbury, CT, US), Finley, Cynthia D (Lyme, CT, US), Fresher, Brian L. (Haddam, CT, US), Lord, Erik R. (Sorrento, FL, US), Minutillo, Armand J. (Farmington, CT, US), Morgan, Thomas F. (Wethersfield, CT, US), Norcia, Marie C. (Spencer, MA, US), Schmidt, Jr., Willis D (Southington, CT, US), filed on January 22, 2019, was published online on May 30, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11663671 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: “It may be advantageous to protect against unexpected risks, such as those associated with computer systems and/or risk relationship agreements. For example, it might be advantageous for a company to purchase a typical insurance policy, such as a workers’ compensation insurance policy. Such policies generally have the insurer process claims received from claimants. In other cases, a company may prefer to “self-insure” and another party may process claims received from claimants. In still other circumstances, a company might want to process some claims under an insurance policy while other claims are self-insured. Implementing such a hybrid approach, however, can be a difficult task for an insurer (e.g., in connection with issues associated with certificates of insurance, receiving collateral from the company, different rules and regulations in various states, etc.).

“It would be desirable to provide systems and methods to provide risk relationship resource allocation request servicing in a way that provides faster and more efficient results as compared to traditional approaches.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “According to some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means are provided to provide risk relationship resource allocation request servicing in a way that provides faster and more efficient results as compared to traditional approaches and that allow for flexibility and effectiveness when processing those requests. In some embodiments, a system may receive a first resource allocation request (associated with a first company) from a first entity. The system may determine that the first request is not associated with a risk relationship and arrange for it to be processed via a claim servicing entity. Information about the first request may then be routed to a request handler device for processing and a communication with a first graphical indication may be generated. The system may also receive a second resource allocation request (associated with the first company) from a second entity and determine that it is to be processed via a risk. The system may then route information about the second request to a request handler device for processing and generate a communication with a second graphical indication. Note that the request handler device may be the same device that received the information about the first request.

“Some embodiments comprise: means for receiving, by a computer processor of the back-end application computer server, a first resource allocation request from a first entity, the first resource allocation request being associated with a first company; means for automatically determining that the first resource allocation request is not associated with a risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company; based on the automatic determination, means for arranging for the first resource allocation request to be processed via a claim servicing entity; means for routing information about the first resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing; means for automatically generating a first communication with a first graphical indication in connection with the first resource allocation request; means for receiving a second resource allocation request from a second entity, the second resource allocation request being associated with the first company; means for automatically determining that the second resource allocation request is to be processed in accordance with a risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company; means for routing information about the second resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing, wherein the request handler device may be the same device that received the information about the first resource allocation request; and means for automatically generating a second communication with a second graphical indication in connection with the second resource allocation request, wherein the second graphical indication is different than the first graphical indication.

“In some embodiments, a communication device associated with a back-end application computer server exchanges information with remote devices in connection with an interactive graphical user interface. The information may be exchanged, for example, via public and/or proprietary communication networks.

“A technical effect of some embodiments of the invention is an improved and computerized way to provide risk relationship resource allocation request servicing in a way that provides faster and more efficient results as compared to traditional approaches. With these and other advantages and features that will become hereinafter apparent, a more complete understanding of the nature of the invention can be obtained by referring to the following detailed description and to the drawings appended hereto.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system to provide resource allocation request servicing for risk relationships via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, comprising: (a) the back-end application computer server, including: a computer processor, and a computer memory coupled to the computer processor and storing program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the back-end application computer server to: (i) receive a first resource allocation request from a first entity, the first resource allocation request being associated with a first company, (ii) access a plurality of records in a risk relationship data store associated with an encrypted database management system, (iii) in response to the access, automatically determine that the first resource allocation request is not associated with a risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company, the determination based on the back-end application computer server accessing a plurality of records in the risk relationship data store and determining at least one identifier associated with the request is absent from the risk relationship data store; (iv) based on the automatic determination, arrange for the first resource allocation request to be processed via a claim servicing entity, wherein resource allocation requests that are determined to be associated with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company are not processed via the claim servicing entity thereby reducing a number of electronic messages transmitted via a distributed communication network, (v) route information about the first resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing, (vi) automatically generate a first communication with a first graphical indication in connection with the first resource allocation request, (vii) receive a second resource allocation request from a second entity, the second resource allocation request being associated with the first company, (viii) automatically determine that the second resource allocation request is to be processed in accordance with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company, (ix) route information about the second resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing, wherein the request handler device may be the same device that received the information about the first resource allocation request, and (x) automatically generate a second communication with a second graphical indication in connection with the second resource allocation request, wherein the second graphical indication is different than the first graphical indication; (b) a communication port coupled to the back-end application computer server to facilitate a transmission of data with a remote device to support a graphical interactive user interface display via security features of the distributed communication network, the interactive user interface display providing information about processed resource allocation requests; and © a remote claim handler device for handling insurance claims and displaying information provided by the back-end application computer server; wherein the back-end application computer server facilitates updating of electronic records in the risk relationship data store by: automatically, via a first algorithm, adjusting data in the risk relationship data store in response to received updated information; and automatically, via a second algorithm, calculating and displaying updated values on the graphical interactive user interface display based on the updated information in real time, so that each entity has immediate access to the updated values.

“2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: (d) the risk relationship data store containing electronic records that represent a plurality of excess risk relationships between the enterprise and a plurality of companies, wherein each electronic record includes a relationship identifier as one of the at least one identifiers and a set of attribute resource values associated with risk attributes.

“3. The system of claim 2, further comprising: (e) a contract service agreement repository containing electronic records that represent a plurality of service agreements between the enterprise and the plurality of companies.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the back-end application computer server is further programmed to: after determining that the first resource allocation request is not associated with the risk relationship, detect that the first resource allocation request is associated with a value above a pre-determined threshold value and, responsive to this detection, request an advance resource transfer from the first company.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the back-end application computer server is further programmed to: upon completion of the advance resource transfer from the first company, arrange a resource transfer to the first entity.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein said first graphical indication is associated with at least one of: (i) an image, (ii) a logo, (iii) a processing party name, (iv) an address, and (v) contact information.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein said determination that the first resource allocation request is not associated with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company is based at least in part on: (i) a claimant identifier, (ii) a business rule, (iii) an algorithm, and (iv) an automated analysis of the first resource allocation request.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the enterprise comprises an insurer, the first and second entities are claimants, and the resource allocation request is a workers’ compensation insurance claim.

“9. The system of claim 8, wherein the request handler device is associated with an insurance claim handler.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the back-end application computer server is further to: receive a resource allocation halt signal associated with the first company, and responsive to the resource allocation halt signal, flag future resource allocation requests associated with the first company that are not associated with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company.

“11. A computerized method to provide resource allocation request servicing for risk relationships via a back-end application computer server of an enterprise, the back-end application computer server including a computer processor and a memory device in communication with the computer processor, the memory device storing program instructions for controlling the computer processor, comprising: receiving, by a computer processor of the back-end application computer server, a first resource allocation request from a first entity, the first resource allocation request being associated with a first company; accessing, by the back-end application computer server, a plurality of records in a risk relationship data store associated with an encrypted database management system; in response to the accessing, automatically determining that the first resource allocation request is not associated with a risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company, the determination based on the back-end application computer server determining at least one identifier associated with the request is absent from the accessed risk relationship data store; based on the automatic determination, arranging for the first resource allocation request to be processed via a claim servicing entity, wherein resource allocation requests that are determined to be associated with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company are not processed via the claim servicing entity thereby reducing a number of electronic messages transmitted via a distributed communication network; routing information about the first resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing; automatically generating a first communication with a first graphical indication in connection with the first resource allocation request; receiving a second resource allocation request from a second entity, the second resource allocation request being associated with the first company; automatically determining that the second resource allocation request is to be processed in accordance with the risk relationship between the enterprise and the first company; routing information about the second resource allocation request to a request handler device of the enterprise for processing, wherein the request handler device may be the same device that received the information about the first resource allocation request; automatically generating a second communication with a second graphical indication in connection with the second resource allocation request, wherein the second graphical indication is different than the first graphical indication; and providing information from the back-end application computer server to a remote claim handler device via security features, the remote claim handler device handling insurance claims and displaying the information provided from the back-end application computer server; wherein the back-end application computer server facilitates updating of electronic records in the risk relationship data store by: automatically, via a first algorithm, adjusting data in the risk relationship data store in response to received updated information; and automatically, via a second algorithm, calculating and displaying updated values on the graphical interactive user interface display based on the updated information in real time, so that each entity has immediate access to the updated values.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent, see: Brown, Jonathan. Risk relationship resource allocation servicing system and method. U.S. Patent Number 11663671, filed January 22, 2019, and published online on May 30, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11663671)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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