Patent Issued for Safety notification service (USPTO 11715161): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 AUG 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Loo, William (Arlington Heights, IL, US), Ramirez, Philip Peter (Arlington Heights, IL, US), Sander, David R. (Palatine, IL, US), filed on December 4, 2020, was published online on August 1, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11715161 is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “When a natural or manmade disaster occurs, many people often find themselves without resources, without adequate transportation and infrastructure, and/or even without homes. Emergency responders and insurance companies try to help victims as best they can. However, victims of natural disasters could always use more assistance. For example, a person who is a victim of a natural disaster may want to contact loved ones, friends, and colleagues to let them know that the person has survived. When communication and transportation infrastructure is compromised in a disaster area, though, this is not always possible.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “An automated safety notification system is proposed herein in which one or more safe zone access points may be physically deployed to one or more safe zones associated with a disaster area. If a person with a mobile phone or other mobile device enters the safe zone, the safe zone access point may detect the presence of the mobile device and perform certain functions in response to the detection. For example, the safe zone access point may initiate contact of a predetermined plurality of contacts that the person may have already designated before the disaster. The safe zone access point may also be used to initiate an insurance claim. These and other features may be helpful to the victim of the disaster and to the victim’s contacts, who may not otherwise be able to receive any status information about the victim.

“According to some aspects as described herein, methods, apparatuses, and software may perform, for example, at least the following process. The presence of a mobile device in a safe zone may be wirelessly detected. It may be determined whether the mobile device is associated with a person who resides in a disaster area or who has property in the disaster area. Responsive to determining that the mobile is associated with a person who resides in a disaster area or who has property in the disaster area, a message may be sent to a plurality of contacts.

“According to further aspects as described herein, an access point comprising at least one computing device and at least one wireless sensor may be deployed, such as in a safe zone. The access point may be configured to wirelessly detect the presence of a mobile device, and to send a message over a network indicating the detected presence. A notification manager may be communicatively coupled to the access point via the network and may comprise at least one computing device. The notification manager may be configured to receive the message, determine whether the mobile device is associated with a person who resides in a disaster area or who has property in the disaster area, and, if so, send a message to a plurality of contacts.

“According to still further aspects as described herein, the presence of a mobile device in a safe zone may be wirelessly detected. It may be determined whether the mobile device is associated with a person who is not an emergency responder, who does not reside in a disaster area, and who does not have property in the disaster area. Responsive to determining that the person is not an emergency responder, does not reside in a disaster area, and does not have property in the disaster area, a message may be sent to a plurality of contacts.

“These features are merely examples, and further features and details are discussed below.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: wirelessly detecting, by a safe zone access point comprising a wireless sensor, a presence of a mobile device in a safe zone; sending, by the safe zone access point and based on detecting the presence, an indication that the mobile device has connected to the safe zone access point; receiving, by at least one computing device communicatively coupled to the safe zone access point via a network, the indication; sending, by the at least one computing device, based on the indication, and to the mobile device, a request for insurance status information; and receiving, by the at least one computing device and based on the request, the insurance status information.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the insurance status information comprises information about an insurance claim.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the insurance status information based on determining an association between the mobile device and a covered property.

“4. The method of claim 3, wherein the association is determined before the mobile device enters the safe zone.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the insurance status information is based on one or more selections by a user.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on a plurality of insurance claims, a disaster area associated with the safe zone access point.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising physically deploying the safe zone access point to the safe zone.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication is generated responsive to the safe zone access point detecting that the mobile device has entered the safe zone.

“9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the mobile device is associated with an emergency responder, wherein the sending the request is further responsive to determining that the mobile device is not associated with the emergency responder.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is associated with a user, and further comprising determining a user for the mobile device based on at least one of: a telephone number of the mobile device, a network address of the mobile device, or a serial number of the mobile device.

“11. A system, comprising: a safe zone access point comprising a wireless sensor and configured to: wirelessly detect a presence of a mobile device in a safe zone; and send, based on detecting the presence, an indication of the presence of the mobile device in the safe zone; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the safe zone access point via a network, the computing device being configured to: receive the indication from the safe zone access point; determine, based on receiving the indication, whether the mobile device is associated with a person who resides in a disaster area or who has property in the disaster area; send, based on the determining and to the mobile device, a request for insurance status information; and receive, based on the request, the insurance status information.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the insurance status information comprises information about an insurance claim.

“13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is configured to determine the insurance status information based on determining an association between the mobile device and a covered property.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the association is determined before the mobile device enters the safe zone.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein the insurance status information is based on one or more selections by a user.

“16. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is configured to determine the disaster area based on a plurality of insurance claims.

“17. A method, comprising: determining, by at least one computing device, a covered property associated with a mobile device; receiving, by the at least one computing device, an indication that a wireless sensor has detected a presence of the mobile device in a safe zone associated with a disaster area; sending, by the at least one computing device, based on the indication, and to the mobile device, a request to initiate an insurance claim for the covered property; and receiving, by the at least one computing device, a response to the request.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein sending the request comprises sending the request responsive to a determination that the mobile device is not associated with an emergency responder.

“19. The method of claim 17, wherein the response is based on one or more selections, on the mobile device, by a user.

“20. The method of claim 17, further comprising physically deploying at least one additional device to the safe zone, wherein the at least one additional device comprises the wireless sensor.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Loo, William. Safety notification service. U.S. Patent Number 11715161, filed December 4, 2020, and published online on August 1, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11715161)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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