Patent Issued for Smart Sensors For Roof Ice Formation And Property Condition Monitoring (USPTO 10,354,329)

2019 JUL 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventor Gillespie, Richard P. (East Hampton, CT), filed on August 6, 2014, was published online on July 29, 2019.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,354,329 is Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Physical damage to insured properties is common. In many cases, the conditions giving rise to such damage may be difficult to notice using conventional mechanisms, e.g., visual inspections. For example, ice and snow damage typically associated with roof and related structures are on the raise.

“Stakeholders dealing with the damage conditions, e.g., insurance companies and property owners would benefit from systems allowing these stakeholders to get out in front of the problem, reducing exposure to an increased threat. For example, with proper forecasting of potentially damaging conditions, certain damage may be avoided. Moreover, with improved forecasting capabilities, a high claims area may be predicted and appropriate resources allocated thereto in an efficient manner.

“Certain property monitoring systems have been devised in the past, e.g., for monitoring snow build up on roofs, etc. Other remote management systems, for their part, offer remote control of properties, e.g., heating and cooling systems, security systems, etc. These systems aim to make property management easier for the property owners by supplying additional data to the property owners and allocating certain tools, e.g., remote control mechanisms, such that property owners may proactively manage their properties, even when remotely located.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “In summary, an embodiment includes a system providing sensor feedback for property condition monitoring. The system may include a plurality of sensors disposed in a roof structure of a property, with the plurality of sensors providing output indicative of ice formation associated with the roof structure. The system may further include a hub device that receives output from the plurality of sensors, the hub device detecting at least one sensor output indicative of ice formation and providing a notification regarding the ice formation. In the system, a computing device of an insurance carrier receives the notification, with the computing device updating a status of the property in an insurance carrier database in response to the notification. The system is integrated, e.g., including a communication link between the plurality of sensors, the hub device and the computing device of an insurance carrier.

“In another embodiment, a computing device of an insurance carrier using sensor feedback for property condition monitoring is provided. In the computing device, a link to an insurance carrier database storing information on insured properties is provided. An input element of the computing device receives data derived from a plurality of sensors disposed in a roof structure of a property, with the plurality of sensors providing output indicative of ice formation associated with the roof structure. A processor and a memory storing program instructions are included with the computing device such that the device may detect at least one sensor output indicative of ice formation and update a status of the property in the insurance carrier database in response to the notification.

“In a further embodiment, property condition(s) more generally may be monitored. For example, according to an embodiment a method of using sensor feedback for property condition monitoring is provided in which data derived from a plurality of sensors disposed in a property is received, with the plurality of sensors providing output indicative of a property condition. In an embodiment, at least one sensor output indicative of a changed sensor output is detected, and then a notification to an insurance carrier may be provided, with the notification indicating the changed sensor condition. Given changed condition information regarding the property, an embodiment may update a status of the property in an insurance carrier database in response to the notification.

“Additional embodiments are described, including other methods, as well as devices/apparatuses, systems including multiple devices, and products.

“The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.

“For a better understanding of the embodiments, together with other and further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system providing sensor feedback for property condition monitoring, comprising: a plurality of sensors disposed in a roof structure of a property and providing output indicative of ice formation associated with the roof structure, wherein each of the plurality of sensors have an associated location within the roof structure, wherein the plurality of sensors comprise smart nails, wherein the smart nails sense physical separation in layers of the roof structure via a circuit of the smart nail that breaks upon deformation of the smart nail structure caused by an upward force on the smart nail responsive to the physical separation in the layers of the roof structure; a hub device that receives output from the plurality of sensors, the hub device detecting at least one sensor output indicative of ice formation and providing a notification regarding the ice formation and an associated location within the roof structure of the ice formation based upon the location within the roof structure associated with the sensor providing the output indicative of ice formation, wherein the at least one sensor output indicative of ice formation comprises an output of the plurality of sensors indicating a separation of layers of the roof structure; the hub device sending the notification to a computing device of an insurance carrier, the notification of the hub device being formatted to allow the computing device of the insurance carrier to update a status of the property in an insurance carrier database using the notification, wherein to update the status of the property comprises updating the status to a high risk damage status and wherein the notification is used by the computer device to provide an alert regarding the high risk damage status; and a communication link between the plurality of sensors, the hub device and the computing device of an insurance carrier.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the hub device includes a communication interface for third party data input.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the communication interface receives data from third party sensors monitoring other property characteristics.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the hub device reports the other property characteristics to the computing device of an insurance carrier.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the hub device uses the communication link to monitor the plurality of sensors.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the hub device: determines an operability characteristic via monitoring of the plurality of sensors; and provides an operability notification in response to determining the operability characteristic indicates that at least one sensor is not operating.

“7. The system of claim 6, wherein the operability notification is communicated by the hub device to the computing device of an insurance carrier.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sensors measures contact between an upper and lower section of the roof structure.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of sensors measures an amount of separation between an upper and lower section of the roof structure.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein locations of the plurality of sensors within the roof structure are mapped.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the locations of the plurality of sensors within the roof structure are communicated to the computing device of the insurance carrier.

“12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device of the insurance carrier identifies other properties within a same geographic area as the property.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computing device of the insurance carrier identifies at least one property from the other properties as lacking a plurality of sensors.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computing device of the insurance carrier identifies the at least one property lacking a plurality of sensors as at high risk for damage based upon the status of the property having a plurality of sensors.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device of the insurance carrier provides a notification to a user associated with the at least one property lacking a plurality of sensors of the updated status of the at least one property lacking a plurality of sensors.

“16. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert is provided to a device of a user associated with the property regarding the high risk damage status of the property.

“17. The system of claim 1, wherein the associated location of each sensor is determined using a positioning technique that correlates the geographic location of the sensor with a location on the roof structure.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Gillespie, Richard P. Smart Sensors For Roof Ice Formation And Property Condition Monitoring. U.S. Patent Number 10,354,329, filed August 6, 2014, and published online on July 29, 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=10,354,329.PN.&OS=PN/10,354,329RS=PN/10,354,329

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)