Patent Issued for System And Method For Obtaining And/Or Maintaining Insurance Coverage (USPTO 10,510,120)

2020 JAN 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Roll, Leif Agerholm (Bloomington, IL), filed on September 30, 2015, was published online on December 30, 2019, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,510,120 is assigned to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Individuals who seek insurance coverage and are sensitive to pricing and product features (e.g., coverage types and/or limits, deductibles, etc.) often expend considerable time and effort in finding insurance providers that best meet their needs. Conventionally, a consumer finds an insurance provider by way of an agent/broker, an aggregator, a comparison web site, general web browsing, etc. Once the consumer obtains an insurance policy from the desired provider, the consumer is typically tied to that provider, and to the rate and product features of the policy offered by the provider, until and unless he or she proactively shops around for a new provider offering a policy with a better rate and/or product features. For example, a consumer might decide to look into the offerings of other insurance providers when the consumer’s current policy is up for renewal. Thus, a consumer typically must either spend time and effort looking for better insurance offerings on a recurring basis (e.g., once every six months or annually), or simply renew his or her current policy regardless of whether that policy provides the best rate and/or product features.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, automatically provide consumers with insurance policies that offer superior rates and/or product features on a continuing basis (e.g., across multiple policy terms), thereby reducing or eliminating the time and/or effort that consumers must spend researching the offerings of different insurance providers, as well as providing consumers with insurance policies that have lower cost and/or are more reflective of a risk score, characteristics, and/or preferences of the consumer as they change over time. The terms ‘consumer’ and ‘customer’ are utilized interchangeably herein, and generally refer to a person who is an insured party or a potential insured party. A consumer or customer may be represented by himself or herself, or may be represented by an agent (e.g., by a spouse, a person who has power of attorney for the consumer or customer, an administrative assistant, etc.).

“An intermediary entity may act on behalf of consumers and/or their agents to find policy rates and/or other features that best meet the consumers’ insurance requirements and/or preferences. Based upon consumer or customer characteristics and/or insurance preferences, each consumer or customer may be grouped with other insurance consumers or customers that have the same or similar characteristics and/or insurance preferences. The insurance consumer or customer groupings may be based upon demographic information (e.g., gender, birth date, etc.), information about the consumer’s property (e.g., a make, model and year of an automobile, etc.), claim and/or accident history of the consumer, risk (or lack thereof) characteristics of the group members, insurance claim expectations of the group members, insurance company ratings, the content and/or availability of telematics data obtained from vehicles and/or mobile devices of the group members, driving behavior, etc. The insurance consumer or customer groupings may be offered for sale to various insurance providers, such as through an online auction. Once a winning bid is accepted, any existing insurance policies of the consumer or customers affiliated with the auctioned group may (or may not) be updated to reflect new insurance policy terms or parameters (e.g., premiums, rates, etc.), discounts, refunds, etc. In some cases, new insurance policies may be provided to one or more consumers (such as when a consumer is an insurance applicant, or when an existing insurance policy is canceled and a new policy is issued in its stead). The consumer or customer groups may be updated (and/or new consumer or customer groups may be created) over time as new or more recent consumer or customer characteristic data and/or preference information is collected and/or updated. Then the insurance policies associated with the updated (or new) consumer or customer groups may be re-auctioned (or auctioned).

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of auctioning groups of insurance policies via an electronic or communications network may be provided. The method may include, after receiving permission or affirmative consent from each customer: (1) analyzing, via one or more processors, multiple insurance applications, accounts, and/or policies for individual insurance policy preferences and/or individual characteristics of multiple customers or consumers; (2) dividing or segmenting, via the one or more processors, the multiple customers or consumers into various insurance groups, groupings, or segments based upon the individual policy preferences and/or individual customer characteristics; (3) auctioning, via the one or more processors, such as via one or more electronic or communications networks, the opportunity to provide insurance for one or more of the various insurance groups or segments; (4) receiving, via the one or more processors, bids for purchase and/or offers of insurance for one or more of the various insurance groups; (5) accepting, via the one or more processors, one of the bids and/or offers; and/or (6) via the one or more processors, updating existing insurance policies and/or establishing new insurance policies for at least some of the insureds (such as after receiving their approval) associated with an insurance policy group corresponding to the accepted bid, thereby providing lower cost insurance and/or insurance that is more reflective of actual risk, or lack thereof, to the at least some of the insureds of the insurance policy group. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for auctioning groups of insurance policies may be provided. The system may include one or more persistent memories or data storage devices storing a consumer profile database, one or more communication interfaces configured to communicate with remote devices via one or more electronic or communications networks, and one or more processors. The system may also include one or more non-transitory, computer-readable or computer-executable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, may cause the system to analyze (after receiving permission or affirmative consent from each customer) consumer profiles that are stored in the consumer profile database and that correspond to multiple insurance consumers, applications for insurance, insurance consumer accounts, and/or insurance consumer policies. For example, the system may analyze consumer profiles for individual or consumer insurance policy preferences and/or for individual or consumer characteristics. Based upon individual or consumer insurance policy preferences and/or consumer characteristics, the system may divide or segment the multiple insurance consumers into various insurance policy groups or groupings. Additionally, the instructions, when executed, may further cause the system to auction (such as via the one or more electronic or communications networks and by using the one or more communication interfaces) the opportunity to provide insurance for one or more of the various insurance policy groups or groupings; receive bids for purchase and/or offers of insurance for the one or more of the various insurance policy groups or groupings; receive one or more bids for purchase and/or offers of insurance; and accept one of the bids for purchase and/or offers for insurance. Further, the instructions, when executed, may cause the system to update existing insurance policies for at least some insureds (with their approval) associated with a particular insurance policy group corresponding to the accepted bid, and/or establish new insurance policies for at least some of the insureds associated with the particular insurance policy group, thereby providing lower cost insurance and/or providing insurance that is more reflective of actual risk (or lack thereof) to at least some of the insureds associated with the particular insurance policy group. The system may include additional, fewer, or alternate components and/or elements, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for auctioning groups of insurance policies may be provided. The system may include one or more persistent memories or data storage devices that store a consumer profile database, and one or more communication interfaces configured to communicate with remote devices via one or more networks. The system may also include a consumer grouping unit that is configured to group or segment consumer profiles (with customer affirmative consent or permission) that are stored in the consumer profile database and that correspond to multiple insurance consumers, insurance applications, insurance customer accounts, and/or insurance policies, thereby forming one or more insurance policy groups, each of which corresponds to a respective subset of the consumer profiles. The grouping or segmenting may be based upon insurance policy preferences and/or consumer characteristics of individual consumers, for example, as indicated in the consumer profiles. Additionally, the system may include a policy procurement unit configured to at least one of (i) auction or offer for sale, such as via an electronic or communications network and using the one or more communication interfaces, an opportunity to provide insurance for a particular one of the insurance policy groups; and/or (ii) cause information about the insurance policy preferences and/or consumer characteristics associated with the particular insurance policy group to be remotely displayed, via the one or more communication interfaces, on one or more computer screens for view by potential bidders (e.g., various insurance providers). The policy procurement unit may be further configured to (with customer affirmative consent) receive bids for purchase and/or offers of insurance for the particular insurance policy group; accept one of the bids; and/or update insurance policies for at least some of the insureds associated with the insurance policy group, and/or establish new insurance policies for at least some of the insureds associated with the insurance policy group, thereby providing lower cost insurance to at least some of the insureds associated with the insurance policy group, and/or providing insurance that is more reflective of at least one of: (i) actual risk, or lack thereof, of at least some of the insureds associated with the insurance policy group, (ii) their current insurance policy preferences, and/or (iii) their current consumer characteristics. The system may include additional, fewer, or alternate elements or components, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“With the present embodiments, a customer may first opt into a program (such as an insurance rewards or discount program) or agreement (e.g., one offered by an intermediary entity such as the entity associated with computing system 14 of FIG. 1), and willingly share his or her personal data (and/or vehicle data, health data, mobile device data, etc.) for purposes of obtaining insurance coverage (and/or insurance discounts). In return, the customer may obtain one or more benefits that may be provided by various embodiments described herein, such as superior insurance rates/terms, and/or automatic renewal (or change) of insurance policies with little or no effort by the customer, for example. In some embodiments, customers who opt in may also receive other benefits, such as insurance discounts or rewards, or additional insurance coverage, for example.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“The invention claimed is:

“1. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising: analyzing, via one or more processors, multiple insurance applications, accounts, and/or policies for at least one of preferences or characteristics of multiple individuals and/or consumers corresponding to the multiple insurance applications, accounts, and/or policies, wherein the at least one of the preferences or characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers includes a risk score of a particular insured, the risk score stored in a consumer profile of the particular insured; detecting an event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured, wherein detecting the event comprises analyzing, via the one or more processors, telematics data collected by a mobile device of the particular insured; updating, via the one or more processors, the risk score of the particular insured based on the analyzed telematics data; dividing or segmenting, via the one or more processors, the multiple individuals and/or consumers into multiple insurance policy groups or segments based upon the at least one of preferences or characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers; auctioning, via the one or more processors and by using an electronic or communications network, an opportunity to provide insurance for one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or segments; receiving, via the one or more processors and the electronic or communications network, one or more bids for purchase and/or offers of insurance for the one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or segments; accepting, via the one or more processors, one of the bids for purchase and/or insurance offers for the one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or segments; and updating or providing, via the one or more processors, insurance policies for insureds associated with a particular insurance policy group or segment corresponding to the accepted bid, thereby providing lower cost insurance and/or insurance that is more reflective of actual risk, or lack thereof, to the insureds associated with the particular insurance policy group or segment.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the preferences of the multiple individuals and/or consumers include preferences for at least one of insurance policy coverage, insurance policy deductibles, or insurance policy limits; and wherein the particular insurance policy group or segment is associated with automobile, life, health, renters, home, pet, or burial insurance.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the preferences of the multiple individuals and/or consumers include preferences for at least one of claims expectations, telematics use, or insurance company ratings.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers relate to or are indicative of at least one of consumer age, status, marital status, education, occupation, finances or income, driving history, accident history, vehicle type, home type, geographic location, risk, risk scores, or another individual characteristic.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers relate to or are indicative of individual driving behavior that is based upon computer analysis of the telematics data; and wherein telematics data associated with a particular driver or insured is gathered or collected from a mobile device or from a conventional telematics device that physically connects with a vehicle corresponding to the particular driver or insured.

“6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting another event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured comprises accessing a third party or government database via the electronic or communications network; and updating, via the one or more processors, the risk score of the particular insured based on data from the third party or government database.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising at least one of: updating the insurance policy group or segment to which the particular insured belongs based upon the updated risk score or the updated consumer profile of the particular insured; or offering for auction an opportunity to provide insurance for the updated insurance policy group or segment.

“8. A system, comprising: a persistent memory storing a consumer profile database; one or more communication interfaces configured to communicate with remote devices via one or more electronic or communications networks; one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: analyze consumer profiles that are included in the consumer profile database and that correspond to multiple insurance consumers for at least one of preferences or characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers, wherein the at least one of the preferences or characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers includes a risk score of a particular insured, the risk score in a consumer profile of the particular insured; detect an event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured, wherein detecting the event comprises analyzing, via the one or more processors, telematics data collected by a mobile device of the particular insured; update, via the one or more processors, the risk score of the particular insured based on the analyzed telematics data; divide or segment the multiple insurance consumers into multiple insurance policy groups or groupings based upon the at least one of the preferences or characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers; auction, via the one or more electronic or communications network and by using the one or more communication interfaces, an opportunity to provide insurance for one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or groupings; receive, at the one or more communication interfaces, one or more bids for purchase and/or offers for insurance for the one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or groupings; accept one of the bids for purchase and/or offers for insurance for the one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or groupings; and update existing insurance policies or provide new insurance policies for insureds associated with a particular insurance policy group or grouping corresponding to the accepted bid, thereby providing lower cost insurance and/or insurance that is more reflective of actual risk, or lack thereof, to the insureds associated with the particular insurance policy group or grouping.

“9. The system of claim 8, wherein: the preferences of the multiple insurance consumers include individual preferences for at least one of insurance policy coverage, insurance policy deductibles, insurance policy limits, claims expectations, telematics use, or insurance company ratings.

“10. The system of claim 8, wherein the particular insurance policy group or grouping is associated with automobile, life, health, renters, home, pet, or burial insurance.

“11. The system of claim 8, wherein the characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers relate to or are indicative of each consumer’s age; account status; marital status; education; occupation; finances or income; driving history; accident history; vehicle type; home type; geographical location; risk score; and/or individual driving behavior that is based upon computer analysis of the telematics data, wherein the telematics data is associated with the particular driver or insured and is gathered or collected from a mobile device or from a conventional telematics device that connects into a vehicle.

“12. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media stores further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: detect another event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured and further, to access a third party or government database via the electronic or communications network; and update the risk score of the particular insured based on data from the third party or government database.

“13. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media stores further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to at least one of: update the insurance policy group or grouping to which the particular insured belongs based upon the updated consumer profile or the updated risk score of the particular insured; or offer for auction an opportunity to provide insurance for the insurance policy group or grouping that includes the particular insured with the updated consumer profile or the updated risk score.

“14. A system, comprising: a persistent memory storing a consumer profile database; one or more communication interfaces configured to communicate with remote devices via one or more electronic or communications networks; one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: analyze consumer profiles that are included in the consumer profile database and that correspond to multiple insurance consumers for at least one of preferences or characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers, wherein the at least one of preferences or characteristics of the multiple individuals and/or consumers includes a risk score of a particular insured, the risk score stored in a consumer profile of the particular insured; detect an event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured, wherein detecting the event comprises analyzing, via the one or more processors, telematics data collected by a mobile device of the particular insured; update the risk score of the particular insured based on the analyzed telematics data; divide or segment the multiple insurance consumers into multiple insurance policy groups or groupings based upon the at least one of the preferences or characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers; auction, via the one or more electronic or communications network and by using the one or more communication interfaces, an opportunity to provide insurance for one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or groupings; and receive, at the one or more communication interfaces, one or more bids for purchase and/or offers for insurance for the one or more of the multiple insurance policy groups or groupings.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein: the preferences of the multiple insurance consumers include individual preferences for at least one of insurance policy coverage, insurance policy deductibles, insurance policy limits, claims expectations, telematics use, or insurance company ratings.

“16. The system of claim 14, wherein the system is further configured to update existing insurance policies or provide new insurance policies for insureds associated with a particular insurance policy group or grouping corresponding to the accepted bid, and the particular insurance policy group or grouping is associated with automobile, life, health, renters, home, pet, or burial insurance.

“17. The system of claim 14, wherein the characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers relate to or are indicative of each consumer’s age; account status; marital status; education; occupation; finances or income; driving history; accident history; vehicle type; home type; geographical location; and/or risk score.

“18. The system of claim 14, wherein the characteristics of the multiple insurance consumers relate to or are indicative of each consumer’s individual driving behavior that is based upon computer analysis of telematics data, wherein the telematics data is associated with a particular driver or insured and is gathered or collected from a mobile device or from a conventional telematics device that connects into a vehicle.

“19. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media stores further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to (i) detect another event, or lack thereof, that impacts the risk score of the particular insured by accessing a third party or government database via the one or more electronic or communication networks, and (ii) update the risk score of the particular insured based on the data from the third party or government database.

“20. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media stores further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to at least one of: update the insurance policy group or grouping to which the particular insured belongs based upon the updated consumer profile or the updated risk score of the particular insured; or offer for auction an opportunity to provide insurance for the insurance policy group or grouping that includes the particular insured with the updated consumer profile or the updated risk score.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Roll, Leif Agerholm. System And Method For Obtaining And/Or Maintaining Insurance Coverage. U.S. Patent Number 10,510,120, filed September 30, 2015, and published online on December 30, 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=10,510,120.PN.&OS=PN/10,510,120RS=PN/10,510,120

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