Patent Issued for System And Method For Providing And Activating Commoditized Insurance (USPTO 10,325,321)

2019 JUN 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Czaja, Ian J. (Simsbury, CT); Whiten, Wayne K. (West Hartford, CT), filed on April 23, 2018, was published online on July 1, 2019.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,325,321, is Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Despite the availability of insurance for a wide variety of individual and business/organizational risks, there are areas where many potential consumers do not buy or do not maintain insurance despite the presence of insurable risks and available options. There are a myriad of reasons why these areas tend to be underserved including, for example, areas of small business insurance where lack of a legal or contractual mandate or the perceived cost and complexity of available options prevents awareness or interest in insurance offerings.

“Additionally, there are many insurance products that suffer from the buy and cancel phenomenon. Using the example above related to small business owners, there are numerous small business owners who buy and cancel policies. These owners tend to have periods during which they are mandated to have insurance and therefore only participate when mandated despite certain insurable risks continuing outside of the mandated period.

“The underserved markets tend to create cottage industries of other mechanisms to substitute for the insurance product that is avoided or not procured. These mechanisms include warranties, self-funding options including cash reserves and credit cards, specific selection of business structures, and/or personal insurance.

“It is in the interest of insurance companies to target these segments and provide products that will fulfill these needs in a way that demonstrates a clear value for the price with simple activation or configuration.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A system and method for providing at least one commoditized insurance product to at least one consumer is disclosed. The system for providing at least one commoditized insurance product to at least one consumer includes a memory device configured to store information in a central record that includes, at least one activation code associated with pre-defined parameters for an insurance policy and identified with a commoditized insurance product and a set of verification queries associated with each of the at least one activation code, the set of verification queries identifying the insurance underlying the commoditized insurance product including at least one state of coverage and type of entity being covered. The system further includes a processor configured to receive an activation code associated with the commoditized insurance product and access the memory device to determine the set of verification queries associated with the received activation code, and a communications interface to provide the determined set of verification queries to a purchaser of the commoditized insurance product and receive responses thereto that when processed using the processor activates the policy providing the selected insurance coverage for the purchaser.

“A method of providing insurance using a commoditized insurance product identified by indicating information including insurance coverage and a pre-set cost, wherein a box is provided to an outlet for a myriad of potential insureds to peruse and wherein the outlet collects the pre-set cost from at least one potential insured in exchange for the insurance product is disclosed. The method includes storing, in a memory device, information that indicates the insurance coverage and type of insurance provided at a pre-set cost in the insurance product, receiving information via a communication interface from a computing system at the outlet regarding the collection of the pre-set cost and an associated payment code identifying the transaction involving the exchange of the insurance product, receiving transmitted activation and payment codes in an attempt to activate the insurance product from a computing device of the at least one potential insured, processing the received activation code and payment code by comparing the received activation code with the stored associated activation code and the received associated payment code using a processor, and outputting queries stored in the memory device, via the communication interface, to bind the policy based on a processor comparison of at least one received response to the queries.

“A method of processing data related to a commoditized insurance product identified by indicating information including insurance coverage and a pre-set cost, wherein a box is provided at an outlet for a myriad of potential insureds to peruse, the box having associated therewith an activation code and is provided to at least one potential insured in exchange for the pre-set cost is also disclosed. The method includes providing an insurance product that has associated therewith an activation code for a pre-set cost associated with the coverage, at a computing system at the outlet, executing a transaction for the collection of the pre-set cost in exchange for the insurance product, and in response to the executed transaction, transmitting information via a communication interface regarding the collection of the pre-set cost and an associated payment code that identifies the transaction involving the exchange of the insurance product to an insurance company providing the insurance coverage. The insurance product may be activated using the activation code associated with the insurance product and the payment code, and wherein the policy is bound using queries based on a comparison of a received activation, the activation code associated with the insurance product and received information responsive to the queries.

“The computer readable medium including hardware design code stored thereon which when executed by a processor cause the system to run an activation process including an activation code associated with an insurance policy and a payment code identifying the purchase of the policy for a pre-set price and based on positive responses to verification queries of the to be insured is disclosed. The method includes receiving information via a communication interface from an outlet regarding the collection of the pre-set cost and an associated payment code identifying the transaction involving the exchange of the insurance product, receiving transmitted activation and payment codes via the communication interface in an attempt to activate the insurance product, processing, at the processor, the received activation code and payment codes to identify the policy and associated queries, and outputting, by the processor and via the communication interface, queries stored in a memory device, to bind the policy based on a processor comparison of the received information responsive to the queries.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A product provided by a carrier, the carrier receiving payment for the product and identifying an activation code, via a web server upon a consumer purchase of the product, the product comprising: a plurality of parameters defining the product; and an activation code associated with the product, the activation code identifying the plurality of parameters defining the product to the web server upon initiation of the product, wherein the web server provides a set of verification queries associated with the activation code, the set of verification queries related to the plurality of parameters allowing the carrier to screen for eligibility of the product when a user device is used to attempt to activate the product and receives responses to the verification queries, and on a condition that the received responses to the provided set of verification queries are in accordance with the product, the product is activated.

“2. The product of claim 1 further comprising software that when initiated on a computing device begins the activation of the product via a network connection.

“3. The product of claim 2 wherein the activation includes screening for eligibility of the product based on the set of verification queries and the received responses.

“4. The product of claim 3 wherein the activation includes determining applicability of the product based on received responses.

“5. The product of claim 1 wherein the product identifies pre-defined insurance coverage that is purchased for a set price.

“6. The product of claim 1 wherein the product includes small business insurance.

“7. The product of claim 1 wherein the product identifies a type of insurance.

“8. The product of claim 1 further associating therewith a payment code received from paying for the product.

“9. The product of claim 8 wherein the payment code is utilized to activate the product.

“10. A non-transitory computer readable medium including hardware design code stored thereon which when executed by a processor causes a method of activation of a product including an activation code associated with a product and a payment code identifying the purchase of the product for a pre-set price, the method comprising: loading an activation code associated with the product, the activation code identifying the plurality of parameters defining the product to a web server upon initiation of the product; transmitting an activation code and a payment code from a user device via a communication interface in an attempt to activate the product; receiving by the processor via the communications interface, verification queries identified via the activation code, wherein the queries screen for eligibility of the product; transmitting a plurality of responses to the verification queries, wherein the responses are used to determine if the product is applicable; and receive indication, if product is applicable, that product is activated.

“11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the payment code is associated with the purchased insurance policy.

“12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the product includes software that when initiated on a computing device begins the activation of the policy via a network with a server controlled by the insurance company.

“13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the policy includes small business insurance.

“14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the product is purchased in a retail store.

“15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the product identifies pre-defined insurance coverage that is purchased for a set price.

“16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the product includes small business insurance.

“17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the product identifies a type of insurance.

“18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the payment code is received from paying for the product.

“19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 wherein the payment code is utilized to activate the product.”

For more information, see this patent: Czaja, Ian J.; Whiten, Wayne K. System And Method For Providing And Activating Commoditized Insurance. U.S. Patent Number 10,325,321, filed April 23, 2018, and published online on July 1, 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=10,325,321.PN.&OS=PN/10,325,321RS=PN/10,325,321

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