Patent Issued for System and method to replace personal items (USPTO 11397991): United Services Automobile Association

2022 AUG 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Maney, Will Kerns (San Antonio, TX, US), Warnick, Mark Paxman (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on February 28, 2019, was published online on July 26, 2022.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11397991 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Homeowner’s insurance policies have been available. These policies typically cover loss or damage to a premises and in some cases, also cover personal property. However, the process of obtaining insurance can be time consuming and difficult. Also, when people are transient, moving often from one location to another location, like college students, traditional homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies can be difficult to obtain quickly and to move from one location to another location. Also, the claims process can sometimes be difficult or time consuming if a crucial personal item, like a laptop computer, is lost. There is a need for a new kind of insurance paradigm that addresses these shortcomings.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a system for replacing a personal item is disclosed. The system can include a tag device associated with the personal item and a home network that communicates with the tag device. The home network can have a network boundary, the network boundary defining a communication limit of the home network. The system can infer a relative position of the personal item by sensing the tag device. The system infers that the personal item is within the network boundary of the home network if the home network can communicate with the tag device; and the system infers that the personal item is beyond the network boundary of the home network if the home network is incapable of communicating with the tag device. The system designates the personal item as being lost or stolen if the tag device fails to communicate with the home network; and the system sends a replacement item if the personal item has been designated lost or stolen and a claim has been made with the system.

“In another aspect, a method for replacing a personal item is disclosed. The method can include steps of associating a tag device with the personal item; communicating with the tag device on a home network, the home network having a network boundary, the network boundary defining a communication limit of the home network; determining, by a processor, a relative position of the personal item by sensing the tag device; determining, by a processor, that the personal item is within the network boundary of the home network if the home network can communicate with the tag device; and determining, by a processor, that the personal item is beyond the network boundary of the home network if the home network is incapable of communicating with the tag device; designating, by a processor, that the personal item is lost or stolen if the tag device fails to communicate with the home network; and sending a replacement item if the personal item has been designated lost or stolen and a claim has been received.

“In another aspect, a system for replacing a personal item is disclosed. The system can include a tag device attached to the personal item; a home network communicating with the tag device; an application running on a mobile device; the application receiving information from a service provider; the service provider receiving information related to the tag losing communication with the home network; and wherein the service provider designates the personal item as missing; the service provider creating a list of missing items and sending the list of missing items to the application; the application displaying the list of missing items; the application receiving information related to a selection made by a user designating the personal item as being lost or stolen; the service provider receiving the information related to the selection made by a user designating the personal item as being lost or stolen; and the service provider sending a replacement item to the user.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the disclosure will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for tracking a plurality of personal items comprising: a tag device associated with each personal item of the plurality of personal items, wherein the tag device includes a wireless communication module; a home network associated with a house, the home network communicating with the wireless communication module of the tag device of each personal item of the plurality of personal items, the home network having a network boundary, the network boundary defining a communication limit of the home network; the system inferring a relative position of each personal item of the plurality of personal items by communicating with the wireless communication module of the tag device; wherein the system infers that each personal item of the plurality of personal items is within the network boundary of the home network when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item is connected to the home network; wherein the system infers that each personal item of the plurality of personal items is beyond the network boundary of the home network and is located away from the house when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item loses its connection to the home network; wherein the system determines that the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with at least a first personal item of the plurality of personal items and the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with a second personal item of the plurality of personal items that were previously within the network boundary of the home network have lost their connection to the home network together and are located away from the house; upon determining that at least the first personal item and the second personal item of the plurality of personal items have lost their connection to the home network together and are located away from the house, the system recognizing when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the first personal item reconnects with the home network, but the second personal item has not reconnected to the home network, then the system designating the first personal item as being in a not missing condition and categorizing the second personal item as being in a missing condition; and the system providing a list of missing items to a user of the system, wherein the list includes the second personal item designated as being in the missing condition; wherein the system automatically activates insurance coverage for each personal item of the plurality of personal items once the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item loses connection with the home network; and wherein the system automatically ends the insurance coverage for each personal item of the plurality of personal items once the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item reestablishes a connection to the home network.

“2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system further designates one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items as being in the missing condition when the wireless communication module of the tag device fails to communicate with the home network for a predetermined period of time.

“3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system further designates one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items as being in the missing condition when the wireless communication module of the tag device fails to communicate with the home network and the user selects the personal item as being lost or stolen.

“4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system sends a replacement item when one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items has been designated as being in the missing condition and the user has submitted an insurance claim with the system.

“5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising the system recording an amount of time one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items have been disconnected from the home network.

“6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the user may select one or more of the personal items on the list of missing items for processing to receive a replacement or settlement.

“7. A method for tracking a plurality of personal items comprising: associating a tag device with each personal item of the plurality of personal items, wherein the tag device includes a wireless communication module; communicating with the wireless communication module of the tag device of each personal item of the plurality of personal items on a home network associated with a house, the home network having a network boundary, the network boundary defining a communication limit of the home network; determining, by a processor, a relative position of each personal item of the plurality of personal items by communicating with the wireless communication module of the tag device; determining, by the processor, that each personal item of the plurality of personal items is within the network boundary of the home network when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item is connected to the home network; and determining, by the processor, that each personal item of the plurality of personal items is beyond the network boundary of the home network and is located away from the house when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item loses its connection to the home network; determining, by the processor, that the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with at least a first personal item of the plurality of personal items and the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with a second personal item of the plurality of personal items that were previously within the network boundary of the home network have lost their connection to the home network together and are located away from the house; upon determining that at least the first personal item and the second personal item of the plurality of personal items have lost their connection to the home network together and are located away from the house, recognizing when the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the first personal item reconnects with the home network, but the second personal item has not reconnected to the home network, then the processor designating the first personal item as being in a not missing condition and categorizing the second personal item as being in a missing condition; and providing a list of missing items to a user, wherein the list includes the second personal item designated as being in the missing condition; automatically activating insurance coverage for each personal item of the plurality of personal items once the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item loses connection with the home network; and automatically ending the insurance coverage for each personal item of the plurality of personal items once the wireless communication module of the tag device associated with the personal item reestablishes a connection to the home network.

“8. The method according to claim 7, wherein one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items is further designated as being in the missing condition when the wireless communication module of the tag device fails to communicate with the home network for a predetermined period of time.

“9. The method according to claim 7, wherein one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items is further designated as being in the missing condition when the wireless communication module of the tag device fails to communicate with the home network and the user selects the personal item as being lost or stolen.

“10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising recording an amount of time one or more personal items of the plurality of personal items have been disconnected from the home network.

“11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising selecting one or more of the personal items on the list of missing items for processing to receive a replacement or settlement.”

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

For additional information on this patent, see: Maney, Will Kerns. System and method to replace personal items. U.S. Patent Number 11397991, filed February 28, 2019, and published online on July 26, 2022. 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=11397991.PN.&OS=PN/11397991RS=PN/11397991

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