Patent Issued for Systems and methods for analyzing property related information (USPTO 11915323): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2024 MAR 15 (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 Davis, Timothy Joel (Chicago, IL, US), Devore, Justin (Atlanta, IL, US), Engelhorn, Amy (Normal, IL, US), Kirby, Sarah (Normal, IL, US), Salata, Joanna (Tempe, AZ, US), Schroff, Dijon (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on February 28, 2023, was published online on February 27, 2024.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11915323, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Computing device-based applications are becoming increasingly popular in today’s world of ever expanding mobile devices and mobile device functionality. One of the reasons for the increasing popularity is the ability of users to download mobile applications to their mobile devices. For example, a mobile application may be a software application developed for use on a small wireless computing device, such as a smartphone, a tablet, a personal digital assistant, an MP3 player, and the like. Mobile applications may be designed with consideration for demands and constraints of the devices, and also take advantage of any specialized capabilities that a mobile device may have.

“In the current housing and commercial property markets, disparate information sources related to a property exist. For example, some resources for gathering property information about a property a user is interested in purchasing include records history aggregators such as HOUSEFAX®, public records, in-person visual inspections of the property, aerial imagery, multiple listing service (MLS) listings, and the like. However, the drawbacks here are the need to use all these different reports and imagery in order to gather the information about the property. Also, when a user applies for a home loan, for homeowner’s insurance, for closing on the property, and the like, the information must be submitted or re-submitted each time.

“Accordingly, there is a need for instant and consolidated access to useful information that may be used to facilitate customer, realtor, and insurance agent research of a property. In addition, the act of purchasing a home also typically includes a process of shopping for a home loan (i.e., mortgage rate) and homeowners insurance. But currently these are treated as separate processes rather than being integrated into a continuum, and typically require separate application processes and re-submission of the same user information. The present embodiments may alleviate the drawbacks and disadvantages described above and/or other deficiencies of the conventional techniques.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to systems and methods for analyzing and electronically linking and/or combining relevant home purchasing data sources into a consolidated view on a user-interface (UI) for a user, thereby enabling advanced and timely research capabilities. For example, based upon location services such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or object recognition, such as photo matching of property photos, a target location address may be established. The address may be used to retrieve home buying-relevant information from internal company data stores and from third parties. In addition, images captured by a camera, for example, a camera of a mobile device may be used to discover disparities with pictures of the property previously stored on internal or third party databases, such as when a remodeling of or damage to the property has occurred, as well as recognition of potential safety, liability, and maintenance concerns. Trends related to the property and/or to the neighborhood may also be displayed, for example, trends in market price over a particular amount of time, insurance rates, school information, and the like.

“In one aspect, a property analyzer computing device may be provided. The property analyzer computing device may be configured to display a combination of property-related information on a screen of a mobile device. The property analyzer computing device may include (1) a receiver configured to receive property identification information from a mobile device of a user, the received property identification information comprising a property identifier including at least one of a picture of the property and a location of the property; (2) a retriever configured to retrieve property-related information from multiple property sources based upon the received property identification information, each of the property sources comprising a public record database or an internal database of a company; (3) a processor configured to consolidate the retrieved property-related information into a consolidated property-related image; and/or (4) a transmitter configured to transmit the consolidated property-related image to the mobile device of the user to facilitate display of the consolidated property-related image on the screen of the mobile device. The property analyzer computing device may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for displaying a combination of property-related information on a screen of a mobile device may be provided. The method may include (1) receiving property identification information from a mobile device of a user, the received property identification information comprising a property identifier including at least one of a picture of the property and a location of the property; (2) retrieving property-related information from multiple property sources based upon the received property identification information, each of the property sources comprising a public record database or an internal database of a company; (3) consolidating the retrieved property-related information into a consolidated property-related image; and/or (4) transmitting the consolidated property-related image to the mobile device of the user to facilitate display of the consolidated property-related image on the screen of the mobile device for user review. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another aspect, at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for displaying a combination of property-related information on a screen of a mobile device may be provided. The computer-executable instructions, when executed by at least one processor, may cause the processor to (1) receive property identification information from a mobile device of a user, the received property identification information comprising a property identifier including at least one of a picture of the property and a location of the property; (2) retrieve property-related information from multiple property sources based upon the received property identification information, each of the property sources comprising a public record database or an internal database of a company; (3) consolidate the retrieved property-related information into a consolidated property-related image; and/or (4) transmit the consolidated property-related image to the mobile device of the user to facilitate display of the consolidated property-related image on the screen of the mobile device for user review. Additional, less, or alternate instructions may be provided such as instructions directing the functionality discussed elsewhere herein.

“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 only and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computing device for displaying a combination of property-related information on a display screen of a mobile device, the computing device comprising at least one processor in communication with at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to: generate an augmented reality overlay, wherein the augmented reality overlay is configured to visually display at least a portion of property-related information based upon a property identified by the mobile device; and transmit a plurality of computer executable instructions to the mobile device, wherein the plurality of computer executable instructions are configured to: prompt the mobile device to capture a live video feed of the property; and cause the mobile device to simultaneously display the augmented reality overlay and the live video feed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to generate the plurality of computer executable instructions according to preset rules that are based upon at least one of user preferences, user settings, and identified concerns about the property.

“3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device includes a camera to capture a picture of the property and the live video feed of the property, and wherein the at least one processor of the computing device is further programmed to: receive property identification information for the property from the mobile device including at least one picture of the property captured by the camera of the mobile device; and cause the mobile device to capture a live video feed of the property by using the camera.

“4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein a location coordinate of the property comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates generated by the mobile device when the picture is captured.

“5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: generate an insurance quote for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the insurance quote such that the insurance quote is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: generate a mortgage rate quote for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the mortgage rate quote such that the mortgage rate quote is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve historical severe weather data for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the historical severe weather data such that the historical severe weather data is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve risk information for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the risk information for the property such that the risk information is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the risk information comprises information about at least one of flooding, wildfire, and storm surge, with respect to the property.

“10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve at least one of criminal record data for the property, property tax data for the property, market value cost data for the property, building permit data, or county assessor data for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to display at least one of the criminal record data, the property tax data, the market value cost data, the building permit data, or the county assessor data on the display screen of the mobile device.

“11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve school district information for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the school district information such that the school district information is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve historical utility rate data for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the historical utility rate data such that the historical utility rate data is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“13. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve previous insurance claims data for the identified property; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the previous insurance claims data such that the previous insurance claims data is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“14. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: retrieve surrounding area data for the identified property, wherein the surrounding area data comprises at least one of stores in the surrounding area, travel time to the user’s workplace, and attractions in the surrounding area; and cause the augmented reality overlay to include the surrounding area data such that the surrounding area data is displayed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“15. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to receive property identification information for a property from the mobile device, the received property identification information including at least one of a picture of the property or a location coordinate associated with the property.

“16. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to retrieve property-related information from at least one of a public records database or an internal database based upon the identified property.

“17. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to visually highlight changes that have been made to the property over time.

“18. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: combine the augmented reality overlay and the live video feed to generate a consolidated property-related image; and transmit the consolidated property-related image to a customer service associate of an insurance company.

“19. A computer-based property analyzer method for displaying a combination of property-related information on a display screen of a mobile device, the method comprising: generating an augmented reality overlay, wherein the augmented reality overlay is configured to visually display at least a portion of property-related information based upon a property identified by the mobile device; and transmitting a plurality of computer executable instructions to the mobile device, wherein the plurality of computer executable instructions are configured to: prompting the mobile device to capture a live video feed of the property; and causing the mobile device to simultaneously display the augmented reality overlay and the live video feed on the display screen of the mobile device.

“20. A mobile device for displaying a combination of property-related information on a display screen of the mobile device, the mobile device comprising at least one processor in communication with at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to: generate an augmented reality overlay, wherein the augmented reality overlay is configured to visually display at least a portion of property-related information based upon a property identified by the mobile device; capture a live video feed of the property by a camera of the mobile device; and cause the augmented reality overlay to be simultaneously display with the live video feed on the display screen of the mobile device.”

For more information, see this patent: Davis, Timothy Joel. Systems and methods for analyzing property related information. U.S. Patent Number 11915323, filed February 28, 2023, and published online on February 27, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11915323)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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