Patent Issued for Systems and methods for assigning damage caused by an insurance-related event (USPTO 11823281): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 DEC 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL, US), Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL, US), Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL, US), Criswell Kellett, Jennifer (Lincoln, IL, US), Donovan, John (Bloomington, IL, US), Hakimi-Boushehri, Daryoush (Bloomington, IL, US), Jordan, II, Jackie O. (Bloomington, IL, US), McDermeit, Elisabeth (Bloomington, IL, US), Weekes, John H. (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on May 2, 2022, was published online on November 21, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11823281 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Homeowner and personal property insurance exists to provide financial protection against damage to the home and personal property owner by the policyholder, respectively. These insurance products may provide different levels of coverage depending on the source of damage. For instance, some insurance products may fully cover wind damage but only allows the insured to recover half the loss for water damage. After an insurance-related event causes damage, it may be difficult, using hindsight, to determine the actual source of the damage. As an example, in some insurance-related events, a window may be broken due to an unknown cause, such as by either violent winds or debris in the winds, or by a water swell.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, relate to interconnected or smart homes. The interconnected or smart homes may have a smart home controller and/or smart devices interconnected (or in wired or wireless communication) with the smart home controller for gathering data. The data gathered may be analyzed by the smart home controller or a remote processor associated with an insurance provider to determine the actual cause of loss (such as water, wind, fire, hail, or other causes) associated with an insurance-related event. After which, insurance policies or claims may be adjusted or handled by the insurance provider remote processor based upon the analysis of the data gathered.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of determining a cause of damage to a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a controller in communication with a plurality of devices in the property. Each of the plurality of devices may be configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property. The method may include (1) generating, by one or more processors (such as one or more local or remote processors associated with a smart home controller and/or an insurance provider, respectively), a time-sequence of events for an insurance-related event based upon data recorded by the plurality of devices before, during, and/or after the insurance-related event, and/or (2) identifying from the time-sequence of events, by the one or more processors, a first cause of loss and a second cause of loss associated with the insurance-related event. The method may include (3) analyzing, by the one or more processors, the recorded data to estimate an overall amount of damage caused by the insurance-related event, and/or (4) based upon the time-sequence of events, assigning, by the one or more processors, (i) a first portion of the overall amount of damage to the first cause of loss, and (ii) a second portion of the overall amount of damage to the second cause of loss. The method may also include (5) generating, by the one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim based upon the assignment of loss, and/or (6) transmitting, by the one or more processors, the proposed insurance claim to a mobile device (or other computer or communications device) of an insured for review, approval, or modification by the individual, such as via wireless communication. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for determining a cause of damage to a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a controller in communication with a plurality of devices in the property. Each of the plurality of devices may be configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property. The system may include a communication module adapted to communicate data, a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions, and/or one or more processors adapted to interface with the communication module. The one or more processors may be configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to (1) generate, by the one or more processors, a time-sequence of events for an insurance-related event based upon data recorded by the plurality of devices before, during, and/or after the insurance-related event, and/or (2) identify from the time-sequence of events, by the one or more processors, a first cause of loss and a second cause of loss associated with the insurance-related event. The one or more processors may be configured to (3) analyze, by the one or more processors, the recorded data to estimate an overall amount of damage caused by the insurance-related event, and/or (4) based upon the time-sequence of events, assign, by the one or more processors, (i) a first portion of the overall amount of damage to the first cause of loss and (ii) a second portion of the overall amount of damage to the second cause of loss. The one or more processors may also be configured to (5) generate a proposed insurance claim based upon the assignment of loss, and/or transmit the proposed insurance to a mobile device (or other computing or communications device) or an insured for review, approval, and/or modification by the individual. The system may include additional, fewer, or alternate components, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In still another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions may be provided. When executed, the instructions may cause one or more processors to (1) generate, by the one or more processors, a time-sequence of events for an insurance-related event based upon data recorded by the plurality of devices before, during, and/or after the insurance-related event, and/or (2) identify from the time-sequence of events, by the one or more processors, a first cause of loss and a second cause of loss associated with the insurance-related event. The instructions may cause the one or more processors to (3) analyze, by the one or more processors, the recorded data to estimate an overall amount of damage caused by the insurance-related event, and/or (4) based upon the time-sequence of events, assign, by the one or more processors, (i) a first portion of the overall amount of damage to the first cause of loss and (ii) a second portion of the overall amount of damage to the second cause of loss. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to (5) generate, by the one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim based upon the assignment of loss, and/or (6) transmit, by the one or more processors, the proposed insurance claim to a mobile device (or other computing or communications device) of an insured for review, approval, and/or modification by the individual. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may store additional, fewer, or alternate processor-executable instructions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of determining a cause of damage to a property populated with a plurality of smart devices on the property, each of the plurality of smart devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the method comprising: receiving, at a smart home controller disposed on the property, sensor data from the plurality of smart devices recorded before, during, and after an insurance-related event; automatically generating, by one or more processors of the smart home controller disposed on the property, a time-sequence of events from the sensor data; identifying from the time-sequence of events, by the one or more processors of the smart home controller disposed on the property, a first cause of loss and a second cause of loss associated with the insurance-related event; based upon the time-sequence of events, assigning, by the one or more processors of the smart home controller disposed on the property, (i) a first portion of damage to the first cause of loss, and (ii) a second portion of damage to the second cause of loss, wherein each of the first portion and the second portion of damage comprises (i) damage to the property caused by the insurance-related event, and (ii) at least one of water damage, wind damage, fire damage, earthquake damage, or a breach of structural integrity; and automatically generating, by the one or more processors of the smart home controller disposed on the property, a proposed insurance claim based upon the assignment of the first portion of damage to the first cause of loss, and the second portion of damage to the second cause of loss.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data recorded by the plurality of smart devices comprises at least one of: time-stamped audio data, status data, or visual data captured on the property.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data recorded by the plurality of smart devices comprises visual data captured above the property by an airborne sensor.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein assigning the first portion and the second portion comprises: determining, by the one or more processors, whether the first cause of loss is (i) a primary cause of loss that led to a secondary cause of loss, or (ii) a secondary cause of loss that occurred due to the primary cause of loss.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the proposed insurance claim comprises: pre-populating, by the one or more processors, the proposed insurance claim with the first and second causes of loss, and the first and second portions of damage respectively associated with first and second causes of loss.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, via a communication network, the proposed insurance claim to an individual associated with the property; and receiving, via the communication network, from the individual at least one of an acceptance of the proposed insurance claim or a modification to the proposed insurance claim.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising: verifying, by the one or more processers, that the modification to the proposed insurance claim is consistent with the time-sequence of events.

“8. A computer system for determining a cause of damage to a property populated with a plurality of smart devices on the property, each of the plurality of smart devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the system being disposed on the property and comprising: one or more transceivers adapted to communicate data; a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and one or more processors adapted to interface with the one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to: receive, via the one or more transceivers, sensor data from the plurality of smart devices recorded before, during, and after an insurance-related event; automatically generate, by the one or more processors, a time-sequence of events for the insurance-related event from the sensor data; identify from the time-sequence of events, by the one or more processors, a first cause of loss and a second cause of loss associated with the insurance-related event; based upon the time-sequence of events, assign, by the one or more processors, (i) a first portion of damage to the first cause of loss, and (ii) a second portion of damage to the second cause of loss, wherein each of the first portion and the second portion of damage comprises (i) damage to the property caused by the insurance-related event, and (ii) at least one of water damage, wind damage, fire damage, earthquake damage, or a breach of structural integrity; and automatically generate, by the one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim based upon the assignment of the first portion of damage to the first cause of loss, and the second portion of damage to the second cause of loss.

“9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the sensor data recorded by the plurality of smart devices comprises at least one of: time-stamped audio data, status data, or visual data captured on the property.

“10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the sensor data recorded by the plurality of smart devices comprises visual data captured above the property by an airborne sensor.

“11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein to assign the first portion and the second portion of damage, the one or more processors are further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to: determine, by the one or more processors, whether the first cause of loss is (i) a primary cause of loss that led to a secondary cause of loss, or (ii) a secondary cause of loss that occurred due to the primary cause of loss.

“12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein to generate the proposed insurance claim, the one or more processors are further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to: pre-populate, by the one or more processors, the proposed insurance claim with the first and second causes of loss, and the first and second portions of damage respectively associated with first and second causes of loss.

“13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the one or more transceivers are further configured to: transmit the proposed insurance claim to an individual associated with the property; and receive from the individual at least one of an acceptance of the proposed insurance claim or a modification to the proposed insurance claim.

“14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to: verify, by the one or more processers, that the modification to the proposed insurance claim is consistent with the time-sequence of events.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Binion, Todd. Systems and methods for assigning damage caused by an insurance-related event. U.S. Patent Number 11823281, filed May 2, 2022, and published online on November 21, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11823281)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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