Patent Issued for Systems and methods for automatically mitigating risk of water damage (USPTO 11354748): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 JUN 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL, US), Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL, US), Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL, US), Criswell, Jennifer (Bloomington, 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 April 22, 2015, was published online on June 7, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11354748 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: “Homeowner and personal property insurance exists to provide financial protection against damage to the home and personal property owner by the policyholder, respectively. There are many potential sources of damage to homes and personal property, some of which can be detected far enough in advance to take an action that may mitigate or prevent damage from occurring. Currently, many appliances and other goods are capable of communicating information about their operation via mesh networks as part of the “internet of things.” However, there is no way to aggregate and analyze all of this communicated data to manage and reduce the risks associated with insurance-related events.

“Thus, the present embodiments may, inter alia, detect and alleviate the foregoing risks, such as the risk of home damage, personal property damage, insurance claims, and/or other risks.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of limiting water damage to a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a controller in communication with a device associated with water flow in the property. The method may include (1) receiving, from the device via a first wired or wireless communication network, operating data related to potential or actual water leakage from the device, and/or (2) analyzing, by one or more processors (such as one or more local or remote processors associated with a smart home controller and/or insurance provider, respectively), the operating data to determine an action to prevent or mitigate the potential or actual water leakage. The method may include (3) generating, by the one or more processors, an instruction that, when executed, performs the action to prevent or mitigate damage associated with the potential or actual water leakage, and/or (4) transmitting, via the first wired or wireless communication network (and/or under the direction of the one or more processors), the instruction to the device. The method may also include (5) communicating, to a mobile device (or other computing device) of an individual associated with the property via a second wireless communication network (such as under the direction of the one or more processors), an indication of the potential or actual water leakage. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for limiting water damage to a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a controller in communication with a device associated with water flow in 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) receive, from the device via the communication module, operating data related to potential or actual water leakage from the device, and/or (2) analyze, by one or more processors, the operating data to determine an action to prevent or mitigate the potential or actual water leakage. The one or more processors may be configured to (3) generate, by one or more processors, an instruction that, when executed, performs the action to prevent or mitigate damage associated with the potential or actual water leakage, and/or (4) transmit, via the communication module, the instruction to the device. The one or more processors may also be configured to (5) communicate, to a mobile device (and other computing device) of an individual associated with the property via a communication module, an indication of the potential or actual water leakage. The system may include additional, less, or alternate components and functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In still another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions may be provided. The instructions, when executed, may cause one or more processors to receive, from the device via a first wired or wireless communication network, operating data related to potential or actual water leakage from the device, and/or (2) analyze, by the one or more processors, the operating data to determine an action to prevent or mitigate the potential or actual water leakage. The instructions may cause the one or more processors to (3) generate, by one or more processors, an instruction that, when executed, performs the action to prevent or mitigate damage associated with the potential or actual water leakage, and/or (4) transmit, via the first wired or wireless network, the instruction to the device. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to (5) communicate, to a mobile device (or other computing or communications device) of an individual associated with the property via a second wireless communication network, an indication of the potential or actual water leakage. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may include additional, fewer, or alternate computer-executable instructions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of limiting water damage to a property populated with a plurality of devices on the property, the plurality of devices including a device associated with water flow on the property, the method comprising: receiving, at a controller disposed on the property and from the device via a first wireless communication network, operating data related to potential or actual water leakage; analyzing, by one or more processors of the controller disposed on the property, the operating data to determine an action to prevent or mitigate the potential or actual water leakage, the action including an activation of de-watering equipment; generating, by the one or more processors, an instruction that, when executed by the de-watering equipment, performs the action to prevent or mitigate damage associated with the potential or actual water leakage; automatically and in response to the analysis, activating the de-watering equipment by transmitting, via the first wireless communication network, the instruction to the de-watering equipment; based upon the activating the de-watering equipment, determining, by the one or more processors, that the potential or actual water leakage continues and that the continuing potential or actual water leakage is a risk of electrocution due to an electronic device; generating, by the one or more processors, an additional instruction that, when executed by one of the plurality of devices, performs an action to power off the electronic device; automatically and in response to the determination, powering off the electronic device by transmitting, via the first wireless communication network, the additional instruction; and communicating, to a mobile or other computer device of an individual associated with the property via a second wireless communication network, an indication of the potential or actual water leakage.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the de-watering equipment via the first communication network, a confirmation the action has been performed.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving, by the one or more processors, data from an archival database; examining, by the one or more processors, the data from the archival database to generate a baseline model; comparing, by the one or more processors, the operating data to the baseline model to identify the potential or actual water leakage; and storing, by the one or more processors, the operating data in the archival database.

“4. The computer-implemented method in claim 3, wherein comparing the operating data to the baseline model comprises: calculating, by the one or more processors, a variance between the operating data and the baseline model; and determining, by the one or more processors, whether the variance is representative of at least one of: a water leakage is occurring or a water leakage is about to occur.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising: analyzing, by the one or more processors, the variance to determine if the de-watering equipment is capable of handling an increased water flow due to the potential or actual water leakage.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: shutting off a valve to a water supply by transmitting, via the first wireless communication network, a second instruction.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, to an insurance provider associated with the property via the second communication network, an indication of the potential or actual water leakage and an indication of the action.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving, from the insurance provider via the second communication network, a notification that at least one insurance-related activity has occurred, wherein the insurance-related activity is at least one of: an update of an insurance policy or premium, an adjustment of an insurance discount, rebate or award, a processing of an insurance claim, or a recommendation to purchase at least one additional device or insurance product.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operational data comprises at least one of: audio data, visual data, water flow data, water volume data, water pressure data, or water temperature data.

“10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, that when executed cause one or more processors to: receive, at a controller disposed on a property and from a device via a first wireless communication network, operating data related to potential or actual water leakage; analyze, by one or more processors of the controller disposed on the property, the operating data to determine an action to prevent or mitigate the potential or actual water leakage, the action including an activation of de-watering equipment; generate, by the one or more processors, an instruction that, when executed by the de-watering equipment, performs the action to prevent or mitigate damage associated with the potential or actual water leakage; automatically and in response to the analysis, activate the smart de-watering equipment by transmitting, via the first wireless communication network, the instruction to the de-watering equipment; based upon the activating the de-watering equipment, determine, by the one or more processors, that the potential or actual water leakage continues and that the continuing potential or actual water leakage is a risk of electrocution due to an electronic device; generate, by the one or more processors, an additional instruction that, when executed by one of the plurality of devices, performs an action to power off the electronic device; automatically and in response to the determination, power off the electronic device by transmitting, via the first wireless communication network, the additional instruction; and communicate, to a mobile device of an individual associated with the property via a second wireless communication network, an indication of the potential or actual water leakage.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: retrieve, by the one or more processors, data from an archival database; examine, by the one or more processors, the data from the archival database to generate a baseline model; compare, by the one or more processors, the operating data to the baseline model to identify the potential or actual water leakage; and store, by the one or more processors, the operating data in the archival database.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in claim 11, wherein to compare the operating data to the baseline model the instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: calculate, by the one or more processors, a variance between the operating data and the baseline model; and determine, by the one or more processors, whether that the variance is representative of at least one of: a water leakage is occurring or a water leakage is about to occur.

“13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: analyze, by the one or more processors, the variance to determine if the de-watering equipment is capable of handling increased water flow due to the potential or actual water leakage.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Binion, Todd. Systems and methods for automatically mitigating risk of water damage. U.S. Patent Number 11354748, filed April 22, 2015, and published online on June 7, 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=11354748.PN.&OS=PN/11354748RS=PN/11354748

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