Patent Issued for Systems and methods for controlled access to policy data on blockchain (USPTO 11599653): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 MAR 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11599653, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Bellas, Eric (Bloomington, IL, US), Breitweiser, Edward W. (Bloomington, IL, US), Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL, US), Chapman, Corin Rebekah (Bloomington, IL, US), Floyd, Burton J. (Mackinaw, IL, US), Gomez, Robert (Bloomington, IL, US), King, Vicki (Bloomington, IL, US), Magerkurth, Melinda Teresa (Utica, IL, US), Moore, Eric R. (Heyworth, IL, US), Olson, Steven T. (Bloomington, IL, US), Skaggs, Jaime (Chenoa, IL, US), Smith, Shelia Cummings (Bloomington, IL, US), Turrentine, David (Normal, IL, US), Wells, Timothy Caleb (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on June 30, 2020 and was published online on March 7, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “In the world of business an interaction between a business and a customer, or the business and another business, typically requires validation of one or more pieces of information before a transaction can take place. This validation is often achieved by the participants involved in the interaction contacting a central authority that is a trusted source of truth for the particular piece of information. The central authority may then validate, or not validate, the particular piece of information and communicate its findings to the participants. Based upon the validation, or lack of validation, a consensus among the participants is formed and assuming the information is valid the transaction between the participants may take place, and subsequently be recorded.

“Traditionally, businesses, customers, and central authorities have stored information related to transactions, and records of transactions, in databases, or ledgers which have been used in accounting to track transactions and information related to those transactions. Often these databases or ledgers held by the participants must be reconciled to achieve consensus as to the validity of the information stored in the databases and ledgers. Alternatively, as described above the central authority may be responsible for determining the validity of information stored in a database or a ledger and functioning as an arbiter of consensus for interested parties.

“A blockchain is a new way of achieving a distributed consensus on the validity or invalidity of information. As opposed to using a central authority, a blockchain is a distributed database or ledger, in which a transactional record is maintained at each node of a peer to peer network. Commonly, the distributed ledger is comprised of groupings of transactions bundled together into a “block.” When a change to the distributed ledger is made (e.g., when a new transaction and/or block is created), each node must form a consensus as to how the change is integrated into the distributed ledger. Upon consensus, the agreed upon change is pushed out to each node so that each node maintains an identical copy of the updated distributed ledger. Any change that does not achieve a consensus is ignored. Accordingly, unlike a traditional system which uses a central authority, a single party cannot unilaterally alter the distributed ledger. This inability to modify past transactions lead to blockchains being generally described as trusted, secure, and/or immutable.

“Blockchains are typically deployed in an open, decentralized, and permissionless manner meaning that any party may view information, submit new information, or join the blockchain as a node responsible for confirming information. This open, decentralized, and permissionless approach to a blockchain has limitations. As an example, these traditional blockchains may not be good candidates for interactions that require information to be kept private, for interactions that require all participants to be vetted prior to their participation, or for interactions that may only be performed by a subset of all participants.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may be related to blockchain technology, including modifying blocking technology to be able to store confidential and/or personal information in a blockchain and maintain data privacy. The embodiments described herein relate particularly to various aspects of maintaining data security of data stored in a blockchain. In some embodiments, cryptography techniques are applied to ensure that only authorized parties are able to view the confidential and/or personal information stored in the blockchain. These data security safeguards enable participation in the blockchain by any number of nodes, regardless of their respective permissions.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of providing access to confidential data stored in a blockchain relating to a plurality of smart contracts may be provided. The method may include (1) detecting, by one or more processors, that a new smart contract has been created; (2) generating, by the one or more processors, a public key and a private key for the new smart contract; (3) encrypting, by the one or more processors, data associated with the new smart contract using the public key of the smart contract, the data associated with the new smart contract including information associated with a policy; (4) compiling, by the one or more processors, the data associated with the new smart contract into a first block of the blockchain; (5) distributing, by the one or more processors, the first block to a plurality of nodes to form a consensus on a first update to the blockchain; (6) detecting, by the one or more processors, a request to provide access to the data associated with the new smart contract to a particular node of the blockchain, the request indicating the particular node; (7) generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction indicating (i) the private key for the new smart contract, the private key for the new smart contract being encrypted in based upon the public key for the particular node, and/or (ii) the particular node; (8) compiling, by the one or more processors, the transaction into a second block of transactions; and/or (9) distributing, by the one or more processors, the second block to the plurality of nodes to form a consensus on a second update to the blockchain. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“For instance, in some embodiments, the information associated with the policy may include an electronic medical record, an insurance policy, a lab result, a form, and/or a confidential communication. Further, the particular node may be associated with an attorney or an estate planner. Additionally or alternatively, the first block and the second block may be the same block

“In some embodiments, generating the transaction may include applying, by the one or more processors, a digital signature to the transaction. The digital signature may be generated based upon the private key for a node associated with the one or more processors. Additionally or alternatively, generating the transaction may include determining, by the one or more processors, a permission level associated with the particular node; and/or generating, by the one or more processors, the transaction when the permission level indicates that the particular node is permitted to access the information associated with the policy.

“In further embodiments, detecting the request to provide access to the data may include (1) receiving, at the one or more processors, the request from a requesting node; (2) determining, by the one or more processors, a permission level associated with the requesting node; and/or (3) generating, by the one or more processors, the transaction when the permission level indicates that the requesting node is permitted to request that other nodes receive access to the information associated with the policy. Additionally or alternatively, detecting the request to provide access to the data may include generating, by the one or more processors, the request to provide access to the data associated upon being directed by the new smart contract.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of providing access to confidential data stored in a blockchain, the blockchain relating to a plurality of smart contracts, the method comprising: detecting, by one or more processors, that a new smart contract has been created for inclusion in the plurality of smart contracts; detecting, by the one or more processors, a request to provide a particular node access to encrypted data associated with the new smart contract, the request indicating the particular node; determining, by the one or more processors, that a permission level associated with the particular node indicates that the particular node is permitted to access information associated with an insurance policy; in response to the determination, generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction indicating (i) a private key for the new smart contract, the private key for the new smart contract being encrypted using a public key for the particular node, and (ii) an identity of the particular node; applying, by the one or more processors, a digital signature of a node associated with the one or more processors to the transaction, the digital signature being generated based upon a second private key for a node associated with the one or more processors; compiling, by the one or more processors, the transaction into a block of transactions; and distributing, by the one or more processors, the block to the plurality of nodes to form a consensus on an update to the blockchain.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, data associated with the new smart contract includes information associated with an electronic medical record.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, data associated with the new smart contract includes information associated with at least one of an insurance policy, a lab result, a form, or a confidential communication.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the particular node is associated with an attorney or an estate planner.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the encrypted data associated with the new smart contract is encrypted using a public key corresponding to the private key for the new smart contract.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the request to provide access to the data further comprises: receiving, at the one or more processors, the request from a requesting node; determining, by the one or more processors, a permission level associated with the requesting node; and generating, by the one or more processors, the transaction when the permission level indicates that the requesting node is permitted to request that other nodes receive access to information associated with an insurance policy.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the request to provide access to the data further comprises: generating, by the one or more processors, the request to provide access to the data associated upon being directed by the new smart contract.

“8. A computer system for providing access to confidential data stored in a blockchain, the blockchain relating to a plurality of smart contracts, the computer system comprising: one or more processors; a communication module adapted to communicate with a plurality of nodes; a non-transitory program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to: detect that a new smart contract has been created for inclusion in the plurality of smart contracts; detect a request to provide a particular node access to encrypted data associated with the new smart contract, the request indicating the particular node; determine that a permission level associated with the particular node indicates that the particular node is permitted to access information associated with an insurance policy; in response to the determination, generate a transaction indicating (i) a private key for the new smart contract, the private key for the new smart contract being encrypted using a public key for the particular node, and (ii) an identity of the particular node; apply a digital signature to the transaction, the digital signature being generated based upon a second private key for a node associated with the one or more processors; compile the transaction into a block of transactions; and distribute, via the communication module, the block to the plurality of nodes to form a consensus on an update to the blockchain.

“9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein data associated with the new smart contract includes an electronic medical record.

“10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein data associated with the new smart contract includes at least one of an insurance policy, a lab result, a form, or a confidential communication.

“11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the particular node is associated with an attorney or an estate planner.

“12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the encrypted data associated with the new smart contract is encrypted using a public key corresponding to the private key for the new smart contract.

“13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein to detect the request to provide access to the data, the instructions, when executed, cause the computer system to: receive the request from a requesting node; determine a permission level associated with the requesting node; and generate the transaction when the permission level indicates that the requesting node is permitted to request that other nodes receive access to information associated with an insurance policy.

“14. The computer system of claim 8, wherein to detect the request to provide access to the data, the instructions, when executed, cause the computer system to: generate the request to provide access to the data upon being directed by the new smart contract.

“15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, that, when executed, cause one or more processors to: detect that a new smart contract has been created; detect a request to provide a particular node access to encrypted data associated with the new smart contract, the request indicating the particular node; determine that a permission level associated with the particular node indicates that the particular node is permitted to access information associated with an insurance policy; in response to the determination, generate a transaction indicating (i) a private key for the new smart contract, the private key for the new smart contract being encrypted using a public key for the particular node, and (ii) an identity of the particular node; apply a digital signature to the transaction, the digital signature being generated based upon a second private key for a node associated with the one or more processors; compile the transaction into a block of transactions; and distribute the block to the plurality of nodes to form a consensus on an update to the blockchain.

“16. A computer-implemented method of providing access to confidential data stored in a blockchain, the blockchain relating to a plurality of smart contracts, the method comprising: detecting, by one or more processors, that a new smart contract has been created for inclusion in the plurality of smart contracts; receiving, by the one or more processors, a request from a requesting node to provide a particular node access to encrypted data associated with the new smart contract, the request indicating the particular node; determining, by the one or more processors, that a permission level associated with the requesting node indicates that the requesting node is permitted to request that other nodes receive access to information associated with an insurance policy; in response to the determination, generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction indicating (i) a private key for the new smart contract, the private key for the new smart contract being encrypted using a public key for the particular node, and (ii) an identity of the particular node; applying, by the one or more processors, a digital signature of a node associated with the one or more processors to the transaction, the digital signature being generated based upon a second private key for a node associated with the one or more processors; compiling, by the one or more processors, the transaction into a block of transactions; and distributing, by the one or more processors, the block to the plurality of nodes to form a consensus on an update to the blockchain.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Bellas, Eric. Systems and methods for controlled access to policy data on blockchain. U.S. Patent Number 11599653, filed June 30, 2020, and published online on March 7, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11599653)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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