Patent Issued for Systems and methods for generating an inventory of personal possessions of a user for insurance purposes (USPTO 11599847): BlueOwl LLC

2023 MAR 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Sanchez, Kenneth Jason (San Francisco, CA, US), filed on February 18, 2020, was published online on March 7, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11599847 is assigned to BlueOwl LLC (San Francisco, California, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Some insurance policies (e.g., renter’s insurance, rental insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and/or property insurance) provide coverage for loss or damage to the personal possessions of a policyholder during a policy claim (e.g., a formal request by the policyholder to an insurance provider for reimbursement for one or more personal possessions covered under an insurance policy). Loss events may include residential fires, theft, vandalism and/or other events that cause partial or complete loss of the personal possessions of the policyholder. Policy coverage is associated with the amount of risk or liability that is covered by the insurance provider for the policyholder’s possessions during these loss events. Insurance providers set policy premiums based at least in part upon a number of factors including the amount of coverage that the policy provides (e.g., policy coverage or insurance coverage). In other words, the policy coverage is related to the amount of funds an insurance provider may have to pay a policyholder for damaged or lost possessions. As such, a policy coverage amount should aim to cover the amount it would cost to replace or repair each of the policyholder’s personal possessions.

“During a policy claim, the policyholder may submit an insurance claim request to the insurance provider, requesting reimbursement for lost or destroyed possessions. The insurance claim request may include a list of the personal possessions and values associated with the cost of replacing the personal possessions.

“In some cases, the policyholder may not have created an inventory list of their personal possessions prior to the loss event. Consequentially, the policyholder may be unable to remember or identify all personal possessions that were destroyed, lost, and/or damaged. It may be particularly challenging for a policyholder to recall personal possessions in the case of a total loss, when there may be limited evidence of the policyholder’s possessions (e.g. after a residential fire). As such, the policyholder may be unable to create a complete and/or accurate list of possessions for the policy claim. In other cases, a policyholder may have created an inventory list prior to the loss event, but failed to update or maintain the list such that the inventory list does not accurately reflect the most current personal possessions of the policyholder.

“Further, upon receiving the policy claim request, the insurance provider may subsequently request documentation or proof from the policyholder for one or more items in the list of possessions in order to confirm that the policyholder owned the item and/or to verify the cost or value associated with the item. Requested documentation may include images of the items, receipts, or authentication documentations such as titles, certifications of authenticity, or any other documentation that can be used to verify the value associated with the possessions. In some cases, the policyholder may be unable to provide documentation supporting the claimed lost items. For example, in some cases, the policyholder’s documents may have been lost or destroyed during the loss event. In other cases, the policyholder may not have kept or recorded documentation for every personal possession.

“Insurance premiums, coverage rates, and insurance claims may depend on the list of policyholder’s possessions owned by the policyholder. It would be advantageous for both the policyholder and the insurance provider to generate and update a complete and accurate list of personal possessions. The inventory of personal possessions should further include a cost or value assigned to each possession in the inventory of personal possessions, and documentation of the ownership and/or the value associated with the possessions. More specifically, the inventory of personal possessions may aid the insurance provider in determining policy rates and additionally aid the policyholder in determining the amount of coverage they will need. Further, during a policy claim, the inventory list may be used to determine reimbursement amounts for each possession.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiment may relate to systems and methods for generating a list of personal possessions of a user.

“In one embodiment, a computer system for generating a list of items (e.g., possessions) associated with a user is provided. The computing system may include one processor in communication with at least one memory device, and the at least one processor may be configured to (i) receive image data including at least one possession of the user, (ii) analyze the image data to identify the at least one possession, (iii) update a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession, (iv) determine, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the at least one possession, (v) generate and transmit an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user, the additional information prompt configured to cause the user computing device to prompt the user for the additional information, (vi) receive, from the user computing device, the additional information, (vii) estimate, using the additional information, the value associated with the at least one possession, and (viii) update the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the at least one possession stored in association with the at least one possession. The computer system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method for generating a list of items associated with a user using a computer system including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device is provided. The method may include (i) receiving image data including at least one possession of the user, (ii) analyzing the image data to identify the at least one possession, (iii) updating a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession, (iv) determining, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the at least one possession, (v) generating and transmitting an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user, the additional information prompt configured to cause the user computing device to prompt the user for the additional information, (vi) receiving, from the user computing device, the additional information, (vii) estimating, using the additional information, the value associated with the at least one possession, and (viii) updating the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the at least one possession stored in association with the at least one possession. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another embodiment, at least one non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions thereon is provided, wherein when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, may cause the at least one processor to (i) receive image data including at least one possession of the user, (ii) analyze the image data to identify the at least one possession, (iii) update a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession, (iv) determine, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the at least one possession, (v) generate and transmit an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user, the additional information prompt configured to cause the user computing device to prompt the user for the additional information, (vi) receive, from the user computing device, the additional information, (vii) estimate, using the additional information, the value associated with the at least one possession, and (viii) update the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the at least one possession stored in association with the at least one possession. The instructions may direct additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Depending upon embodiment, one or more benefits may be achieved. These benefits and various additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention can be fully appreciated with reference to the detailed description and accompanying drawings that follow.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computing system for generating a list of possessions associated with a user, the computing system including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the at least one processor configured to: receive image data including at least one possession of the user; analyze the image data to identify the at least one possession; update a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession; determine, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the identified at least one possession; generate and transmit an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user for the additional information, the additional information comprising one or more text documents including at least one selected from a group consisting of an authentication document, an ownership document, and a receipt; receive, from the user computing device, the additional information; estimate, using the additional information including the one or more text documents, the value associated with the identified at least one possession; generate a first reward having a value representative of the additional information provided in the one or more text documents received from the user computing device; and update the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession stored in association with the identified at least one possession.

“2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the additional information is needed using at least one selected from a group consisting of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein to receive image data includes to receive the image data from the user computing device.

“4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate and transmit a results message to the user computing device, the results message generated based at least in part upon at least one possession of the identified at least one possession, the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession, and the additional information.

“5. The computing system of claim 4, wherein the results message includes the first reward and a second reward, the second reward having a value proportional to the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession.

“6. The computing system of claim 4, wherein the results message is configured to cause a digital character to be displayed on the user computing device in association with the identified at least one possession.

“7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate and transmit a final inventory to an insurance provider device based at least in part upon the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession.

“8. A computer-implemented method for generating a list of possessions associated with a user, the method implemented on a computer device including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, said method comprising: receiving image data including at least one possession of the user; analyzing the image data to identify the at least one possession; updating a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession; determining, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the identified at least one possession; generating and transmitting an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user for the additional information, the additional information comprising one or more text documents including at least one selected from a group consisting of an authentication document, an ownership document, and a receipt; receiving, from the user computing device, the additional information; estimating, using the additional information including the one or more text documents, the value associated with the identified at least one possession; generating a first reward having a value representative of the additional information provided in the one or more text documents received from the user computing device; and updating the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession stored in association with the identified at least one possession.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining additional information comprises determining additional information is needed using at least one of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving image data comprises receiving image data from the user computing device.

“11. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating and transmitting a results message to the user computing device, the results message generated based at least in part upon at least one possession of the identified at least one possession, the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession, and the additional information.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the results message includes the first reward and a second reward, the second reward having a value proportional to the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein the results message is configured to cause a digital character to be displayed on the user computing device in association with the identified at least one possession.

“14. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating and transmitting a final inventory to an insurance provider device based at least in part upon the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession.

“15. At least one non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the at least one processor to: receive image data including at least one possession of a user; analyze the image data to identify the at least one possession; update a user profile associated with the user to include the identified at least one possession; determine, from the image data, additional information is needed to accurately estimate a value associated with the identified at least one possession; generate and transmit an additional information prompt to a user computing device associated with the user for the additional information, the additional information comprising one or more text documents including at least one selected from a group consisting of an authentication document, an ownership document, and a receipt; receive, from the user computing device, the additional information; estimate, using the additional information, the value associated with the identified at least one possession; generate a first reward having a value representative of the additional information provided in the one or more text documents received from the user computing device; and update the user profile to include the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession stored in association with the identified at least one possession.

“16. The computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein to determine additional information is needed, the computer-readable media cause the at least one processor to determine additional information is needed using at least one of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“17. The computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein to receive image data includes to receive the image data from the user computing device.

“18. The computer-readable media of claim 15, further causing the at least one processor to generate and transmit a results message to the user computing device, the results message generated based at least in part upon at least one possession of the identified at least one possession, the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession, and the additional information.

“19. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the results message includes the first reward and a second reward, the second reward having a value proportional to the estimated value associated with the identified at least one possession.

“20. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the results message is configured to cause a digital character to be displayed on the user computing device in association with the identified at least one possession.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Sanchez, Kenneth Jason. Systems and methods for generating an inventory of personal possessions of a user for insurance purposes. U.S. Patent Number 11599847, filed February 18, 2020, and published online on March 7, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11599847)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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