Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Generating Usage-Based Insurance Contracts For Peer-To-Peer Transactions (USPTO 10,832,335)

2020 NOV 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Floyd, Matt (Bloomington, IL), filed on May 1, 2017, was published online on November 23, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,832,335 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: “Peer-to-peer commerce systems (also known as sharing economy systems) allow individuals to exchange services with other individuals. In some transactions, there may be a need to insure the item being shared for the length of the transaction. Usage-based insurance (UBI) contracts are short-term contracts that allow an individual to pay for insurance as they need it. In many cases, this insurance is based upon the combination of the user and the purpose for the insurance. There exists a need for a system and method that are configured to securely validate individuals in a peer-to-peer commerce system, while being able to insure those involved in a peer-to-peer commerce transaction.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a computer system for generating usage-based insurance contracts is provided. The computer system includes at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device. The at least one processor is programmed to store a plurality of offers for sharing transactions. Each of the plurality of offers includes an item being offered and an associated offerer. The at least one processor is also programmed to receive a selection from a buyer of an offer that is accepted by the buyer of the plurality of offers, automatically generate a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, and transmit the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer to facilitate quickly and accurately providing appropriate insurance coverage for sharing transactions. The computer system may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-based method for generating usage-based insurance contracts is provided. The method is implemented on a usage-based insurance management (‘UBIM’) computing device that includes at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device. The method includes storing, within the at least one memory device, a plurality of offers for sharing transactions. Each of the plurality of offers includes an item being offered and an associated offerer. The method also includes receiving by the at least one processor a selection from a buyer of an offer that is accepted by the buyer of the plurality of offers, generating by the at least one processor a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, and transmitting the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer to facilitate quickly and accurately providing appropriate insurance coverage for sharing transactions. The method may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another aspect, at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon is provided. When executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to store a plurality of offers for sharing transactions. Each of the plurality of offers includes an item being offered and an associated offerer. The computer-executable instructions also cause the processor to receive a selection from a buyer of an offer that is accepted by the buyer of the plurality of offers, automatically generate a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, and transmit the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer to facilitate quickly and accurately providing appropriate insurance coverage for sharing transactions. The storage media may have additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that 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 and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“I claim:

“1. A computer system of an insurance provider for generating usage-based insurance contracts between an offerer and a buyer participating in an online sharing economy, the computer system including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the at least one processor is programmed to: host an online application for sharing transactions, wherein the online application is hosted on a server of the computer system; receive by the server an election from the offerer and the buyer to participate in the online application; validate by the server the offerer and the buyer; receive by the server at least one offer from the offerer for sharing an item of the offerer, wherein the item comprises one of a residence or a vehicle, and wherein the offer includes a price at which the buyer can rent the item from the offerer; receive a selection from the buyer of the at least one offer of the offeror that is accepted by the buyer to establish a sharing transaction; automatically, upon acceptance of the offer by the buyer, generate a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the accepted offer, wherein the usage-based insurance contract is based on the amount of rental usage by the buyer, wherein at least one of the sharing transaction and the usage-based insurance contract comprises private information of the offerer and the buyer; store the private information on the server; generate a smart contract used to record the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract comprises smart contract information including details of the sharing transaction, details of the usage-based insurance contract and the coverage provided, and details of the payment for the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract information excludes the private information, and wherein generating the smart contract includes: generating a first block for a blockchain ledger, the first block including a first portion of the smart contract information; generating a second block for the blockchain ledger, the second block including a second portion of the smart contract information and a hash of the first block; and distributing copies of the blockchain ledger across a plurality of node computing devices, wherein each of the node computing devices are capable of communicating with the server though an application programming interface; and transmit the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer.

“2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to perform the step of validating the offerer by: identifying, based on information included in the at least one offer, an existing insurance contract for at least one of the item being offered and the offerer; and validating the offerer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract.

“3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to perform the step of validating the buyer by: receiving information about the buyer including an existing insurance contract for the buyer; and validating the buyer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract.

“4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to transmit a plurality of offers including the at least one offer to a computer device associated with the validated buyer, wherein the buyer computer device is configured to display at least a portion of the plurality of offers to the validated buyer.

“5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to generate a transaction contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, the associated offerer, and the buyer, wherein the transaction contract is included in the blockchain ledger.

“6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to store post-transaction details of the sharing transaction in the blockchain ledger.

“7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one item of the offerer is associated with an existing insurance contract between the insurance provider and and the offerer.

“8. A computer-based method for generating usage-based insurance contracts between an offerer and a buyer participating in an online sharing economy, the method is implemented on an usage-based insurance management (“UBIM”) computing device of an insurance provider, the UBIM computing device including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, the method comprising: hosting, by the at least one processor, an online application for sharing transactions, wherein the online application is hosted on a server of the computer system; receiving by the at least one processor an election from the offerer and the buyer to participate in the online application; validating by the at least one processor the offerer and the buyer; receiving by the at least one processor at least one offer from the offerer for sharing an item of the offerer, wherein the item comprises one of a residence or a vehicle, and wherein the offer includes a price at which the buyer can rent the item from the offerer; receiving, by the at least one processor, a selection from the buyer of the at least one offer of the offeror that is accepted by the buyer to establish a sharing transaction; automatically generating, by the at least one processor upon acceptance of the offer by the buyer, a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the accepted offer, wherein the usage-based insurance contract is based on the amount of rental usage by the buyer, wherein at least one of the sharing transaction and the usage-based insurance contract comprises private information of the offerer and the buyer; storing, by the at least one processor, the private information within the at least one memory device; generating a smart contract used to record the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract comprises smart contract information including details of the sharing transaction, details of the usage-based insurance contract and the coverage provided, and details of the payment for the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract information excludes the private information, and wherein generating the smart contract includes: generating a first block for a blockchain ledger, the first block including a first portion of the smart contract information; generating a second block for the blockchain ledger, the second block including a second portion of the smart contract information and a hash of the first block; and distributing copies of the blockchain ledger across a plurality of node computing devices, wherein each of the node computing devices are capable of communicating with the server though an application programming interface; and transmitting, by the at least one processor, the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of validating the offerer further comprises: identifying, based on information included in the at least one offer, an existing insurance contract for at least one of the item being offered and the offerer; and validating the offerer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of validating the buyer further comprises: receiving information about the buyer including an existing insurance contract for the buyer; and validating the buyer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract.

“11. The method of claim 8 further comprising transmitting a plurality of offers including the at least one offer to a computer device associated with the validated buyer, wherein the buyer computer device is configured to display at least a portion of the plurality of offers to the validated buyer.

“12. The method of claim 8 further comprising generating a transaction contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, the associated offerer, and the buyer, wherein the transaction contract is included in the blockchain ledger.

“13. The method of claim 12 further comprising storing post-transaction details of the sharing transaction in the blockchain ledger.

“14. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one item of the offerer is associated with an existing insurance contract between the insurance provider and and the offerer.

“15. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for generating usage-based insurance contracts between an offerer and a buyer participating in an online sharing economy, wherein when executed by at least one processor of a computer system of an insurance provider, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to: store a plurality of offers host an online application for sharing transactions, wherein the online application is hosted on a server of the computer system; receive by the server an election from the offerer and the buyer to participate in the online application; validate by the server the offerer and the buyer; receive by the server at least one offer from the offerer for sharing an item of the offerer, wherein the item comprises one of a residence or a vehicle, and wherein the offer includes a price at which the buyer can rent the item from the offerer; receive a selection from the buyer of the at least one offer of the offeror that is accepted by the buyer to establish a sharing transaction; automatically, upon acceptance of the offer by the buyer, generate a usage-based insurance contract for the sharing transaction based on the offer, wherein the usage-based insurance contract is based on the amount of rental usage by the buyer, wherein at least one of the sharing transaction and the usage-based insurance contract comprises private information of the offerer and the buyer; store the private information on the server; generate a smart contract used to record the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract comprises smart contract information including details of the sharing transaction, details of the usage-based insurance contract and the coverage provided, and details of the payment for the usage-based insurance contract, wherein the smart contract information excludes the private information, and wherein generating the smart contract includes: generating a first block for a blockchain ledger, the first block including a first portion of the smart contract information; generating a second block for the blockchain ledger, the second block including a second portion of the smart contract information and a hash of the first block; and distributing copies of the blockchain ledger across a plurality of node computing devices, wherein each of the node computing devices are capable of communicating with the server though an application programming interface; and transmit the insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer.

“16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the processor to perform the steps of validating the offerer and the buyer by: identifying, based on information included in the at least one offer, an existing insurance contract for at least one of the item being offered and the offerer; and validating the offerer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract receiving information about the buyer including an existing insurance contract for the buyer; and validating the buyer based at least in part on the existing insurance contract.

“17. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to: receive an acceptance of the insurance contract, wherein the second block of the blockchain includes the acceptance of the insurance contract.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Floyd, Matt. Systems And Methods For Generating Usage-Based Insurance Contracts For Peer-To-Peer Transactions. U.S. Patent Number 10,832,335, filed May 1, 2017, and published online on November 23, 2020. 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=10,832,335.PN.&OS=PN/10,832,335RS=PN/10,832,335

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