Patent Issued for Systems and methods for generating usage-based insurance contracts for peer-to-peer transactions (USPTO 11682081): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 JUL 10 (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 11682081, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Floyd, Matt (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on October 15, 2020 and was published online on June 20, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “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.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ 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 Figures depict preferred embodiments for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the systems and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“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 including at least one offer for a sharing transaction from an offerer, 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, wherein validation comprises validating the offerer based at least in part on a pre-existing insurance policy issued by the insurance provider to the offerer; receive, by the server, at least one offer from the offerer for sharing an item of the offerer, 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 offerer 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 based on the accepted offer, wherein the usage-based insurance contract is based on an amount of rental usage by the buyer; 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 coverage provided, and wherein generating the smart contract includes: generating a first block for a distributed ledger, the first block including a first portion of the smart contract information; generating a second block for the distributed 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 distributed 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 usage-based 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: identify based on information included in the at least one offer, an existing insurance contract for at least one of an item being offered and the offerer; and validate 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: receive information about the buyer including an existing insurance contract for the buyer; and validate 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 buyer, wherein the computer device associated with the buyer is configured to display at least a portion of the plurality of offers to the 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 at least one offer, the associated offerer, and the buyer, wherein the transaction contract is included in the distributed ledger.

“6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further programmed to store post-transaction details of the sharing transaction in the distributed ledger.

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

“8. 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 distributed ledger includes the acceptance of the insurance contract.

“9. 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 including at least one offer for a sharing transaction from an offerer, wherein the online application is hosted on a server; receiving, by the server, an election from the offerer and the buyer to participate in the online application; validating, by the server, the offerer and the buyer, wherein validation comprises validating the offerer based at least in part on a pre-existing insurance policy issued by the insurance provider to the offerer; receiving, by the server, at least one offer from the offerer for sharing an item of the offerer, 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 offerer 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 based on the accepted offer, wherein the usage-based insurance contract is based on an amount of rental usage by the buyer; 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 coverage provided, and wherein generating the smart contract includes: generating a first block for a distributed ledger, the first block including a first portion of the smart contract information; generating a second block for the distributed 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 distributed 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 usage-based insurance contract to at least one of the buyer and the associated offerer.

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

“11. The method of claim 9 further comprising: 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.

“12. The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting a plurality of offers including the at least one offer to a computer device associated with the buyer, wherein the computer device associated with the buyer is configured to display at least a portion of the plurality of offers to the buyer.

“13. The method of claim 9 further comprising generating a transaction contract for the sharing transaction based on the at least one offer, the associated offerer, and the buyer, wherein the transaction contract is included in the distributed ledger.

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

“15. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one item of the at least one offer is associated with an existing insurance contract between the insurance provider and the offerer.

“16. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving an acceptance of the insurance contract, wherein the second block of the distributed ledger includes the acceptance of the insurance contract.”

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

For the URL and additional 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 11682081, filed October 15, 2020, and published online on June 20, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11682081)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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