Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Managing Insurance For Devices Located Within A Property Based On Insurance-Related Events (USPTO 10,922,756)

2021 FEB 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Call, Shawn M. (Bloomington, IL); Hakimi-Boushehri, Daryoush (Bloomington, IL); Weekes, John H. (Bloomington, IL); Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL); Criswell, Jennifer (Bloomington, IL); Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL); Jordan, II, Jackie O. (Bloomington, IL); McDermeit, Elisabeth (Bloomington, IL); Donovan, John (Bloomington, IL), filed on June 6, 2018, was published online on March 1, 2021.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,922,756 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Homeowner and personal property insurance exists to provide financial protection against damage to the home, as well as personal property owned by the policyholder, respectively. With the proliferation of the ‘internet of things,’ more household devices and items are gaining communication and network connectivity capabilities. The new capabilities may enable data detection and more accurate information and metrics. However, current insurance policy processing systems may not account for the connected devices and/or improved information.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, facilitate communications with connected devices and items, and/or facilitate insurance processing associated with the connected devices and items, among other functionalities. For instance, the present embodiments may dynamically manage insurance policies associated with a property (e.g., smart home) that may be populated with a plurality of devices. Each of the plurality of devices may be configured to monitor various conditions of the property and may have an associated value or worth. A controller may interface with the plurality of devices to receive sensor data from the plurality of devices as well as assess damage to the devices, estimate replacement costs for the devices, and generate proposed insurance claims associated with device conditions. The controller may also estimate device damage based upon a location of an associated insurance-related event. A customer may receive the proposed insurance claims and may be able to accept, reject, or modify the claims accordingly. The controller and/or an insurance provider may facilitate the insurance claim processing with the customer so that the customer may be afforded an effective and efficient channel for claims processing without having to manually initiate, populate, and submit insurance claims.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for managing an insurance policy associated with a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a hardware controller in communication with a plurality of devices, and each of the plurality of devices may be configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property. The method may include (1) receiving, via wired or wireless communication and/or a first communication network, a set of sensor data from at least one of the plurality of devices; (2) determining, 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), from the set of sensor data, that the at least one of the plurality of devices is damaged; and/or (3) retrieving a replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices. The method may further include (4) generating, by the one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim for the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim including the replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices; (5) communicating, to a customer having the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim, such as via wireless communication or data transmission; (6) receiving, from the customer, an approval of the proposed insurance claim, such as via wireless communication; and/or (7) handling the insurance claim at the insurance provider, based upon the customer approval of the insurance claim. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system for managing an insurance policy may be provided. The insurance policy may be associated with a property populated with a plurality of devices (such as smart appliances or other smart devices or items configured for wired or wireless communication described below) that are configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, such as a smart or interconnected home. The system may include a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions, a communication module adapted to communicate data, and/or a processor adapted to interface with the communication module. The processor may be configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to (1) receive, via the communication module, a set of sensor data from at least one of the plurality of devices; (2) determine, from the set of sensor data, that the at least one of the plurality of devices is damaged; and/or (3) retrieve a replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices. The processor may be further configured to (4) generate a proposed insurance claim for the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim including the replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices; and/or (5) communicate, via the communication module to a customer having the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim, such as via wireless communication or data transmission. The system may include additional, less, or alternate components and functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A computer-implemented method of processing insurance claims for an insurance policy associated with a property, the property populated with a controller in communication with a plurality of devices in the property, each of the plurality of devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the method comprising: determining, by one or more processors from sensor data associated with at least one of the plurality of devices, that the at least one of the plurality of devices is damaged; retrieving, via a communication network, a replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices from a data tag associated with the at least one of the plurality of devices; automatically generating, by the one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim for the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim including the replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices; and communicating, to an electronic device associated with a customer having the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the electronic device associated with the customer, an acceptance of the proposed insurance claim; and facilitating a processing of the proposed insurance claim with an insurance provider.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: communicating the proposed insurance claim to an insurance provider, wherein the insurance provider reconciles the replacement cost with additional replacement costs associated with additional devices similar to the at least one of the plurality of devices.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving, from the insurance provider, a set of modifications to the proposed insurance claim.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: accessing additional replacement cost data associated with additional devices similar to the at least one of the plurality of devices; comparing the replacement cost to the additional replacement cost data; and modifying the replacement cost based upon the comparing.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a third-party source, an updated replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising: modifying the replacement cost according to the updated replacement cost.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein communicating the proposed insurance claim comprises: communicating the proposed insurance claim to the electronic device associated with the customer via a second communication network.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the set of sensor data is responsive to: detecting an insurance-related event.

“10. A system for processing an insurance policy associated with a property, the property populated with a plurality of devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, comprising: a memory for storing non-transitory computer executable instructions; a communication module for communicating data; and a processor interfacing with the communication module, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: determine, from sensor data from at least one of the plurality of devices, that the at least one of the plurality of devices is damaged, retrieve, via the communication module, a replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices from a data tag associated with the at least one of the plurality of devices, automatically generate a proposed insurance claim for the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim including the replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices, and communicate, via the communication module to an electronic device associated with a customer having the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, from the electronic device associated with the customer via the communication module, an acceptance of the proposed insurance claim, and facilitate a processing of the proposed insurance claim with an insurance provider.

“12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: communicate the proposed insurance claim to an insurance provider, wherein the insurance provider reconciles the replacement cost with additional replacement costs associated with additional devices similar to the at least one of the plurality of devices.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, from the insurance provider, a set of modifications to the proposed insurance claim.

“14. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: access additional replacement cost data associated with additional devices similar to the at least one of the plurality of devices, compare the replacement cost to the additional replacement cost data, and modify the replacement cost based upon the comparing.

“15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, from a third-party source, an updated replacement cost of the at least one of the plurality of devices.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to: modify the replacement cost according to the updated replacement cost.

“17. The system of claim 10, wherein to communicate the proposed insurance claim, the processor is configured to: communicate the proposed insurance claim to the electronic device associated with the customer via a second communication network.

“18. A computer-implemented method of processing insurance claims for an insurance policy associated with a property, the property populated with a controller in communication with a plurality of devices in the property, each of the plurality of devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the method comprising: receiving, via a first communication network, sensor data associated with a damaged device from among the plurality of devices; retrieving, via the first communication network, a replacement cost of the damaged device from a data tag associated with the damaged device; automatically generating, by one or more processors, a proposed insurance claim for the insurance policy, the proposed insurance claim including the replacement cost of the damaged device; and causing, by the one or more processors, the proposed insurance claim to be presented on a display for customer review.

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors from the sensor data, that the damaged device from among the plurality of devices is damaged.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Call, Shawn M.; Hakimi-Boushehri, Daryoush; Weekes, John H.; Bryant, Ronny S.; Criswell, Jennifer; Binion, Todd; Jordan, II, Jackie O.; McDermeit, Elisabeth; Donovan, John. Systems And Methods For Managing Insurance For Devices Located Within A Property Based On Insurance-Related Events. U.S. Patent Number 10,922,756, filed June 6, 2018, and published online on March 1, 2021. 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=10,922,756.PN.&OS=PN/10,922,756RS=PN/10,922,756

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