Patent Issued for Tracking and guidance system for recurring service management (USPTO 11836697): United Services Automobile Association

2023 DEC 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11836697, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Culbertson, II, William Preston (San Antonio, TX, US), Medina, III, Reynaldo (San Antonio, TX, US), Wright, Susan Elizabeth (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on June 30, 2020 and was published online on December 5, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

“A consumer may make recurring payments for various services, such as cable or streaming television services, mobile phone services, gym memberships, subscription-based shopping or food delivery services, or the like. In some cases, the consumer may set up automatic recurring payments for the various services, such as by providing information for a payment card so that providers of the various services can automatically charge and receive payments periodically (e.g., once per time period). Indeed, set up of automatic recurring payments may be required in order to access at least some of the various services. Generally, the automatic recurring payments may be beneficial to both the consumer and providers of the various services. For example, the automatic recurring payments reduce a number of steps (e.g., preparing a bill, sending the bill, reviewing the bill, inputting payment information) to complete payments for the various services.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Certain embodiments commensurate in scope with the present disclosure are summarized below. These embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, but rather these embodiments are intended only to provide a brief summary of possible forms of present embodiments. Indeed, present embodiments may encompass a variety of forms that may be similar to or different from the embodiments set forth below.

“In an embodiment, a service tracking and guidance system includes processing circuitry configured to receive, from a location tracking device and/or an online service, usage data indicative of usage of a service by a consumer. The processing circuitry is also configured to determine a usage value based on the usage data. The processing circuitry is further configured to receive, from a pecuniary database, remittance data indicative of recurring payments made by the consumer for the service. The processing circuitry is further configured to retrieve, from a guidance database, a usage threshold that represents a level of usage of the service that justifies the recurring payments. The processing circuitry is further configured to compare the usage value determined based on the usage data for a time period that corresponds to at least one of the recurring payments to the usage threshold. The processing circuitry is further configured to provide an output with directions to increase the usage value or to facilitate cancellation of the service in response to the usage value being below the usage threshold.

“In an embodiment, a method of operating a service tracking and guidance system includes receiving, at processing circuitry, usage data indicative of usage of a service by multiple consumers over at least a first time period, a second time period, and a third time period. The method also includes determining, using the processing circuitry, a usage threshold based on the usage data over at least the first time period and the second time period. The method further includes determining, using the processing circuitry, a respective usage of the service by a first consumer of the multiple consumers over the third time period. The method further includes comparing, using the processing circuitry, the respective usage of the service by the first consumer to the usage threshold. The method further includes providing, via the processing circuitry, an output with directions to increase the usage or to facilitate cancellation of the service in response to the respective usage of the service by the first consumer being below the usage threshold.

“In an embodiment, a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, includes machine readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to receive usage data indicative of usage of a service by multiple consumers over multiple time periods, determine a usage threshold based on the usage data, wherein the usage threshold represents an average usage by the multiple consumers per time period of the multiple time periods, compare a portion of the usage data indicative of a respective usage of the service by a first consumer of the multiple consumers over one of the time periods of the multiple time periods to the usage threshold, and provide an output with directions to facilitate cancellation of the service for the first consumer in response to the respective usage of the service by the first consumer being below the usage threshold.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A service tracking and guidance system, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: receive, from a location tracking device, usage data indicative of usage of a service by a consumer, wherein the usage of the service comprises an amount of time spent at a location; determine a usage value based on the usage data; receive, from a pecuniary database, remittance data indicative of recurring payments by the consumer for the service; determine an average usage threshold, wherein the average usage threshold corresponds to an average usage of the service by a plurality of other consumers over a time period that corresponds to at least one of the recurring payments, over another time period prior to the time period, or both; determine and continuously update a usage threshold by adjusting the average usage threshold based on one or more characteristics of the consumer, wherein the usage threshold comprises a threshold amount of time and represents a level of usage of the service that indicates that the consumer has derived value from the service relative to the plurality of other consumers and accounts for the one or more characteristics of the consumer, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise a savings amount, a debt amount, a household income, or any combination thereof; compare the usage value determined based on the usage data for the time period that corresponds to at least one of the recurring payments to the usage threshold; provide an output that comprises a notification on a graphical user interface for visualization by the consumer, the notification comprises a map of the location associated with the service, and the notification comprises directions to increase the usage value or to facilitate cancellation of the service in response to the usage value being below the usage threshold; and monitor a response of the consumer following the output, and determine and continuously update the usage threshold based on the consumer failing to cancel the service or reinstating the service after the cancellation.

“2. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to enable the consumer to adjust the usage threshold via an input.

“3. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to continuously update the usage threshold for the consumer in response to changes in the one or more characteristics of the consumer.

“4. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 1, wherein the usage threshold accounts for the savings amount, the debt amount, and the household income of the consumer.

“5. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises the usage value and the usage threshold.

“6. A method of operating a service tracking and guidance system, the method comprising: receiving, at processing circuitry and from one or more location tracking devices, usage data indicative of usage of a service by a plurality of consumers over at least a first time period, wherein the usage of the service comprises a respective amount of time spent by each of the plurality of consumers at a location over at least the first time period; determining, using the processing circuitry, an average usage threshold, wherein the average usage threshold corresponds to an average usage of the service by the plurality of consumers over at least the first time period; determining and continuously updating, using the processing circuitry, a usage threshold by adjusting the average usage threshold based on one or more characteristics of a first consumer of the plurality of consumers, wherein the usage threshold comprises a threshold amount of time and represents a level of usage of the service per time period that indicates that the first consumer has derived value from the service relative to other consumers of the plurality of consumers and accounts for the one or more characteristics of the first consumer, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise a savings amount, a debt amount, a household income, or any combination thereof; determining, using the processing circuitry, a respective usage of the service by the first consumer over the first time period; comparing, using the processing circuitry, the respective usage of the service by the first consumer to the usage threshold; determining that the first consumer has not derived value from the service relative to the other consumers in response to the respective usage of the service by the first consumer being below the usage threshold; providing, via the processing circuitry, an output that comprises a notification on a graphical user interface for visualization by the first consumer, the notification comprises a map of the location associated with the service, and the notification comprises directions to increase the usage or to facilitate cancellation of the service in response to determining that the first consumer has not derived value from the service relative to the other consumers; and monitoring, via the processing circuitry, a response of the first consumer following the output, and determining and continuously updating the usage threshold based on the first consumer failing to cancel the service or reinstating the service after the cancellation.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein the usage threshold is based on a percentage of the average usage threshold.

“8. The method of claim 6, comprising determining and continuously updating, using the processing circuitry, the usage threshold based on one or more respective characteristics of each of the other consumers of the plurality of consumers.

“9. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising machine readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to: receive usage data from one or more location tracking devices, wherein the usage data is indicative of usage of a service by a plurality of consumers over a plurality of time periods, and the usage of the service comprises a respective amount of time spent by each of the plurality of consumers at a location over the plurality of time periods; determine an average usage threshold, wherein the average usage threshold corresponds to an average usage of the service by the plurality of consumers over a time period of the plurality of time periods, over another time period prior to the time period, or both; determine and continuously update a usage threshold by adjusting the average usage threshold based on one or more characteristics of a first consumer of the plurality of consumers, wherein the usage threshold comprises a threshold amount of time and represents a level of usage of the service that indicates that the first consumer has derived value from the service relative to other consumers of the plurality of consumers per time period over at least one of the plurality of time periods and accounts for the one or more characteristics of the plurality of consumers, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise a savings amount, a debt amount, a household income, or any combination thereof; determine that the first consumer has not derived value from the service relative to the other consumers in response to a portion of the usage data indicative of a respective usage of the service by the first consumer over one of the time periods of the plurality of time periods being below the usage threshold; provide an output that comprises a notification on a graphical user interface for visualization by the first consumer, the notification comprises a map of the location associated with the service, and the notification comprises directions to facilitate cancellation of the service for the first consumer in response to determining that the first consumer has not derived value from the service relative to the other consumers; and monitor a response of the first consumer following the output, and determine and continuously update the usage threshold based on the first consumer failing to cancel the service or reinstating the service after the cancellation.

“10. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 1, wherein the average usage threshold corresponds to the average usage of the service by the plurality of other consumers over the time period.

“11. The service tracking and guidance system of claim 10, wherein the average usage of the service comprises an average amount of time of usage of the service.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Culbertson, II, William Preston. Tracking and guidance system for recurring service management. U.S. Patent Number 11836697, filed June 30, 2020, and published online on December 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11836697)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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