Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Method And System For Verifying Settlement Demands For Subrogation Claims Using A Distributed Ledger”, for Approval (USPTO 20220392004): Patent Application

2022 DEC 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Austin, Edward (Scottsdale, AZ, US); Guthrie, William (Mesa, AZ, US); Haverlah, Sharon Kay (Bulverde, TX, US); Helland, Dustin (Morton, IL, US); Maurer, Ryan (Phoenix, AZ, US); Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX, US); Shackelford-George, Karen Marie (San Antonio, TX, US); Weber, Kyle D. (Gilbert, AZ, US); White, Nolan (Chandler, AZ, US), filed on November 18, 2021, was made available online on December 8, 2022.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “When an insured person suffers a covered loss, an insurer may pay costs to the insured person and pursue subrogation from another party involved in the loss. For example, if an insured vehicle is involved in a collision and suffers a loss, the insurer may compensate the vehicle owner according to an insurance agreement. If, for example, the vehicle owner was not at fault in the collision, the insurer may pursue damages from another party, such as the insurer of the party who was at fault in the collision. An insurance agreement may include an obligation of an insured to assign the insured’s claim against a party at fault to the insurer, who may then collect on the claim on the insured’s behalf.

“Conventional systems and techniques for facilitating subrogation claim payments between two insurance companies may have numerous drawbacks. For instance, many unnecessary payments may be made between insurance companies. For example, a payment may be made between insurance companies for each subrogation claim. Thus, if Insurance company A owes Insurance company B $1,000 for a first subrogation claim, and Insurance company B owes Insurance company A $1,000 for a second subrogation claim, two payments may still be made between the insurance companies even though the net transfer of money is zero. This results in a very inefficient system. Conventional systems may have additional drawbacks and inefficiencies, as well, such as payment making or exchange, payment and/or claim status tracking, and timeliness deficiencies.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described in the Detailed Descriptions. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for generating a subrogation net settlement smart contract using a distributed ledger may be provided. The method may include, via one or more processors, servers, and/or associated transceivers: (1) generating a subrogation demand smart contract configured to: (i) determine a proof of agreement regarding a settlement between parties to a subrogation claim by comparing a first cryptographic hash value provided by a first party to the subrogation claim to a second cryptographic hash value provided by a second party to the subrogation claim, and determining that there is proof of agreement in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, wherein each of the first and second cryptographic hash values are determined based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement; and (ii) transmit notifications to the parties of the proof of agreement regarding the settlement to allow the parties to verify terms of the settlement; and/or (2) deploying the subrogation demand smart contract to a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim using a distributed ledger may be provided. The method may include, via one or more processors, servers, and/or associated transceivers: (1) determining, by a first party, a settlement amount for a settlement of a subrogation claim between the first party and a second party; (2) generating a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party; (3) broadcasting the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to a distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match; (4) receiving a notification from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and/or (5) appending the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In yet another aspect, a computer system for verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim using a distributed ledger may be provided. The computer system may include a network interface, and one or more processors. The computer system may further include a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: (1) determine, by a first party, a settlement amount for a settlement of a subrogation claim between the first party and a second party; (2) generate a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party; (3) broadcast, via the network interface, the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to a distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match; (4) receive, via the network interface, a notification from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and/or (5) append the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period. The instructions may direct 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 aspects of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternate aspects of the structures 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-implemented method for generating a subrogation demand smart contract using a distributed ledger, the method comprising: generating, via one or more processors, the subrogation demand smart contract configured to: determine a proof of agreement regarding a settlement between parties to a subrogation claim by comparing a first cryptographic hash value provided by a first party to the subrogation claim to a second cryptographic hash value provided by a second party to the subrogation claim, and determining that there is proof of agreement in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, wherein each of the first and second cryptographic hash values are determined based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement; and in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, transmit notifications to the parties of the proof of agreement regarding the settlement to allow the parties to verify terms of the settlement; and deploying, via the one or more processors, the subrogation demand smart contract to the distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first party and the second party determine the first cryptographic hash value and the second cryptographic hash value, respectively, using a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics of the settlement include at least one of: a demand identifier, a demand type, a settlement amount, or a company code of one of the first and second parties providing the settlement.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract is further configured to: determine that there is no proof of agreement in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values do not match; and transmit notifications to the parties indicating that there is no proof of agreement regarding the settlement.

“5. A computer-implemented method of verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim using a distributed ledger, the method comprising: determining, via one or more processors, by a first party, a settlement amount for the settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and a second party; generating, via the one or more processors, a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party; broadcasting, via the one or more processors, the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match; receiving, via the one or more processors, in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, a notification from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and appending, via the one or more processors, the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first party and the second party determine the first cryptographic hash value and the second cryptographic hash value, respectively, using a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the one or more characteristics of the settlement include at least one of: a demand identifier, a demand type, a settlement amount, or a company code of one of the first and second parties providing the settlement.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising: determining, via the one or more processors, a supplemental settlement amount for a supplement settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and a second party based upon additional items or expenses which were not included in the settlement; generating, via the one or more processors, a third cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the supplement settlement between the first party and the second party; broadcasting, via the one or more processors, the third cryptographic hash value to the subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by the plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the supplemental settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the third cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a fourth cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match; receiving, via the one or more processors, a notification from the subrogation demand smart contract that the third and fourth cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and appending, via the one or more processors, the supplemental settlement amount to the set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over the threshold time period to determine the net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein determining a settlement amount includes determining a partial settlement amount based upon a subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein: generating a first cryptographic hash value includes generating the first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the partial settlement between the first party and the second party; and appending the settlement amount includes appending the partial settlement amount to the set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over the threshold time period.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim are a first subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim and wherein the additional items or expenses are a second subset of items or expenses in the subrogation claim which were not agreed upon in the settlement.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the additional items or expenses are submitted by the first or second party after the settlement has been agreed upon.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the subrogation claim further includes at least a third party, and the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party, the second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party, and at least a third cryptographic hash value submitted by the at least third party to determine if there is a match.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first cryptographic hash value is generated by a third-party aggregator or service provider.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising: transmitting, via the one or more processors, a message to a messaging smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by the plurality of participants in the distributed ledger network, wherein the message is viewable by the second party.

“16. A computer system for verifying a settlement of a subrogation claim using a distributed ledger, the computer system comprising: a network interface; one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determine, by a first party, a settlement amount for the settlement of the subrogation claim between the first party and a second party; generate a first cryptographic hash value based upon one or more characteristics of the settlement between the first party and the second party; broadcast, via the network interface, the first cryptographic hash value to a subrogation demand smart contract deployed to the distributed ledger and maintained by a plurality of participants in a distributed ledger network as a proof of agreement of the settlement between the first and second party, wherein the subrogation demand smart contract compares the first cryptographic hash value submitted by the first party to a second cryptographic hash value submitted by the second party to determine if there is a match; receive, via the network interface, in response to determining that the first and second cryptographic hash values match, a notification from the subrogation demand smart contract that the first and second cryptographic hash values match indicating there is proof of agreement between the first party and second party; and append the settlement amount to a set of settlement amounts between the first party and the second party agreed upon over a threshold time period to determine a net settlement amount with the second party over the threshold time period.

“17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the first party and the second party determine the first cryptographic hash value and the second cryptographic hash value, respectively, using a same set of one or more characteristics of the settlement.”

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

For additional information on this patent application, see: Austin, Edward; Guthrie, William; Haverlah, Sharon Kay; Helland, Dustin; Maurer, Ryan; Prasad, Bharat; Shackelford-George, Karen Marie; Weber, Kyle D.; White, Nolan. Method And System For Verifying Settlement Demands For Subrogation Claims Using A Distributed Ledger. U.S. Patent Application Number 20220392004, filed November 18, 2021 and posted December 8, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20220392004)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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