By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week -- From Washington, D.C., VerticalNews journalists report that a patent application by the inventors HUANG, He Yuan (Beijing, CN); DUAN, Ning (Beijing, CN); WANG, Zhi Hu (Beijing, CN); LI, Kai (Shanghai, CN), filed on October 15, 2015, was made available online on April 27, 2017.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present invention relates to detecting fraud, and more specifically, to detecting fraud in the usage-based automotive insurance model by using contextual data to check on a driver's representations for user-based coverage.

"Usage-Based Insurance (UBI), also known as Pay As You Drive (PAYD) and Pay How You Drive (PHYD) and Mile-Based Auto Insurance (MBAI), is a type of vehicle insurance in which the cost is dependent upon such parameters as the type of vehicle used, time, place, distance of travel, and driving behavior. The simplest form of the UBI model bases the insurance cost simply on number of miles driven, but the UBI model also includes other schemes in which coverage is based on additional data collected from the vehicle, including, for example, information on speed, time of day, historic riskiness of the road, and driving actions, as well as the distance or time travelled.

"In more sophisticated versions of the UBI model vehicle data is transmitted to an insurance processing center (e.g., telematic usage-based insurance), using an on-board telematic device connected, for example, to the vehicle's OnBoard Diagnostic (OBD-II) port, which has been available on automobiles built after 1996. At least one insurance carrier has experimented under the UBI model with using an app on the user's smart phone for transmitting vehicular data to the insurance company's processing center. Another carrier uses the transmission capabilities available to OnStar subscribers.

"FIG. 1 shows automobile/driver 102 transmitting trip data under the UBI model to insurance processing center 104 via telematic device 106. The precise mechanism and path for transmitting the trip data to the insurance processing center is not important in the context of the present invention, since various mechanisms could be used, such as a mobile communication network, a satellite network, or direct sight networks that possibly interface with the Internet or similar known transmission mechanisms. Additionally, the present invention could be wholly or partially implemented as a cloud service.

"The present inventors have recognized that, to get a lower insurance fee, a driver may have a motivation to provide faked data using various possible tools/techniques. For example, a fraudster might use a tool that has been pre-set with trip data intended to demonstrate good driving behavior. When driving, the tool would randomly send the pre-set faked trip to the insurance processing center. The overall profiling of the driver's driving behavior would thereby appear to be very good, and he or she could continue to get a significant discount on the insurance fee.

"Fraud detection has been used in banking and insurance industries. Banking fraud is typically about transactions, and insurance fraud is typically about claims. However, this potential fraud in the UBI model is about fraudulently obtaining lower insurance fees, and the context of this type of fraud is very different from that of banking or insurance fraud. Moreover, the data analyzing the UBI context is geospatial data, which is very different from the data analyzed in conventional banking/insurance fraud detection scenarios.

"Also, since UBI is itself a relatively new business model, new fraud techniques can be expected to evolve and new fraud detection techniques would need to evolve to address future potential fraud in the UBI insurance model. Thus, the present invention can be viewed as representing a technical solution to a technical problem that was not previously recognized in this recent technology-based UBI model."

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, VerticalNews correspondents also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "According to an embodiment of the present invention, a fraud detection technique uses contextual data associated with trip data reports as basis for a reality check of the received trip report data from specific drivers, in view of potential fraud.

"In an exemplary embodiment, the reported driving conduct of specific drivers under tough contextual conditions is compared with statistical norms of other drivers under similar tough contextual conditions, with fraud being considered as possible if the specific driver's data in tough conditions indicate driving conduct significantly better than the statistical norms.

"When such better driving conduct is detected, the driver can be identified in an output display format to insurance investigators to permit more specific evaluation, investigation, and possible action."

For additional information on this patent application, see: HUANG, He Yuan; DUAN, Ning; WANG, Zhi Hu; LI, Kai. Method and System to Determine Auto Insurance Risk. Filed October 15, 2015 and posted April 27, 2017. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220170109827%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20170109827&RS=DN/20170109827

Keywords for this news article include: Patents, Legal Issues.

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North Country Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, R-Black River, was honored with the Distinguished Insurance Service Award from the Professional Insurance Agents of New York State Inc. during the organization's annual business meeting in Albany.

The award recognizes an individual for significant contributions to and support for the insurance industry. Blankenbush was recognized for his work on insurance issues and his service on the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance, where he has served as ranking minority member.

Blankenbush represents the 117th Assembly District, which includes all of Lewis County and parts of St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Oneida counties.

Before entering public service, Blankenbush worked in the insurance industry. He began working for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1976 and eventually became branch manager of its Watertown office before founding BEL Associates, an insurance and financial services business.

"I am deeply grateful to PIA New York for this award and for the partnership we have shared over the years," said Blankenbush. "Public service eventually comes to an end, but the obligation to leave our communities stronger than we found them must endure. I am proud of the work we have done together and deeply honored by this recognition."

PIANY presented the Distinguished Insurance Service Award as part of its annual Awards of Distinction. The organization represents independent insurance agents across New York and provides education, advocacy, industry information and business resources to its members.

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