Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Systems and Method for Using Object Recognition to Facilitate the Collection of Insurance Information”, for Approval (USPTO 20230162290): Patent Application

2023 JUN 13 (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 Engelhorn, Amy (NORMAL, IL, US); Knarr, Kathryn E. (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on January 18, 2023, was made available online on May 25, 2023.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Individuals seeking a quote for an insurance policy premium, applying for coverage under a new insurance policy, or modifying an existing insurance policy generally must submit information that the insurance provider will then use to determine the appropriate premium amount. Increasingly, such information may be submitted using an electronic, on-line form. Typically, an individual enters personal information such as his or her name, birth date and address, as well as other information pertaining to the individual’s house, condominium, vehicle, or other property that is (or would be) covered under the insurance policy. In some situations, however, the individual may experience difficulty in providing information that is requested by the insurance company. For example, an insurance application may ask a customer to indicate whether a fireplace in his or her home is a “free-standing fireplace,” “traditional fireplace,” or “insert fireplace,” and the customer may be uncertain as to how to properly categorize the fireplace. As another example, a request for an insurance premium quote may ask a customer to indicate which of multiple types of construction were used for the exterior of the customer’s home, and the customer may be unable to distinguish between “brick” and “brick veneer” options.

“Today, a person faced with such uncertainty may have one or more options for assistance. For example, a current or potential customer may access on-line help that provides a detailed explanation of the various options, or may call, email or initiate an on-line chat with an insurance agent or help desk employee for assistance. Each of these solutions, however, has drawbacks that may lead to a sub-optimal customer experience. For example, detailed descriptions contained in on-line help may take a significant amount of time to read and understand, and in any case may be insufficient to answer the customer’s question. Moreover, the customer may be reluctant or unable to contact an agent or other customer service representative for various reasons. For example, the customer may be very self-sufficient, without a phone or at a location with poor cellular service, and/or unwilling to take the time to initiate contact with an employee and wait for an answer. If the conventional techniques of providing assistance are unsuccessful for these and/or other reasons, the frustrated customer may either take a guess (and risk providing inaccurate information), or fail to provide the requested information entirely.

“Similar drawbacks may present themselves in other scenarios that do not necessarily involve the use of on-line forms. If an insurance provider reviews its records and determines that additional information is needed from a particular customer regarding one or more objects (e.g., a fireplace, exterior wall, garage, roof, etc.), for example, any ensuing attempts to collect that information may consume resources of the insurance provider (e.g., agent time) and be bothersome for the customer. For example, the agent may need to call the customer and ask for the missing information and, if the customer cannot immediately supply the missing information, the customer may need to go to the location of the object(s) while receiving telephone guidance from the agent as to how the object(s) should be classified.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, provide an improved customer experience by reducing the amount of time and/or effort that existing and/or potential customers must spend providing information for insurance purposes, and/or may allow the insurance provider to more efficiently gather information needed to determine insurance ratings and/or pricing.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method includes: (1) providing a user, by one or more processors and via a network, an electronic form including at least a first field, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes causing a client device of the user to (i) render the form for display to the individual and (ii) display a user-interactive control that is associated with the first field; (2) receiving an image of an object that the user submitted via the user-interactive control and the network; (3) processing, by one or more processors, the image of the object according to an object recognition technique to identify physical features of the object; (4) using, by one or more processors, the identified physical features to determine two or more possible types of the object; (5) determining, by one or more processors, confidence levels associated with the two or more possible types of the object; (6) providing to the user indications of the two or more possible types of the object, and a request for confirmation of a determined type of the object; and/or (7) in response to receiving confirmation of the determined type of the object from the user, causing the client device to automatically populate the first field of the electronic form in accordance with the determined type.

“In another aspect, a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: (1) provide a user, via a network, an electronic form including at least a first field, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes causing a client device of the user to (i) render the form for display to the individual and (ii) display a user-interactive control that is associated with the first field; (2) receive an image of an object that the user submitted via the user-interactive control and the network; (3) process the image of the object according to an object recognition technique to identify physical features of the object; (4) use the identified physical features to determine two or more possible types of the object; (5) determine confidence levels associated with the two or more possible types of the object; (6) provide to the user indications of the two or more possible types of the object, and a request for confirmation of a determined type of the object; and/or (7) in response to receiving confirmation of the determined type of the object from the user, cause the client device to automatically populate the first field of the electronic form in accordance with the determined type.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: providing a user, by one or more processors and via a network, an electronic form including at least a first field, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes causing a client device of the user to (i) render the form for display to the individual and (ii) display a user-interactive control that is associated with the first field; receiving an image of an object that the user submitted via the user-interactive control and the network; processing, by one or more processors, the image of the object according to an object recognition technique to identify physical features of the object; using, by one or more processors, the identified physical features to determine two or more possible types of the object; determining, by one or more processors, confidence levels associated with the two or more possible types of the object; providing to the user indications of the two or more possible types of the object, and a request for confirmation of a determined type of the object; and in response to receiving confirmation of the determined type of the object from the user, causing the client device to automatically populate the first field of the electronic form in accordance with the determined type.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein causing the client device to automatically populate the first field includes causing the client device to automatically populate the first field with a text indication of the determined type.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes determining that the object is a particular type of object.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes determining that the object is not a particular type of object.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes comparing the physical features to physical features known to correspond to the two or more possible types of the object.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes providing, to the client device, software instructions to be interpreted by a web browser application executing on the client device.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein providing the software instructions includes providing scripting language instructions to be interpreted by the web browser application.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by one or more processors, that the confidence levels are above a threshold.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first field is associated with a query for which an accurate response depends upon a type of the object.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user is a policyholder or potential policyholder.

“11. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: provide a user, via a network, an electronic form including at least a first field, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes causing a client device of the user to (i) render the form for display to the individual and (ii) display a user-interactive control that is associated with the first field; receive an image of an object that the user submitted via the user-interactive control and the network; process the image of the object according to an object recognition technique to identify physical features of the object; use the identified physical features to determine two or more possible types of the object; determine confidence levels associated with the two or more possible types of the object; provide to the user indications of the two or more possible types of the object, and a request for confirmation of a determined type of the object; and in response to receiving confirmation of the determined type of the object from the user, cause the client device to automatically populate the first field of the electronic form in accordance with the determined type.

“12. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein causing the client device to automatically populate the first field includes causing the client device to automatically populate the first field with a text indication of the determined type.

“13. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes determining that the object is a particular type of object.

“14. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes determining that the object is not a particular type of object.

“15. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein using the identified physical features to determine the two or more possible types of the object includes comparing the physical features to physical features known to correspond to the two or more possible types of the object.

“16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein providing the user the electronic form includes providing, to the client device, software instructions to be interpreted by a web browser application executing on the client device.

“17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein providing the software instructions includes providing scripting language instructions to be interpreted by the web browser application.

“18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to: determine that the confidence levels are above a threshold.

“19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first field is associated with a query for which an accurate response depends upon a type of the object.

“20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the user is a policyholder or potential policyholder.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Engelhorn, Amy; Knarr, Kathryn E. Systems and Method for Using Object Recognition to Facilitate the Collection of Insurance Information. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230162290, filed January 18, 2023 and posted May 25, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230162290)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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