State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Assigned Patent for Methods for Responding to Broken Circuit

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 13 -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Bloomington, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,346,811, initially filed Oct. 2, 2015) developed by 15 co-inventors for "systems and methods for responding to a broken circuit." The co-inventors are Jackie O. Jordan II, Bloomington, Illinois, John Donovan, Bloomington, Illinois, David Turrentine, Bloomington, Illinois, Torri Wollenschlager, Bloomington, Illinois, Bryan R. Nussbaum, Bloomington, Illinois, Deanna Stockweather, Normal, Illinois, Jeffrey W. Stoiber, Bloomington, Illinois, Kerstin Markwardt, Phoenix, Arizona, Gail L. Carlson, Bloomington, Illinois, Kyle C. Schiebel, Bloomington, Illinois, Troy Winslow, Bloomington, Illinois, Joseph P. Harr, Bloomington, Illinois, Ellakate Wagner, Bloomington, Illinois, Michael Harris Jr., Normal, Illinois, and Jennylind Sun, Bloomington, Illinois.

The full-text of the patent can be found at 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=10,346,811.PN.&OS=PN/10,346,811&RS=PN/10,346,811

The abstract states: "Risk of damage that is caused by the breaking of a circuit may be mitigated. A smart home controller and/or insurance provider remote processor may analyze data, with an insured's permission, received from a smart device disposed on, within, or proximate to a property associated with monitoring the flow of electricity. If it is determined that risk of damage due to the flow of electricity being cut off repeatedly exists, the smart home controller or remote processor may automatically generate a repair request to schedule a repair event that mitigates the risks. The smart home controller may transmit information about the risks to a homeowner and/or an insurance provider. The insurance provider remote processor may interpret the transmitted data and perform insurance activities, such as providing a discount or premium, and/or adjusting an insurance policy associated with the property based upon the insured property being equipped with risk mitigation functionality."

Written by Ranjan Behera; edited by Sudarshan Harpal.