Secure remote monitoring data validation

• US 10,740,848 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2017
• Issued: 08/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bernard, Daniel R., Brandi, Charles M.
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Joseph W.
• Application Number:
  US15/818,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20180075540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An automated validation system validates whether a property covered under an insurance policy to which a benefit is applied is currently receiving remote monitoring services, as reflected in stored policy-related data. The system includes an application server, a trusted third party server, and a management computer. The application server requests the trusted third party server to validate whether the property is presently receiving remote monitoring services from a service provider. A management computer can adjust the insurance policy based on the received validation results.

Claims

1. A secure data validation system comprising:

an application server configured to;

provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to a policyholder, the GUI configured to display identification of a plurality of service providers for providing remote property monitoring services for at least one property of the policyholder, and to provide direct routing to a web site of one of the plurality of service providers responsive to a selection by the policyholder of the one of the plurality of service providers via the GUI;

obtain, by the application server, from a database, information corresponding to the at least one property of the policyholder, the at least one property currently covered under a property insurance policy offered by an insurance company, wherein a portion of the information indicates that the at least one property is receiving remote monitoring services from one of the plurality of service providers;

validate, by the application server, more than once during a term of the property insurance policy, via data communications with a server of a trusted third party, that the at least one property is currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the plurality of service providers, the trusted third party not being either the insurance company or the one of the plurality of service providers, the trusted third party server further receiving policy data from the insurance company application server and subscription data of customers of the one of the plurality of service providers from a server of the one of the plurality of service providers, and the validating being based on the received policy data and the received subscription data of customers without the trusted third party server providing data of the policyholders of the policies of the insurance company to the service provider server or providing customer data of the one of the plurality of service providers to the application server;

store, by the application server, in the database, validation results received from the trusted third party server, and

an insurance administration computer system in communication with the application server configured to determine an insurance policy adjustment to be applied to the property insurance policy, responsive to a determination based on the validation results and the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services that the at least one property is either (i) not currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers or (ii) currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers different from the remote monitoring services indicated in the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services, and is configured to determine that an insurance policy benefit applied to the property insurance policy remains unchanged responsive to a determination based on the validation results and the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services that the at least one property is currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers as indicated in the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring services comprise sensors for detecting conditions at the at least one property.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensors comprise one or more of a water leakage sensor, a water pressure sensor, a window breakage sensor, a laser sensor, and a carbon monoxide sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the trusted third party server is configured to validate by comparing names of policyholders of insurance policies offered by the insurance company, to names of customers of the one of the service providers, to identify matching names.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the comparing comprises identifying policyholder names not matching a name of any customer of the one of the service providers, approximating the names of the policyholders not matching a name of any customer of the one of the service providers, and comparing the approximated name with names of customers of the one of the service providers.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the approximating the names of the policyholders not matching a name of any customer of the one of the service providers comprises approximating the names of the policyholders within a predefined code distance apart from an original name of the current policyholder.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one property comprises at least one of personal assets and real property.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the insurance policy adjustment comprises at least one of a change to a premium, a change to a premium discount, a change to a coverage limit or a change to a deductible amount.

9. A secure data validation method, comprising:

providing, by an application server, a graphical user interface (GUI) to a policyholder, the GUI configured to display identification of a plurality of service providers for providing remote property monitoring services for at least one property of the policyholder, and to provide direct routing to a web site of one of the plurality of service providers responsive to a selection by the policyholder of the one of the plurality of service providers via the GUI;

obtaining, by the application server, from a database, information about at least one property of the policyholder, the at least one property currently covered under a property insurance policy offered by an insurance company, wherein a portion of the information indicates that the at least one property is receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers, the remote monitoring services employing sensors for detecting one or more conditions at the at least one property;

validating, by the application server, via data communications with a trusted third party server more than once during a term of the property insurance policy, that the at least one property is currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers, the trusted third party not being either the insurance company or the one of the service providers, the trusted third party server further receiving policy data from the insurance company and subscription data from the one of the service providers and the validating being based on the received policy data and the received subscription data without the trusted third party server providing data of policyholders of policies issued by the insurance company to the service provider server or providing customer data of the one of the service providers to the application server;

storing, by the application server, in the database, validation results received from the trusted third party server; and

responsive to a determination by the application server, based on the validation results and the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services that the at least one property is either (i) not currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers or (ii) currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers different from the remote monitoring services indicated in the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services, determining by an insurance administration computer system in communication with the application server an insurance policy adjustment to be applied to the property insurance policy, and determining by the insurance administration computer system that an insurance policy benefit applied to the property insurance policy remains unchanged responsive to a determination, by the application server, based on the validation results and the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services that the at least one property is currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers as indicated in the portion of the information indicating receipt of remote monitoring services.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising comparing names of policyholders of insurance policies issued by the insurance company to names of customers of the one of the service providers to identify matching names, identifying policyholder names not matching a name of any customer, approximating the names of the policyholders not matching a name of any customer and comparing the approximated name with names of customers of the one of the service providers, wherein approximating the names of the policyholders not matching a name of any customer comprises approximating the names of the policyholders within a predefined code distance apart from an original name of the current policyholder.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one property comprises at least one of real property, an aircraft or a watercraft.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the insurance policy adjustment comprises at least one of a change to a premium, a change to a premium discount, a change to a coverage limit or a change to a deductible amount.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the application server from the service provider server, utilization data corresponding to a first type of remote monitoring services; and

wherein determining, by the insurance administration computer system, whether the insurance policy benefit applied to the property insurance policy remains unchanged and the adjustment to the property insurance policy, is further based on the utilization data.

14. A secure data validation system, comprising:

an application server configured to;

provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to policyholders, the GUI configured to display identification of a plurality of service providers for providing remote property monitoring services for a plurality of properties of the policyholders, and to provide direct routing to a web site of one of the plurality of service providers, responsive to a selection by one of the policyholders of the one of the plurality of service providers via the GUI,

obtain, from a database coupled to the application server, information corresponding to the plurality of properties of the policyholders covered under a plurality of property insurance policies issued by an insurance company, the information indicating that the properties are receiving a first type of remote monitoring services from at least one of the service providers and that at least one insurance benefit has been applied to each of the property insurance policies due to the receipt of the first type of remote monitoring services;

encrypt, using an encryption protocol, identifying data relating to the property insurance policies;

receive, from a server of one of the service providers at least more than once during a term of each of the property insurance policies, encrypted identifying data relating to properties receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers, encrypted according to the encryption protocol;

validate, at least more than once during the term of each of the property insurance policies, that a corresponding one of the plurality of properties is currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers, based on a comparison of the encrypted identifying data received from the one of the service providers and the encrypted identifying data relating to the property insurance policies;

store, in the database, validation results data based on the validating; and

an insurance administration computer system in communication with the application server configured to;

responsive to the validation results data indicating that at least one of the plurality of properties is currently receiving the first type of remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers, determine that an insurance policy benefit applied to a corresponding one of the plurality of property insurance policies remains unchanged; and

responsive to the validation results data indicating that at least one of the plurality of properties is (i) not currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers or (ii) currently receiving remote monitoring services from the one of the service providers different from the first type of remote monitoring services, determine an adjustment to a corresponding one of the plurality of property insurance policies.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of properties is one of a home and its associated grounds, an apartment complex, a condominium building and an office building.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the remote monitoring services comprise sensors, and the sensors comprise one or more of a water leakage sensor, a water pressure sensor, a window breakage sensor, a laser sensor, and a carbon monoxide sensor.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the insurance policy adjustment comprises at least one of a change to a premium, a change to a premium discount, a change to a coverage limit or a change to a deductible amount.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the encryption protocol comprises a hashing protocol for hashing data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the encryption protocol further includes adding a salt string to data to be encrypted using the hashing protocol.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the application server is further configured to:

receive, from the service provider server, utilization data corresponding to the first type of remote monitoring services; and

wherein the insurance administration computer system is configured to determine whether the insurance policy benefit applied to the one of the plurality of property insurance policies remains unchanged, and the adjustment to the one of the plurality of property insurance policies, based further on the utilization data.