INSURANCE PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD USING MOBILE DEVICES FOR PROOF OF OWNERSHIP

• US 20110161117A1
• Filed: 09/08/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• 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: Peak, David F., Borden, Richard M., Walters, Eugene J., Amigo, Andrew J., Busque, Keven J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus for creating, analyzing and updating a property inventory are disclosed which include receiving, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to add a new item of property to an insurance inventory associated with an insurance policy, the request including information identifying the new item, at least a first image of the new item, and information identifying a location of the new item. An insurance inventory system is operated to add the new item to an insurance inventory associated with the insurance policy, the updating including computing a total current value of the insurance inventory including the new item. A coverage engine is operated to compare coverage limits associated with the insurance policy to the total current value of the insurance inventory to determine if the total current value is within a coverage limit of the insurance policy. A response is transmitted to the user based on the determination.

Claims

1. An insurance system, comprising:

a data storage device for storing, updating and providing access to data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules;

a computer processor for executing program instructions and for retrieving said data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules from the data storage device;

a memory, coupled to the computer processor, for storing program instructions for execution by the computer processor to

receive, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to add at least a first item to a property inventory of said user, said request including information identifying said item;

analyze said property inventory including said information identifying said at least first item to be added;

compare said property inventory and said information identifying said at least first item to be added with said data defining a plurality of insurance rules; and

generate a response to said request to add an item based on a result of said comparison.

2. The insurance system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions for execution by the processor to receive, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to create a new property inventory, wherein said request to add at least a first item is a request to add said at least a first item to said new property inventory.

3. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said information identifying said at least first item further comprises:

an item type and a date acquired.

4. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said information identifying said at least first item further comprises:

a value of said at least first item.

5. The insurance system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions for execution by said processor to receive, from at least one of a user operating said mobile device and a retailer, information identifying a value of said at least first item

6. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said request to add said at least first item further comprises:

data identifying at least one of a time stamp and a geocode generated by said mobile device based on a location of said mobile device when generating said request.

7. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said information identifying said at least first item further comprises at least a first image of said at least first item, said at least first image captured using said mobile device.

8. The insurance system of claim 7, wherein said at least first image is associated with information identifying a location of said mobile device when said at least first image was captured.

9. The insurance system of claim 7, wherein said at least first image is a still image captured using a camera of said mobile device.

10. The insurance system of claim 7, wherein said at least first image is a video image captured using a camera of said mobile device.

11. The insurance system of claim 10, wherein said video image includes a plurality of images of a plurality of items, said program instructions further comprising program instructions for execution by the computer processor to analyze said video image to extract data associated with each of said plurality of items.

12. The insurance system of claim 8, said memory further storing program instructions for execution by the computer processor to:

compare said information identifying a location of said mobile device to said data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules;

determine whether said at least first item is covered by a current policy; and

provide, to said user operating a mobile device, a response based on said determination.

13. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said insurance rules include at least one of a coverage rule and an exclusion rule.

14. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said program instructions to analyze said property inventory further comprise program instructions to:

obtain a value of at least a first item of said property inventory using a third party data source.

15. The insurance system of claim 14, wherein said program instructions to obtain a value of at least a first item further comprise program instructions to:

retrieve a purchase price of said at least first item from a third party database.

16. The insurance system of claim 15, wherein said third party database is a database of financial transactions made by said user.

17. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of insurance rules includes a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to said user indicating that said user has insufficient coverage.

18. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of insurance rules includes a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to said user indicating that said user has excess coverage.

19. A portable wireless communication device, comprising:

a communication port;

a processor;

a memory;

and a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including;

instructions for detecting a user action to add an item to an insurance inventory of said user;

instructions for receiving information identifying an item, including an item type and a date acquired;

instructions for capturing at least a first image of said item and associating said at least first image with a timestamp and geocode data based on a location of said capturing;

instructions for transmitting a request to add said item to a remote insurance processing system, said request including information identifying said user, said item type, said date acquired, said at least first image of said item, said time stamp and said geocode data; and

instructions for receiving a response from said remote insurance processing system.

20. The portable wireless communication device of claim 19, further comprising instructions for capturing an image of a purchase receipt associated with a purchase of said item and converting said image to purchase data including a purchase price, a purchase date and a merchant, wherein said request to add said item further comprises information identifying said purchase price, said purchase date, and said merchant.

21. The portable wireless communication device of claim 19, wherein said response from said remote insurance processing system is based on the application of at least one insurance processing rule associated with an insurance policy of said user.

22. The portable wireless communication device of claim 19, further comprising a touch-sensitive display screen.

23. A computerized insurance processing method, comprising:

receiving, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to add a new item of property to an insurance inventory associated with an insurance policy, said request including information identifying said new item, at least a first image of said new item, and information identifying a location of said new item;

updating an inventory system to add said new item to an insurance inventory associated with said insurance policy, said updating including computing a total current value of said insurance inventory including said new item;

operating a coverage engine to compare coverage limits associated with said insurance policy to said total current value of said insurance inventory to determine if said total current value is within a coverage limit of said insurance policy; and

transmitting a response to said user operating a mobile device based on said determination.

24. The computerized insurance processing method of claim 23, further comprising:

receiving, from a merchant associated with a sale of said new item of property to said user, information identifying a price of said new item.

25. The computerized insurance processing system of claim 24, wherein said receiving from a merchant further comprises receiving information identifying a serial number of said new item.

26. The computerized insurance processing method of claim 23, wherein said insurance policy is a personal lines policy.

27. The computerized insurance processing method of claim 23, wherein said insurance policy is a commercial policy and said new item is at least one of an item of inventory and an item of equipment.