Digital asset insurance

• US 8,126,745 B1
• Filed: 06/18/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Bohanek, Robert Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): KOPPIKAR, VIVEK D
• Application Number:
  US12/141,421
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Digital assets may be insured against loss. The digital assets may comprise commercial products and/or user-generated data. An insurance product may provide either for monetary reimbursement or replacement (e.g., repurchase) of the digital assets and/or for backup services to backup insured digital assets so that the insured digital assets may be retrieved if the original user copies are lost.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for digital data insurance, said computer-readable instructions comprising instructions that are executed by a number of processors to:

receive information by an insuring institution from a user of digital data, a retailer of the digital data, or a user computing device used to store the digital data;

receive information pertaining to the digital data;

generate an insurance policy providing insurance of the digital data,

wherein the insurance of the digital data comprises a selection between a monetary reimbursement of the digital data, a replacement of the digital data by a retailer, and a backup of the digital data without a monetary reimbursement or replacement by the retailer of the user computing device used to store the digital data;

receiving instructions from the user regarding insurance of at least a portion of the digital data;

revising the insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data in accordance with the instructions from the user;

providing the revised insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data;

monitoring the user computing device to detect newly acquired digital data in addition to the already known digital data; and

generating providing a new insurance policy for the newly acquired digital data in response to a user accepting an offer for said policy a new insurance policy providing insurance of the newly acquired digital data.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the digital data comprises a commercially available software application or a commercially available audio, video, or multimedia file.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the digital data is customized.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that store a backup copy of the digital data as at least a part of the insurance policy.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions that receive information pertaining to the digital data comprise instructions that receive a receipt, a proof of purchase, or documentation pertaining to an acquisition of the digital data from the retailer.

6. A digital data insurance method, comprising:

using a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a number of processors in a number of computing devices for;

receiving information by an insuring institution from a user of digital data, a retailer of the digital data, or a user computing device used to store the digital data;

receiving information pertaining to the digital data;

generating an insurance policy providing insurance of the digital data,

wherein the insurance of the digital data comprises a selection between a monetary reimbursement of the digital data, a replacement of the digital data by a retailer, and a backup of the digital data without a monetary reimbursement or replacement by the retailer of the user computing device used to store the digital data;

receiving instructions from the user regarding insurance of at least a portion of the digital data;

revising the insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data in accordance with the instructions from the user;

providing the revised insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data;

monitoring the user computing device to detect newly acquired digital data in addition to the already known digital data; and

generating providing a new insurance policy for the newly acquired digital data in response to a user accepting an offer for said policy a new insurance policy providing insurance of the newly acquired digital data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the digital data comprises a commercially available software application or a commercially available audio, video, or multimedia file.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the digital data is customized.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing a backup copy of the digital data as at least a part of the insurance policy.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving information pertaining to the digital data comprises receiving a receipt, a proof of purchase, or documentation pertaining to an acquisition of the digital data.

11. A digital data insurance system, comprising:

a number of processors in a number of computing devices that execute non-transitory computer-readable instructions;

at least one subsystem that receives information by an insuring institution from a user of digital data, a retailer of the digital data, or a user computing device used to store the digital data;

at least one subsystem that receives information pertaining to the digital data;

at least one subsystem that generates an insurance policy providing insurance of the digital data,

wherein the insurance of the digital data comprises a selection between a monetary reimbursement of the digital data, a replacement of the digital data by a retailer, and a backup of the digital data without a monetary reimbursement or replacement by the retailer of the user computing device used to store the digital data;

receiving instructions from the user regarding insurance of at least a portion of the digital data;

revising the insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data in accordance with the instructions from the user;

providing the revised insurance policy for at least the portion of the digital data;

monitoring the user computing device to detect newly acquired digital data in addition to the already known digital data; and

generating providing a new insurance policy for the newly acquired digital data in response to a user accepting an offer for said policy a new insurance policy providing insurance of the newly acquired digital data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the digital data comprises a commercially available software application or a commercially available audio, video, or multimedia file.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the digital data is customized.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising at least one subsystem that stores a backup copy of the digital data as at least a part of the insurance policy.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one subsystem that receives information pertaining to the digital data comprises at least one subsystem that receives a receipt, a proof of purchase, or documentation pertaining to an acquisition of the digital data.