Wireless device to enable data collection for insurance rating purposes

• US 9,626,723 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2014
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Clauss, Mark E., Lovings, Richard J., Thurber, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Edward
• Application Number:
  US14/521,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20150039353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35, 705 4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer

Abstract

The devices, methods, systems and computer-readable mediums of the present disclosure provide automatic data collection for insurance rating purposes. In particular, a battery powered Bluetooth device may be attached to a personal item of an insured individual. The Bluetooth device may automatically trigger a mobile telephone to begin storing data related to use of the personal item when the mobile telephone is proximate the Bluetooth device. The mobile telephone may periodically transmit the stored data to a remote server.

Claims

1. A computerized method for automatically collecting and storing insurance risk related data, the method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device via a wireless communication link, an indication that the mobile computing device is proximate to a wireless transceiver device, wherein the wireless communication link utilizes any wireless communication protocol and wherein the wireless device is attached to a personal item;

receiving, at the mobile computing device via the wireless communication link, data representative of an identification of the wireless transceiver device;

wherein the identification of the wireless transceiver device includes an indication of the personal item to which it is attached;

automatically storing, by a processor of the mobile computing device, insurance risk related data in a memory coupled to the processor in the mobile computing device in response to receiving the indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate the mobile computing device and receiving the data representative of the identification of the wireless transceiver device;

wherein the insurance risk related data includes at least one of time data and position data;

receiving, at the processor of the mobile computing device, an indication that the mobile computing device is no longer proximate the wireless transceiver device; and

causing the processor to automatically cease storing insurance risk related data in the memory in response to receiving the indication that the mobile computing device is no longer proximate the wireless transceiver device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is a mobile telephone and the wireless transceiver is any wireless device capable of utilizing any wireless technology.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the processor of the computing device an indication of a charge remaining in a battery of the wireless transceiver device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor stores data representative of a sequence of locations and a sequence of times corresponding to the locations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the data, that is stored in the memory, to a remote server in response to the mobile computing device detecting an availability of a wireless communication network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input at the processor of the mobile computing device representative of an odometer reading of a vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the processor of the mobile computing device, an indication that the wireless transceiver device has been tampered with.

8. A system for automatically collecting and storing insurance risk related data, the system comprising:

a wireless transceiver device configured to provide, via a wireless communication link, an indication that a mobile computing device configured with a mobile computing device insurance application is proximate the wireless transceiver device and to provide, via the wireless communication link, data representative of an identification of the wireless transceiver device,

wherein the wireless communication link utilizes any wireless communication protocol;

wherein the wireless transceiver device is attached to a personal item;

and wherein the identification of the wireless transceiver device includes an indication of the personal item to which it is attached;

a wireless transceiver device and mobile computing device synchronization module stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by a processor, causes the system to;

receive, via the wireless communication link, the indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate to the mobile computing device,

receive, via the wireless communication link, the data representative of the identification of the wireless transceiver device, and

provide an indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate the mobile computing device; and

an insurance risk related data logging module stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by a processor, causes the system to automatically receive, via the wireless communication link, insurance risk related data via the wireless transceiver device and to store the insurance risk related data on a memory in response to receiving the indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate the mobile computing device;

wherein the insurance risk related data includes at least one of time data and position data.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

an insurance data transmission module stored on a computer-readable medium that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the insurance risk related data from the mobile computer device insurance application to a remote server.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the wireless transceiver device is a wireless device capable of utilizing any wireless technology and the mobile computing device insurance application is stored on a computer-readable medium of a mobile telephone, and wherein the mobile computing device insurance application is executed by a processor to provide a user interface that enables a user to associate the mobile telephone with an insured person.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is within the mobile telephone and the processor stores insurance risk related data, associated with the at least one personal item, in a memory within the mobile telephone.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the wireless transceiver device is a device capable of utilizing at least one of a radio frequency identification (RFID) and Bluetooth technologies.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the wireless transceiver device further comprises a tamperproof mechanism and the mobile computing device insurance application is configured to receive an indication that the wireless transceiver device has been tampered with and transmit the indication to a remote server.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile computing device insurance application is stored on a memory of a mobile telephone and the mobile computing device insurance application is executed by a processor of the mobile telephone to cause the mobile telephone to store insurance risk related data in a memory within the mobile telephone when the mobile telephone is proximate the wireless transceiver device.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions stored thereon and to be executed on a processor of a system for automatically collecting and storing insurance risk related data, the stored instructions, when executed, implement:

a wireless transceiver device and mobile computing device synchronization module that, when executed by a processor, causes the system to (i) receive, via a wireless communication link, an indication that a wireless transceiver is proximate to a mobile computing device, (ii) receive, via the wireless communication link, data representative of an identification of the wireless transceiver device, and (iii) provide an indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate to the mobile computing device,

wherein the wireless communication link utilizes any wireless communication protocol;

wherein the wireless transceiver device is attached to a personal item and;

wherein the identification of the wireless transceiver device includes an indication of the personal item to which it is attached;

an insurance data logging module that, when executed by a processor, causes the system to automatically receive insurance risk related data from the wireless transceiver device and store the insurance risk related data on a memory in response to receiving the indication that the wireless transceiver device is proximate to the mobile computing device;

wherein the insurance risk related data includes at least one of time data and position data.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further comprise:

a data transmission module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to transmit the insurance risk related data to a remote server when a wireless communication network is available.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further comprise:

a media access control (MAC) address receiving module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to receive a media access control (MAC) address from the wireless transceiver device; and

a battery life data receiving module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to receive data representative of a remaining charge in a battery within the wireless transceiver device.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further comprise:

a wireless device identification and customization module that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to associate the wireless transceiver device with a data file, within a mobile computing device, that is associated with a personal item to which the wireless transceiver device is attached.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein execution of the insurance data logging module further causes the processor to access a mobile computing device location device and a mobile computing device calendar and clock and to store data representative of a sequence of locations and a day and a time associated with each location.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein execution of the data transmission module further causes the processor to transmit the data representative of the sequence of locations and the day and time associated with each location to a remote server.