Systems and methods for automatically mitigating risk of property damage

• US 10,102,585 B1
• Filed: 04/22/2015
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Bryant, Ronny S., Call, Shawn M., Hakimi-Boushehri, Daryoush, Weekes, John H., Criswell, Jennifer, Binion, Todd, Jordan, II, Jackie O., McDermeit, Elisabeth, Donovan, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Trotter, Scott S
• Application Number:
  US14/693,032
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• CPC Class Codes: E03B 7/071 Arrangement of safety devices in domestic pipe systems, e.g. devices for automatic shut-off
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/163 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart, intelligent house
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/20 responsive to moisture
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 10/50 Finance; Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 40/10 Detection; Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatically mitigating risks of insurance-related events to a property are provided. According to certain aspects, a smart home controller or insurance provider remote processor may analyze data received from a plurality of smart devices disposed on, within, or proximate to a property, as well as data received from an insurance provider. If it is determined that an actual or potential risk of property damage exists, the smart home controller or insurance provider remote processor may automatically issue commands to one or more smart devices to take actions that mitigate the risk. The smart home controller may also transmit information about the actual or potential risks and any mitigative actions to an insurance provider. The insurance provider remote processor may interpret the transmitted data to perform insurance activities, such as providing a discount and/or adjusting an insurance premium or policy associated with the property.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of limiting damage to a property populated with a plurality of devices on the property, each of the plurality of devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the method comprising:

receiving, at a smart home controller via a first wireless communication network, sensor data from a first at least one of the plurality of devices, the sensor data indicative of at least one potential change in at least one of the various conditions associated with the property;

detecting, by one or more processors of the smart home controller, a potential insurance-related event associated with the property through analyzing the sensor data, wherein the potential insurance-related event is a device that is about to fail;

determining, by the one or more processors, a corrective action to be performed by a second at least one of the plurality of devices to mitigate or prevent damage associated with the potential insurance-related event, wherein the corrective action is de-energizing the device that is about to fail; and

de-energizing the device that is about to fail by transmitting, from the smart home controller to the second at least one of the plurality of devices via the first communication network, a command that is executed by the second at least one of the plurality of devices and causes the second at least one of the plurality of devices to perform the corrective action such that the damage associated with the potential insurance-related event is mitigated or prevented.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the first communication network, a confirmation that the command has been executed.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the corrective action to be performed by the second at least one of the plurality of devices further comprises at least one of:

shutting off a water or gas supply;

closing a door, window or shutter;

turning off an appliance that has failed or is about to fail; and

turning on a sump pump, de-watering equipment or fire sprinklers.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to at least one of an individual associated with the property and an insurance provider associated with the property via a second wired or wireless communication network, an alert indicating that the corrective action to mitigate or prevent the potential insurance-related event has been performed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, from the insurance provider via the second communication network, a notification that at least one insurance-related activity has occurred, wherein the insurance-related activity is at least one of;

an update of an insurance policy or premium,

an adjustment of an insurance discount, rebate or award,

a processing of an insurance claim, or

a recommendation to purchase at least one additional device or insurance product.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, by the one or more processors, data from an archival database;

examining, by the one or more processors, the data from the archival database to generate a baseline model;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the sensor data to the baseline model to identify variations from normal operation; and

storing, by the one or more processors, the operating data in the archival database.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein comparing the sensor data to the baseline model comprises:

calculating, by the one or more processors, a variance between the sensor data and the baseline model; and

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the variance is indicative of at least one of;

a device of the plurality of devices is failing or the device is about to fail.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via a second communication network, insurance-related data from at least one of an insurance provider associated with the property and a third party agency that gathers and reports data relevant to insurance risk.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the third party agency is at least one of:

a weather agency, a crime reporting agency, a traffic reporting agency, a pollution monitoring agency or an insect control agency.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sensor data comprises receiving at least one of:

audio data, video data, or operational data.

11. A system for limiting damage to a property populated with a plurality of devices on the property, each of the plurality of devices configured to monitor various conditions associated with the property, the system comprising:

a communication module adapted to communicate data;

a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; and

one or more processors adapted to interface with the communication module, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to;

receive, via the communication module, sensor data from a first at least one of the plurality of devices, the sensor data indicative of at least one potential change in at least one of the various conditions associated with the property;

detect, by the one or more processors, a potential insurance-related event associated with the property through analyzing the sensor data, wherein the potential insurance-related event is a device that is about to fail;

determine, by the one or more processors, a corrective action to be performed by a second at least one of the plurality of devices to mitigate or prevent damage associated with the potential insurance-related event, wherein the corrective action is de-energizing the device that is about to fail; and

de-energize the device that is about to fail by transmitting, from the smart home controller to the second at least one of the plurality of devices via the first communication network, a command that is executed by the second at least one of the plurality of devices and causes the second at least one of the plurality of devices to perform the corrective action such that the damage associated with the potential insurance-related event is mitigated or prevented.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication module is configured to:

receive a confirmation that the command has been executed.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the corrective action to be performed by the at least one of the second at least one of the plurality of devices further comprises:

shutting off a water or gas supply;

closing a door, window or shutter;

turning off an appliance that has failed or is about to fail;

or turning on a sump pump, de-watering equipment or fire sprinklers.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication module is further configured to:

transmit, to at least one of an individual associated with the property and an insurance provider associated with the property, an alert indicating that the corrective action to mitigate or prevent the potential insurance-related event has been performed.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication module is further configured to:

receive, from the insurance provider, a notification that at least one insurance-related activity has occurred, wherein the insurance-related activity is at least one of;

an update of an insurance policy or premium,

an adjustment of an insurance discount, rebate or award,

a processing of an insurance claim, or

a recommendation to purchase at least one additional device or insurance product.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

retrieve, by the one or more processors, data from an archival database;

examine, by the one or more processors, the data from the archival database to generate a baseline model;

compare, by the one or more processors, the sensor data to the baseline model to identify variations from normal operation;

or

store, by the one or more processors, the operating data in the archival database.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein to compare the sensor data to the baseline model the one or more processors are further configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

calculate, by the one or more processors, a variance between the sensor data and the baseline model; and

determine, by the one or more processors, whether the variance is indicative of at least one of;

a device of the plurality of devices is failing or the device is about to fail.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication module is further configured to:

receive insurance-related data from at least one of an insurance provider associated with the property and a third party agency that gathers and reports data relevant to insurance risk.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein to receive the sensor data the communication module is further configured to receive at least one of:

audio data, video data, or operational data.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, that when executed cause one or more processors to:

receive, at a smart home controller via a communication network, sensor data from at least one of a plurality of devices, the sensor data indicative of at least one potential change in at least one of the various conditions associated with a property;

detect, by the one or more processors of the smart home controller, a potential insurance-related event associated with the property through analyzing the sensor data, wherein the potential insurance-related event is a device that is about to fail;

determine, by the one or more processors, a corrective action to take to mitigate or prevent damage associated with the potential insurance-related event, wherein the corrective action is de-energizing the device that is about to fail; and

de-energize the device that is about to fail by transmitting an a command from the smart home controller to a second at least one of the plurality of devices that is executed by a second at least one of the plurality of devices and causes the corrective action to be performed such that the damage associated with the potential insurance-related event is mitigated or prevented.