Maintaining a distributed ledger for VIN recordkeeping

• US 10,733,160 B1
• Filed: 03/02/2018
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Leise, William J., Alt, Jacob J., Skaggs, Jaime, Bellas, Eric, Call, Shawn M., Moore, Eric R., Magerkurth, Melinda Teresa, King, Vicki
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Jung
• Application Number:
  US15/910,210
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2255 Hash tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/00 Business processing using cryptography postage metering system using cryptography G06Q2250/05
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 : Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 : Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 : involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 : using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

Methods and systems maintain a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a particular vehicle. The method may include (1) receiving, by one or more processors, vehicle data from one or more remote computing devices; (2) detecting, by the one or more processors, a vehicle-related event from analysis of the vehicle data; (3) identifying, by the one or more processors, a VIN of the vehicle when a vehicle-related event is detected; (4) generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction including (i) the vehicle'"'"'s VIN, and (ii) describing the vehicle-related event; and (5) transmitting, by the one or more processors, to a server the transaction to facilitate maintaining a VIN-based distributed ledger for the particular vehicle.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for maintaining a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a particular vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, vehicle data from one or more remote computing devices;

detecting, by the one or more processors, a vehicle-related event from analysis of the vehicle data;

identifying, by the one or more processors, a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle when a vehicle-related event is detected;

generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction including (i) the vehicle'"'"'s VIN, and (ii) describing the vehicle-related event; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, to a server the transaction to facilitate maintaining a VIN-based distributed ledger, wherein the distributed ledger is a transactional record and a copy of the distributed ledger is maintained at each node of a plurality of nodes of a shared network.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a change in ownership information;

title status;

lienholder information;

lien payoff amount;

insurance policy start date, insurance policy end date, insurance claim open date, insurance claim close date;

vehicle build data;

maintenance data;

telematics data, odometer data, or combinations thereof.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data is received from a remote server associated with a vehicle manufacturer, repair facility, bank, a remote computing device associated with a connected vehicle or vehicle owner, or combinations thereof.

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

forming a consensus among a plurality of computing nodes to update the distributed ledger with the transaction, either locally, remotely, or both.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to vehicle financing, and the transaction describes terms of a vehicle loan, including interest rate, length of loan, and amount of payoff.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance of the vehicle, and the transaction provides owner authorization to repair the vehicle, owner authorization of payment to the repair facility, payment of a deductible, owner e-signature on required forms, or combinations thereof.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance or repair of the vehicle, and the transaction details of an estimate provided by a repair facility to repair the vehicle, a list of parts needed to repair the vehicle, or combinations thereof.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a smart contract that governs the vehicle, and the transaction provides details relevant to the smart contract, such as lien payment or payoff, current owner, current owner contact information, vehicle transfer, insurance contract update, or combinations thereof.

9. A computer-implemented method for maintaining a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a particular vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, vehicle data from one or more remote computing devices;

detecting, by the one or more processors, a vehicle-related event from analysis of the vehicle data;

identifying, by the one or more processors, a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle when a vehicle-related event is detected;

generating, by the one or more processors, a transaction including (i) the vehicle'"'"'s VIN, and (ii) describing the vehicle-related event;

transmitting, by the one or more processors, to a server the transaction to facilitate maintaining a VIN-based distributed ledger for the particular vehicle; and

updating, by the one or more processors, a copy of the VIN-based distributed ledger, wherein the distributed ledger is a transactional record and a copy of the distributed ledger is maintained at each node of a plurality of nodes of a shared network.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a change in ownership information;

title status;

lienholder information;

lien payoff amount;

insurance policy start date, insurance policy end date, insurance claim open date, insurance claim close date;

vehicle build data;

maintenance data;

telematics data, odometer data, or combinations thereof.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to vehicle financing, and the transaction describes terms of a vehicle loan, including interest rate, length of loan, and amount of payoff.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance of the vehicle, and the transaction provides owner authorization to repair the vehicle, owner authorization of payment to the repair facility, payment of a deductible, owner e-signature on required forms, or combinations thereof.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance or repair of the vehicle, and the transaction details of an estimate provided by a repair facility to repair the vehicle, a list of parts needed to repair the vehicle, or combinations thereof.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a smart contract that governs the vehicle, and the transaction provides details relevant to the smart contract, such as lien payment or payoff, current owner, current owner contact information, vehicle transfer, insurance contract update, or combinations thereof.

15. A computer system configured for creating and/or maintaining a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a particular vehicle, the computer system comprising one or more processors, servers, transceivers, and/or servers configured to:

receive vehicle data from one or more remote computing devices;

detect a vehicle-related event from analysis of the vehicle data;

identify a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle when a vehicle-related event is detected;

generate a transaction including (i) the vehicle'"'"'s VIN, and (ii) describing the detected change in the condition of the vehicle or vehicle-related event; and

transmit, to a server, the transaction to facilitate maintaining a VIN-based distributed ledger, wherein the distributed ledger is a transactional record and a copy of the distributed ledger is maintained at each node of a plurality of nodes of a shared network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a change in ownership information;

title status;

lienholder information;

lien payoff amount;

insurance policy start date, insurance policy end date, insurance claim open date, insurance claim close date;

vehicle build data;

maintenance data;

telematics data, odometer data, or combinations thereof.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to vehicle financing, and the transaction describes terms of a vehicle loan, including interest rate, length of loan, and amount of payoff.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance of the vehicle, and the transaction provides owner authorization to repair the vehicle, owner authorization of payment to the repair facility, payment of a deductible, owner e-signature on required forms, or combinations thereof.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a maintenance or repair of the vehicle, and the transaction details of an estimate provided by a repair facility to repair the vehicle, a list of parts needed to repair the vehicle, or combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle-related event relates to a smart contract that governs the vehicle, and the transaction provides details relevant to the smart contract, such as lien payment or payoff, current owner, current owner contact information, vehicle transfer, insurance contract update, or combinations thereof.