MONITORING SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AND COMMUNICATING A COST OF INSURANCE

• US 20120158436A1
• Filed: 12/28/2011
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (Progressive Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (Progressive Corporation)
• Inventors: Bauer, Alan Rex, Burns, Kurtis Tavis, Esposito, Michael Vincent, O'Malley, Patrick Lawrence, McMillan, Robert John, Olexa, Byron John
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,034 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time

Abstract

Means are provided for recording, storing, calculating, communicating and reviewing one or more operational aspects of a machine. Insurance costs are based, in part, on activities of the machine operator. A discount may be provided in exchange for recording the operational aspects and providing the recorded information to the insurer. The party may review information and decide whether to provide it to the insurer. The means for reviewing may present comparative information. Information that causes insurance costs to vary may be highlighted. Provided data may be used to verify insurance application information, generate actuarial information or determine insurance rates. Operating data may be reviewed on display medium so a party can observe how his operating behavior compares to that of other operators of similar machines and may be manipulated so a party can understand how changes in operating behavior can affect his insurance rates.

Claims

1. A risk management system comprising:

a server receiver configured to wirelessly receive selected onboard vehicle data monitored by an in-vehicle data monitoring device within a vehicle;

a network server system coupled to the server receiver that provides an interface having functionality configured to establish relationships between the selected onboard vehicle data and levels of risk in a usage based insurance system;

a database that stores relationship data indicating the relationships established between the selected onboard vehicle data relating to one or more users and an insured'"'"'s monitored vehicle data, where the relationship data identifies, for an insured or other selected users, relationships between relative levels of risk and the selected onboard vehicle data; and

an interface module configured to search the database for a risk assessment of vehicle data, where the interface module is responsive to a request from a database user by using the relationship data and the selected onboard vehicle data to identify the level of risk;

where the interface module is further configured to be responsive to a request to quantify driver behavior by processing the selected onboard vehicle data to render a driver safety score, where the driver safety score is characterized as a level of risk associated with insuring a selected operator or a vehicle.

2. A risk management system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive encrypted data from a device and restore the encrypted data to its original form;

a computer system that communicates with the receiver and an interface device that is configured to establish relationships between data that represents one or more vehicle operating characteristics or vehicle operator actions and data that represents levels of risks associated with operating one or more vehicles;

a database that stores relationship data representing associations between vehicle data associated with a plurality of users and a selected user'"'"'s monitored vehicle data, where the relationship data quantifies, for each selected user, relationships between relative levels of risk in the operation of the one or more vehicles and the monitored vehicle data;

an interface module that provides functionality to search the database for a risk assessment of vehicle data, where the interface module is responsive to a request to quantify driver behavior by processing the monitored vehicle data to render a driver safety score; and

a memory that stores software that causes a processor to determine a cost of insurance based on the driver safety score.

3. A system that monitors data transferred among components within a vehicle that is used to determine one or more levels of risk or is used to determine a cost of insurance comprising:

a vehicle bus that is used to send and receive data within a vehicle;

an in-vehicle monitor that filters the data that is sent and received across the vehicle bus by selectively acquiring vehicle data related to a level of risk in operating the vehicle or an insurable risk, the selected vehicle data is acquired at a predetermined interval from one or more vehicle sensors;

a processor programmed to write and retrieve the selected vehicle data acquired by the in-vehicle monitor at a predetermined interval;

a memory that retains the selected vehicle data, the memory retains the selected vehicle data when not connected to an in-vehicle power source or an out of vehicle power source; and

a transmitter configured to electrically encode the selectively acquired vehicle data related to a level of risk in operating the vehicle or an insurable risk read from the memory and send the encoded data through a publicly accessible distributed network.