DYNAMIC INSURANCE BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

• US 20160071219A1
• Filed: 04/30/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Leeo, Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Leeo, Incorporated
• Inventors: Joshi, Nina S., Gettings, Adam M., Chan, Eddy Y., Stevens, Andrew G., Hovland, Bjorn H., Ivers, Lucas D.
• Application Number:
  US14/701,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20160071219A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1393 characterised by the use of electric means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 : Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An interface mechanism in a system receives sensor data from environmental monitoring devices in environments, where the sensor data represent environmental conditions in the environments. Then, a control mechanism in the system analyzes the sensor data to determine a probability of an environmental condition occurring during a time interval in at least one of the environments. Moreover, the control mechanism calculates a price-duration range of a service in the environment necessary for profitability of the service based on the determined probability and an estimated cost associated with the service. Next, the interface mechanism provides a service offer for the service associated with the environmental condition to an electronic device of an entity, where the service offer includes at least a price and a duration based on the calculated price-duration range, and the entity is associated with the environment.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an interface mechanism configured to communicate with environmental monitoring devices and an electronic device, wherein the environmental monitoring devices are associated with first entities that are different from a second entity associated with the system, and wherein the electronic device is associated with a third entity;

a control mechanism, coupled to the interface mechanism, configured to;

receive, via the interface mechanism, sensor data from environmental monitoring devices in environments, wherein the sensor data represent environmental conditions in the environments;

analyze the sensor data to determine a probability of an environmental condition occurring during a time interval in at least one of the environments, wherein the third entity is associated with at least the one of the environments;

calculating a price-duration range of a service in the environment necessary for profitability of the service based on the determined probability and an estimated cost associated with the service; and

providing, via the interface mechanism, a service offer for the service associated with the environmental condition to the electronic device, wherein the service offer includes at least a price and a duration based on the calculated price-duration range.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control mechanism is configured to:

receive, via the interface mechanism, a response to the service offer from the electronic device, wherein the response authorizes the service; and

provide the service to the third entity based on subsequent sensor data from one or more of the environmental monitoring devices.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the response is received without action by the third entity.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the service is selectively provided based on occurrences of the environmental condition.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the control mechanism is configured to:

provide, via the interface mechanism, a data request for additional sensor data to at least one of;

one or more of the environmental monitoring devices, and one or more additional environmental monitoring devices in at least the one environment; and

receive, via the interface mechanism, the additional sensor data in response to the data request.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the control mechanism is configured to update at least one of the price and the duration based on the additional sensor data.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the additional sensor data is associated with timestamps after those of the sensor data.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the service is provided based on the additional sensor data.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the control mechanism is configured to provide compensation for the additional sensor data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the control mechanism is configured to provide compensation to the first entities for the sensor data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is received on an ongoing basis;

and

wherein the analysis is performed dynamically to update the price-duration range.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the service offer includes multiple pairs of prices and durations based on the calculated price-duration range.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the control mechanism is configured to:

receive, via the interface mechanism, a response to the service offer from the electronic device, wherein the response authorizes the service at one of the pairs of prices and durations; and

provide the service to the third entity based on subsequent sensor data from one or more of the environmental monitoring devices.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes current and historical sensor data representing the environmental conditions in the environments.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the service includes insurance for one of:

an item in at least the one environment, a portion of at least the one environment, and at least the one environment.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the duration includes one of:

one occurrence of the environmental condition, and a predefined number of instances.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the service involves one of:

downloading software for at least the one environmental monitoring device that, when executed by at least the one environmental monitoring device, performs the service; and

remotely enabling a software module in at least the one environmental monitoring device that, when executed by at least the one environmental monitoring device, performs the service.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the control mechanism comprises:

a processor coupled to the interface mechanism; and

memory, coupled to the processor, which stores a program module configured to be executed by the processor, the program module including instructions for at least some of the operations performed by the system.

19. A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a system, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and a computer-program mechanism embedded therein to provide a service offer for a service, the computer-program mechanism including:

instructions for receiving, via an interface mechanism in the system, sensor data from environmental monitoring devices in environments, wherein the sensor data represent environmental conditions in the environments, and wherein the environmental monitoring devices are associated with first entities that are different from a second entity associated with the system;

instructions for analyzing the sensor data to determine a probability of an environmental condition occurring during a time interval in at least one of the environments, wherein at least the one of the environments is associated with a third entity;

instructions for calculating a price-duration range of the service in the environment necessary for profitability of the service based on the determined probability and an estimated cost associated with the service; and

instructions for providing, via the interface mechanism, the service offer for the service associated with the environmental condition to an electronic device associated with the third entity, wherein the service offer includes at least a price and a duration based on the calculated price-duration range.

20. A system-implemented method for providing a service offer for a service, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, via an interface mechanism in the system, sensor data from environmental monitoring devices in environments, wherein the sensor data represent environmental conditions in the environments, and wherein the environmental monitoring devices are associated with first entities that are different from a second entity associated with the system;

using a control mechanism in the system, analyzing the sensor data to determine a probability of an environmental condition occurring during a time interval in at least one of the environments, wherein at least the one of the environments is associated with a third entity;

calculating a price-duration range of the service in the environment necessary for profitability of the service based on the determined probability and an estimated cost associated with the service; and

providing, via the interface mechanism, the service offer for the service associated with the environmental condition to an electronic device associated with the third entity, wherein the service offer includes at least a price and a duration based on the calculated price-duration range.