Systems and methods for providing a safety score associated with a user location

• US 8,805,707 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2011
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schumann, Douglas D. Jr., Carges, Alex M., Coleman, Mark S., Kogan, Roza E., Lim, Ben Jade, Peak, David F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Subramanian, Narayanswamy
• Application Number:
  US13/233,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20120123806A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station

Abstract

Pursuant to some embodiments, insurance systems, methods and devices are provided which include a data storage device for storing, updating and providing access to loss risk score data. In some embodiments, a request for information associated with a user'"'"'s location identified by user location data may be received over a communications network. A computer processing system may then be operated to generate a safety score associated with said use location data, the safety score being based on a plurality of loss risk factors associated with the user location data. A response, including the safety score, may then be transmitted to the user over the communications network.

Claims

1. An insurance system, comprising:

a data storage device storing, updating and providing access to a plurality of loss risk factors associated with geographic locations;

a computer processor coupled to the data storage device and executing program instructions and retrieving the plurality of loss risk factors from the data storage device;

a memory, coupled to the computer processor, storing program instructions executed by the computer processor;

a communication device, coupled to the computer processor, receiving a request for a safety score associated with data indicative of a user location;

a civic improvement platform in communication with the communication device and for receiving participant safety reports from participant devices relating to municipal safety issues and for forwarding the participant safety reports to governmental devices and public utility devices;

wherein each of the participant safety reports includes an indication of at least one of;

(i) a road condition, (ii) a traffic sign condition, (iii) a streetlight condition, (iv) a traffic light condition, (v) an electrical wire condition, (vi) a water hazard, (vii) a weather hazard, (viii) a street condition, (ix) a plant hazard, (x) a sidewalk condition, (xi) a guardrail condition, and (xii) a criminal activity; and

a scoring engine executing program instructions stored in the memory for calculating the safety score based on the data indicative of the user location and the plurality of loss risk factors, wherein at least one loss risk factor comprises civic improvement platform data generated based on participant safety reports received by the a civic improvement platform; and

wherein the plurality of loss risk factors further comprise at least two of;

(i) road segment information, (ii) real time weather information, (iii) current traffic information, (iv) crime rates, (v) automobile accident information, (vi) a time of day, (vii) visibility conditions, (viii) police data, (ix) fire department response times, (x) topographical information, (xi) third-party accident data, (xii) governmental data, (xiii) internal insurance loss data, (xiv) video cameras, and (xv) police reports.

2. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein the communication device transmits a response, including the calculated safety score, to the user.

3. The insurance system of claim 1, wherein the scoring engine modifies an element of an insurance policy based on the safety score.

4. The insurance system of claim 3, wherein the modified element of the insurance policy comprises at least one of:

(i) an insurance premium adjustment of an existing insurance policy, (ii) an insurance premium adjustment of a quoted insurance premium, (iii) a renewal decision associated with an existing insurance policy, and (iv) a quote associated with an underwriting process for a newly proposed insurance policy.

5. A computerized method, comprising:

receiving, at a civic improvement platform, a plurality of participant safety reports from plurality of participants, each participant safety report being associated with a report location and a municipal safety issue and including an indication of at least one of;

(i) a road condition, (ii) a traffic sign condition, (iii) a streetlight condition, (iv) a traffic light condition, (v) an electrical wire condition, (vi) a water hazard, (vii) a weather hazard, (viii) a street condition, (ix) a plant hazard, (x) a sidewalk condition, (xi) a guardrail condition, and (xii) a criminal activity;

transmitting, by the civic improvement platform, the participant safety reports to one of a public utility device and a governmental device;

generating, by the civic improvement platform, a first loss risk factor for a first location based on participant safety reports having report locations matching the first location;

transmitting, by the civic improvement platform, an indication of the first loss risk factor and the first location;

receiving, at a scoring engine, the indication of the first loss risk factor and the first location;

storing, by the scoring engine, the indication of the first loss risk factor and the first location along with a plurality of other loss risk factors associated with geographic locations, wherein the plurality of other loss risk factors comprise at least two of (i) road segment information, (ii) real time weather information, (iii) current traffic information, (iv) crime rates, (v) automobile accident information, (vi) a time of day, (vii) visibility conditions, (viii) police data, (ix) fire department response times, (x) topographical information, (xi) third-party accident data, (xii) governmental data, (xiii) internal insurance loss data, (xiv) video cameras, and (xv) police reports;

receiving, at the scoring engine from a remote user device, a request for a safety score associated with a user location;

calculating, by the scoring engine, the safety score based on the user location, the first loss risk factor, and a plurality of other loss risk factors associated with the user location; and

transmitting, by the scoring engine to the remote user device, an indication of the safety score.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

modifying an element of an insurance policy based on the safety score.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the modified element of the insurance policy comprises at least one of:

(i) an insurance premium adjustment of an existing insurance policy, (ii) an insurance premium adjustment of a quoted insurance premium, (iii) a renewal decision associated with an existing insurance policy, and (iv) a quote associated with an underwriting process for a newly proposed insurance policy.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting the participant safety reports by the civic improvement platform to a public utility device comprises transmitting the participant safety reports to one of a device associated with a water utility and a device associated with an electric utility.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting the participant safety reports by the civic improvement platform to a governmental device comprises transmitting the participant safety reports to one of a device associated with a police department and a device associated with a roadway maintenance department.

10. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program code executable by a computer to:

receive, from a civic improvement platform, an indication of a first loss risk factor and a first location, the first loss risk factor being generated by the civic improvement platform based on a plurality of participant safety reports from plurality of participants, each participant safety report being associated with a report location and a municipal safety issue by the civic improvement platform, and including an indication of at least one of;

(i) a road condition, (ii) a traffic sign condition, (iii) a streetlight condition, (iv) a traffic light condition, (v) an electrical wire condition, (vi) a water hazard, (vii) a weather hazard, (viii) a street condition, (ix) a plant hazard, (x) a sidewalk condition, (xi) a guardrail condition, and (xii) a criminal activity;

the civic improvement platform being configured for transmitting the participant safety reports to one of a public utility device and a governmental device;

store the indication of the first loss risk factor and the first location along with a plurality of other loss risk factors associated with geographic locations;

receive, from a remote user device, a request for a safety score associated with a user location;

calculate the safety score based on the user location, the first loss risk factor, and a plurality of other loss risk factors associated with the user location, wherein the plurality of other loss risk factors comprise at least two of (i) road segment information, (ii) real time weather information, (iii) current traffic information, (iv) crime rates, (v) automobile accident information, (vi) a time of day, (vii) visibility conditions, (viii) police data, (ix) fire department response times, (x) topographical information, (xi) third-party accident data, (xii) governmental data, (xiii) internal insurance loss data, (xiv) video cameras, or (xv) police reports; and

transmit, to the remote user device, an indication of the safety score.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein execution of the program code further causes the computer to:

modify an element of an insurance policy based on the safety score.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the modified element of the insurance policy comprises at least one of:

(i) an insurance premium adjustment of an existing insurance policy, (ii) an insurance premium adjustment of a quoted insurance premium, (iii) a renewal decision associated with an existing insurance policy, and (iv) a quote associated with an underwriting process for a newly proposed insurance policy.