Risk unit based policies

• US 9,569,798 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2016
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arity International Limited (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Biemer, Edward A., Irey, Grady, Styrsky, Caryl M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Puttaiah, Asha
• Application Number:
  US15/170,084
• Publication Number:
  US 20160275624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 258 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/30 including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, systems and apparatuses for determining and implementing risk unit based insurance policies are presented. A user may receive a plurality of risk units associated with an insurance policy. The risk units may be stored in a risk unit account associated with the user, the vehicle, etc. During operation of the vehicle, sensor data may be received. The sensor data may provide information associated with driving behaviors of the user, environmental conditions in which the vehicle is being operated, and the like. A consumption rate of the risk units may be determined based, at least in part, on the received sensor data. If a number of risk units in a risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold, a notification may be transmitted to the user and/or a predetermined number of risk units may be automatically added to the risk unit account.

Claims

1. A risk unit based system, comprising:

an on-board vehicle computing device including at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the on-board vehicle computing device to;

receive, from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle, driving data associated with at least one of;

a user operating a vehicle and an environment in which the vehicle is being operated;

analyze the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time;

transmit, to an insurance system server, the determined consumption rate of the risk units;

the insurance system server having at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to;

receive, from the on-board vehicle computing device, the determined consumption rate of the risk units;

reduce a number of risk units in a risk unit account associated with the user based on operation of the vehicle, wherein the rate at which the number of risk units is reduced is based on the determined consumption rate;

determine whether a balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold;

responsive to determining that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold;

modify operation of at least one system of the vehicle, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle includes at least one of;

preventing the vehicle from starting, causing headlights of the vehicle to flash, and causing a horn of the vehicle to blare; and

provide a notification to the user that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold, wherein providing the notification further includes;

requesting user input associated with adding a number of additional risk units to the risk unit account; and

requesting user input associated with payment information for paying a cost of purchasing the additional risk units.

2. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a mobile device of the user.

3. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a vehicle display associated with the on-board vehicle computing device.

4. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein the payment information includes at least one of:

credit card information, checking account information, and debit card information.

5. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory of the insurance system server further stores computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to:

receive user input requesting postponement of addressing the balance of risk units being below the predetermined threshold; and

after a predetermined time period, transmit a second notification to the user that the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below the predetermined threshold.

6. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold is performed after reducing the number of risk units in the risk unit account based on the determined consumption rate.

7. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle is performed in real-time.

8. A risk unit based system, comprising:

mobile device including at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to;

receive, from at least one sensor sensing operational parameters of a vehicle, driving data associated with at least one of;

a user operating a vehicle and an environment in which the vehicle is being operated;

analyze the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time;

transmit, to an insurance system server, the determined consumption rate of the risk units;

the insurance system server having at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to;

receive, from the mobile device, the determined consumption rate of the risk units;

reduce a number of risk units in a risk unit account associated with the user based on operation of the vehicle, wherein the rate at which the number of risk units is reduced is based on the determined consumption rate;

determine whether a balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold;

responsive to determining that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold;

modify operation of at least one system of the vehicle, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle includes at least one of;

preventing the vehicle from starting, causing headlights of the vehicle to flash, and causing a horn of the vehicle to blare; and

provide a notification to the user that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold, wherein providing the notification further includes;

requesting user input associated with adding a number of additional risk units to the risk unit account; and

requesting user input associated with payment information for paying a cost of purchasing the additional risk units.

9. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein the notification is provided to the user via the mobile device.

10. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a vehicle display associated with an on-board vehicle computing device.

11. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein the payment information includes at least one of:

credit card information, checking account information, and debit card information.

12. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory of the insurance system server further stores computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to:

receive user input requesting postponement of addressing the balance of risk units being below the predetermined threshold; and

after a predetermined time period, transmit a second notification to the user that the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below the predetermined threshold.

13. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein the determining whether the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold is performed after reducing the number of risk units in the risk unit account based on the determined consumption rate.

14. The risk unit based system of claim 8, wherein analyzing the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle is performed in real-time.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to:

receive, from at least one sensor arranged on a vehicle, driving data associated with at least one of;

a user operating a vehicle and an environment in which the vehicle is being operated;

analyze the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time;

reduce a number of risk units in a risk unit account associated with the user based on operation of the vehicle, wherein the rate at which the number of risk units is reduced is based on the determined consumption rate;

determine whether a balance of risk units in the risk unit account is below a predetermined threshold;

responsive to determining that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold;

modify operation of at least one system of the vehicle, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle includes at least one of;

preventing the vehicle from starting, causing headlights of the vehicle to flash, and causing a horn of the vehicle to blare; and

provide a notification to the user that the balance of risk units is below the predetermined threshold, wherein providing the notification further includes;

requesting user input associated with adding a number of additional risk units to the risk unit account; and

requesting user input associated with payment information for paying a cost of purchasing the additional risk units.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a mobile device of the user.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein analyzing the received driving data to determine a consumption rate of risk units associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle is performed in real-time.