Risk unit based policies

• US 9,569,799 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:
  US15/170,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20160275625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 258 Days
• 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, in real-time, the received driving data to determine, in real-time, a consumption rate of risk units associated with a risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle, the risk unit usage-based insurance policy including a plurality of risk units forming a first balance of risk units in a risk unit account, the first balance of risk units being configured to be reduced upon operation of the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time and forming a portion of the risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle;

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

after reducing the balance of risk units in the risk unit account based on operation of the vehicle, determine a second balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

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

responsive to determining that the second 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.

2. The risk unit based system of claim 1, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle further includes:

monitoring the balance of risk units in the risk unit account; and

continuing modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle until it is determined that the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is at or above the predetermined threshold.

3. The risk unit based system of claim 2, the insurance system server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the insurance system server to:

receive additional risk units to be added to the balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

determine a third balance of risk units in the risk unit account after receiving the additional risk units;

determine that the third balance of risk units in the risk unit account is above the predetermined threshold and, in response to determining that the third balance of risk units is above the predetermined threshold, ending modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle.

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

5. 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.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a mobile device of the user.

6. A risk unit based system, comprising:

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

analyze, in real-time, the received driving data to determine, in real-time, a consumption rate of risk units associated with a risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle, the risk unit usage-based insurance policy including a plurality of risk units forming a first balance of risk units in a risk unit account, the first balance of risk units being configured to be reduced upon operation of the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time and forming a portion of the risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle;

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

after reducing the balance of risk units in the risk unit account based on operation of the vehicle, determine a second balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

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

responsive to determining that the second 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.

7. The risk unit based system of claim 6, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle further includes:

monitoring the balance of risk units in the risk unit account; and

continuing modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle until it is determined that the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is at or above the predetermined threshold.

8. The risk unit based system of claim 7, the insurance system server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the insurance system server to:

receive additional risk units to be added to the balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

determine a third balance of risk units in the risk unit account after receiving the additional risk units; and

determine that the third balance of risk units in the risk unit account is above the predetermined threshold and, in response to determining that the third balance of risk units is above the predetermined threshold, ending modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle.

9. The risk unit based system of claim 6, wherein the notification is provided to the user via the mobile device.

10. The risk unit based system of claim 6, wherein the notification is provided to the user via a vehicle display associated with an on-board vehicle computing device.

11. 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 the vehicle and an environment in which the vehicle is being operated;

analyze, in real-time, the received driving data to determine, in real-time, a consumption rate of risk units associated with a risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle, the risk unit usage-based insurance policy including a plurality of risk units forming a first balance of risk units in a risk unit account, the first balance of risk units being configured to be reduced upon operation of the vehicle, each risk unit representing a cost to insure an average user for a predetermined period of time and forming a portion of the risk unit usage-based insurance policy associated with the vehicle;

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

after reducing the balance of risk units in the risk unit account based on operation of the vehicle, determine a second balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

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

responsive to determining that the second 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.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein modifying operation of at least one system of the vehicle further includes:

monitoring the balance of risk units in the risk unit account; and

continuing modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle until it is determined that the balance of risk units in the risk unit account is at or above the predetermined threshold.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, the insurance system server further including instructions that, when executed, cause the insurance system server to:

receive additional risk units to be added to the balance of risk units in the risk unit account;

determine a third balance of risk units in the risk unit account after receiving the additional risk units;

determine that the third balance of risk units in the risk unit account is above the predetermined threshold and, in response to determining that the third balance of risk units is above the predetermined threshold, ending modified operation of the at least one system of the vehicle.