Method and apparatus for pricing insurance policies
First Claim
1. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
- an end-user interface;
a memory having stored therein an insurance policy comprised of a plurality of policy elements having corresponding effective dates and at least some of the plurality of policy elements having a fixed identifier associated therewith, wherein the fixed identifiers are consistent across various stored versions of an insurance policy such that corresponding policy elements have corresponding fixed identifiers;
a processor operably coupled to the end-user interface and the memory, the processor configured to;
receive one or more revisions to be made to a current version of the insurance policy;
recall, from the memory, a current version of the insurance policy;
copy the current version of the insurance policy into an editable version, wherein the copying of the current version of the insurance policy includes copying, to the editable version, a first policy element in the current version, and wherein the first policy element in the current version and a copy of the first policy element in the editable version share a same fixed identifier;
apply a revision to the copy of the first policy element, wherein the same fixed identifier is retained for the first policy element in the current version and for the revised copy of the first policy element in the editable version, and wherein the editable version comprises an updated version of the insurance policy;
generate a policy price based on the updated version of the insurance policy by summing prorated costs for slices of the updated version, wherein a slice comprises a time slice of the updated version of the insurance policy as of a particular slice time, and wherein the slice is determined based at least in part on the corresponding effective dates of the plurality of policy elements;
compare the policy price based on the updated version with a corresponding stored policy price corresponding to the current version of the insurance policy to determine a difference in the insurance policy premium between the current version and the updated version of the insurance policy;
receive a user request to bind the updated version of the insurance policy as a now-current version of the insurance policy;
store the now-current version of the insurance policy;
store the current version of the insurance policy as a now-previous version of the insurance policy, wherein storing the current version as the now-previous version of the insurance policy includes compressing the now-previous version of the insurance policy at least in part by recording differences between the now-previous version of the insurance policy and the now-current version; and
in the event that the now-previous version of the insurance policy is to be retrieved, reconstruct the now-previous version of the insurance policy at least in part by successively applying the recorded differences from the now-current version of the insurance policy.
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Abstract
An insurance policy management computing system (201) stores a legally-binding insurance policy as a read-only document including the complete policy history. To facilitate revisions to the policy, the computing system (201) provides an opportunity (202) to revise an insurance policy and recalls (203) the currently legally-binding insurance policy. Since the legally-binding insurance policy is a read-only document, the computing system (201) uses the legally-binding policy to generate an editable version that is a complete copy of the legally-binding policy. Once the editable version of the insurance policy has been generated, the input revisions can be incorporated into the policy and then, the revised version of the insurance policy is saved as a read-only, now-current version of the insurance policy. The new legally-binding insurance policy has a new creation and effective dates of the various policy elements. To evaluate the insurance policy, the most recently bound legally-binding insurance policy is accessed and that document contains the currently effective policy, as well as the policy history.
207 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
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an end-user interface; a memory having stored therein an insurance policy comprised of a plurality of policy elements having corresponding effective dates and at least some of the plurality of policy elements having a fixed identifier associated therewith, wherein the fixed identifiers are consistent across various stored versions of an insurance policy such that corresponding policy elements have corresponding fixed identifiers; a processor operably coupled to the end-user interface and the memory, the processor configured to; receive one or more revisions to be made to a current version of the insurance policy; recall, from the memory, a current version of the insurance policy; copy the current version of the insurance policy into an editable version, wherein the copying of the current version of the insurance policy includes copying, to the editable version, a first policy element in the current version, and wherein the first policy element in the current version and a copy of the first policy element in the editable version share a same fixed identifier; apply a revision to the copy of the first policy element, wherein the same fixed identifier is retained for the first policy element in the current version and for the revised copy of the first policy element in the editable version, and wherein the editable version comprises an updated version of the insurance policy; generate a policy price based on the updated version of the insurance policy by summing prorated costs for slices of the updated version, wherein a slice comprises a time slice of the updated version of the insurance policy as of a particular slice time, and wherein the slice is determined based at least in part on the corresponding effective dates of the plurality of policy elements; compare the policy price based on the updated version with a corresponding stored policy price corresponding to the current version of the insurance policy to determine a difference in the insurance policy premium between the current version and the updated version of the insurance policy; receive a user request to bind the updated version of the insurance policy as a now-current version of the insurance policy; store the now-current version of the insurance policy; store the current version of the insurance policy as a now-previous version of the insurance policy, wherein storing the current version as the now-previous version of the insurance policy includes compressing the now-previous version of the insurance policy at least in part by recording differences between the now-previous version of the insurance policy and the now-current version; and in the event that the now-previous version of the insurance policy is to be retrieved, reconstruct the now-previous version of the insurance policy at least in part by successively applying the recorded differences from the now-current version of the insurance policy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification