Determination server

Abstract

To determine whether one requirement of insurance claim payment when power failure occurs is satisfied.SOLUTION: A determination server receives a claim including identification information of a contractor, a point in time of power failure occurrence, and a billing amount from a customer terminal. The determination server transmits a request signal which requests determination as to whether the power failure for a predetermined time period or longer had occurred in a time zone including the point in time at a location of the contractor identified by contractor data, to an information providing server. When a determination result that the power failure for the predetermined time period or longer had occurred in the time zone including the point in time is received, at the location, according to the request signal, from the information providing server, it is determined that one requirement of the insurance claim payment to the contractor has been satisfied. When the determination result that the power failure for the predetermined time period or longer had not occurred is received in the time zone including the point in time, at the location, according to the request signal, from the information providing server, it is determined that the insurance claim payment to the contractor cannot be carried out.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a server that determines whether or not to pay insurance money in response to a claim from a policyholder of an insurance contract that covers the payment of insurance money in the event of a power outage. [Background technology]

[0002] A system that is used to determine whether or not insurance payments can be made under an insurance contract is known (for example, Patent Document 1). There are various types of insurance contracts with different targets for insurance products, but insurance products that compensate for damages caused by power outages are limited. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-135452 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, there are no known insurance products that compensate for losses caused by a power outage that lasts for a specified period of time or longer. In addition, there are no known systems that determine whether or not to pay insurance benefits under an insurance contract by determining whether a power outage has lasted for a specified period of time or longer.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a determination server that, when a power outage lasts for a predetermined period of time or longer, determines, in response to a request from a subscriber, whether the power outage has lasted for a predetermined period of time or longer. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The determination server disclosed herein is a determination server that determines whether or not to pay insurance money in response to a request from a policyholder of an insurance contract under which insurance money is paid in the event of a power outage of a predetermined duration or longer, and includes an arithmetic circuit and a communication circuit, and is capable of accessing a storage device, and is connected via the communication circuit to a customer terminal used by the policyholder and an information providing server used by an electric power company that supplies electricity to the policyholder, and the storage device stores policyholder data including identification information and location information of the policyholder and contract details, and the arithmetic circuit receives a claim from the customer terminal via the communication circuit, the claim including the identification information of the policyholder, the time of the power outage, and the claim amount, and transmits the claim information to the information providing server via the communication circuit. A request signal is sent to request a determination as to whether or not a power outage of a specified duration or longer occurred at the location of the policyholder specified in the policyholder data during a time period including the time. When a determination result indicating that a power outage of a specified duration or longer occurred at the location during a time period including the time in response to the request signal is received from the information providing server via the communication circuit, it is determined that one of the requirements for paying the insurance money to the policyholder has been satisfied. When a determination result indicating that a power outage of a specified duration or longer did not occur at the location during a time period including the time in response to the request signal is received from the information providing server via the communication circuit, it is determined that it is not possible to pay the insurance money to the policyholder.

[0007] Such general and specific aspects may be realized by a system, a method, and a computer program, as well as a combination thereof. Effect of the Invention

[0008] The determination server disclosed herein can determine, in response to a request from a policyholder of an insurance contract that provides for the payment of insurance benefits in the event of a power outage lasting longer than a specified period of time, whether a power outage has continued for a specified period of time or longer, which is one of the requirements for insurance payment. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1]1 is a schematic diagram showing an insurance contract system including a determination server according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] An example of a procedure for determining the presence or absence of a power outage using a preliminary report value or a final report value and power outage information will be described below. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a determination server according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process in a determination server according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, more detailed explanation than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed explanation of already well-known matters or duplicate explanation of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid the following explanation from becoming unnecessarily redundant and to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. Note that the inventor provides the accompanying drawings and the following explanation so that those skilled in the art can fully understand the present disclosure, and the subject matter described in the claims is not limited by them.

[0011] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an insurance contract system 1 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the insurance contract system 1 includes a determination server 10 related to insurance contracts, an information providing server 20, a customer terminal 30, a measuring device 40, and a network 50. The determination server 10 is used by an insurance company. The insurance company provides an insurance product that pays insurance money to an insurance contract holder when a power outage lasts for a predetermined period of time or more occurs. The insurance money is determined based on various expenses (cost of purchasing substitutes for food in the refrigerator and freezer, cost of purchasing a portable power supply, cost of repairing broken home appliances, transportation costs during evacuation, cost of purchasing a portable toilet, and cost of purchasing emergency lighting equipment) incurred due to the power outage claimed by the insurance policyholder. Specifically, the determination server 10 determines whether or not to pay the insurance money in response to a request from the customer terminal 30. The determination server 10 obtains a determination result of the occurrence of a power outage lasting for a predetermined period of time or more at the policyholder's location from the information providing server 20 in order to determine whether or not to pay the insurance money. Moreover, the determination server 10 transmits the determination result as to whether or not the insurance payment can be made to the client terminal 30. The details of the determination server 10 will be described later with reference to FIG.

[0012] <Information Providing Server 20> The information providing server 20 is used by an electric power company. The electric power company is a supplier of electric power and supplies electric power to a customer who is a recipient of the electric power supply. In response to a request from the determination server 10, the information providing server 20 determines whether or not a power outage lasting for a predetermined period of time or more has occurred at the location of the customer. The information providing server 20 also transmits the determination result to the determination server 10. The information providing server 20 stores the measurement results of the amount of electric power used measured by a measuring device 40 installed at the location of the customer who is a recipient of the electric power supply. The information providing server 20 receives so-called "preliminary values" and "confirmed values" as the measurement results from the measuring device 40. The information providing server 20 also receives "power outage information" from a server (not shown) of the electric power transmission and distribution company that supplies the electric power. The information providing server 20 determines whether or not a power outage lasting for a predetermined period of time or more has occurred using the "preliminary values" or "confirmed values" and the "power outage information".

[0013] The "preliminary report value" is transmitted from the measuring device 40 at first predetermined time intervals (e.g., every 60 minutes). The preliminary report value includes the amount of electricity used by the customer during the first predetermined time interval (e.g., 60 minutes). The "final report value" is transmitted from the measuring device 40 at second predetermined time intervals (e.g., every month) that are longer than the first predetermined time interval. For example, the final report value obtained every month is used as monthly data. The final report value includes the electricity used by the customer during the second predetermined time interval (e.g., every month). The power company can check the amount of electricity used in real time using the preliminary report value transmitted at short intervals. However, the information providing server 20 may experience an error when receiving the preliminary report value. Therefore, when the information providing server 20 cannot determine whether a power outage has occurred based on the preliminary report value alone, it uses the final report value to grasp the amount of electricity used by the customer during the second predetermined time interval. Although the preliminary report value and the final report value can grasp the amount of electricity used by the customer, they are not sufficient to determine whether a power outage has actually occurred. Therefore, the measurement device 40 determines whether or not a power outage has occurred by using the power outage information in addition to the preliminary or final value.

[0014] "Power outage information" is information on the occurrence of power outages managed by the power transmission and distribution company. Power outage information associates the area where the power outage occurred with the time when the power outage occurred. Power outage information does not include the detailed location (e.g., address, etc.) where the power outage occurred, but includes a broad area (e.g., city, ward, etc.) indicating where the power outage occurred. Therefore, it is determined whether the location of the subscriber is included in the area where the power outage occurred, and whether a power outage has occurred is determined.

[0015] As described above, the power outage information indicates a wide area including the location where the power outage occurred. Therefore, even if the "area where the power outage occurred" indicated by the power outage information is a specific location included in that area, there may be cases where the power outage does not actually occur. As an example, even if a power outage occurs in "Kasumigaseki" in Chiyoda Ward, there is no power outage in "Otemachi" in the same Chiyoda Ward. In this case, the power outage information associates "Chiyoda Ward" with the time when the power outage occurred. Therefore, it is not preferable to determine the occurrence of a power outage based only on the power outage information. Therefore, the information providing server 20 uses preliminary or final values ​​in addition to the power outage information to determine whether or not a power outage has occurred.

[0016] 2 shows an example of a determination sequence in the information providing server 20. Specifically, it shows an example of a determination sequence in a case where the information providing server 20 can obtain preliminary and final values. The information providing server 20 provides the determination result based on the preliminary or final values ​​and the power outage information to the determination server 10 as follows.

[0017] (1) If both the flash report value and the power outage information indicate that a power outage has occurred, the information providing server 20 determines that a power outage has occurred.

[0018] (2) If both the flash report value and the power outage information indicate "no power outage," the power outage information server 20 determines that there is "no power outage."

[0019] (3) If the preliminary value indicates "power outage" but the power outage information indicates "no power outage," the information providing server 20 determines it as "unknown," and later, in (8) or (9), a determination is made using the final value instead of the preliminary value. If the power outage information indicates "no power outage," this is because there is no power outage in the area that includes the customer's location. In such a case, it is considered that there was a situation in which electricity was unavailable only in the customer's location, such as a breaker tripping.

[0020] (4) If the preliminary value is "no power outage" and the power outage information is "power outage," the power outage information server 20 determines it as "unknown," and later, in (7) or (10), a determination is made using the final value instead of the preliminary value. Such an example may occur when a power outage has occurred in a nearby location (e.g., Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward) but no power outage has occurred in the customer's location (e.g., Otemachi, Chiyoda Ward).

[0021] (5) If the preliminary value is "unknown" and the power outage information is "power outage occurred," the information providing server 20 determines that the presence or absence of a power outage is "unknown." As a result, a determination is later made in (7) or (10) using the final value instead of the preliminary value.

[0022] (6) If the preliminary value is "unknown" and the power outage information is "no power outage," the information providing server 20 determines that the presence or absence of a power outage is "unknown." This allows a later determination to be made in (8) or (9) using the final value instead of the preliminary value.

[0023] (7) If both the final report value and the power outage information indicate that a power outage has occurred, the information providing server 20 determines that a power outage has occurred.

[0024] (8) If the final report value is "no power outage" and the power outage information is "no power outage," the information providing server 20 determines that there is "no power outage."

[0025] (9) If the final report value is "Power outage" and the power outage information is "No power outage," the information providing server 20 cannot determine whether there is a power outage or not and judges it to be "Subject to individual customer confirmation." If it is judged to be "Subject to individual customer confirmation," the insurance company will need to confirm details with the policyholder individually in order to determine whether there is a power outage or not.

[0026] (10) If the final report value is “no power outage” and the power outage information is “power outage”, the information providing server 20 determines that the customer is “subject to individual customer verification”.

[0027] <Customer terminal 30> The customer terminal 30 is used by a customer. The customer is a policyholder who enters into an insurance contract with the insurance company. At the same time, the customer is a contract holder with the electric power company who receives electricity from the electric power company. For example, the customer terminal 30 is an information processing terminal such as a personal computer or smartphone used by the customer. Since the insurance company and the electric power company share information about the contract holder, the determination server 10 can receive the determination result of whether or not a power outage has occurred at the location of the contract holder by, for example, including the identification information of the contract holder in the request.

[0028] <Measuring device 40> The measuring device 40 is installed at the location of the subscriber. The measuring device 40 measures the amount of power used by the subscriber and transmits the amount of power used by the subscriber to the information providing server 20 at a predetermined timing. For example, the measuring device 40 may be a smart meter.

[0029] <Judgment Server 10> The determination server 10 is, for example, an information processing device including an arithmetic circuit 11, an input device 12, an output device 13, a communication circuit 14, and a storage device 15, as shown in FIG.

[0030] The arithmetic circuit 11 is a controller that controls the entire determination server 10. For example, the arithmetic circuit 11 reads out and executes a determination program P stored in the storage device 15. In this way, the determination server 10 realizes various processes related to whether or not to pay insurance money in response to a claim from the customer terminal 30. The arithmetic circuit 11 may be various processors such as a CPU, an MPU, a GPU, an FPGA, a DSP, an ASIC, etc., or a dedicated hardware circuit.

[0031] The input device 12 may be an operation button, a keyboard, a touch panel, a microphone, etc., used for inputting operations and data. The output device 13 may be a display, a speaker, a lamp, etc., used for outputting processing results and data.

[0032] The communication circuit 14 performs data communication between the determination server 10 and an external device such as the information providing server 20 or the customer terminal 30. The data communication is performed wired and / or wirelessly, for example, according to a known communication standard. For example, wired data communication may be performed by using a communication controller of a semiconductor integrated circuit that operates in compliance with the Ethernet (registered trademark) standard and / or the USB (registered trademark) standard as the communication circuit 14. Wireless data communication may be performed by using a communication controller of a semiconductor integrated circuit that operates in compliance with the IEEE802.11 standard for wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and / or the fourth / fifth / sixth generation mobile communication system, so-called 4G / 5G / 6G, for mobile communication, as the communication circuit 14.

[0033] The storage device 15 is a recording medium for recording various information. The storage device 15 is realized, for example, by a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, an SSD (Solid State Drive), a hard disk drive, or other storage device, or an appropriate combination of these. The storage device 15 stores various data such as the contractor data D1 obtained by the process such as the determination in the determination server 10. The storage device 15 also stores a determination program P.

[0034] The policyholder data D1 is data including information on the policyholder of the insurance contract. The policyholder data D1 associates, for example, the identification information of the policyholder, the address of the policyholder, and the contents of the insurance contract.

[0035] Each process executed by the arithmetic circuit 11 will now be described.

[0036] The arithmetic circuit 11 receives a bill from the customer terminal 30 via the communication circuit 14, the bill including the identification information of the customer, the time of the power outage, the billed amount, and the evidence information of the billed amount. The evidence information of the billed amount is information that serves as evidence of the billed amount. For example, the evidence information of the billed amount may be a receipt or invoice related to the payment of various expenses caused by the power outage.

[0037] In response to a request from the customer terminal 30, the arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a request signal to the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14. The request signal requests a determination as to whether or not a power outage of a predetermined duration or longer occurred in the location of the customer specified by the customer data D1 during the time period including the time included in the customer's request. The predetermined duration is a duration (e.g., 5 hours) stipulated in the contract with the customer.

[0038] When the arithmetic circuit 11 receives the determination result of the presence or absence of a power outage in response to a request signal from the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14, the arithmetic circuit 11 determines one of the requirements for whether or not to pay the insurance claim to the policyholder. Specifically, when the arithmetic circuit 11 receives the determination result that a power outage of a predetermined duration or more occurred at the customer's location during a time period including the time specified in the claim received from the customer terminal 30, the arithmetic circuit 11 determines that one of the requirements for paying the insurance claim to the policyholder has been satisfied. On the other hand, when the arithmetic circuit 11 receives the determination result that a power outage of a predetermined duration or more did not occur at the customer's location during a time period including the time specified in the claim received from the customer terminal 30, the arithmetic circuit 11 determines that the insurance claim cannot be paid to the policyholder.

[0039] When all insurance payment requirements are met, the arithmetic circuit 11 notifies the customer terminal 30 of that fact. On the other hand, when payment is not possible, the arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a notification to the customer terminal 30 that payment is not possible. When payment is not possible and an additional determination is to be made, the arithmetic circuit 11 includes in the notification it transmits a notice that the additional determination will be made. When information from the policyholder is required for the additional determination, the arithmetic circuit 11 includes in the notification it transmits a request for the necessary information.

[0040] The process of determining whether or not a payment is possible in the arithmetic circuit 11 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

[0041] The arithmetic circuit 11 starts a series of processes (S01) when the communication circuit 14 receives a bill transmitted from the customer terminal 30. The bill includes identification information of the customer, the time of the power outage, the billed amount, and supporting documents.

[0042] The arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a request signal to the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14, requesting a determination as to whether or not a power outage has occurred (S03). The request signal includes the identification information of the contractor included in the request received in step S01, and the time of the power outage. The request signal is a signal requesting a determination as to whether or not a power outage has occurred at the contractor's location within a predetermined period of time including the time included in the request signal. This request signal requests a determination using preliminary values.

[0043] The arithmetic circuit 11 receives the determination result from the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14 (S03). The determination result is a result indicating the presence or absence of a power outage determined using the flash value and the power outage information.

[0044] When the determination result received in step S03 indicates that a power outage has occurred (YES in S04), the arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a result indicating that the insurance payment is possible to the customer terminal 30 via the communication circuit 14 (S11).

[0045] On the other hand, when the determination result received in step S03 is that there is no power outage or that it is unclear (NO in S04), the arithmetic circuit 11 determines whether or not additional confirmation is necessary (S05).

[0046] If additional confirmation is required (YES in S05), a result indicating that additional confirmation is required is transmitted (S06). For example, if information from the contractor is required for additional confirmation, the information is also obtained from the contractor.

[0047] The arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a second request signal to the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14, requesting a determination as to whether or not a power outage has occurred (S07). The second request signal includes the identification information of the subscriber included in the bill received in step S01 and the time of the power outage. The second request signal is a signal requesting a determination as to whether or not a power outage has occurred at the location of the subscriber within a predetermined period of time including the time included in the second request signal. This second request signal requests a determination using a confirmed value.

[0048] The arithmetic circuit 11 receives the determination result from the information providing server 20 via the communication circuit 14 (S08). The determination result is a result indicating the presence or absence of a power outage determined using the confirmed value and the power outage information.

[0049] When the judgment result received in step S08 indicates that there has been a power outage (YES in S08), the calculation circuit 11 transmits to the customer terminal 30 via the communication circuit 14 a result indicating that one of the requirements for insurance payment has been satisfied (S11).

[0050] On the other hand, if the judgment result received in step S08 is that there is no power outage (NO in S04), the arithmetic circuit 11 transmits a result to the customer terminal 30 via the communication circuit 14 indicating that the insurance payment is not possible (S10).

[0051] As described above, the determination server 10 can use the result of the determination made by the information providing server 20 as to whether or not a power outage has occurred to determine whether or not one of the requirements for insurance payment is satisfied. [Industrial Applicability]

[0052] The determination server of the present disclosure is useful for determining whether or not insurance payments should be made in the event of a power outage. [Explanation of symbols]

[0053] 1 Insurance contract system 10 Judgment Server 11 Arithmetic circuit 12 Input Devices 13 Output Devices 14 Communication Circuits 15 Storage device P Judgment Program 20 Information Server 30 Customer terminal 40 Measuring Equipment

Claims

[Claim 1] A determination server that determines whether or not to pay insurance money in response to a request from a policyholder of an insurance contract under which insurance money is paid in the event of a power outage lasting for a predetermined period of time, A computing circuit and a communication circuit are included, and the memory device can be accessed; via the communication circuit, a customer terminal used by the contractor and an information providing server used by a power company that supplies power to the contractor are connected; the storage device stores contractor data including identification information and location information of the contractor and contract details; The arithmetic circuit includes: receiving a bill including identification information of a customer, a time of the power outage, and a billing amount from the customer terminal via the communication circuit; a request signal is transmitted to the information providing server via the communication circuit, requesting a determination as to whether or not a power outage of a predetermined duration or more has occurred in a time period including the time at the location of the subscriber identified by the subscriber data; When a determination result is received from the information providing server via the communication circuit in response to the request signal, indicating that a power outage occurred at the location for a predetermined period of time or more during a time period including the time, the information providing server determines that one of the requirements for payment of insurance money to the policyholder has been satisfied, when a determination result is received from the information providing server via the communication circuit in response to the request signal that no power outage has occurred at the location for a predetermined period of time or longer during a time period including the time, determining that payment of insurance money to the policyholder is not possible; Judgment server.

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