Insurance Policy Revisioning Method

Abstract

An insurance policy is stored ( 101 ) as a plurality of discrete temporally-sequential policy data revisions. A legally binding revision for a first given date is then determined ( 102 ) by identifying all policy data revisions effective on the first given date and choosing a most temporally recent policy data revision temporally prior to a second given date. When a new policy data revision is ( 103 ) temporally subsequent as compared to a first policy data revision and also comprises a legally effective date range preceding at least in part an effective date range of the first policy data revision, legally non-overlapping policy data revisions are created ( 104 ) for each legally overlapping effective date range as exists between the new policy data revision and all temporally preceding revisions. Each newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revision comprises changes introduced by the new policy data revision and at least one temporally preceding policy data revision.

1 : A method comprising:
 storing an insurance policy as a plurality of discrete temporally-sequential policy data revisions, wherein each revision incorporates information from temporally prior revisions covering an effective date range of the revision;   determining a legally binding revision for a first given date by identifying all policy data revisions effective on the first given date and choosing a most temporally recent policy data revision temporally prior to a second given date.   
   
   
       2 : The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 when a new policy data revision is temporally subsequent as compared to a first policy data revision and also comprises a legally effective date range preceding at least in part an effective date range of the first policy data revision, creating legally non-overlapping policy data revisions for each legally overlapping effective date range as exists between the new policy data revision and all temporally preceding policy data revisions, each newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revision comprising changes introduced by the new policy data revision and at least one temporally preceding policy data revision.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 determining differences introduced by the new policy data revision.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising:
 identifying for a user at least one of the differences.   
   
   
       5 : The method of  claim 3  further comprising:
 automatically applying the differences introduced by the new policy data revision to the newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revisions to create merged legally non-overlapping policy data revisions.   
   
   
       6 : The method of  claim 5  wherein automatically applying the differences introduced by the new policy data revision further comprises determining if applying the differences introduced by the new policy data revision to the newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revisions creates conflicting insurance policy terms. 
   
   
       7 : The method of  claim 6  further comprising:
 identifying for a user at least one of the conflicting insurance policy terms.   
   
   
       8 : The method of  claim 6  further comprising:
 providing a user with an opportunity to resolve the conflicting insurance policy terms.   
   
   
       9 : The method of  claim 6  further comprising:
 automatically resolving the conflicting insurance policy terms.   
   
   
       10 : The method of  claim 9  wherein automatically resolving the conflicting insurance policy terms comprises accepting terms introduced by the new data revision. 
   
   
       11 : The method of  claim 9  wherein automatically resolving the conflicting insurance policy terms comprises resolving the conflicting insurance policy terms according to a configurable method. 
   
   
       12 : The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 identifying for a user a resolution of the conflicting insurance policy terms.   
   
   
       13 : The method of  claim 6  further comprising:
 allowing the user to select a merge conflict resolution strategy to resolve the conflicting insurance policy terms; and   re-applying the differences introduced by the new policy data revision to the newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revisions and resolving the conflicting insurance policy terms according to the selected merge conflict resolution strategy to create new merged legally non-overlapping policy data revisions.   
   
   
       14 : The method of  claim 5  further comprising providing a user with an opportunity to edit at least one of:
 a primary superseding revision, wherein the primary superseding revision comprises the merged legally non-overlapping policy data revision having an earliest legally effective date;   secondary superseding revisions, wherein the secondary superseding revisions comprise the merged legally non-overlapping policy data revisions subsequent to the primary revision.   
   
   
       15 : The method of  claim 14  further comprising:
 determining differences between the primary superseding revision and a most temporally recent prior policy data revision; and   determining differences between each secondary superseding revision and an immediately legally subsequent superseding revision.   
   
   
       16 : The method of  claim 15  further comprising:
 detecting any conflicts between each secondary superseding revision and the immediately legally subsequent superseding revision; and   detecting any conflict resolutions.   
   
   
       17 : The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 displaying the differences and the conflict resolutions to the user.   
   
   
       18 : The method of  claim 14  further comprising:
 determining edited differences introduced by an edited primary superseding revision;   applying the edited differences to the newly-created legally non-overlapping policy data revisions to create new merged legally non-overlapping policy data revisions.   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 using the legally non-overlapping policy data revisions to calculate a revised policy premium.   
   
   
       20 : The method of  claim 1  wherein each policy data revision has a corresponding change date and a corresponding legally effective date stored therewith. 
   
   
       21 : The method of  claim 20  further comprising:
 using the change dates and the legally effective dates to facilitate determination of a present liability.   
   
   
       22 : The method of  claim 21  wherein the present liability is determined with respect to a claim for coverage. 
   
   
       23 : The method of  claim 20  further comprising:
 querying the policy data revisions in terms of a change date to determine a status of the insurance policy as of a queried-for change date.   
   
   
       24 : The method of  claim 20  further comprising:
 querying the policy data revisions in terms of a legally effective date to determine a status of the insurance policy as of a queried-for legally effective date.   
   
   
       25 : The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 when a new policy data revision is a temporally subsequent unbound version as compared to a first policy data revision and also comprises a legally effective date range preceding at least in part an effective date range of the first policy data revision, creating legally non-overlapping unbound policy data revisions for each legally overlapping effective date range as exists between the new policy data revision and all temporally preceding policy data revisions.   
   
   
       26 : The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 when a second new policy data revision is a temporally subsequent unbound version as compared to a first policy data revision and also comprises a legally effective date range preceding at least in part an effective date range of the first policy data revision, creating second legally non-overlapping unbound policy data revisions for each legally overlapping effective date range as exists between the second new policy data revision and all temporally preceding policy data revisions.   
   
   
       27 : The method of  claim 26  further comprising:
 comparing the legally non-overlapping unbound policy data revisions corresponding to the new policy data revision and the second legally non-overlapping unbound policy data revisions corresponding to the second new policy data revision.   
   
   
       28 : The method of  claim 25  wherein the legally non-overlapping unbound policy data revisions become bound as of a particular effective date. 
   
   
       29 : The method of  claim 1  wherein the insurance policy comprises supplemental policy-specific data. 
   
   
       30 : The method of  claim 29  further comprising:
 providing an insurance product model;   substantively interpreting the insurance product model to thereby facilitate obtaining the supplemental policy-specific data.   
   
   
       31 : The method of  claim 1  wherein the second given date is selected from the group consisting of:
 the second given date is the same as the first given date; and   the second given date is different from the first given date.   
   
   
       32 : A method comprising:
 storing an insurance policy as a plurality of discrete temporally-sequential policy data revisions, wherein each revision incorporates information from temporally prior revisions with legally effective date ranges overlapping at least in part a legally effective date range of the revision;   determining a legally binding revision for a first given date by identifying all policy data revisions effective on the given date and choosing a most temporally recent policy data revision temporally prior to a second given date.   
   
   
       33 . (canceled) 
   
   
       34 . (canceled) 
   
   
       35 . (canceled) 
   
   
       36 . (canceled) 
   
   
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       38 . (canceled) 
   
   
       39 . (canceled)