Keychain information tag

• US 20080208636A1
• Filed: 02/23/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Progressive Impressions International, Inc. (Middleby Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Progressive Impressions International, Inc. (Middleby Corporation)
• Inventors: Case, Ryan M.
• Application Number:
  US11/710,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20080208636A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10

Abstract

An information tag is provided that enables important vehicle insurance information and identification to be kept on a keychain or analogous object, for example. In one illustrative embodiment, an information tag includes a card, an aperture in the card, and a set of content disposed on the card, wherein the content is associated with an insurance policy. Additional embodiments also include a method for providing information tags, and a sheet that includes a plurality of detachable information tags.

Claims

1. An information tag comprising:

a card;

an aperture in the card; and

a set of content disposed on the card, wherein the content is associated with an insurance policy.

2. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the content associated with the insurance policy comprises at least one element selected from among the group consisting of:

a name of at least one insured individual covered by the insurance policy, a policy number of the insurance policy, a range of effective dates for the insurance policy, a make of a vehicle covered by the insurance policy, a model of a vehicle covered by the insurance policy, a model year of a vehicle covered by the insurance policy, a vehicle identification number of a vehicle covered by the insurance policy, aspects of coverage provided by the insurance policy, deductible amounts associated with the insurance policy, a name of an insurance company that provides the insurance policy, a name of a jurisdiction in which the insurance policy is provided, and the information or statement generally required to serve as proof of insurance in the jurisdiction in which the insurance policy is provided.

3. The information tag of claim 1, further comprising marketing content disposed on the card, the marketing content being directed to an entity associated with the insurance policy, comprising at least one of:

a name of an agent, an image of an agent, a phone number of the entity, an address of the entity, a Web address of the entity, an email address of the entity, or a business logo associated with the entity.

4. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the aperture is disposed substantially proximate to an edge of the card.

5. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the card is composed at least in part of a composition selected from among polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, high density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and laminated paper.

6. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the card has physical characteristics that comply with at least one of construction, materials, or bending stiffness specified by the ISO 7810 standard.

7. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the information tag is substantially smaller in at least one dimension than a respective dimension specified by the CR-80/ISO 7810 ID-1 standard.

8. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the information tag complies with a size specified by the ISO 7810 ID-000 standard.

9. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the card further comprises:

a first face, comprising a first substrate; and

a second face, disposed opposite the first face, the second face comprising a second substrate;

wherein the content associated with the insurance policy is disposed on one or both of the substrates.

10. The information tag of claim 1, further comprising a machine-readable medium comprising information associated with the content disposed on the card.

11. The information tag of claim 10, wherein the machine-readable medium is selected from among a linear barcode, a stacked barcode, a matrix barcode, a magnetic stripe, an integrated circuit chip, a passive radio frequency identification tag, a semi-passive radio frequency identification tag, an active radio frequency identification tag, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory chip, a CD, a DVD, a disc, a disc drive, or another type of magnetically or optically coded memory.

12. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the content is associated with a vehicular insurance policy.

13. The information tag of claim 1, wherein the aperture has a diameter sufficient to receive a keychain.

14. A method comprising:

providing a network-accessible site enabled to receive client information associated with one or more insurance policies, and to receive one or more orders for information tags comprising the client information and additional information associated with the insurance policies;

storing the client information associated with the insurance policies;

receiving one or more orders via the network-accessible site for one or more of the information tags associated with one or more of the insurance policies;

rendering an image comprising the client information and the additional information in a format configured for an information tag;

producing one or more information tags having the image disposed thereon; and

sending each of the information tags to at least one of an agent or an insured individual associated with the one or more insurance policies for the information tags.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving updates to the client information associated with one or more of the insurance policies;

responding to a subsequent order for one or more of the information tags associated with the updated client information by rendering an updated image comprising the updated client information and the additional information in a format configured for an information tag; and

producing one or more information tags having the updated image disposed thereon.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the format is configured for a plurality of the information tags to be printed on one sheet, and the one or more information tags are produced as detachable sections of the sheet.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising pre-sorting the information tags for a plurality of the insured individuals according to different destinations to which to send the information tags.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the network-accessible site is further enabled to receive one or more custom-selected sizes for the information tags, and wherein the information tags are produced in the one or more custom-selected sizes.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the insurance policies comprise vehicular insurance policies.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein each of the one or more information tags comprises an aperture having a diameter sufficient to receive a keychain.

21. A sheet comprising two or more information tag portions, wherein the information tag portions are detachable from a remaining portion of the sheet, wherein each of the information tag portions comprises:

an aperture in the information tag portion; and

information associated with an insurance policy.

22. The sheet of claim 21, wherein the information tag portions are detachable from the remaining portion of the sheet along a thinned, weakened, or perforated edge.

23. The sheet of claim 21, wherein one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a first vehicle covered by the insurance policy, and one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a second vehicle covered by the insurance policy.

24. The sheet of claim 21, wherein one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a first insured individual covered by the insurance policy, and one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a second insured individual covered by the insurance policy.

25. The sheet of claim 21, wherein one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a first insurance policy, and one or more of the information tag portions comprises information associated with a second insurance policy.

26. The sheet of claim 21, wherein one or more of the information tag portions comprised on the sheet complies with the size specified by the CR-80/ISO 7810 ID-1 standard, and one or more of the information tag portions comprised on the sheet is substantially smaller in at least one dimension than the size specified by the CR-80/ISO 7810 ID-1 standard in the at least one dimension.

27. The sheet of claim 21, wherein the sheet comprises at least four of the information tag portions, arranged in an array of at least two rows by at least two columns.