System for registering insurance transactions and communicating with a home office
First Claim
1. A system for registering insurance transactions and communicating the insurance transactions to a home office, said system comprising:
- at least one portable computer including a display screen, data storage means for holding insurance information pertaining to a plurality of insurance customers, a computer processor, and a manual input unit, said at least one portable computer being programmed to receive queries from an insurance agent via said manual input unit and, in response to said queries, to display agent-selected portions of said insurance information, said at least one portable computer being further programmed to receive agent transaction information from the insurance agent via said manual input unit and to register said agent transaction information;
a communication interface for transmitting said agent transaction information to the home office and for receiving from the home office updated insurance information which said computer processor uses to alter the insurance information in said data storage means;
wherein said at least one portable computer is further programmed to prevent permanent alteration of insurance information within said data storage first location via said manual input unit and is programmed to alter the insurance information within said data storage first location only in response to updated insurance information from the home office; and
wherein said at least one portable computer is further programmed to operate in a route list planning mode during which said display screen visually presents at least a portion of a first list and at least a portion of a second list;
said first list including customer information sorted according to one of a plurality of different sorting arrangements;
said second list containing only customer information as selected from the first list by the insurance agent;
said at least one portable computer being further programmed to recognize and execute commands from the insurance agent via said manual input unit directing said computer processor to move selected customer information from the first list to the second list.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for registering insurance transactions and communicating the insurance transactions to a home office computer, preferably on a nightly basis. The system includes a plurality of communications interfaces and portable computers assigned to respective insurance agents, each of the portable computers including a display screen, data storage element for holding insurance information pertaining to a plurality of insurance customers, a computer processor, and a manual input unit. Each of the portable computers is programmed to receive queries from its respective insurance agent and, in response to the queries, to display agent-selected portions of the insurance information. Each of the portable computers is further programmed to receive agent transaction information from its respective insurance agent and to register the agent transaction information for subsequent transmission to the home office computer. Preferably, each portable computer is associated with one of a plurality of insurance districts and the system further includes a district office computer assigned to each insurance district. Each district office computer preferably operates in much the same way as the portable computer, although it is not necessary that the district office computers perform all of the same functions as the portable computers. Each district office computer also performs additional reporting functions and contains copies of all the information processed by the home office which is contained in the portable computers assigned to its district.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for registering insurance transactions and communicating the insurance transactions to a home office, said system comprising:
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at least one portable computer including a display screen, data storage means for holding insurance information pertaining to a plurality of insurance customers, a computer processor, and a manual input unit, said at least one portable computer being programmed to receive queries from an insurance agent via said manual input unit and, in response to said queries, to display agent-selected portions of said insurance information, said at least one portable computer being further programmed to receive agent transaction information from the insurance agent via said manual input unit and to register said agent transaction information; a communication interface for transmitting said agent transaction information to the home office and for receiving from the home office updated insurance information which said computer processor uses to alter the insurance information in said data storage means; wherein said at least one portable computer is further programmed to prevent permanent alteration of insurance information within said data storage first location via said manual input unit and is programmed to alter the insurance information within said data storage first location only in response to updated insurance information from the home office; and wherein said at least one portable computer is further programmed to operate in a route list planning mode during which said display screen visually presents at least a portion of a first list and at least a portion of a second list; said first list including customer information sorted according to one of a plurality of different sorting arrangements; said second list containing only customer information as selected from the first list by the insurance agent; said at least one portable computer being further programmed to recognize and execute commands from the insurance agent via said manual input unit directing said computer processor to move selected customer information from the first list to the second list. - 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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21. A system for registering insurance transactions and communicating the insurance transactions to a home office, said system comprising:
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a plurality of portable computers assigned to respective insurance agents, each of said portable computers including a display screen, data storage means for holding insurance information pertaining to a plurality of insurance customers, a computer processor, and a manual input unit, each of said portable computers being programmed to receive queries from its respective insurance agent via said manual input unit and, in response to said queries, to display agent-selected portions of said insurance information, each of said portable computers being further programmed to receive agent transaction information from its respective insurance agent via said manual input unit and to register said agent transaction information; a home office computer including central data storage means, means for processing agent transaction information transmitted by said portable computer to said home office computer to provide updated insurance information pertaining to a particular one of said portable computers, and means for transmitting said updated insurance information to said particular one of the portable computers; a communication interface at each portable computer for transmitting said agent transaction information to the home office computer and for receiving from the home office computer said updated insurance information which said computer processor uses to alter the insurance information in said data storage means; and wherein said insurance information and said updated insurance information are stored in a first group designated within the data storage means of said portable computers, and wherein said agent transaction information is stored in a second group designated within the data storage means of said portable computers, said portable computers being programmed to prevent permanent alteration of insurance information within said first group via said manual input unit programmed to alter the insurance information in said first group only in response to said updated insurance information from the home office; and wherein said portable computers are further programmed to operate in a route list planning mode during which said display screen visually presents at least a portion of a first list and at least a portion of a second list; said first list including customer information sorted according to one of a plurality of different sorting arrangements; said second list containing only customer information as selected from the first list by the insurance agent; said portable computers being further programmed to recognize and execute commands from the insurance agent via said manual input unit directing said computer processor to move selected customer information from the first list to the second list. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification