Insurance agent contact system

• US 7,640,176 B1
• Filed: 05/20/1999
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Prism Technologies Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: InsWeb Corporation (Prism Technologies Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ligier, Slawek I., Fetrow, Adrienne, Froemling, Timothy J., Aldrich, Steven P., McCrery, Mark T.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pass; Natalie A.
• Application Number:
  US09/315,141
• Time in Patent Office: 3,876 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/26, 705/37, 705/7, 705/80, 709/229, 709/203
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An online insurance information system comprises an insurance quoting system, an agent contact system, agent systems, and customer systems. The agent contact system comprises a customer interfacing subsystem, a create contact engine, an agent interfacing subsystem, and a process contact engine. The customer interfacing subsystem is coupled to the quoting system and to a given one of the customer systems for receiving an online indication by a given customer of a desire to pursue a policy with a given agent. The given customer comprises a given contact. The create contact engine identifies the given agent system and saves in a database local to the agent contact system a personal insurance profile and contact information corresponding to the given customer. The agent interfacing subsystem coupled to the given agent system receives an online indication by the given agent of a desire to view, print, or modify the contact information. The process contact engine contacts the given agent system with information regarding the given contact, and accesses and modifies the contact information in accordance with online indications made by the agent.

Claims

1. In an online insurance information system comprising an insurance quoting system, an agent contact system, agent systems, and customer systems, said insurance quoting system, said agent contact system, said agent systems, and said customer systems being separate and remote from each other, said agent contact system comprising:

a customer interfacing subsystem, coupled to said insurance quoting system and to a given customer system of said customer systems, for presenting on said given customer system plural different agents representative of different insurance companies from which to choose, the different agents comprising separate agent systems, and for receiving an online indication by a given customer of a desire to pursue a policy with a given agent, said given customer comprising a given contact;

a create contact engine for identifying a given agent system and saving in a database local to said agent contact system a personal insurance profile and contact information corresponding to said given customer;

an agent interfacing subsystem coupled to said given agent system for receiving an online indication by said given agent of a desire to view, print, or modify said contact information; and

a process contact engine for contacting said given agent system with information regarding said given contact, and for accessing and modifying said contact information in accordance with online indications made by said given agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said process contact engine comprises a mechanism to inform the given agent system of the given customer through email.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said agent interfacing system comprises a mechanism to interact with said agent systems via a web-based interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said customer interfacing subsystem comprises a mechanism to receive the online indication by the given customer through a web-based interface.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said create contact engine comprises a mechanism to identify the given agent based on geographic information of the given customer.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the geographic information comprises a zip code.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the insurance policy comprises an automobile insurance policy.