Vehicle insurance status display system

• US 8,543,424 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Hunsaker, Darryl Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Lemieux, Jessica
• Application Number:
  US11/647,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20070151133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,461 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/02 Forms or constructions layered products B32B

Abstract

A Vehicle Insurance Status Display System (VISDS) method and system of providing readily perceivable access to selected key information regarding the insurance status of a vehicle. The VISDS provides an at least partially symbolized representation of the germane informational content of a vehicle owner'"'"'s manner of insuring that vehicle in accordance with the relevant laws of the relevant jurisdiction that the vehicle is registered in. The at least partially symbolized representation is prepared in the form of a display for exhibiting on the vehicle. The manners of symbolizing utilize perception facilitating modes to enhance the readiness of perception of the selected key information, and in particular the germane informational content of the insurance status date for that vehicle, which is the date through which the vehicle is properly insured.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information relating to a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status comprising the steps of:

depicting, in at least one manner prescribed for facilitating perception of said display'"'"'s informational content by a suitable display perceiver, at least a first and second indicator elements in an affixable exhibit suitable for securing to the vehicle, said first indicator element including at least a first piece of information that relates to an insurance policy for the vehicle, said second indicator element including at least a second piece of information that relates to the insurance policy for the vehicle, said depicting involving selectively portraying said indicator elements in selected perception facilitating modes, said perception facilitating modes providing capabilities of facilitating human perception of said insurance policy related pieces of information, at least a first of said perception facilitating modes being capable of providing a differing degree of perception facilitating than at least a second of said perception facilitating modes, said depicting appearing from the vehicle;

attributing said insurance policy related pieces of information with differing degrees of significance, and determining at least one association between;

(a) at least one of the degrees of significance attributed to at least one of said first and second insurance policy related pieces of information, and

(b) at least one of the degrees of perception facilitating provided by at least one of said first and second perception facilitating modes; and

selecting one of said first and second perception facilitating modes for portraying said first indicator element and the other of said first and second perception facilitating modes for portraying said second indicator element, said selecting of perception facilitating mode for portraying the indicator elements being made in accordance with at least one of the determined associations between said degrees of significance and said degrees of perception facilitating.

2. A method of displaying information relating to a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status comprising the steps of:

configuring, in at least one manner prescribed for facilitating perception of said display'"'"'s informational content by a suitable display perceiver, a display of the information that relates to the status of the vehicle'"'"'s liability insurance policy in an affixable exhibit suitable for securing to the vehicle, said display apparent from the vehicle and being capable of including a plurality of modes of portraying representations of said insurance status related information;

depicting within said display at least one indicator element, said indicator element including at least one representation of one part of said insurance status related information, said depicting involving portraying said indicator element in at least one visual perception facilitating mode, said visual perception facilitating modes providing differing capabilities, said differing capabilities including varying degrees of facilitating human visual perception of said insurance status related information; and

portraying said indicator element in at least a selected one of said visual perception facilitating modes, said selected visual perception facilitating mode providing a differing degree of visual perception facilitating than does the mode of portraying a different part of the display'"'"'s insurance status related information.

3. A method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status comprising the steps of:

ascertaining an amount of information sufficient to indicate a given vehicle'"'"'s insurance status, said sufficient amount of information being subdivisible into insurance status datums, each of said insurance status datums denoting at least one aspect of a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status;

forming an insurance status data set containing at least said sufficient amount of vehicle insurance status indicating information, said insurance status data set including at least one of said insurance status datums;

symbolizing, in at least one manner prescribed for facilitating perception of said display'"'"'s informational content by a suitable display perceiver, at least a portion of at least one insurance status datum'"'"'s informational content with at least one visual signifier, said symbolizing involving at least one perception facilitating mode which enhances the readiness of human visual perception of the informational content symbolized by said visual signifier; and

representing said insurance status data set with an arrangement of said visual signifiers in an affixable exhibit suitable for securing to the vehicle, said arrangement of the visual signifiers forming a display that appears from the vehicle and enhances the readiness of visual perception of the insurance status data set.

4. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, wherein assorted perception facilitating modes are differentiated by their varying manners of facilitating the readiness of visual perception, at least one of said varying manners of facilitating being selected from a group consisting of:

a) character-based facilitating wherein the visual signifiers include at least one alphanumeric character symbolized in a perception facilitating manner;

b) background-differentiated perception facilitating wherein selected visual signifiers'"'"' symbolizing involves specific visual backgrounds, said specific visual backgrounds effecting said facilitating by aiding at least one of locating and comprehending said selected foreground visual signifiers;

c) placement-location based perception facilitating wherein the location in which at least a portion of said visual display is placed facilitates perception of at least one visual signifier within said display, said locations including at least one of differing locations within said display and differing locations on said vehicle;

d) photo-active perception facilitating wherein at least a portion of said display is photonically active in a manner producing a visual effect beyond the mere visible;

e) shape-based perception facilitating wherein at least one of said visual signifiers, a portion of said display, and said display'"'"'s overall shape is configured in a selected shape;

f) pattern-based perception facilitating wherein at least a portion of said display utilizes a visual pattern, said pattern being an aspect of at least one of a foreground, middle-ground, and background of said patterned display portion;

g) And combinations thereof.

5. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, wherein at least one attribute of a given visual signifier'"'"'s informational content at least partially influences the perception facilitating mode utilized in symbolizing said visual signifier, said informational content influenced perception facilitating modes being selected from a group consisting of:

a) content-allotment based facilitating wherein specific manners of symbolizing are only allotted to visual signifiers that include at least one specific attribute within their informational content;

b) content-significance based facilitating wherein at least one manner of symbolizing is influenced by a degree of significance of at least one attribute of the visual signifier'"'"'s informational content;

c) content-priority based facilitating wherein at least one manner of symbolizing is influenced by a relative priority of at least one attribute of the visual signifier'"'"'s informational content;

d) and combinations thereof.

6. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 4, wherein at least one attribute of a given visual signifier'"'"'s informational content at least partially influences which of said varying facilitating manner perception facilitating modes is utilized for symbolizing said given visual signifier, said informational content attributes including at least one of a relative significance and a relative priority of the informational content being symbolized.

7. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, wherein said insurance status data set, in addition to said insurance status indicating information, further includes insurance related information that is non-status indicating, said non-status indicating insurance related information being subdivisible into insurance non-status datums that are also symbolized with at least one visual signifier;

at least one portion of the insurance status indicating information being primary insurance related information and at least one portion of the non-status indicating insurance related information being secondary insurance related information, and

said symbolizing of said insurance status datums is not uniform for the entirety of all said insurance status datums and all said insurance non-status datums within said insurance status data set, said symbolizing variations involving variations in utilizing said perception facilitating modes so that perception of at least one visual signifier of said primary insurance status datums is more readily perceived than is at least one visual signifier of said secondary insurance non-status datums.

8. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, wherein said display is incorporated into an affixable exhibit suitable for securing to said vehicle and said method further comprises at least one optional step selected from a group consisting of:

a) affixing said exhibit to the vehicle so that said exhibit'"'"'s display of visual signifiers is readily visible from the vehicle'"'"'s exterior;

b) affixing said exhibit to the vehicle in at least one manner prescribed for facilitating perception of said display'"'"'s informational content by a suitable display perceiver;

c) affixing said exhibit to the vehicle at a vehicle site prescribed for facilitating perception of said display'"'"'s informational content by a suitable display perceiver;

d) providing said affixable exhibit;

e) and combinations thereof.

9. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, further comprising the step of utilizing said method by at least one of insurance related organizations and insurance businesses.

10. The method of indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 3, further comprising the step of utilizing said method by at least one of an authority and an organization effecting an authorized undertaking.

11. A system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status comprising:

a display of at least one, and generally a plurality of, visual signifiers, each of said visual signifiers symbolizing at least a portion of an insurance status datum'"'"'s informational content, said insurance status datums being a subdivision of an insurance status data set, said insurance status data set including at least an amount of information sufficient to indicate a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status, each of said insurance status datums denoting at least one aspect of the vehicle'"'"'s insurance status;

at least one of the visual signifiers symbolizing involving at least one perception facilitating mode, said perception facilitating modes enhancing a readiness of human visual perception of the informational content symbolized by said at least one visual signifier;

said display apparent from the vehicle and representing the insurance status data set with an arrangement of said visual signifiers, said arrangement of the visual signifiers potentially further enhancing the readiness of visual perception of the insurance status data set.

12. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 11, wherein assorted perception facilitating modes are differentiated by their varying manners of facilitating the readiness of visual perception, at least one of said varying manners of facilitating being selected from a group consisting of:

a) character-based facilitating wherein the visual signifiers include at least one alphanumeric character symbolized in a perception facilitating manner;

b) background-differentiated perception facilitating wherein selected visual signifiers'"'"' symbolizing involves specific visual backgrounds, said specific visual backgrounds effecting said facilitating by aiding at least one of locating and comprehending said selected foreground visual signifiers;

c) placement-location based perception facilitating wherein the location in which at least a portion of said visual display is placed facilitates perception of at least one visual signifier within said display, said locations including at least one of differing locations within said display and differing locations on said vehicle;

d) photo-active perception facilitating wherein at least a portion of said display is photonically active in a manner producing a visual effect beyond the mere visible;

e) shape-based perception facilitating wherein at least one of said visual signifiers, a portion of said display, and said display'"'"'s overall shape is configured in a selected shape;

f) pattern-based perception facilitating wherein at least a portion of said display utilizes a visual pattern, said pattern being an aspect of at least one of a foreground, middle-ground, and background of said patterned display portion;

g) and combinations thereof.

13. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 11, wherein at least one attribute of a given visual signifier'"'"'s informational content at least partially influences the perception facilitating mode utilized in symbolizing said visual signifier, said informational content influenced perception facilitating modes being selected from a group consisting of:

a) content-allotment based facilitating wherein specific manners of symbolizing are only allotted to visual signifiers that include at least one specific attribute within their informational content;

b) content-significance based facilitating wherein at least one manner of symbolizing is influenced by a degree of significance of at least one attribute of the visual signifier'"'"'s informational content;

c) content-priority based facilitating wherein at least one manner of symbolizing is influenced by a relative priority of at least one attribute of the visual signifier'"'"'s informational content;

d) and combinations thereof.

14. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 12, wherein at least one attribute of a given visual signifier'"'"'s informational content at least partially influences which of said varying facilitating manner perception facilitating modes is utilized for symbolizing said given visual signifier, said informational content attributes including at least one of a relative significance and a relative priority of the informational content being symbolized.

15. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 11, wherein said insurance status data set, in addition to said insurance status indicating information, further includes insurance related information that is non-status indicating, said non-status indicating insurance related information being subdivisible into insurance non-status datums that are also symbolized with at least one visual signifier;

at least one portion of the insurance status indicating information being primary insurance related information and at least one portion of the non-status indicating insurance related information being secondary insurance related information, and

said symbolizing of said insurance status datums is not uniform for the entirety of all said insurance status datums and all said insurance non-status datums within said insurance status data set, said symbolizing variations involving variations in utilizing said perception facilitating modes so that perception of at least one visual signifier of said primary insurance status datums is more readily perceived than is at least one visual signifier of said secondary insurance non-status datums.

16. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 11, wherein said display is incorporated into an affixable exhibit suitable for securing to said vehicle in a disposition that enables ready perception of the display'"'"'s visual signifiers from the vehicle'"'"'s exterior.

17. The system for indicating a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 16, wherein said affixable exhibit incorporates at least an affixing part and a first removable display part, said affixing part providing said vehicle securing capability and said first removable display part incorporating a first version of said visual signifiers of the insurance status datums, said removable part being replaceable with an updated second removable display part that incorporates a second version of the visual signifiers, said second version of the visual signifiers incorporating insurance status data set changes from the insurance status data set incorporated in said first version of the visual signifiers.

18. A system for providing a readily perceivable representation of a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status comprising:

a display of visual signifiers, said display apparent from a vehicle so as to be visible from said vehicle'"'"'s exterior, each of said visual signifiers symbolically denoting at least one aspect of the display'"'"'s informational content and each of said visual signifiers corresponding to at least one datum of information that relates to said vehicle'"'"'s insurance status, at least one of said visual signifiers'"'"' symbolizing being effected in the manner of at least one perception facilitating mode;

said perception facilitating modes being manners of symbolizing representations, said representations utilizing at least one symbolizing technique that enhances the readiness of human perception of the datum of insurance status related information that the visual signifier denotes, said symbolizing techniques involving at least one way of denoting information that does not involve solely presenting said information in generally uniform alphanumeric characters.

19. The system for providing a readily perceivable representation of a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 18, wherein at least one of said perception readiness enhancing symbolizing techniques is selected from a group consisting of:

a) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with varying character sizing;

b) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with varying character shading;

c) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with varying character arrangements;

d) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected placement locations of at least one selected visual signifier;

e) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected visual backgrounds for at least one selected visual signifier;

f) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected shapes for at least one selected visual signifier;

g) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected patterns for at least one selected visual signifier;

h) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected photo-active effects for at least one selected visual signifier;

i) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected visual signifiers being symbolized only with selected forms of representation;

j) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected visual signifiers that are allotted to said informational datums according to the content of said insurance status related informational datums;

k) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected visual signifiers that are prioritized according to the priority of said insurance status related informational datums;

l) denoting at least one insurance status related informational datum with selected visual signifiers that are allotted according to the content of said insurance status related informational datums;

m) and combinations thereof.

20. The system for providing a readily perceivable representation of a vehicle'"'"'s insurance status according to claim 18, further comprising an association that utilizes said vehicle insurance status representations in concert with at least one of an insurance related communication system, an administering insurance related organization, an insurance related business, and a governing authority.