System and method for accessibility insurance coverage management

• US 20040117216A1
• Filed: 12/12/2002
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Hartley, John C., Schwerdtfeger, Richard Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,480,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A system and method for accessibility insurance coverage management is provided. An insurance server receives a coverage request from a requestor that includes a user identifier corresponding to a user (i.e. policyholder). The insurance server matches the user identifier with a stored policyholder identifier and retrieves accessibility data corresponding to the matched policyholder identifier. If required, the insurance server updates the policyholder'"'"'s accessibility data by receiving accessibility data from an accessibility database server. The insurance server identifies the policyholder'"'"'s coverage using the user'"'"'s accessibility data along with the user'"'"'s policy information. The insurance server sends a message to the requester which indicates an amount of the particular item corresponding to the coverage request the insurance server covers. The insurance server receives accessibility service bills on a frequent basis, such as monthly. The insurance server verifies the billing information, pays the bill, and updates policyholder claims paid to date information.

Claims

1. A method of processing accessibility insurance coverage requests, said method comprising:

receiving a coverage request over a computer network from a requestor, wherein the coverage request includes a user identifier and an access request identifier;

identifying insurance coverage corresponding to the user identifier and the access request identifier; and

transmitting the insurance coverage to the requestor over the computer network in response to the identified insurance coverage.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the requestor is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a service provider, a client, an accounting server, a transcoding proxy server, and a web server.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

sending an accessibility record request to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes the user identifier;

receiving accessibility data in response to the accessibility record request, wherein the accessibility data is used in the identifying.

4. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the requestor is a service provider server, and wherein the service provider server is selected from the group consisting of a parking garage server, a parking meter server, a public transportation server, and an airport special assistance server.

5. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an insurance bill from a payment collection server over a computer network, wherein the insurance bill includes a coverage amount, the coverage amount corresponding to the insurance coverage; and

sending an electronic payment to the payment collection server.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the requestor is a service provider, wherein the access request identifier corresponds to accessibility privileges for a user, and wherein the user corresponding to the user identifier.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the requestor is a portal server, and wherein the access request identifier corresponds to a content transcoding request.

8. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

identifying, at the requester, an insurance server corresponding to the user identifier; and

sending, at the requester, the coverage request to the insurance server.

9. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by the processors;

one or more nonvolatile storage devices accessible by the processors; and

an accessibility insurance coverage tool to process accessibility insurance coverage requests, the accessibility insurance coverage tool including;

means for receiving a coverage request over a computer network from a requestor, wherein the coverage request includes a user identifier and an access request identifier;

means for identifying insurance coverage corresponding to the user identifier and the access request identifier; and

means for transmitting the insurance coverage to the requester over the computer network in response to the identified insurance coverage.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 9 wherein the requester is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a service provider, a client, an accounting server, a transcoding proxy server, and a web server.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 9 further comprising:

means for sending an accessibility record request to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes the user identifier;

means for receiving accessibility data in response to the accessibility record request; and

wherein the accessibility data is used in the means for identifying.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 9 wherein the requestor is a service provider server, wherein the service provider server is selected from the group consisting of a parking garage server, a parking meter server, a public transportation server, and an airport special assistance server, and wherein the access request identifier corresponds to accessibility privileges for a user, the user corresponding to the user identifier.

13. The information handling system as described in claim 9 further comprising:

means for receiving an insurance bill from a payment collection server over a computer network, wherein the insurance bill includes a coverage amount, the coverage amount corresponding to the insurance coverage; and

means for sending an electronic payment to the payment collection server.

14. The information handling system as described in claim 9 further comprising:

means for identifying, at the requester, an insurance server corresponding to the user identifier; and

means for sending, at the requestor, the coverage request to the insurance server.

15. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for processing accessibility insurance coverage requests, said computer program product comprising:

means for receiving a coverage request over a computer network from a requestor, wherein the coverage request includes a user identifier and an access request identifier;

means for identifying insurance coverage corresponding to the user identifier and the access request identifier; and

means for transmitting the insurance coverage to the requestor over the computer network in response to the identified insurance coverage.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the requester is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a service provider, a client, an accounting server, a transcoding proxy server, and a web server.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 15 further comprising:

means for sending an accessibility record request to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes the user identifier;

means for receiving accessibility data in response to the accessibility record request; and

means for wherein the accessibility data is used in the identifying.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the requester is a service provider server, wherein the service provider server is selected from the group consisting of a parking garage server, a parking meter server, a public transportation server, and an airport special assistance server, and wherein the access request identifier corresponds to accessibility privileges for a user and the user corresponds to the user identifier.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 15 further comprising:

means for receiving an insurance bill from a payment collection server over a computer network, wherein the insurance bill includes a coverage amount, the coverage amount corresponding to the insurance coverage; and

means for sending an electronic payment to the payment collection server.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 15 further comprising:

means for identifying, at the requester, an insurance server corresponding to the user identifier; and

means for sending, at the requester, the coverage request to the insurance server.