Insurance IP Bulletin
An Information Bulletin on Intellectual Property activities in the insurance industry
A Publication of - Tom Bakos Consulting, Inc. and Markets, Patents and Alliances, LLC 		October 15, 2005

VOL: 2005.5

Newly Issued Patents (8/15 – 10/11/05) in Class 705/4

6,934,686        Filed: June 30, 2000               Issued: August 23, 2005 Pendency: 4.2 years        

 

P&C               Warranty transaction system and method

 

            ASSIGNEE:    i2 Technologies US, Inc. (Dallas, TX)

                                                  

                     FIELD:   Warrantees on consumer purchased items

 

PROBLEMS: The customer typically has limited options regarding the features and price of the warranty.

                                   

          SOLUTIONS:  The invention provides a customer with one or more customized warranty package options tailored to a customer’s particular needs based on information gathered by the system.  The invention allows the customer to select one or more of the warranty package options and to communicate that selection to one or more warranty providers. The warranty providers are given the ability to bid on the selected warranty package, and the customer can then choose one or more of the bids.


6,937,990        Filed: December 21, 1999      Issued: August 30, 2005 Pendency: 5.7 years        

 ALL                System for syndication of insurance

 

         ASSIGNEE:    Walker Digital, LLC (Stamford, CT)            

 

                  FIELD:      Insurance syndication

 

        PROBLEMS:    There is a need for a more efficient system, preferably implemented on a wide area communication network such as the Internet, whereby a stake in an insurance syndicate may be made widely available as an investment vehicle.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    A large number of persons hold credit cards with unused credit lines. These unused credit lines potentially could be pledged in making an investment, which would enable the cardholder to realize a source of income from an otherwise untapped personal asset. Such a pledge could be secured against default by freezing a portion of the credit line.

 

                       

 

 

 6,938,006        Filed: June 26, 2001               Issued: August 30, 2005 Pendency: 4.2 years        

 

ALL                Sales method and system for selling tangible and intangible products

 

          ASSIGNEE:    Sony Corporation (Tokyo, JP)              

 

                  FIELD:      Marketing/distribution of insurance products in combination with associated other products

 

        PROBLEMS:    Currently it is necessary to access separate Internet sites to buy intangibles like insurance and associated tangibles like an item to be insured.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    A sales system by which users, or customers, of Internet shopping are able to buy combinations of intangibles and tangibles by a single access operation and an operational procedure as simple as possible.  Such a sales system also allows the selling side to provide the sale of combinations of intangibles and tangibles which no previous system has done before, thereby significantly enhancing the sales efficiency.  

 

 

 


6,944,597        Filed: October 30, 2001         Issued: September 13, 2005 Pendency: 3.9 years  

 

P&C               Providing termination benefits for employees

 

         ASSIGNEE:    Spincor LLC (West Palm Beach, FL)                

 

                  FIELD:     Termination benefits to employees involuntarily terminated

 

        PROBLEMS:    Many employers incur large costs for non-voluntary terminations of their employees.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    The invention overcomes previous concerns about the risks associated with adverse selection by employers in connection with employment termination insurance products and makes such products feasible and profitable.  

 


6,947,881        Filed: July 7, 1999                  Issued: September 20, 2005 Pendency: 6.2 years  

 

P&C               Shared vehicle system and method with vehicle relocation

 

         ASSIGNEE:      Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo, JP); The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)         

 

                  FIELD:      The sharing of a fleet of vehicles (electric) among a number of users

 

        PROBLEMS:     Public transportation systems do not entirely satisfy individual transportation requirements.  In addition, the excessive use of private vehicles creates parking and other problems.  Therefore, there is a need for an efficient and convenient way to share the use of private vehicles.  An example is given of such a shared vehicle system that uses electric vehicles.  NOTE: It is not obvious in a quick reading why any of the claims of this invention were assigned to class 705/4.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    User groups are created such that they can share a group of vehicles.  The vehicles are positioned in such a way based on user data to make access to the vehicles convenient.   

 

 

6,947,904        Filed: July 25, 2000                Issued: September 20, 2005 Pendency: 5.2 years  

 

L&H               System and method for incorporating mortally risk in an investment planning model

 

         ASSIGNEE:      Macey-Holland & Co., LLC (Atlanta, GA)                

 

                  FIELD:      Retirement planning system

 

        PROBLEMS:    Retirement planning is a frustrating exercise because the future is uncertain. Deterministic models provide no indication of the likelihood that retirement goals will be achieved.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    A retirement planning system that uses Monte Carlo techniques to vary the life span of an investor and/or to vary the rate of return of a portfolio so as to more completely describe an investor's chances of achieving a retirement goal can be used to generate the probability that retirement goals can be achieved.

 

6,954,741        Filed: August 6, 1999             Issued: October 11, 2005      Pendency: 6.2 years  

 

ALL                Computerized dispute resolution system and method

 

         ASSIGNEE:      Cybersettle.com, Inc. (New York, NY)                     

 

                  FIELD:      Claim dispute resolution

 

        PROBLEMS:    Conventional alternative dispute resolution systems, although sometimes helpful, are costly and the results are often unacceptable.

 

       SOLUTIONS:    A automated series of rounds in which the demands and offers of two opposing parties are matched against a predetermined set of guidelines in an effort to reach a settlement.  All of this is based on input received from the opposing parties.  This falls into class 705/4 because it can incorporate dispute resolution of insurance claims.