Patent Issued for Browser extension for capturing vehicle information from webpage for generating insurance rate quote (USPTO 11373250): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 JUL 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11373250, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Olson, Jeffery (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on November 4, 2020 and was published online on June 28, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “People shopping for vehicles, or otherwise viewing vehicles online, may want to determine the costs of insuring those vehicles. One way to obtain an insurance rate quote is to manually transfer, by typing or copying-and-pasting, information about the vehicle from one webpage that provides the information to another webpage that uses the information to generate the insurance rate quote. This manual process suffers from several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that mistakes may be made in manually transferring the vehicle information, which may result in having to repeat the process or, if the error goes unnoticed, an incorrect insurance rate quote. Another disadvantage is that manually transferring vehicle information for several vehicles may be a time-consuming process. These and other disadvantages may be further exacerbated when using a mobile device.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to, inter alia, a browser extension configured to cooperate with a program application to allow users of mobile devices to quickly and easily obtain insurance rate quotes for vehicles based upon substantially any webpages containing identifying information for the vehicles. More broadly, the browser extension may be configured to allow users of mobile devices to quickly and easily obtain insurance rate quotes for substantially any kind of real or personal properties based upon substantially any webpages containing identifying information for the properties.

“In one aspect, a computer system may be provided for facilitating a user of a mobile device obtaining an insurance rate quote for a vehicle from an insurance provider. The vehicle information identifying the vehicle may be provided on a webpage. The computer system may include a communication element configured to receive and transmit communications via a network; a memory element configured to store information; a display configured to display information to the user; and/or a processing element electronically coupled to the communication element and the memory element. The memory element may store and the processing element may execute a browser extension and program application. The browser extension may search the webpage for the vehicle information identifying the vehicle. The user may be prompted to select the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired from a list of one or more vehicles for which vehicle information identifying the one or more vehicles is found on the webpage. The browser extension may automatically pass the vehicle information identifying the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired to the program application. The program application may obtain user information for generating the insurance rate quote. Based upon the vehicle information and the user information, the program application may generate and display for the user the insurance rate quote for the vehicle to facilitate (i) user review and/or approval of the quote and/or (ii) the user purchasing insurance covering the vehicle. The computer system may include additional, fewer, or alternative components or features, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method may be provided for facilitating a user of a mobile device obtaining an insurance rate quote for a vehicle from an insurance provider. The vehicle information identifying the vehicle may be provided on a webpage. The browser extension may search the webpage for the vehicle information identifying the vehicle. The user may be prompted to select the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired from a list of one or more vehicles for which vehicle information identifying the one or more vehicles was found on the webpage. The browser extension may automatically pass the vehicle information identifying the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired to a program application. The program application may obtain user information for generating the insurance rate quote. Based upon the vehicle information and the user information, the program application may generate and display for the user the insurance rate quote for the vehicle to facilitate (a) user review and/or approval of the quote and/or (b) the user purchasing insurance covering the vehicle. The computer-implemented method may include additional, fewer, or alternative features, including those discussed elsewhere herein, and/or may be implemented via (i) one or more local or remote processors, such as those associated with mobile devices, wireless communication networks, and/or insurance provider servers, and/or (ii) computer-executable instructions stored on non-transitory computer-readable media or medium.

“In another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium with an executable program stored thereon may be provided for facilitating a user of a mobile device obtaining an insurance rate quote for a vehicle from an insurance provider. The vehicle information identifying the vehicle may be provided on a webpage. The browser extension may search the webpage for the vehicle information identifying the vehicle. The user may be prompted to select the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired from a list of one or more vehicles for which vehicle information identifying the one or more vehicles is found on the webpage. The browser extension may automatically pass the vehicle information identifying the vehicle for which the insurance rate quote is desired to a program application. The program application may obtain user information for generating the insurance rate quote. Based upon the vehicle information and the user information, the program application may generate and display for the user the insurance rate quote for the vehicle to facilitate (i) user review and/or approval of the quote and/or (ii) the user purchasing insurance covering the vehicle. The non-transitory computer readable medium and the program stored thereon may include instructions for additional, fewer, or alternative features, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“Each of the aforementioned aspects may further include any one or more of the following additional or alternative features. Vehicles for which the insurance rate quote is desired may include cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, airplanes, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), riding lawnmowers, and/or recreational vehicles. Vehicle information identifying the vehicles may include vehicle identification numbers (VINs), makes, models, manufacturing years, colors, engines, current mileage, and/or conditions. Webpages on which the vehicle information may be found may include vehicle dealers’ webpage, online marketplace webpages, online bulletin board webpages, and/or newspaper online classified webpages. The user may be allowed to indicate a portion of the webpage in which the vehicle information may be found, and the browser extension’s search for the vehicle information may be limited to the indicated portion of the webpage. Where on the webpage the vehicle information was found may be indicated for the user. The browser extension’s searching of the webpage for the vehicle information may be visually depicted for the user.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving from a user a request to start a browser extension on a user selected webpage displayed on a browser application of a mobile device, the request being initiated by the user via user input in the form of user selection of a browser extension icon; starting the browser extension in response to receiving the user input; scanning the webpage, using the browser extension running on the mobile device, for vehicle information identifying one or more vehicles; generating a list of the vehicle information detected on the webpage by the browser extension; prompting the user to select at least one vehicle of the one or more vehicles identified by the vehicle information from the list of the detected vehicle information; and in response to receiving a user selection of at least one vehicle, automatically passing the vehicle information associated with the selected at least one vehicle from the browser extension to a program application running on the mobile device that is different from the browser application.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selected at least one vehicle is selected from the group consisting of: cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, airplanes, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles, riding lawnmowers, and recreational vehicles.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle information is selected from the group consisting of: vehicle identification numbers, makes, models, manufacturing years, colors, engines, and conditions.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the webpage is selected from the group consisting of: vehicle dealers’ webpage, online marketplace webpages, online bulletin board webpages, and newspaper online classified webpages.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: allowing the user to indicate a portion of the webpage in which the vehicle information is found; and limiting the search for the vehicle information to the indicated portion of the webpage.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising indicating for the user where on the webpage the vehicle information was found.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising visually depicting the browser extension searching the webpage for the vehicle information.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to passing the vehicle information to the program application, prompting the user to discontinue passing the vehicle information and close the browser extension, or to continue passing the vehicle information to the program application.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein passing the vehicle information to the program application includes automatically populating one or more fields in the program application.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein passing the vehicle information to the program application includes storing the vehicle information in an electronic memory location which is accessible to both the browser extension and the program application.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein passing the vehicle information to the program application includes passing the vehicle information to an intermediate program, closing the browser extension, and passing the vehicle information from the intermediate program to the program application.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: using the program application, obtaining user information corresponding to the user; transmitting the user information and the vehicle information associated with the selected at least one vehicle to a remote server of an insurance provider; and receiving at the program application, from the remote server, a response message based upon the user information and the vehicle information associated with the selected at least one vehicle.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein obtaining user information includes: if the user is an existing customer of the insurance provider, retrieving the user information from the remote server; and if the user is not an existing customer of the insurance provider, prompting the user to provide the user information, wherein the user information is selected from the group consisting of: names, ages, addresses, and numbers of driving miles in a particular time period.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising saving the user information for future use by the browser extension or the program application.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising: if the user is an existing customer of the insurance provider, prompting the user to indicate whether the selected at least one vehicle will replace an existing vehicle insured by the user, and if the selected at least one vehicle will replace an existing vehicle insured by the user, listing one or more existing vehicles insured by the user and prompting the user to select a vehicle from the one or more existing vehicles to be replaced, and if the selected at least one vehicle will not replace an existing vehicle insured by the user, prompting the user to provide an approximate number of miles that the selected at least one vehicle will be driven in a particular time period.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein if the user selects a plurality of vehicles of the one or more vehicles identified by the vehicle information for each of which an insurance rate quote is desired, further including displaying a plurality of insurance rate quotes simultaneously to facilitate a comparison of the cost of insuring each vehicle, the response message including the plurality of rate quotes.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further including presenting to the user an offer to finance the user’s acquisition of the selected at least one vehicle, and, if the user accepts the offer, passing the vehicle information and the user information to the same or another program application that generates and displays for the user an interest rate quote.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further including presenting to the user an offer to provide an extended warranty on the selected at least one vehicle, and, if the user accepts the offer, passing the vehicle information and the user information to the same or another program application that generates and displays for the user an extended warranty price quote.

“19. A computer system comprising: a communication element configured to receive and transmit communications via a network; a memory configured to store information; a display configured to display information to a user; and one or more processors electronically coupled to the communication element and the memory element and configured to perform the following: receiving from the user a request to start a browser extension on a user selected webpage displayed on a browser application and presented on the display, the request being initiated by the user via user input in the form of user selection of a browser extension icon; starting the browser extension in response to receiving the user input; scanning the webpage, using the browser extension running on the mobile device, for vehicle information identifying one or more vehicles; generating a list of the vehicle information detected on the webpage by the browser extension; in response to receiving a user selection of at least one vehicle, prompting the user to select a vehicle of the one or more vehicles identified by the vehicle information from the list of the detected vehicle information; and automatically passing the vehicle information associated with the selected vehicle from the browser extension to a program application, which is different from the browser application.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Olson, Jeffery. Browser extension for capturing vehicle information from webpage for generating insurance rate quote. U.S. Patent Number 11373250, filed November 4, 2020, and published online on June 28, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11373250.PN.&OS=PN/11373250RS=PN/11373250

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