System and Method For Flexible Insurance Rating Calculation

Abstract

A product rate calculation system operating as a rating server (e.g., a process executing on a server computer system, or a process executing on the same computer system as a client process but serving information to the client process) advantageously provides a flexible insurance rating calculation system that can easily be modified and expanded, while still providing quick, and even real-time responsiveness to product rate requests. The product rate calculation system includes an interface to a product information database and a cache for storing product rate information for efficient reuse. The product rate information includes product rate expressions that are parsed and evaluated by an expression evaluation routine to determine a product rate. As part of the evaluation process, additional product rate information (such as look-up table data and numerical constants) as well as consumer information can be used.

1 . A product rate calculation system comprising:
 a database interface operable to request and receive product rate information from a database, the product rate information including at least one product rate expression;   a product rate information cache storing product rate information;   an expression evaluation routine operable to parse a product rate expression stored in the product rate information cache into at least one token, and operable to evaluate the at least one token to determine a product rate; and   a client interface operable to provide the product rate to a client application running on a computer system.   
     
     
         2 - 26 . (canceled)