Patent Document ID: 8271509
Application ID: 12274951

Base Claim:
1. A customer service system comprising: a communication interface comprising a financial institution's web page accessible to a customer of the financial institution and configured to receive a search query from the customer, where the search query relates to a financial product; a storage device comprising a database comprising, at least one rule wherein the at least one rule relates at least partially to predetermined criteria for automatically displaying, on the communication interface accessible to the customer an invitation to chat with a customer service associate of the financial institution, wherein the predetermined criteria relates to whether the customer service associate is capable of answering questions about the financial product whether the customer service associate is currently available to chat with the customer; and a computer processor operatively coupled to the communication interface, and the storage device, wherein the computer processor is configured to automatically and independent of a request from the customer to chat: analyze the search query to determine information associated with the search query; compare the information associated with the search query to the at least one rule stored in the database; determine whether or not to display on the communication interface accessible to the customer an invitation to initiate a chat session between the customer service associate and the customer, based at least partially on determining that the customer service associate is capable of answering questions about the financial product and that the customer service associate is currently available to chat.

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Claim 2:
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the chat session comprises substantially real-time electronic communication.