Patent Issued for Roadside assistance service provider assignment system (USPTO 11416789): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 SEP 05 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11416789, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Balabas, Jason (Arlington Heights, IL, US), Brandmaier, Jennifer A. (Chicago, IL, US), Chen, Tao (Northbrook, IL, US), Lieggi, Christopher J. (Schaumburg, IL, US), Spinneweber, Robert A. (Tempe, AZ, US).

This patent was filed on January 5, 2021 and was published online on August 16, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Services provided to users, such as roadside assistance services, automobile services, home services, and other personal services, are traditionally serviced through professional service providers that can be expensive and difficult to schedule. Specifically, roadside assistance service providers provide towing services, flat tire assistance, fuel services, automobile repairs, oil changes, and scheduled maintenance appointments, etc. Most prior art systems might auto assign roadside assistance service providers or tow truck drivers solely based on the proximity to a distressed vehicle. Telematics devices are known and used in the art to provide various telematics information to users and/or service providers regarding their location, direction of travel, velocity, route, and/or destination. Additionally, there is a vast wealth of insurance information that includes locations and instances for previous accidents, previous insurance claims, and driving history.

“Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide roadside assistance service provider systems and methods for safe and effective service requests and assigning using a system that takes a sophisticated approach to collecting various types of data through sensors and systems, analyzes that data, and assigns roadside assistance service providers based on a complex plurality of factors/characteristics for a more optimized assignment. It would be desirable to include telematics information and service provider information to locate the service providers based on the location of the services requested and to prioritize the service providers based on the user preferences, telematics information, additional factors, and insurance information of the service providers”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“A first aspect of the disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for a roadside assistance service provider system. The method may comprise: (1) receiving, through a roadside assistance service provider application executing on a roadside assistance service provider server having at least one processor, a roadside assistance service request from a driver of a distressed vehicle; (2) collecting, by a plurality of sensors in communication with a vehicle of a roadside assistance service provider, roadside assistance service provider information; (3) collecting, by the roadside assistance server provider server, historical statistics data based on real-world roadside assistance services; (4) receiving, by the roadside assistance service provider server, telematics information from a telematics device; (5) comparing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, the roadside assistance service request with the roadside assistance service provider information, the telematics information, and the historical statistics data to determine a timeline and a distance for each individual roadside assistance service provider; (6) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a prioritized ranking of roadside assistance service providers based on the roadside assistance service provider information, the telematics information, the historical statistics data, and the roadside assistance service request; (7) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, an assignment for roadside assistance services to the highest ranked roadside assistance service provider from the comparison and prioritized ranking steps; and (8) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, roadside assistance event notifications for the roadside assistance services.

“Another aspect of the disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for a roadside assistance service provider system. The method may comprise: (1) receiving, through a roadside assistance service provider application executing on a roadside assistance service provider server having at least one processor, a roadside assistance service request from a driver of a distressed vehicle, wherein the roadside assistance service request includes one or more of the following: jump start the distressed vehicle, flat tire change, tow automobile, or locked out of vehicle; (2) collecting, by a plurality of sensors in communication with a vehicle with a roadside assistance driver, roadside assistance driver information; (3) collecting, by the roadside assistance server provider server, historical statistics data based on real-world roadside assistance services; (4) receiving, by the roadside assistance service provider server, telematics information from a telematics device; (5) comparing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, the roadside assistance service request with the roadside assistance driver information, the telematics information, and the historical statistics data to determine a timeline and a distance for each individual roadside assistance driver; (6) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a prioritized ranking of roadside assistance drivers based on the roadside assistance driver information, the telematics information, the historical statistics data, and the roadside assistance service request; (7) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, an assignment for roadside assistance services to the highest ranked roadside assistance driver from the comparison and prioritized ranking steps; (8) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a reassignment of the roadside assistance service request, wherein the reassignment includes shuffling the assignments during an assignment process; (9) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, roadside assistance event notifications for the roadside assistance services; and (10) providing, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a reward if the roadside assistance driver meets particular times for the roadside assistance service request.

“In another aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, may cause an apparatus to: (a) receive, through a roadside assistance service provider application executing on a roadside assistance service provider server having at least one processor, a roadside assistance service request from a driver of a distressed vehicle; (b) collect roadside assistance service provider information by a plurality of sensors in communication with a vehicle of a roadside assistance service provider; © collect, by the roadside assistance server provider server, historical statistics data based on real-world roadside assistance services; (d) determine, by the roadside assistance service provider server, an amount of time for each task within the roadside assistance service provider request necessary for a given roadside assistance service provider; (e) receive, by the roadside assistance service provider server, telematics information from a telematics device; (f) compare, by the roadside assistance service provider server, the roadside assistance service request with the roadside assistance service provider information, the telematics information, and the historical statistics data to determine a timeline and a distance for each individual roadside assistance service provider; (g) provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a prioritized ranking of roadside assistance service providers based on the roadside assistance service provider information, the telematics information, the historical statistics data, and the roadside assistance service request; (h) provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server, an assignment for roadside assistance services to the highest ranked roadside assistance service provider from the comparison and prioritized ranking steps; and (i) provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server, roadside assistance event notifications for the roadside assistance services, wherein the event notification is on a display to the roadside assistance service provider, and further wherein the display provides a reminder to the roadside assistance service provider when the roadside assistance service provider has gone beyond an average time for each of the tasks.

“The details of these and other embodiments of the present disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent form the description and drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A roadside assistance system, the system comprising: a roadside assistance service provider server having at least one processor; a roadside assistance service provider application for use on a mobile device and executing on the roadside assistance service provider server; and a GPS module on the mobile device to acquire GPS information of a user vehicle, the GPS module in communication with the roadside assistance service provider application, wherein the GPS module provides the acquired GPS information to the roadside assistance service provider application and the roadside assistance service provider server; wherein the roadside assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the roadside assistance service provider server, is configured to: receive, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a roadside assistance service request, wherein the roadside assistance service request comprises one or more of the following: jump start the user vehicle, flat tire change for the user vehicle, fuel a lack of fuel user vehicle, or unlock a locked out user vehicle; determine, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a selected service provider based on one or more of: (1) proximity in location between the user vehicle and the selected service provider, (2) a length of time-to-travel between the user vehicle and the selected service provider, (3) prior driver’s ratings for the selected service provider, (4) a skill set of the selected service provider, or (5) a cost of the selected service provider; send, by the roadside assistance service provider server via the roadside assistance service provider application, the roadside assistance service request to the selected service provider; receive, via the roadside assistance service provider application, acceptance of the roadside assistance service request from the selected service provider; provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server and the GPS module, a notification, to the roadside assistance service provider application, of a status of the selected service provider; and receive, from the selected service provider and via the roadside assistance service provider application, a confirmation of completion of the roadside assistance service request.

“2. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the notification includes one or more of: providing an estimated time until arrival, alerting when an amount of time spent on a task exceeds a predefined threshold, flagging high priority tasks, flagging high priority assignments, or providing a step-by-step checklist for the roadside assistance service request.

“3. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the GPS information includes one or more of: location, velocity, route, or destination.

“4. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application is configured to receive roadside assistance service provider information from a vehicle of a roadside assistance service provider, wherein the roadside assistance service provider information comprises one or more of: a location of the selected service provider, a type of the selected service provider, or a set of ratings of the selected service provider.

“5. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application is configured to receive roadside assistance service provider information from a vehicle of a roadside assistance service provider, wherein the roadside assistance service provider information comprises real-time information including one or more of: an availability of the selected service provider, a start time for the selected service provider, or a completion time for the selected service provider.

“6. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided, via a display device associated with the roadside assistance service provider application, to the selected service provider.

“7. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the roadside assistance service provider server, is further configured to: provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server and via the roadside assistance service provider application, electronic payment for completing the roadside assistance service request to the selected service provider.

“8. The roadside assistance system of claim 7, wherein the electronic payment is automatically processed, with a pre-entered payment method, upon completion of the roadside assistance service request.

“9. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the roadside assistance service provider server, is further configured to: receive, upon completion of the roadside assistance service request and by the roadside assistance service provider server, an evaluation of the selected service provider.

“10. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the roadside assistance service provider server, is further configured to: receive, upon completion of the roadside assistance service request and by the roadside assistance service provider server, an evaluation from the selected service provider.

“11. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the roadside assistance service provider server, is further configured to: receive, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a registration from a group of service providers, wherein the registration comprises an interview, a background check, and a driver’s record check.

“12. The roadside assistance system of claim 11, wherein the registration further comprises a validation of completed training for the group of service providers.

“13. The roadside assistance system of claim 1, wherein the roadside assistance service provider application is configured to receive the roadside assistance service provider information from a sensor positioned on the vehicle of the roadside assistance service provider.

“14. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to: (a) receive, via a roadside assistance service provider application for use on a mobile device executing on a roadside assistance service provider server having at least one processor, a roadside assistance service request; (b) receive, by the roadside assistance service provider server, GPS information from a GPS module on the mobile device, wherein the GPS module acquires the GPS information of a user vehicle, and wherein the GPS module is in communication with the roadside assistance service provider application; © receive, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a roadside assistance service request, wherein the roadside assistance service request comprises one or more of the following: jump start the user vehicle, flat tire change of the user vehicle, fuel a lack of fuel user vehicle, or unlock a locked out user vehicle; (d) determine, by the roadside assistance service provider server, a selected service provider based on one or more of: (1) proximity in location between the user vehicle and the selected service provider, (2) a length of time-to-travel between the user vehicle and the selected service provider, (3) prior driver’s ratings for the selected service provider, (4) a skill set of the selected service provider, or (5) a cost of the selected service provider; (e) send, to the selected service provider and by the roadside assistance service provider server via the roadside assistance service provider application, the roadside assistance service request; (f) receive, from the selected service provider and via the roadside assistance service provider application, acceptance of the roadside assistance service request; (g) provide, by the roadside assistance service provider server and the GPS module, a notification, to the roadside assistance service provider application, of a status of the selected service provider; and (h) receive, from the selected service provider and via the roadside assistance service provider application, a confirmation of completion of the roadside assistance service request.

“15. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions of claim 14, wherein the GPS information comprises one or more of: location, velocity, route, or destination.

“16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions of claim 14 that, when executed, cause an apparatus to further: receive, via the roadside assistance service provider application and from a vehicle of a roadside assistance service provider, roadside assistance service provider information, wherein the roadside assistance service provider information comprises real-time information including one or more of: an availability of the selected service provider, a start time for the selected service provider, or a completion time for the selected service provider.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Balabas, Jason. Roadside assistance service provider assignment system. U.S. Patent Number 11416789, filed January 5, 2021, and published online on August 16, 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=11416789.PN.&OS=PN/11416789RS=PN/11416789

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