Patent Issued for Roadside assistance service provider assignment system (USPTO 11810030): Allstate Insurance Company
2023 NOV 24 (NewsRx) -- By a
The patent’s inventors are Balabas, Jason (
This patent was filed on
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. An assistance system, the assistance system comprising: at least one assistance service provider processor; an assistance service provider application for use on a mobile device and executing on the assistance service provider processor; a GPS module on the mobile device to acquire GPS information of a user of the mobile device, the GPS module in communication with the assistance service provider application, wherein the GPS module provides the acquired GPS information to the assistance service provider application and the assistance service provider processor; a microphone on the mobile device configured to capture verbal user input provided by the user of the mobile device, the microphone in communication with the assistance service provider application, wherein the microphone provides the captured verbal user input to the assistance service provider application and the assistance service provider processor; wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is configured to: receive, by the assistance service provider processor, an assistance service request; determine, by the assistance service provider processor, a selected service provider based on at least two or more of: (1) proximity in location between the user and the selected service provider, (2) a length of time-to-travel between the user 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 assistance service provider processor via the assistance service provider application, the assistance service request to the selected service provider; receive, via the assistance service provider application, acceptance of the assistance service request from the selected service provider; and provide, by the GPS module, a notification, to the assistance service provider application, of a status of the selected service provider with respect to arriving at a location of the user to address the assistance service request.
“2. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein: the assistance service provider processor is configured to determine the selected service provider further based on a type of services requested by the assistance service request, and the type of services requested by the assistance service request comprises automobile services, home services, or personal services.
“3. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein: the verbal user input captured by the microphone comprises the assistance service request; and the assistance service provider processor is configured to receive the assistance service request from the microphone.
“4. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: determine, by the assistance service provider processor, a prioritized ranking of service providers based on one or more of: (1) proximity in location between the user and each of the service providers, (2) a length of time-to-travel between the user and each of the service providers, (3) prior driver’s ratings for each of the service providers, (4) a skill set of each of the service providers, or (5) a cost of each of the service providers; provide, to the user of the mobile device, the prioritized ranking of the service providers; receive, by the assistance service provider processor, a preferred service provider selected by the user from the prioritized ranking of service providers, wherein the assistance service provider processor is configured to determine the selected service provider further based on the preferred service provider selected by the user.
“5. The assistance system of claim 4, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: provide a reward to the user of the mobile device based on the preferred service provider selected by the user from the prioritized ranking of service providers.
“6. The assistance system of claim 5, wherein the reward comprises at least one of a cash payment with the selected service provider, bonus services provided by the selected service provider, or an insurance-related award.
“7. The assistance system of claim 6, wherein the insurance-related award comprises at least one of discounts on future insurance premiums, increased insurance coverage, or a decreased deductible for the user.
“8. The 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 assistance service request.
“9. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the GPS information includes one or more of: location, velocity, route, or destination.
“10. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application is configured to receive assistance service provider information from a vehicle of an assistance service provider, wherein the 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.
“11. The assistance system of claim 10, wherein the assistance service provider application is configured to receive the assistance service provider information from a sensor positioned on the vehicle of the assistance service provider.
“12. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application is configured to receive assistance service provider information from a vehicle of a assistance service provider, wherein the 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.
“13. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the notification is provided, via a display device associated with the assistance service provider application, to the selected service provider.
“14. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: provide, by the assistance service provider processor and via the assistance service provider application, electronic payment for completing the assistance service request to the selected service provider.
“15. The assistance system of claim 14, wherein the electronic payment is automatically processed, with a pre-entered payment method, upon completion of the assistance service request.
“16. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: receive, upon completion of the assistance service request and by the assistance service provider processor, an evaluation of the selected service provider.
“17. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: receive, upon completion of the assistance service request and by the assistance service provider processor, an evaluation from the selected service provider.
“18. The assistance system of claim 1, wherein the assistance service provider application, upon execution of the computer-executable instructions from the assistance service provider processor, is further configured to: receive, by the assistance service provider processor, a registration from a group of service providers, wherein the registration comprises an interview, a background check, and a driver’s record check.”
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.
(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)
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