Patent Issued for Roadside Assistance System (USPTO 10,657,824)
2020 JUN 01 (NewsRx) -- By a
Patent number 10,657,824 is assigned to
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles can become disabled during a trip because of, for example, a vehicle malfunction, an accident, etc. A disabled vehicle can be a stressful situation for an owner or operator of a vehicle. The drivers and/or passengers of the disabled vehicle can contact a towing network for assistance. In some situations, the towing network might not have available service vehicles to assist the disabled vehicle. Additionally, the towing network can dispatch a service provider located far away from the disabled vehicle.”
In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following summary presents a simplified summary of certain features. The summary is not an extensive overview and is not intended to identify key or critical elements.
“Systems, apparatuses, and methods for providing roadside assistance services are described herein. The system can include network computing devices and computing devices associated with vehicles and service vehicles. Requests for roadside services can be automatically assigned to an available service provider. Service providers can be ranked based on a variety of criteria and requests can be assigned based on the ranking. The ranking of service providers can be adjusted based on the performance of the service provider. If a service provider takes too long to respond to a request, the request can be automatically declined and an alternative service provider can be selected.
“These and other features and advantages are described in greater detail below.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“What is claimed is:
“1. An apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to: obtain request data indicating a service request for a vehicle; generate eligible service provider data based on the obtained request data, where the eligible service provider data comprises a ranked list of service providers; provide a request to a first service provider system in the ranked list of service providers; obtain a response to the request; when the response indicates an acceptance of the request: obtain performance data indicating equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and automatically update the eligible service provider data based on the performance data and the response to the request, wherein the ranking of the service provider in the eligible service provider data is adjusted based on the equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and when the response indicates a decline of the request: automatically update the eligible service provider data based on the response to the request; and provide the request to a second service provider system in the ranked list of service providers.
“2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the service request comprises a geographic location of the vehicle, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, and details regarding a roadside event.
“3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the ranked list of service providers is generated based on the geographic location of the vehicle.
“4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the ranked list of service providers is generated based on the make of the vehicle.
“5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request indicates a time frame during which the request is valid.
“6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the response to the request is obtained after the expiration of the time frame indicated in the request.
“7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the eligible service provider data is generated based on a historical feedback rating for a service provider for the vehicle indicated in the request data.
“8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first service provider has a historical feedback rating for the vehicle exceeding a threshold rating.
“9. A method comprising: obtaining, by a computing device comprising a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, request data indicating a service request for a vehicle; generating, by the computing device, eligible service provider data based on the obtained request data, where the eligible service provider data comprises a ranked list of service providers; providing, by the computing device, a request to a first service provider system in the ranked list of service providers; obtaining, by the computing device, a response to the request; when the response indicates an acceptance of the request: obtaining, by the computing device, performance data indicating equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and automatically updating, by the computing device, the eligible service provider data based on the performance data, wherein the ranking of the service provider in the eligible service provider data is adjusted based on the equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and when the response indicates a decline of the request: automatically updating, by the computing device, the eligible service provider data based on the response to the request; and providing, by the computing device, the request to a second service provider system in the ranked list of service providers.
“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the service request comprises a geographic location of the vehicle, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, and details regarding a roadside event.
“11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the eligible service provider data is based on the geographic location of the vehicle.
“12. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the eligible service provider data is based on the make of the vehicle.
“13. The method of claim 9, wherein the request indicates a time frame during which the request is valid.
“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the response to the request is obtained after the expiration of the time frame indicated in the request.
“15. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the eligible service provider data is based on a historical feedback rating for a service provider for the vehicle indicated in the request data.
“16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first service provider has a historical feedback rating for the vehicle exceeding a threshold rating.
“17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a processor, the instructions causing the processor to perform steps comprising: obtaining request data indicating a service request for a vehicle; generating eligible service provider data based on the obtained request data, where the eligible service provider data comprises a ranked list of service providers; providing a request to a first service provider system in the ranked list of service providers; obtaining a response to the request; when the response indicates an acceptance of the request: obtaining performance data indicating equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and automatically updating the eligible service provider data based on the performance data, wherein the ranking of the service provider in the eligible service provider data is adjusted based on the equipment of the service provider allocated to the request; and when the response indicates a decline of the request: automatically update the eligible service provider data based on the response to the request; and providing the request to a second service provider system in the ranked list of service providers.
“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the service request comprises a geographic location of the vehicle, a make of the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, and details regarding a roadside event.
“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the request indicates a time frame during which the request is valid.
“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein generating the eligible service provider data is based on a historical feedback rating for a service provider for the vehicle indicated in the request data.”
URL and more information on this patent, see: Barth, Kim; Adcock, Christopher. Roadside Assistance System.
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