Guided unit-specific automobile demonstration

• US 10,074,112 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2015
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Matthew D., Finkel, Jonathan M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, William J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Heath, Maria S. P.
• Application Number:
  US14/745,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,177 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A computer-implemented system includes one or more mobile computers, a server, and digital data storage accessible by the server. The storage includes records describing automobiles in an inventory, such as vehicle identification numbers (VINs) referenced to automobile site availability and specific automotive features from a set of available automotive features. The mobile computer is programmed to perform machine-executable operations to present a guided, interactive automobile specific demonstration checklist.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for delivering a guided presentation of automotive features, comprising:

a server comprising;

a data storage accessible by the server, the data storage comprising;

automotive records describing automobiles in an inventory, said records including vehicle identification numbers (VINs) referenced to automobile site availability and automotive features from a set of available automotive features; and

waypoints records, wherein some of the automotive features are relevant to respective some of the waypoints; and

a mobile computer,

the computer-implemented system is configured to execute instructions to;

present, by the mobile computer, interactive display screens to iteratively identify a desired make-model-package combination satisfying a preestablished customer needs assessment;

select, by the server and based on the desired make-model-package, from the automobiles listed in the records of the digital data storage, a desired automobile available at a desired physical site, the desired automobile having a VIN;

generate, by the server and for display at the mobile computer, an interactive presentation of available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile by configuration to;

identify, by the server, using the VIN and in the automotive records, those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile;

receive, by the server from the mobile computer, a GPS location of the mobile computer;

identify, by the server in the waypoints records, proximal waypoints to the mobile computer, the proximal waypoints are identified using the GPS location of the mobile computer and the available automotive features; and

include, by the server and in the interactive presentation, an alert for an automotive feature present in the desired automobile, the alert relating an identified automotive feature to a waypoint, wherein the alert relates to a respective available automotive feature and is included in the presentation with the presentation of the respective available automotive feature; and

present, by the mobile computer, the interactive presentation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to identify, using the VIN and by the server, in the automotive records those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile comprises to:

retrieving a preestablished

assembling assemble a list of the identified features by referencing multiple separate data sources listing different features present in the desired automobile.

3. The system of claim 1, where the waypoints comprise:

railroad crossings, uneven road surfaces, road curves, speed zones, on-ramps, tunnels, highways, and city streets.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented system is further configured to execute instructions to:

receive, by the mobile computer, from a camera of the mobile computer a scan of a physical vehicle identification number (VIN) tag; and

the given mobile computer checking check, by the mobile computer, whether the scanned VIN tag matches that VIN, the VIN exclusively associated with the desired automobile.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile computer is further configured to:

authenticate a consultant user by using a camera of the mobile computer to scan machine-readable indicia visible upon an identification medium.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

computer configured to interchangeably perform the instructions of the mobile computer.

7. The system of claim 1, where the mobile computer is further configured to:

authenticating authenticate a consultant user to open a consultant user session;

storing a state of the consultant user session; and

responsive to authentication of the consultant user on a different mobile computer than the mobile computer or in a new consultant user session with the mobile computer, resuming the consultant user session at the stored state.

8. The system of claim 1, further configured to:

responsive to the mobile computer receiving predefined input from a consultant user, transmit machine-readable instructions for vehicle porters to ready the desired automobile for demonstration.

9. A computer-implemented system for delivering a guided presentation of automotive features, comprising:

a plurality of mobile computers;

digital data storage accessible by a server, the digital data storage having stored thereon machine-readable automotive records describing automobiles in an inventory, said records including vehicle identification numbers (VINs) referenced to automobile site availability and specific automotive features from a set of available automotive features; and

waypoints records, wherein some of automotive features are relevant to respective some of the waypoints;

where each of the mobile computers is programmed to perform machine-executed operations comprising;

with a processor presenting one or more interactive display screens to iteratively identify a desired make-model-package combination satisfying a preestablished customer needs assessment;

with a processor filtering automobiles listed in the automotive records according to the desired make-model-package to identify a one desired automobile available at a desired physical site, the desired automobile having a VIN;

with a processor consulting the automotive records to identify those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile, said identified features omitting those of the available automotive features absent from the desired automobile; and

with a processor presenting multiple display screens containing a guided, interactive presentation of automotive features, where

the presentation includes multimedia content explaining at least some of the identified automotive features,

the presented automotive features are limited to the identified automotive features, and

the presentation includes alerts related to at least some of the identified automotive features, the alerts identified by instructions to;

identify, by the server, using the VIN and in the automotive records, those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile;

receive, by the server from one of the mobile computers, a GPS location of the one of the mobile computers;

identify, by the server in the waypoints records, proximal waypoints to the mobile computer, the proximal waypoints are identified using the GPS location of the mobile computer and the available automotive features; and

include, by the server and in the interactive presentation, an alert of the alerts, the alert relating an identified automotive feature to a waypoint, wherein the alert is displayed in the presentation at a time of displaying multimedia content for the identified automotive feature.

10. The system of claim 9, where the mobile computers are programmed such that the operation of consulting the automotive records to identify those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile comprises:

retrieving a preestablished list associated with the desired automobile assembling a list of the identified features by referencing multiple separate data sources listing different features present in the desired automobile.

11. The system of claim 9, where the waypoints comprise:

railroad crossings, uneven road surfaces, road curves, speed zones, on-ramps, tunnels, highways, and city streets.

12. The system of claim 9, where the mobile computers are programmed such that the operations further comprise a given mobile computer employing a camera of a given mobile computer to scan a physical vehicle identification number (VIN) tag, and the given mobile computer checking whether the scanned VIN tag matches a VIN exclusively associated with the desired automobile.

13. The system of claim 9, where the mobile computers are programmed such that the operations further comprise a given mobile computer authenticating a consultant user by using a camera of the given mobile computer to scan machine-readable indicia visible upon an identification medium.

14. The system of claim 9, where the mobile computers are programmed such that the operations further comprise:

a given mobile computer authenticating a consultant user to open a consultant user session, the given mobile computer causing storage of a state of the consultant user session, and responsive to authentication of the consultant user on a different mobile computer than the given mobile computer or in a new consultant user session with the given mobile computer, resuming the consultant user session at the stored state.

15. The system of claim 9, where the mobile computers are programmed such that the operations further comprise:

responsive to receiving predefined input from a consultant user, initiating transmission of machine-readable instructions for vehicle porters to ready the desired automobile for demonstration.

16. A process of providing an interactive automobile specific presentation of automotive features, performed in a computer system including multiple mobile computers and a server with access to digital data storage containing records describing automobiles in an inventory, said records including vehicle identification numbers (VINs) referenced to automobile site availability and specific automotive features from a set of available automotive features, the process comprising operations of:

a first one of the mobile computers authenticating a predefined consultant user, and in a consultant user session, the first mobile computer performing operations comprising;

with a processor responsive to consultant user input, presenting one or more interactive display screens to iteratively identify a desired make-model-package combination satisfying a preestablished customer needs assessment;

with a processor filtering automobiles listed in the records according to the desired make-model-package to identify a desired automobile available at a desired physical site, the desired automobile having a VIN;

with a processor responsive to consultant user input, initiating submission of machine-readable instructions to the server to schedule an appointment relating to the desired automobile;

responsive to receiving said instructions to schedule an appointment, the server performing operations comprising;

displaying or initiating sending of machine-readable instructions for vehicle porters to ready the desired automobile for demonstration;

the first mobile computer or the server consulting the records to identify those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile, said identified features omitting features absent from the desired automobile; and

in the consultant user session or in a new consultant user session initiated after re-authenticating the consultant user, the first mobile computer or a different mobile computer performing operations comprising;

presenting multiple display screens containing a guided, interactive presentation of automotive features, where

the presentation includes multimedia content explaining at least some of the identified automotive features,

the presented automotive features are limited to the identified automotive features, and

the presentation includes alerts related to at least some of the identified automotive features, the alerts identified by instructions to;

identify, by the server, using the VIN and in the automotive records, those of the available automotive features that are present in the desired automobile;

receive, by the server from one of the mobile computers, a GPS location of the one of the mobile computers;

identify, by the server in waypoints records, proximal waypoints to the mobile computer, the proximal waypoints are identified using the GPS location of the mobile computer and the available automotive features; and

include, by the server and in the interactive presentation, an alert of the alerts, the alert relating an identified automotive feature to a waypoint, wherein the alert is displayed in the presentation at a time of displaying multimedia content for the identified automotive feature.

17. The process of claim 16, the operations further comprising:

the mobile computer receiving at least one machine-readable message notifying the consultant user that the desired automobile is ready for demonstration.

18. The process of claim 16, the operations further comprising:

responsive to the first mobile computer receiving a machine-readable record of the customer needs assessment, the first mobile computer prioritizing or truncating the guided interactive presentation of automotive features according to the customer needs assessment.