System and method for coordination of remote inspectors

• US 10,198,759 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Chang, Danny, Parthasarathy, Balaji Thallam
• Primary Examiner(s): Shui, Ming
• Application Number:
  US13/897,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254061A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,087 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A method and a system to automatically coordinate remote inspectors are provided. Initially, a listing is identified for remote inspection in an online publication system. The listing may describe an item for sale that is, in turn, associated with a geographical location and a category. One or more remote inspectors are identified based on the geographical location and the category associated with the item for sale. The listing and respective profiles of each of the one or more remote inspectors is published to a buyer. A selection of a selected remote inspector is received from the buyer. A template inspection report is provided to the selected remote inspector. Once the remote inspector has inspected the item for sale, the buyer is provided a completed inspection report received from the selected remote inspector.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more computer readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving metadata describing an item of interest, the metadata including a geographic location where the item of interest is located and a category of the item of interest;

accessing an inspector table including records for remote inspectors in an online publication system, each record in the inspector table including data describing a remote inspector and being linked to a record in a location table and a record in a specialty table, each record in the location table identifying an address of the remote inspector and a radius from the address that the remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, and each record in the specialty table identifying types of items that the remote inspector specializes in inspecting;

for each record in the location table, determining, based on the address of the remote inspector and the radius each remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, a geographic area in which the remote inspector is available to inspect items, yielding a set of geographic areas;

identifying, based on the set of geographic areas and the geographic location where the item of interest is located, a subset of records from the location table that identify a geographic area that includes the geographic location where the item of interest is located;

identifying a subset of records from the specialty table that identify a specialty that includes the category of the item of interest;

identifying a subset of records from the inspector table that are linked to both a record in the subset of records from the location table and a record from the subset of records from the specialty table;

publishing, in connection with a listing for the item of interest, data from the subset of records from the inspector table, the data describing at least a first remote inspector and a second remote inspector;

receiving, from a potential buyer of the item of interest, a request for a remote inspector to inspect the item of interest, the request identifying the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector; and

in response to receiving the request, facilitating a reverse auction among the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector.

2. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising a remote inspector marketplace listing indicating a fee that the buyer has agreed to pay.

3. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing a profile interface to the buyer.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the profile interface identifies a remote inspector and indicates a rating of the identified remote inspector.

5. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising coordinating communications among a selected remote inspector, the potential buyer, and a seller in the online publication system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the selected remote inspector is a winner of the reverse auction.

7. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing a completed inspection report from a selected remote inspector to the potential buyer.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the completed inspection report is provided within the online publication system.

9. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising receiving feedback about a selected remote inspector from the potential buyer.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the feedback comprises a first portion received before the potential buyer has purchased the item of interest.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the feedback comprises a second portion received after the potential buyer has purchased and received the item of interest.

12. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing a remote inspector marketplace interface based on geographic locations of remote inspectors.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the remote inspector marketplace interface allows remote inspectors to sort requests for remote inspections and accept requests to perform remote inspections.

14. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising providing a remote inspector interface including a status table of pending remote inspections.

15. A method comprising:

receiving metadata describing an item of interest, the metadata including a geographic location where the item of interest is located and a category of the item of interest;

accessing an inspector table including records for remote inspectors in an online publication system, each record in the inspector table including data describing a remote inspector and being linked to a record in a location table and a record in a specialty table, each record in the location table identifying an address of the remote inspector and a radius from the address that the remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, and each record in the specialty table identifying types of items that the remote inspector specializes in inspecting;

for each record in the location table, determining, based on the address of the remote inspector and the radius each remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, a geographic area in which the remote inspector is available to inspect items, yielding a set of geographic areas;

identifying, based on the set of geographic areas and the geographic location where the item of interest is located, a subset of records from the location table that identify a geographic area that includes the geographic location where the item of interest is located;

identifying, by one or more processors of a computing device, a subset of records from the specialty table that identify a specialty that includes the category of the item of interest;

identifying a subset of records from the inspector table that are linked to both a record in the subset of records from the location table and a record from the subset of records from the specialty table;

publishing, in connection with a listing for the item of interest, data from the subset of records from the inspector table, the data describing at least a first remote inspector and a second remote inspector;

receiving, from a potential buyer of the item of interest, a request for a remote inspector to inspect the item of interest, the request identifying the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector; and

in response to receiving the request, facilitating a reverse auction among the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors for performing operations comprising:

receiving metadata describing an item of interest, the metadata including a geographic location where the item of interest is located and a category of the item of interest;

accessing an inspector table including records for remote inspectors in an online publication system, each record in the inspector table including data describing a remote inspector and being linked to a record in a location table and a record in a specialty table, each record in the location table identifying an address of the remote inspector and a radius from the address that the remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, and each record in the specialty table identifying types of items that the remote inspector specializes in inspecting;

for each record in the location table, determining, based on the address of the remote inspector and the radius each remote inspector has agreed to travel to inspect items, a geographic area in which the remote inspector is available to inspect items, yielding a set of geographic areas;

identifying, based on the set of geographic areas and the geographic location where the item of interest is located, a subset of records from the location table that identify a geographic area that includes the geographic location where the item of interest is located;

identifying a subset of records from the specialty table that identify a specialty that includes the category of the item of interest

identifying a subset of records from the inspector table that are linked to both a record in the subset of records from the location table and a record from the subset of records from the specialty table;

publishing, in connection with a listing for the item of interest, data from the subset of records from the inspector table, the data describing at least a first remote inspector and a second remote inspector;

receiving, from a potential buyer of the item of interest, a request for a remote inspector to inspect the item of interest, the request identifying the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector; and

in response to receiving the request, facilitating a reverse auction among the first remote inspector and the second remote inspector.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a profile interface to the buyer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the profile interface identifies a remote inspector and indicates a rating of the identified remote inspector.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising coordinating communications among a selected remote inspector, the potential buyer, and a seller in the online publication system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected remote inspector is a winner of the reverse auction.