LOCATION-BASED VEHICLE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING METHOD, SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20100114423A1
• Filed: 10/30/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., Finn, Peter G., Hamilton, Rick A. II, O'Connell, Brian M., Seaman, James W., Walker, Keith R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

The present invention provides a system, method, and program product for scheduling vehicle maintenance by identifying a future location at which a vehicle is available for a service and electronically providing at least the future location, a time and time duration that the vehicle is estimated to be at the future location, and the identified service to a mechanic.

Claims

1. A system of a vehicle that generates and provides a location-based service schedule for the vehicle, comprising:

a location identifier that identifies a first parameter indicative of a likely future location of the vehicle at which the vehicle is available for maintenance; and

a notifier that selectively conveys the first parameter to one of a mechanic, a user of the vehicle, or a third party.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is part of the vehicle'"'"'s computing system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notifier conveys the first parameter over one of a wire or wireless communication channel.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identifier identifies a second parameter indicative of a time and time duration that the vehicle is estimated to be at the future location, wherein the notifier further conveys the second parameter to the one of the mechanic, the user of the vehicle, or the third party.

5. The system of claim 1, further including a service identifier that identifies a second parameter indicative of a type of service to perform on the vehicle, wherein the notifier further conveys the second parameter to the one of the mechanic, the user of the vehicle, or the third party.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the type of service is based on information provided by at least one of a fault detection system of the vehicle, an electronic manufacturer maintenance schedule, and an electronic user maintenance schedule, wherein the electronic maintenance schedules are stored in a storage component operative to the service identifier.

7. The system of claim 1, further including a scheduler that generates a schedule indicative of future locations of the vehicle, including times at which the vehicle is estimated to be at each future location, for performing an identified service, wherein the notifier conveys the schedule to the one of the mechanic, the user of the vehicle, or the third party.

8. The system of claim 1, further including a location tracker that tracks the location of the vehicle over time to obtain tracked location information, wherein the future location is predicted based on the tracked location information.

9. The system of claim 8, further including a pattern recognizer that recognizes location patterns in the tracked location information, wherein the future location is predicted based on the recognized location patterns.

10. The system of claim 1, further including a storage component that stores a user calendar with information indicative of a future location of a user, wherein the future location of the vehicle is predicted based on the user calendar.

11. The system of claim 1, further including a preferences bank that indicates a recipient of the first parameter.

12. A method for scheduling vehicle maintenance, comprising:

identifying a type of service to be performed on a vehicle;

predicting a future location and a time at which the vehicle is available for the service;

generating a recommended location-based service schedule for the vehicle based on the future location, the time, and the type of service; and

electronically sending the recommended location-based service schedule to a recipient.

13. The method of claim 12, further including comparing an estimated time of the service with a time duration in which the vehicle is predicted to be at the location, and sending the recommended location-based service schedule when the estimated time of the service is less then the time duration.

14. The method of claim 12, further including tracking location information of the vehicle and predicting future locations at which the vehicle is available for the service based on the tracked location information of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the location information of the vehicle is obtained from a global navigational system.

16. The method of claim 12, further including electronically sending at least one of user contact information or user billing information to the recipient.

17. The method of claim 12, further including determining a recommended second service to be performed in conjunction with the service and electronically sending the recommended second service to the recipient.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the recommended second service is based on at least one of a service history of the vehicle, a manufacturer maintenance schedule, or a user maintenance schedule.

19. The method of claim 12, further including determining the future location based on at least one of location pattern information for the vehicle or a calendar of the user.

20. A method, comprising:

producing computer executable program code;

storing the code on a computer readable medium; and

providing the program code to be deployed and executed on a computer system;

the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to;

identify a first parameter indicative of a likely future location of a vehicle at which the vehicle is available for servicing; and

transmit the first parameter to at least one of a mechanic, a user of the vehicle, or a third party.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the computer system is a computing system of the vehicle.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the program code further comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:

identify a second parameter indicative of a type of service to be performed on the vehicle; and

transmit the second parameter to the at least one of the mechanic, the user of the vehicle, or the third party.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the program code further comprises instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:

generate a service schedule based on the first and second parameters, wherein the service schedule identifies a future vehicle location at which the vehicle is estimated to be at long enough for the service to be performed while the vehicle is at the location; and

transmit the service schedule to the at least one of the mechanic, the user of the vehicle, or the third party.

24. A method for deploying an application for scheduling vehicle service, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

electronically communicate with a computer of a vehicle;

identify a first parameter indicative of a type of service to be performed on the vehicle via the electronic communication;

identify a second parameter indicative of a likely future location and time of the vehicle at which the vehicle is available for the service; and

provide the first and second parameter to a service recipient.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to:

generate a location pattern of the vehicle using a machine learning algorithm, wherein the first parameter is based on the location pattern.