COURTESY CAR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method of granting use of a vehicle from a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
- (a) creating a reservation of a presently non-specified vehicle of a plurality of vehicles for a user for a specific period of time; and
(b) upon the user'"'"'s selection of a specific vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, associating the specific vehicle with the user'"'"'s reservation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for cost-effective management of a plurality of vehicles to be lent or rented, possibly but not limited to a courtesy vehicle fleet. The initial reservation process is divided into two separate stages of reserving a non-specific vehicle and selecting said vehicle, allowing flexibility in selection. The return of the vehicle is efficiently handled through a series of diagnostic checks and damage documentation. Both processes are optionally managed by a series of devices interacting through a network, including a server device which manages data and provides reports on the plurality of vehicles. The overall system and process is tracked and managed through database-driven analytics that give its operators real-time intelligence on fleet status and inventory, as well as customer and billing records.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method of granting use of a vehicle from a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
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(a) creating a reservation of a presently non-specified vehicle of a plurality of vehicles for a user for a specific period of time; and (b) upon the user'"'"'s selection of a specific vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, associating the specific vehicle with the user'"'"'s reservation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for managing use of a plurality of vehicles, the system comprising:
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a plurality of vehicles; at least one reader associated with each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles; a plurality of authentication objects readable by the readers; a server device comprising a processor, transceiver, and memory, the server device being in communication with the readers through the transceiver of the server device; and an advisor device comprising a processor and transceiver, the advisor device being in communication with the server device through the transceiver of the advisor device; wherein the advisor device creates a reservation in the memory of the server device and associates an authentication object with the reservation, without associating the reservation with a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and wherein the authentication object, when brought within a range of one of the plurality of readers, associates, in the memory of the server device, the reservation associated with the authentication object with the vehicle associated with the reader. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of processing the return of a lent or rented vehicle, comprising:
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(a) examining a series of present diagnostic parameters related to a lent or rented vehicle; (b) comparing present diagnostic parameters to previous diagnostic parameters in a diagnostic history; and (c) in the case where a change between present diagnostic parameters and previous diagnostic parameters is noted, updating the diagnostic history to reflect the change. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for managing the return of a lent or rented vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more vehicles; a server device comprising a processor, transceiver, and memory; and a porter device comprising a processor and transceiver, the porter device being in communication with the server device through the transceiver of the porter device, wherein; the porter device processes a checklist documenting one or more diagnostic parameters relating to the vehicle, the server device receives and stores the checklist from the porter device, and the porter device compares the checklist to one or more previous checklists stored on the server device. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A method of granting use of a vehicle of one or more vehicles, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving identifying information from a user; (b) storing reservation data of a reservation, including the identifying information, within a computer memory; (c) associating a vehicle of the one or more vehicles with the reservation in the computer memory; (d) creating a reservation of the vehicle for the user for a specific period of time; (e) creating and executing a contract agreeing to the reservation. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A system for managing use of one or more vehicles, the system comprising:
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one or more vehicles; at least one reader associated with each vehicle of the one or more vehicles; a plurality of authentication objects readable by the readers; a server device comprising a processor, transceiver, and memory, the server device being in communication with the readers through the transceiver of the server device; and an advisor device comprising a processor and transceiver, the advisor device being in communication with the server device through the transceiver of the advisor device, wherein the advisor device creates a reservation in the memory of the server device, associates a vehicle with the reservation, and creates a contract describing the reservation, and wherein the server device stores data regarding the one or more vehicles, the data regarding each vehicle comprising a present state. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification