Method and system for identifying and displaying discrepancies in vehicle titles

• US 4,989,144 A
• Filed: 03/07/1989
• Issued: 01/29/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CARFAX Incorporated (S&P Global Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CARFAX Incorporated (S&P Global Inc.)
• Inventors: Barnett, Ewin H. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jerry
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/320,231
• Time in Patent Office: 693 Days
• Field of Search: 364/419, 364/409, 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computer method for rapidly identifying and displaying discrepancies in vehicle titles comprises the steps of automatically identifying the discrepancies inherent in individual title transaction records and identifying contextual discrepancies which may be determined by comparison of title transaction records.

Claims

1. A computer method for rapidly identifying and displaying discrepancies in vehicle titles comprising the steps of

(a) at intervals gathering recent title transaction data from a plurality of sources indexed by vehicle identification number, said data from different sources having common and different data elements and being organized differently,

(b) adding records to a master database having a plurality of transaction standard variable format records indexed by vehicle identification number,

(c) selecting all records indexed by the same vehicle identification number,

(d) identifying the discrepancies inherent in the individual transaction records selected,

(e) identifying the contextual discrepancies which may be determined by comparison of transaction records indexed by the same vehicle identification number, and

(f) displaying the title transactions and discrepancies, if any, identified in steps (d) and (e).

2. A computer method for rapidly identifying and reporting discrepancies in vehicle titles comprising the steps of

(a) at intervals gathering recent title transaction data from a plurality of sources including at least state title offices, said data indexed by vehicle identification number, said data from different sources having common and different data elements and being organized differently,

(b) adding records to a master database having a plurality of variable format transaction records indexed by vehicle identification number, and having unvarying fields for vehicle identification number, source, odometer reading, title type, and transaction date,

(c) selecting all records indexed by the same vehicle identification number,

(d) identifying the discrepancies inherent in the individual records selected at least by the content of the title type field,

(e) identifying the contextual discrepancies which may be determined by comparison of vehicle records indexed by the same vehicle identification number, and

(f) displaying the title transactions and discrepancies, if any, identified in steps (d) and (e).

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the odometer fields in all records are compared in step (e) and if an odometer discrepancy is found, indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

4. The method according to claim 2 wherein in step (e) a search is made for a duplicate title source discrepancy and if found indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

5. The method according to claim 2 wherein in step (e) a search is made for duplicated titles issued within a preselected period of time prior to the search, and if found, indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

6. The method according to claim 2 wherein the transaction records assembled in step (b) have an unvarying field comprising a status byte the bits of which are used to store the identification of an inherent title discrepancy detected at the time records are added to the master database.

7. The method according to claim 2 wherein the source field is used to identify the structure of the variable portion of the records in the master database.

8. A computer method for rapidly identifying and displaying discrepancies in vehicle titles comprising the steps of

(a) at intervals gathering recent title transaction data from a plurality of sources including state title offices indexed by vehicle identification number, said data from different sources having common and different data elements and being organized differently,

(b) adding records to a single master database having a plurality of variable format transaction records indexed by vehicle identification number, and having unvarying fields for vehicle identification number, source, status, odometer reading, title type, and transaction date, the status field comprising a status byte the bits of which are used to store identification of title discrepancies determinable from the data in the entire record,

(c) identifying the discrepancies inherent in the individual records at least by the content of the title type field at the time of adding records to the master database and setting the status byte accordingly,

(d) selecting all records indexed by the same vehicle identification number and storing them in a record array and sorting the array by the transaction date field,

(e) identifying the contextual discrepancies which may be determined by comparison of vehicle records indexed by the same vehicle identification number by comparing each record in the array with the preceding record, and

(f) displaying title transactions and discrepancies, if any, identified in steps (c) and (e).

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the odometer fields in all records are compared in step (e) and if a odometer reading for a later transaction is less than for an earlier transaction, indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein in step (e) a search is made for a duplicate title source and the immediate prior title source not the same and if found, indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein in step (e) a search is made for duplicated titles issued within a preselected period of time prior to the search, and if found indicating a discrepancy in step (f).

12. The method according to claim 8 wherein the bits in the status byte are indicative of at least one inherent discrepancy selected from the group, duplicate title issued, prior duplicate title issued, salvage title issued, prior salvage title issued, miles unknown, and miles not provided.

13. The method according to claim 8 wherein as part of step (e) a two-byte status word is built, the first byte of the status word being a the logical OR of all status bytes in the record array and the second byte of the status word comprising bits which are used to store identification of contextual title discrepancies determined for any record comparison in step (e).

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the bits in the first byte of the status word are indicative of at least one inherent discrepancy selected from the group, duplicate title issued, prior duplicate title issued, salvage title issued, prior salvage title issued, miles unknown, and miles not provided and wherein the bits in the second byte of the status word are indicative of at least one of the contextual discrepancies selected from the group, odometer discrepancy, duplicated title discrepancy and duplicate title within preselected time period.

15. The method according to claims 13 or 14 wherein the status word is used in step (f) to control the display of discrepancy messages being displayed.

16. The method according to claim 13 wherein in step (e) a formatted record array in constructed from the sorted record array to provide an array of printable transaction records, and at least one array of status bytes is constructed from the status byte fields of the sorted record array and a second status byte wherein each bit stores information on contextual discrepancies found by each comparison in step (e).

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein in step (f) each title transaction is printed from the formatted array with an indicia of discrepancy if a discrepancy is indicated by the bits in the at least one array of status bytes.