System and method for providing service technicians access to dispatch information

• US 7,240,096 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Issued: 07/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dennis, Gary J., Garris, Charles W., Ingman, Robert T., Pifer, Terri H., Allen, Diana S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jean-Gilles, Jude
• Application Number:
  US10/259,739
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/216, 709/218, 709/204, 707201-204, 707/28, 707/100, 370/217, 370/235, 379/9.03, 379/9.02
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A secondary source of dispatch information is provided in the event of a failure of a primary source of dispatch information. The second source of dispatch information can be accessed electronically by service technicians in the field when the primary source of dispatch information fails so that service technicians do not have to contact operators in a central office to obtain the dispatch information. The secondary source of dispatch information can distribute the dispatch information in a number of ways including e-mail, web and other methods.

Claims

1. A system for providing access to dispatch information to a service technician, comprising:

a primary source of dispatch information accessible to the service technician,

wherein the dispatch information is organized to reflect a hierarchy of assignment groups where each assignment group has one or more supervisors and each supervisor supervises one or more service technicians and each service technician is assigned his own dispatch information access account;

a database server to receive the dispatch information from the primary source of dispatch information for access by the service technician;

a database store for storing the dispatch information received by the database server, wherein the database store monitors the database server operation;

a backup information device remotely accessible to the service technician using an access device, wherein the database store transfers the dispatch information to the backup information device when the database store detects that the database server will fail such that the service technician cannot access the dispatch information stored on the primary source, wherein further still the backup information device does not rely on the operation of the database server to provide the dispatch information to the service technician.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the primary source of dispatch information is an integrated dispatch system.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein dispatch information from the primary source of dispatch information is stored in the database store periodically.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein dispatch information from the secondary source of dispatch information is stored in the database store at pre-determined times during a day.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the backup information device is an e-mail server and the dispatch information is converted to a form that is compatible with storage on the e-mail server.

6. The system recited in claim 5, wherein the access device is a personal computer that can access the backup information device via wireless communication.

7. The system recited in claim 5, wherein the access device is one of a personal digital assistant and a cellular telephone.

8. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the database store contains an image of the data stored on the primary source.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the backup information device is a database accessible by a web server.

10. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the access device is a personal computer having a web browser executing thereon for accessing the database through the web browser.

11. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the access device is a personal digital assistant having a web browser executing thereon for accessing the database through the web browser.

12. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the access device is a cellular telephone having a web browser executing thereon for accessing the database through the web browser.

13. A method for providing access to dispatch information to a remotely located service technician, comprising the steps of:

storing the dispatch information on a primary source of dispatch information;

receiving the dispatch information on a database server;

storing the dispatch information in a database store;

transferring the dispatch information from the database store to a backup information device when the database store detects that the database server will fail such that the service technician cannot access the dispatch information stored on the primary source;

receiving a remote request for the dispatch information from the service technician while the primary source of dispatch information is inaccessible to the service technician;

providing the dispatch information from the backup information device to the service technician in response to the remote request, wherein the backup information device does not rely on the operation of the database server to provide the dispatch information to the service technician.

14. The method recited in claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

determining that the primary source of dispatch information has failed; and

transferring the dispatch information from the database store to the backup information device when the determination is made that the primary source of dispatch information has failed.

15. The method recited in claim 13, wherein the backup information device is an e-mail server further comprising the steps of:

assigning a unique e-mail account having a unique e-mail address to each technician;

converting the dispatch information received from the database store to a format compatible with the e-mail server;

receiving a request from a technician for dispatch information; and

providing the requested dispatch information to the technician as an e-mail message in the e-mail account corresponding to the requesting technician.

16. The method recited in claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

extracting the dispatch information corresponding to the technician requesting the dispatch information; and

returning the extracted dispatch information in the e-mail message.

17. The method recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of verifying that the technician is a valid user prior to allowing the technician access to the e-mail message having the requested dispatch information.

18. The method recited in claim 13, wherein the backup information device is a database accessible by a web server, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a technician for dispatch information; and

providing the requested dispatch information to the technician for display in a web-browser.

19. The method recited in claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

extracting the dispatch information corresponding to the technician requesting the dispatch information; and

providing the extracted dispatch information for display in the web browser.

20. The method recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of verifying that the technician is a valid user prior to providing the requested dispatch information for display in the web browser.

21. The method recited in claim 13, further comprising the step of storing the dispatch information in the database store periodically.

22. The method recited in claim 13, further comprising the step of storing the dispatch information in the database at pre-determined times.

23. The method recited in claim 13, wherein the database store contains an image of the data stored on the primary source.

24. A method for backing up a primary source of dispatch information, comprising the steps of:

storing dispatch information on a primary source accessible to a remotely located service technician;

receiving the dispatch information on a database server;

storing an image of the dispatch information on a database store;

periodically updating the image of the dispatch information;

monitoring the primary source;

detecting that the primary source is no longer accessible to the remotely located service technician by detecting that the database server will fail such that the remotely located service technician cannot access the dispatch information stored on the primary source;

transferring dispatch information to a backup information device,

wherein the remotely located service technician has access to the dispatch information on the backup information device and wherein the backup information device does not rely on the operation of the database server to provide the dispatch information to the remotely located service technician.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the service technician accesses the information on the backup information device over the Internet.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the service technician has access to the information on the backup information device over a local area network.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the backup information device is an e-mail server, and the service technician is provided with a unique e-mail account.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the backup information device is a database accessible to the service technician through a web browser.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the service technician uses one of a personal computer and a personal data assistant.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the dispatch information is organized as a hierarchy including assignment groups corresponding to geographic areas served by the assignment groups.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein dispatch information corresponding to a request for dispatch information from a service technician is extracted based upon an identification of the service technician.