Systems and methods for a social network for roadside assistance

• US 8,639,410 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Billman, Bradly J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US13/488,823
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 701400-541, 701/33, 701/117, 701/24, 701/29.6, 701/32.3, 705/75, 705/72, 705/62, 705/317, 705/27.1, 705/38, 705/26.61, 705/35, 705/26.41, 455/411, 455/404.2, 455/404.1, 455/414.2, 455/415, 455/466, 455/456.1, 455/414.1, 455/550.1
• US Class Current: 701/32.3
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A system for facilitating assistance requests may comprise at least one subsystem that receives an assistance request from a requester, at least one subsystem that identifies a current location of the requester, and at least one subsystem that identifies members of an assistance network that are within a particular area relative to the current location of the requester.

Claims

1. A computing system for facilitating assistance requests, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor resource coupled to the memory to;

determine a current location of a requester requesting assistance;

identify other users within a particular area of the requester'"'"'s current location that are registered in an assistance network as available for providing assistance and a time period the requester is willing to wait for assistance;

send a request to each of the identified other users, wherein the request includes desired assistance of the requester;

receive a response from a number of the available identified other users;

determine a list from the number of the available identified other users that fit a selection criteria of the requester;

present the list to the requester;

receive a number of rejections, from the requester, for a number of the available identified other users presented in the list, wherein the number of rejections correspond to available identified other users that are rejected from performing the desired assistance;

receive an acceptance, from the requester, for one of the number of available identified other users presented in the list to perform the desired assistance; and

receive feedback, from the requester, relating to the one of the number of available identified other users that performed the desired assistance.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the selection criteria comprises one or more of the following:

characteristics of the requester; and

characteristics of assistance requested by the requester.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the characteristics of assistance requested by the requester comprise an indication of one or more of the following:

automobile mechanical trouble, locked keys in an automobile, out of gas, a flat tire, an auto accident, an injury, a need for directions.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the characteristics of the requester comprise one or more of the following:

age, gender, military rank, distance from an identified other user offering assistance.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to send the request to only those identified other users offering assistance if the request from the requester fits selection criteria set by the identified user offering assistance.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to send the request to an appropriate emergency service if the request fits a selection criteria regarding a type of assistance requested.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the selection criteria regarding the type of assistance requested comprises the request being a result of an automobile accident.

8. A method for facilitating assistance requests comprising:

executing, by a processor, computer readable instructions for;

determining a current location of a requester requesting assistance;

identifying other users within a particular area of the requester'"'"'s current location that are registered in an assistance network as available for providing the requested assistance;

sending a request to each of the identified other users, wherein the request includes desired assistance of the requester and a time period the requester is willing to wait for assistance;

receiving a response from a number of available identified other users;

analyzing a number of profiles within the assistance network for each of the number of available identified users;

determining a list of the number of available identified other users that fit a selection criteria of the requester, wherein the list includes a profile of the number of available identified other users; and

presenting the list to the requester receiving a number of rejections, from the requester, for a number of the available identified other users presented in the list, wherein the number of rejections correspond to available identified other users that are rejected from performing the desired assistance;

receiving an acceptance, from the requester, for one of the number of available identified other users presented in the list to perform the desired assistance; and

receiving feedback, from the requester, relating to the one of the number of available identified other users that performed the desired assistance.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein determining the list includes determining a list based on a comparison of a profile of each of the number of available identified other users and the selection criteria.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining the list includes utilizing preferred criteria of the requester.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein sending the request to each of the identified other users comprises sending a single message to each of the identified other users.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising sending the request to the identified user offering assistance only if the request from the requester fits an identified user'"'"'s assistance network profile.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving responses includes selecting a time period to accept responses.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the particular area is within a predetermined radius of the requester'"'"'s current location.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions executable for:

determining a current location of a requester requesting assistance;

identifying other users within a particular area of the requester'"'"'s current location that are registered in an assistance network as available for providing assistance;

sending a request to each of the identified other users, wherein the request includes desired assistance of the requester and a time period the requester is willing to wait for assistance;

receiving a response from each of a number of available identified other users, wherein the response includes a profile for each of the number of available identified other users;

determining a list of the number of available identified users that fit a selection criteria of the requester, wherein the list is organized based on a comparison of the profiles of each of the number of available identified other uses and the selection criteria;

presenting the list to the requester receiving a number of rejections, from the requester, for a number of the available identified other users presented in the list, wherein the number of rejections correspond to available identified other users that are rejected from performing the desired assistance;

receiving an acceptance, from the requester, for one of the number of available identified other users presented in the list to perform the desired assistance; and

receiving feedback, from the requester, relating to the one of the number of available identified other users that performed the desired assistance; and

updating the profile of each of the number of available identified other users.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the list includes the profiles of the respective number of available identified other users.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the profiles include ratings and feedback from a number of users of the assistance network.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the list is further organized based on a comparison of the profiles of each of the number of available identified other users and a preferred criteria of the selection criteria.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein presenting the list to the requester enables the requester to accept and/or reject the number of available identified other users.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising computer readable instructions executable for retrieving user information of the requester from the assistance network.