Methods and systems for providing an auto-generated repair-hint to a vehicle repair tool

• US 9,201,930 B1
• Filed: 05/06/2014
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap-On Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Snap-On Incorporated
• Inventors: Merg, Patrick S.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, CALVIN K
• Application Number:
  US14/270,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20150324363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 574 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

Methods and systems pertaining to auto-generated repair-hints are described. A processor can compare terms identified on a repair order (RO) to a taxonomy term database to determine standard terms associated with the terms on the RO, to store the standard terms as meta-data associated with the RO, to select pre-drafted text strings with gaps, and to insert the meta-data into the text string gaps to create a complete text string that forms at least part of an auto-generated repair-hint. The processor can receive a set of standard search terms to search for the auto-generated repair-hint from among multiple repair-hints. The processor can cause the auto-generated repair-hint to be transmitted to a vehicle repair tool for displaying the auto-generated repair-hint. A machine including the processor can receive a set of non-standard search terms (NSST) and identify a set of standard search terms associated with the NSST.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a first set of search terms for selecting, from a non-transitory data storage device storing a plurality of repair-hints, an auto-generated repair-hint for providing to a vehicle repair tool, wherein each auto-generated repair-hint stored in the data storage device includes meta-data that is associated with at least one set of search terms and the meta-data is generated based on computer-readable repair-order data and computer-readable taxonomy terms within a taxonomy term database;

selecting, by the processor from among the plurality of repair-hints and based on the first set of search terms, an auto-generated repair-hint associated with the first set of search terms; and

providing, by the processor, the selected auto-generated repair-hint to a communication network for transmission of the selected auto-generated repair-hint to the vehicle repair tool.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the selected auto-generated repair-hint includes multiple auto-generated repair-hints, and

wherein selecting each auto-generated repair-hint of the multiple auto-generated repair-hints includes selecting the auto-generated repair-hint based on a quantity of computer-readable repair orders associated with the auto-generated repair-hint.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing, by the processor, data that indicates a ranking of the multiple auto-generated repair-hints to the communication network for transmission of the data to the vehicle repair tool,

wherein the ranking data indicates, for each selected auto-generated repair-hint, a probability of an occurrence of a vehicle symptom associated with the each selected auto-generated repair-hint.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the data storage device, the taxonomy term database and computer-readable program instructions,

wherein the computer-readable program instructions include program instructions executable by the processor to generate, for each auto-generated repair-hint and based on computer-readable repair orders stored by the data storage device, the meta-data associated with the at least one set of search terms,

wherein the taxonomy term database includes a plurality of taxonomy terms for comparison to terms on the computer-readable repairs orders, and

wherein at least a portion of the meta-data associated with the at least one set of search terms for each auto-generated repair-hint includes a taxonomy term selected from the taxonomy term database.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing, by the data storage device, text strings having gaps for inserting the meta-data that is associated with the at least one set of search terms;

selecting, by the processor, at least one text string associated with the first set of search terms; and

inserting, by processor, the meta-data of the selected auto-generated repair-hint into the selected at least one text string associated with the first set of search terms,

wherein selecting the auto-generated repair-hint includes selecting the at least one text string associated with the first set of search terms and the inserted meta-data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the data storage device, a plurality of vehicle-year-make-model attribute combinations and a plurality of symptom-criterions, wherein the first set of search terms includes (i) a first vehicle-year-make-model attribute combination among the plurality of vehicle-year-make-model attribute combinations, and (ii) a first symptom-criterion among the plurality of symptom-criterions,

wherein each set of search terms associated with the meta-data of a repair-hint includes a vehicle-year-make-model attribute combination among the plurality of vehicle-year-make-model attribute combinations and a symptom-criterion among the plurality of symptom-criterions.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing, by the processor, at least one statistic associated with the selected auto-generated repair-hint to the communication network for transmission of the at least one statistic to the vehicle repair tool.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one statistic associated with the selected auto-generated repair-hint is based on a ratio of a number of computer-readable repair orders associated with the first set of search terms and a number of computer-readable repair orders associated with the first vehicle-year-make-model attribute combination.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one statistic associated with the selected auto-generated repair-hint pertains to geographical locations at which computer-readable repair orders associated with the first set of search terms were produced.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one vehicle-year-make-model attribute combination includes a vehicle-year-make-model-submodel-engine attribute combination.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the auto-generated repair-hint associated with the first set of search terms includes computer-readable data identifying a way to stop a vehicle component from rattling.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the processor, the selected auto-generated repair-hint.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one repair-hint of the plurality of repair-hints includes meta-data associated with at least two sets of search terms.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the processor to the communication network for transmission to the vehicle repair tool, a pick list from which at least a portion of the first set of search terms can be selected,

wherein receiving the first set of search terms includes receiving the at least a portion of the first set of search terms selected from the pick list.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the data storage device, data for modifying the taxonomy term database based on a human reviewing at least a portion of the taxonomy term database.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the data storage device, a plurality of vehicle-year-make-model-system attribute combinations and a plurality of symptom-criterions, wherein the first set of search terms includes (i) a first vehicle-year-make-model-system attribute combination among the plurality of vehicle-year-make-model-system attribute combinations, and (ii) a first symptom-criterion among the plurality of symptom-criterions,

wherein each set of search terms associated with the meta-data of a repair-hint includes a vehicle-year-make-model-system attribute combination among the plurality of vehicle-year-make-model-system attribute combinations and a symptom-criterion among the plurality of symptom-criterions.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the processor, the selected auto-generated repair-hint; and

receiving, by the processor, a vehicle-usage indicator,

wherein selecting the auto-generated repair-hint is conditioned on the received vehicle-usage indicator, and

wherein generating the selected auto-generated repair-hint is based on a set of computer-repair orders including first repair order data that matches the first set of search terms and second repair order data that matches or is within a range associated with the received vehicle usage indicator.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the vehicle-usage indicator indicates a distance, a distance range, an amount of time, an amount of time range, a number of engine-starts, an engine-starts range, a number of vehicle-drives, or a vehicle-drives range.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by the processor, leverage data to add at least one additional search term, based on leverage data associated with at least a portion of the first set of search terms, to the first set of search terms,

wherein selecting the auto-generated repair-hint associated with the first set of search terms includes selecting the auto-generated repair-hint associated with the first set of search terms including the at least one additional search term.

20. A machine comprising:

a non-transitory data storage device storing a plurality of auto-generated repair-hints, wherein each auto-generated repair-hint stored in the data storage device includes meta-data that is associated with at least one set of search terms and the meta-data is generated based on computer-readable repair-order data and computer-readable taxonomy terms within a taxonomy term database;

a processor configured to receive a first set of search terms for selecting, from the data storage device, an auto-generated repair-hint for providing to a vehicle repair tool; and

a network interface configured to transmit the auto-generated repair-hint selected by the processor to a communication network for transmission of the selected auto-generated repair-hint to the vehicle repair tool.

21. The machine of claim 20,

wherein the data storage device stores a first text string with a first gap for inserting first meta-data, and

wherein the data storage device stores computer-readable program instructions executable by the processor to select the first text string including the first gap and the first meta-data to insert into the first gap to generate the selected auto-generated repair-hint.

22. The machine of claim 21, wherein the first set of search terms includes a vehicle year attribute, a vehicle make attribute, a vehicle model attribute, a vehicle engine attribute, and a vehicle symptom criterion.

23. A machine comprising:

a non-transitory data storage device storing computer-readable program instructions;

a processor configured to execute the program instructions stored in the data storage device to generate a repair-hint request including a set of search terms;

a network interface configured to transmit over a communication network the repair-hint request including the set of search terms and to receive an auto-generated repair-hint that includes meta-data that is associated with at the set of search terms and the meta-data is generated based on computer-readable repair-order data and computer-readable taxonomy terms within a taxonomy term database; and

a display device to display the auto-generated repair-hint received by the network interface.

24. The machine of claim 23, wherein the first set of search terms comprises a set of standard search terms or a set of non-standard search terms.