Roadside assistance management

• US 9,940,596 B1
• Filed: 05/18/2017
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Briggs, Ryan M., Smith, Eva, Shah, Priya, Wilson, Thomas J., Jordan, William C., Burns, Lawrence David
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US15/598,767
• Time in Patent Office: 327 Days
• Field of Search: 701 324, 342451, 345581, 345589, 709203, 709205, 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses provide a system for establishing base stations and allocating service vehicles to the base stations in order to provide roadside assistance. The system may include computing devices associated with customer vehicles and service vehicles as well as network computing devices. The system may receive a service request from a customer regarding a disabled vehicle. The system may then identify an appropriate service vehicle to assist the customer and assign the service request to the identified service vehicle. The system may select the appropriate service vehicle based on a location of the disabled vehicle. In an example, the system may choose a service vehicle from a base station closest to or within the shortest driving time to the disabled vehicle. By setting-up base stations in advance of service requests, service vehicles may reach disabled vehicles within a predetermined period of time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying, by a first computing device, a user interface comprising;

a location corresponding to a vehicle service request,

a description of the vehicle service request,

a selectable element for a selection indicating an acceptance or a rejection of the vehicle service request, and

a target response time for the vehicle service request;

receiving, via the user interface, user input comprising the selection; and

transmitting, to a second computing device, an indication that the vehicle service request has been accepted or an indication that the vehicle service request has been rejected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location comprises an address or coordinates.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the first computing device and in response to receiving the selection indicating the acceptance of the vehicle service request, a status of the vehicle service request.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the status of the vehicle service request comprises an indication that the vehicle service request has been fulfilled.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the status of the vehicle service request comprises an indication that a vehicle corresponding to the first computing device is located at the location corresponding to the vehicle service request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle service request comprises a request to repair a vehicle or tow the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the description comprises a color, manufacturer, model, or license plate number of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface further comprises an indication of an amount of money to be paid after fulfillment of the vehicle service request.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device, an indication of a service request corresponding to a first vehicle;

transmitting, to a second computing device associated with a service provider entity, information indicating a request to provide service to the first vehicle, wherein a second vehicle, associated with the second computing device, is stationed at a predetermined location that is determined based on data indicating locations where vehicle accidents occur over a period of time;

receiving, from the second computing device, an indication that the service request has been accepted;

transmitting, to the first computing device, an indication of a status of the service request;

receiving an indication that the service request has been completed; and

in response to receiving the indication that the service request has been completed, transmitting an instruction to provide a payment to the service provider entity.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein transmitting the instruction to provide the payment comprises transmitting the instruction to a billing module.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the information indicating the request to provide service to the first vehicle comprises an indication of an amount of the payment.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, in response to receiving the indication that the service request has been completed, transmitting, to the second computing device, an instruction to travel to a location of a service station.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first computing device, an indication of a service request corresponding to a first vehicle;

transmitting, to a second computing device associated with a service provider entity, information indicating a request to provide service to the first vehicle;

receiving, from the second computing device, an indication that the service request has been accepted;

determining, based on a location of a second vehicle corresponding to the second computing device, a status of the service request;

transmitting, to the first computing device, an indication of the status of the service request;

determining that the service request has been completed; and

in response to determining that the service request has been completed, transmitting, to the first computing device, a survey corresponding to the service request.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, from the first computing device, a response to the survey, wherein the response comprises a rating corresponding to the service request.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the status of the service request comprises monitoring the location of the second vehicle.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication of the status of the service request comprises an indication of the location of the second vehicle.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, from the first computing device, an indication of a requested drop location for the first vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting, to the second computing device, an instruction to transport the first vehicle to the requested drop location.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining that the service request has been completed comprises:

monitoring a location of a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle corresponds to the second computing device; and

determining that the second vehicle is located at the requested drop location.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in response to determining that the service request has been completed, transmitting, to the second computing device, an instruction to travel to a location of a service station.