Anticipatory mobile system service brokering and resource planning from multiple providers

• US 20040044605A1
• Filed: 08/29/2002
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chung-Chee Kwok, Albert, Pizzo, John Richard Del Jr., William Clark, Bryan, Patrick Huff, David, Kress Bodin, William, Thorson, Derral Charles, Stryjewski, Wojciech T., Karasick, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

Diagnostic codes from a vehicle or other system in transit are transmitted to an opportunity server. The opportunity server searches for potential providers according to user preferences, specifications of the system in transit, and location of the provider in relationship to the travel itinerary of the mobile system. Requests for bids are issued to potential providers, and offers are received and coalesced from the providers. The operator of the vehicle is presented with one or more coalesced offers. Upon selection of an offer by the operator, the service is scheduled, including arranging for parts, personnel and facilities.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating a business transaction related to a mobile system in transit comprising the steps of:

receiving a signal from a mobile system indicating a need for a business transaction, location of the mobile system, one or more service points in the vicinity of the mobile system, and estimated time(s) of arrival at said service points;

issuing one or more requests for bids for said business transaction to fulfill said need to one or more provider parties;

coalescing one or more offers for said business transaction received from said provider parties;

presenting said coalesced offers to an operator of said mobile system; and

performing enterprise resource planning for said business transaction with one of said responding providers.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of receiving a signal from a mobile system indicating a need for a business transaction comprises receiving a diagnostic trouble code from a vehicle.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of issuing one or more requests for bids comprises consulting one or more user profiles and one or more provider profiles to determine which, if any, provider parties are qualified to receive a request for bid for the indicated need.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprises repeating said steps of issuing requests, coalescing and presenting offers responsive to a declination of all previously presented offers by said operator such that additional provider parties are invited to bid.

5. A computer readable medium encoded with software for coordinating a business transaction related to a mobile system in transit, said software performing the steps of:

receiving a signal from a mobile system indicating a need for a business transaction, location of the mobile system, one or more service points in the vicinity of the mobile system, and estimated time(s) of arrival at said service points;

issuing one or more requests for bids for said business transaction to fulfill said need to one or more provider parties;

coalescing one or more offers for said business transaction received from said provider parties;

presenting said coalesced offers to an operator of said mobile system; and

performing enterprise resource planning for said business transaction with one of said responding providers.

6. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 5 wherein said software for receiving a signal from a mobile system indicating a need for a business transaction comprises software for receiving a diagnostic trouble code from a vehicle.

7. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 5 wherein said software for issuing one or more requests for bids comprises software for consulting one or more user profiles and one or more provider profiles to determine which, if any, provider parties are qualified to receive a request for bid for the indicated need.

8. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 5 further comprising software for repeating said steps of issuing requests, coalescing and presenting offers responsive to a declination of all previously presented offers by said operator such that additional provider parties are invited to bid.

9. A system for arranging for a business transaction for an operator of a mobile system while said mobile system is in transit, said system comprising:

a diagnostic system on board a mobile system having a location resolver, and a-wireless networking interface for transmitting service need messages; and

one or more provider servers having a bid request receptor and offer generator/transmitter; and

an opportunity server communicably disposed between said diagnostic system and said provider servers, having a service need message receptor, and bid request generator/transmitter, an offer receptor;

an offer coalescer/transmitter, a user selection receptor, and an order confirmer such that needs for service by said mobile system may be brokered on behalf of an operator of said vehicle, and may be scheduled for future consumption by said operator according to an accepted offer.

10. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said diagnostic system comprises a global positioning system.

11. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said diagnostic system comprises a location based services system.

12. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said diagnostic system comprises a vehicle electronic control module.

13. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said provider servers comprise networked enterprise servers for querying for service action quotes and offers over the Internet.

14. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said opportunity server further comprises a set of user profiles and a set of provider profiles, and a profile analyzer for selecting one or more providers to receive requests for bids according to provider profiles matching preferences specified in said user profiles, and conditions of said mobile system selected from the group of location of the mobile system, direction and speed of travel of the mobile system, and make-and-model of the mobile system.