SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERNET BASED SERVICE NOTIFICATION

• US 20110282937A1
• Filed: 05/12/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Copeland Comfort Control LP (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Emerson Electric Company
• Inventors: Purohit, Kaushik M., Deshpande, Nikhil N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,329,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services

Abstract

The present invention provides an Internet based detailed service notification system to inform the contractor of a customer in need of HVAC servicing. The thermostat has Internet connectivity provided to it. Whenever the customers need servicing or repair of their HVAC devices, they have a special menu/interface at their disposal in their thermostat which assists the customer'"'"'s service request to be registered on the thermostat company'"'"'s web server. The company'"'"'s web server having all the details of the thermostat owner, then automatically forwards these details to the preferred contractor through SMS, through email or an automatically generated call. The details include the address details, phone numbers, type of service needed e.g. servicing, repairing, new device installation, replacement and the like.

Claims

1. An Internet based system for providing service requests to a predetermined group of service contractors from a predetermined group of device users, each device user having at least one device in need of servicing from the contractor, said system comprising:

i. a thermostat unit having a unique identification number linked to at least one device of a user;

ii. a user interface co-operating with said thermostat unit for receiving a service request from a user from pre-determined group of users;

iii. a processing means adapted to receive and process said service request and to identify said service request with said unique identification number to generate a unique service request;

iv. a transmitting means adapted to receive and transmit said service request along with said unique identification number over the Internet; and

v. a web-based server comprising;

a. a look up table having correspondence between said unique identification number of the thermostat unit and contractor'"'"'s address;

b. a receiving means adapted to receive said transmitted service request;

c. an extraction means adapted to extract said unique identification number from said transmitted service request;

d. an identifying means for identifying contractor'"'"'s address from entries in the look up table; and

e. a notification means adapted to provide said service request and unique identification number to said identified contractor.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said thermostat unit comprises said user interface, said processing means, said transmitting means and an interface to link with at least one device of the user.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user interface is pre-programmed with a service request menu to enable users to select the desired service and initiate said service request.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user interface includes at least one interface selected from the group of interfaces consisting of a button, scroll, touch screen, switch and keypad.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user interface is adapted to display the status of said service request.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user interface is adapted to close a service request.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said service request includes at least one service selected from the group of services consisting of repair, regular check up, new device installation and device replacement.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said service request is assigned an urgency level.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said notification means provides the identified contractor the service request through means selected from the group consisting of SMS, email, automatically generated call, VoIP and FAX.

10. A method for Internet based service notification system, said method comprising the following steps:

i. compiling a list of contractors for servicing HVAC devices;

ii. generating a service request by the user;

iii. processing the service request by identifying it with a unique identification number;

iv. transmitting said service request over the Internet to a web-based server;

v. extracting said transmitted service request by web-based server;

vi. identifying contractor'"'"'s address from the entries in the web-server;

vii. addressing the service request and unique identification number to identified contractor; and

viii. closing said service request by the user after completion of service request.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of generating service request includes a step of choosing at least one service selected from the group of services consisting of repair, regular check up, new device installation and device replacement.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of generating service request includes a step of assigning urgency to a service request.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of generating service request includes a step of displaying the status of service request on said user interface.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of identification of contractor includes a step of identifying the contractor adapted to service a device in need of service located proximal to the user.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the process of servicing is a closed loop process.