SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF CREATING AND DELIVERING ITEM OF MANUFACTURE SPECIFIC INFORMATION TO REMOTE DEVICES

• US 20150057875A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 02/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tweddle Group Incorporated (CJK Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tweddle Group Incorporated (CJK Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: McGinnis, Patrick, Brei, James, Flaherty, Michael Martin, O'Deven, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/31.6
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/002 Analysing tachograph charts arrangements for graph-reading in general G06K11/00
• 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: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

An asset authoring and delivery system generates a number of authored assets. Each of the authored assets includes a number of asset content objects that are logically associated with one or more components included in the item of manufacture. The authored assets generated by the asset authoring and delivery system are formatted and communicated to one or more remote devices logically associated with the item of manufacture. Authored assets may be provided responsive to one or more sensed characteristics, for instance vehicle operational parameters, vehicle operation and/or driver behavior, and may be customized to a make and/or model of vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of operation in an assessment and notification system, the method comprising:

receiving respective vehicle operational values from a plurality of transducers for at least a first vehicle, the vehicle operational values specifying operational values for a plurality of at least one of functions or subsystems of at least the first vehicle over time by at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system via at least one nontransitory storage medium of the assessment and notification system, the at least one nontransitory storage medium communicatively coupled to the at least one circuit;

detecting a serviceable condition based at least on the vehicle operational values by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system;

identifying one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system;

for each of at least one of the identified devices, formatting at least one instance of a service alert based on at least one characteristic of the respective at least one of the identified devices by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system; and

transmitting the formatted instances of the service alert to the at least one of the identified devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving respective vehicle operational values from a plurality of transducers for at least a first vehicle includes receiving a fault code from a diagnostic system of the vehicle, and further comprising:

evaluating the fault code;

determining a severity of a fault indicated by the fault code; and

determining a description of a fault associated with the fault code.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting a serviceable condition based at least on the vehicle operational values includes detecting the serviceable condition based at least in part on both the vehicle operational values and a service history of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein detecting a serviceable condition based at least in part on the vehicle operational values further includes detecting the serviceable condition based at least in part on a build configuration of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle includes accessing a set of user preference information which identifies a set of devices for use in communicating with at least one of an owner or a driver of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle includes accessing a set of user preference information which identifies a set of devices for use in communicating with at least one of an owner or a driver of the vehicle, and selecting one or more of the identified devices based on at least one situational awareness criteria indicative of a current situation of at least one of the vehicle, the owner or the driver of the vehicle, or of the devices.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle includes identifying a user interface of a head unit of the vehicle and at least one of a handheld mobile communications device or an electronic mail address logically associated with at least one of an owner or a driver of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein formatting at least one instance of a service alert based on at least one characteristic of the respective at least one of the identified devices includes formatting a first instance of the service alert as at least one of an audio or an audiovisual message playable via a head unit of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein formatting at least one instance of a service alert based on at least one characteristic of the respective at least one of the identified devices includes formatting a second instance of the service alert as at least one of an audio or an audiovisual message playable via at least one of a head unit of the vehicle or handheld mobile communications device or a Web browser executed by a processor-based device.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein formatting at least one instance of a service alert based on at least one characteristic of the respective at least one of the identified devices further includes formatting a third instance of the service alert as a textual description for transmission as an electronic mail or text, providing further details of regarding the serviceable condition and a subsystem to which the serviceable condition relates beyond the audio or the audiovisual message.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a user specified level of detail reporting preference; and

wherein the formatting the third instance of the service alert as a textual description is based at least in part on the user specified level of detail reporting preference.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying at least one service provider;

determining a number of appointment availabilities for the identified service providers; and

transmitting the determined appointment availabilities to at least one of the vehicle, an owner of the vehicle or a driver of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein transmitting the determined appointment availabilities includes transmitting the appointment availabilities for presentation as respective selectable icons.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein identifying at least one service provider includes identifying at least one service provider previously used by the owner of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting an appointment request to the at least one service provider in response to a selection of one of the appointment availabilities.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting to the at least one service provider a report which provides at least the fault code.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying at least one service that is at least one of overdue or due to be performed on the vehicle within a defined period of a current date; and

transmitting a scheduled service notification to the at least one device notifying at least one of the owner or the driver of the vehicle of the service to be performed.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining an amount of time required to service the vehicle to correct the fault condition; and

accounting for the time required to service the vehicle to correct the fault condition when determining the appointment availabilities.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether parts are needed to service the vehicle to correct the fault condition;

if parts are needed, determining whether the parts are in stock;

if the parts are not in stock, determining an amount of time required to obtain the parts; and

accounting for the time required to obtain the parts when determining the appointment availabilities when determining the appointment availabilities.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying at least one scheduled maintenance service that is at least one of overdue or due to be performed in a defined period of a present date;

transmitting a scheduled maintenance service notification to the at least one device notifying at least one of the owner or the driver of the vehicle of the scheduled maintenance service to be performed.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining an amount of time required to perform the scheduled maintenance service on the vehicle; and

accounting for the time required to perform the scheduled maintenance service on the vehicle in addition to the service to correct the fault condition when determining the appointment availabilities.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining whether parts are needed to perform the scheduled maintenance service on the vehicle;

if parts are needed, determining whether the parts are in stock;

if the parts are not in stock, determining an amount of time required to obtain the parts; and

accounting for the time required to obtain the parts when determining the appointment availabilities.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying at least one warranty service that is at least due to be performed;

transmitting a warranty service notification to the at least one device notifying at least one of the owner or the driver of the vehicle of the warranty service to be performed.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

determining an amount of time required to perform the warranty service on the vehicle; and

accounting for the time required to perform the warranty service on the vehicle in addition to the service to correct the fault condition when determining the appointment availabilities.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

determining whether parts are needed to perform the warranty service on the vehicle;

if parts are needed, determining whether the parts are in stock;

if the parts are not in stock, determining an amount of time required to obtain the parts; and

accounting for the time required to obtain the parts when determining the appointment availabilities.

26. An assessment and notification system, comprising:

at least one communications interface;

a processor communicably coupled to the at least one communications interface; and

at least one nontransitory storage communicably coupled to the processor and containing processor-readable, machine-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the at least one processor to provide an assessment and notification system, and which further cause the processor to;

receive respective vehicle operational values from a plurality of transducers for at least a first vehicle, the vehicle operational values specifying operational values for a plurality of at least one of functions or subsystems of at least the first vehicle over time;

determine a serviceable condition based at least on the vehicle operational values;

identify one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle;

for each of at least one of the identified devices, format at least one instance of a service alert based on at least one characteristic of the respective at least one of the identified devices; and

transmit the formatted instances of the service alert to the at least one of the identified devices.

27-50. -50. (canceled)

51. A method of operation in an assessment and notification system, the method comprising:

receiving respective vehicle operational values from a plurality of transducers for at least a first vehicle, the vehicle operational values specifying operational values for a plurality of at least one of functions or subsystems of at least the first vehicle over time by at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system;

logically associating the received vehicle operational values with respective ones of a number of drivers of the vehicle who operate at least the first vehicle at a number of distinct times by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system;

generating a report based at least in part on the logical association of the received vehicle operational values with respective ones of the drivers of the vehicle who operate at least the first vehicle at the number of distinct times by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system; and

generating a driver behavior report indicative of driver behavior for at least one of the drivers of the vehicle based at least in part on the logical association of the received vehicle operational values with respective ones of the drivers of the vehicle who operate at least the first vehicle at the number of distinct times by the at least one circuit of the assessment and notification system.

52-82. -82. (canceled)

83. A method of operation in a vehicle assessment system, the method comprising:

receiving respective vehicle operational values from a plurality of transducers for each of a plurality of vehicles of a first make and model of vehicle by at least one circuit of the vehicle assessment system, the vehicles of the first make and model of vehicles having respective ones of a number of build configurations, the vehicle operational values specifying operational values for a plurality of at least one of functions or subsystems of a respective one of the vehicles over time;

receiving an event definition, the event definition specifying at least one of;

driver demographic specifying information, environmental condition specifying information, geographic area specifying information, driver behavior specifying information, vehicle build configuration specifying information; and

compiling data from each of the vehicles that fit within or which operation fits within the event definition.

84-100. -100. (canceled)