Internet customer service method and system

• US 7,181,418 B1
• Filed: 05/13/2000
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Ahdekivi, Heikki, Murrell, William, Cleaves, Paul, Hitcham, John, Jarrett, Jussi, Brooks, Paula, Zucker, John Todd, Burdett, Tim, Ashurst, Colin, Cartwright, Rachel, Bradbury, Soren, Tolvanen, Jussi
• Primary Examiner(s): Kalinowski; Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): THEIN, MARIA TERESA T
• Application Number:
  US09/569,929
• Time in Patent Office: 2,474 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/9, 705/26, 705/27, 705/37, 705/38, 705/28, 705/29, 705/39
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

An Internet customer service system (10) includes a product database (22) storing product data (24,26,28,30) associated with products available to a customer. The system (10) also includes an interface agent database (68) storing available interface agents (80) for interacting with the customer. The system (10) also includes a server (16) operable to access the product database (22) and display the product data (24,26,28,30) to the customer through interface web pages (18). The server (16) is further operable to access the interface agent database (68) and display the available interface agents (80) to the customer through the web pages (18). The system further includes a customer database (34) storing customer data (36) generated in response to displaying one or more profile screens (44) to the customer via the web pages (18). The customer database (34) also stores configured product data (54) generated in response to receiving selected product data (24,26,28,30) from the customer via the web pages (18). The server (16) is operable to transmit, in response to receiving a selected interface agent (80) and an appointment schedule from the customer, the customer data (36), the configured product data (54), and the appointment schedule to the selected interface agent (80).

Claims

1. A method for providing product evaluation services, comprising:

storing data associated with a customer in a customer database;

displaying available product options to the customer for a desired product;

in response to receiving a customer selected product and product options, storing data associated with the desired product in the customer database;

selecting available interface agents for evaluation of the desired product based on the customer data;

displaying the selected available interface agents for evaluation of the desired product by the customer;

receiving a customer-selected interface agent, the customer-selected interface agent being one of the displayed available interface agents;

in response to receiving the customer-selected interface agent, displaying an appointment schedule screen to the customer for selecting an appointment schedule for interacting with the customer-selected interface agent to evaluate the desired product; and

in response to receiving a selected appointment schedule, transmitting the desired product data, the customer data, and the selected appointment schedule to the customer-selected interface agent.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the desired product data, the customer data, and the selected appointment schedule to a monitoring agent.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an appointment schedule verification request to the customer via electronic mail requesting confirmation of the selected appointment schedule.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the appointment schedule verification request comprises transmitting from the customer-selected interface agent to the customer the appointment schedule verification request via electronic mail.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving confirmation of the appointment schedule from the customer; and

transmitting an appointment schedule confirmation message to the monitoring agent.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the desired product data, the customer data, and the selected appointment schedule to a monitoring agent;

transmitting an appointment verification message to the customer via electronic mail requesting confirmation of the selected appointment schedule; and

in response to receiving confirmation of the selected appointment schedule from the customer, transmitting an appointment confirmation message to the monitoring agent.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to an evaluation of the desired product by the customer, generating an evaluation report based on the customer evaluation; and

transmitting the evaluation report to the monitoring agent.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the product data based on information contained in the evaluation report.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying available interface agents comprises:

retrieving a location of the customer from the customer data;

accessing an interface agent database; and

displaying the interface agents proximate to the location of the customer.

10. A method for providing product valuation services, comprising:

storing data associated with a customer in a customer database;

displaying a valuation screen to the customer containing entry fields for receiving valuation data corresponding to a customer provided product;

in response to receiving the valuation data from the customer, selecting one or more available interface agents for valuating the product based on the customer data;

displaying the selected available interface agents for valuating the product;

receiving a customer-selected interface agent, the customer-selected interface agent being one of the displayed available interface agents;

in response to receiving the customer-selected interface agent, displaying an appointment schedule screen to the customer for selecting an appointment schedule with the customer-selected interface agent for receiving the valuation services from the customer-selected interface agent; and

in response to receiving a selected appointment schedule, transmitting the customer data, the valuation data and the selected appointment schedule to the customer-selected interface agent for valuating the product.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting the customer data, the valuation data and the selected appointment schedule to a monitoring agent.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting to the monitoring agent comprises transmitting, via electronic mail, the customer data, the valuation data and the appointment schedule from the customer-selected interface agent to the monitoring agent.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the product from the customer;

valuating the product; and

generating a valuation report for the product.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting the valuation report to the customer; and

transmitting the valuation report to a monitoring agent.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating the valuation data using information contained in the valuation report.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting an appointment verification request to the customer; and

in response to receiving confirmation of the selected appointment schedule from the customer, transmitting an appointment confirmation message to a monitoring agent.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the appointment verification request comprises transmitting from the customer-selected interface agent to the customer the appointment verification request via electronic mail.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the appointment confirmation message comprises transmitting from the customer-selected interface agent to the monitoring agent the appointment confirmation message via electronic mail.

19. An Internet customer service system, comprising:

a product database storing available product data for products available to a customer;

an interface agent database storing available interface agents for interacting with the customer;

a server operable to;

access the product database;

display the product data to the customer through interface web pages;

access the interface agent database;

select available interface agents;

display the selected available interface agents to the customer through the web pages; and

receive at least one customer-selected interface agent, the at least one customer-selected interface agent being one of the displayed available interface agents; and

a customer database storing customer data generated in response to displaying one or more profile screens to the customer via the web pages, the customer database further storing configured product data generated in response to receiving selected product data from the customer via the web pages; and

wherein the server is operable to transmit, in response to receiving the at least one customer-selected interface agent and an appointment schedule from the customer, the customer data, the configured product data, and the appointment schedule to the at least one customer-selected interface agent.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the product database further comprises price data associated with the products available to the customer.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to transmit the customer data, the configured product data, and the appointment schedule to a monitoring agent.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising a valuation routine operable to receive valuation data from the customer, the valuation data associated with a product provided by the customer, and wherein the server is further operable to transmit the valuation data to the at least one customer-selected interface agent.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the server is further operable to transmit the valuation data to a monitoring agent.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising a credit routine operable to receive credit data from the customer, the credit data associated with financing a purchase of the selected product by the customer.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the server is further operable to transmit the credit data to a credit agent for evaluation.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operable to transmit the credit data to a monitoring agent.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to generate valuation data associated with a value of a customer provided product, the web server further operable to generate purchase data using the configured product data and the valuation data.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the server is further operable to transmit the purchase data to a monitoring agent.

29. The system of claim 27, further comprising a credit routine operable to receive credit data from the customer, the credit data associated with financing a purchase of the selected product by the customer, and wherein the server is further operable to transmit the credit data and the purchase data to a credit agent.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising an evaluation engine operable to generate a credit evaluation report based on the credit data and the purchase data.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the evaluation engine is further operable to transmit the credit evaluation report to the customer.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the evaluation engine is further operable to transmit the credit evaluation report to a monitoring agent.

33. An Internet customer service system, comprising:

a product database storing product option data for products available to a customer;

a web server operable to access the product database and display the product option data to the customer through interface web pages;

a configure routine operable to generate configured product data in response to receiving selected product option data from the customer via the web pages;

a customer database storing the configured product data;

a credit routine operable to;

receive responses from the customer through one or more credit screen web pages;

receive at least a portion of the configured product data generated by the configure routine; and

generate credit data in response to receiving the responses from the customer through the one or more credit screen web pages and receiving the portion of the configured product data generated by the configure routine; and

wherein the web server is further operable to transmit the customer data and the credit data to a credit agent for credit evaluation.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the web server is further operable to transmit the credit data and the configured product data to a monitoring agent.

35. The system of claim 33, further comprising a valuation routine operable to generate valuation data in response to receiving from the customer, via the web pages, data associated with a customer provided product.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the web server is further operable to transmit the valuation data to the credit agent.

37. The system of claim 33, further comprising an evaluation engine operable to evaluate the credit data and generate a credit evaluation report.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the evaluation engine agent is operable to transmit the credit evaluation report to the customer.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the evaluation engine agent is operable to transmit the credit evaluation report to a monitoring agent.

40. The system of claim 33, wherein the web server is operable to display a credit inquiry screen web page to the customer, and wherein the web server is further operable to display a credit application screen web page to the customer based on responses received from the customer using the credit inquiry screen web page.