Location-based vehicle maintenance scheduling

• US 8,060,274 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., Finn, Peter G., Hamilton, Rick A. II, O'Connell, Brian M., Seaman, James W., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman; Marthe
• Application Number:
  US12/261,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20100114423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 701/300, 701/207, 701/201, 701/30, 340/539.24, 340/426.21, 340/438, 340/994
• US Class Current: 701/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Systems, methods, and program products are provided for scheduling vehicle maintenance by identifying a future location at which a vehicle is available for a service and electronically providing at least the future location, a time and time duration that the vehicle is estimated to be at the future location, and an identified service, to a mechanic.

Claims

1. A system of a vehicle that generates and provides a location-based service schedule for the vehicle, comprising:

a location identifier that;

predicts a likely future location of the vehicle and a time during a day and a duration time at which the vehicle is available for maintenance;

identifies a type of service to be performed on the vehicle and an estimated time for performing the service;

compares the estimated time for performing the type of service with the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the time during the day at the future location; and

generates a recommended location-based service schedule for the vehicle based on the predicted future location, the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the future location at the time during the day, and the type of service, by removing the predicted future location from the recommended location-based service schedule if the time for performing the service is estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location; and

a notifier that selectively conveys the recommended location-based service schedule to a mechanic to retrieve the vehicle from the predicted future location at the time during the day and perform the service on the day if the time for performing the service is not estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is part of the vehicle'"'"'s computing system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notifier conveys the recommended location-based service schedule over one of a wire or wireless communication channel.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the notifier further sends a service request to a plurality of mechanics for bidding upon the request.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identifier predicts the likely future location based on tracked location information from a location tracker that tracks the location of the vehicle over time.

7. The system of claim 6, further including a pattern recognizer that recognizes location patterns in the tracked location information, wherein the location identifier predicts the likely future location based on the recognized location patterns.

8. The system of claim 1, further including a storage component that stores a user calendar with information indicative of a future location of a user, wherein the location identifier predicts the likely future location of the vehicle based on the user calendar.

9. The system of claim 1, further including a preferences bank that indicates a recipient of the first parameter.

5. The system of claim l, wherein the type of service is based on information provided by at least one of a fault detection system of the vehicle, an electronic manufacturer maintenance schedule, and an electronic user maintenance schedule, wherein the electronic maintenance schedules are stored in a storage component operative to the service identifier.

10. A method for scheduling vehicle maintenance, comprising:

identifying a type of service to be performed on a vehicle and determining an estimated time for performing the service;

predicting a future location of the vehicle and a time during a day and a duration time at which the vehicle is available for the service at the future location during the day;

comparing the estimated time for performing the type of service with the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the time during the day at the future location;

generating a recommended location-based service schedule for the vehicle based on the predicted future location, the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the future location at the time during the day, and the type of service, by removing the predicted future location from the recommended location-based service schedule if the time for performing the service is estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location; and

electronically sending the recommended location-based service schedule to a mechanic to retrieve the vehicle from the predicted future location at the time during the day and perform the service on the day if the time for performing the service is not estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of electronically sending the recommended location-based service schedule to the mechanic further comprises:

sending a service request to a plurality of mechanics for bidding upon the request.

12. The method of claim 10, further including tracking location information of the vehicle and predicting future locations at which the vehicle is available for the service based on the tracked location information of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the location information of the vehicle is obtained from a global navigational system.

14. The method of claim 10, further including electronically sending at least one of user contact information or user billing information to the recipient.

15. The method of claim 10, further including determining a recommended second service to be performed in conjunction with the service and electronically sending the recommended second service to the recipient.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the recommended second service is based on at least one of a service history of the vehicle, a manufacturer maintenance schedule, or a user maintenance schedule.

17. The method of claim 10, further including determining the future location based on at least one of location pattern information for the vehicle or a calendar of the user.

18. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer readable storage device comprising computer executable program code stored thereon, the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to;

identify a type of service to be performed on the vehicle and an estimated time for performing the service;

predict a likely future location of a vehicle and a time during a day and a duration time at which the vehicle is available for servicing;

compare the estimated time for performing the type of service with the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the time during the day at the future location;

generate a recommended location-based service schedule for the vehicle based on the predicted future location, the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the future location at the time during the day, and the type of service, by removing the predicted future location from the recommended location-based service schedule if the time for performing the service is estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location; and

transmit the recommended location-based service schedule to a mechanic to retrieve the vehicle from the predicted future location at the time during the day and perform the service on the day if the time for performing the service is not estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the computer system is a computing system of the vehicle.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the program code further comprises instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:

predict the likely future location based on tracked location information from a location tracker that tracks the location of the vehicle over time.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the program code further comprises instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:

transmit the recommended location-based service schedule to the mechanic by transmitting a service request to a plurality of mechanics for bidding upon the request.

22. A method for deploying an application for scheduling vehicle service, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

identify a type of service to be performed on a vehicle and an estimated time for performing the service;

predict a likely future location of the vehicle and a time during a day and a duration of time at which the vehicle is available for the service;

compare the estimated time for performing the type of service with the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the time during the day at the future location;

generate a recommended location-based service schedule for the vehicle based on the predicted future location, the duration time at which the vehicle is predicted to be available for the service at the future location at the time during the day, and the type of service, by removing the predicted future location from the recommended location-based service schedule if the time for performing the service is estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location; and

provide the recommended location-based service schedule to a mechanic to retrieve the vehicle from the predicted future location at the time during the day and perform the service on the day if the time for performing the service is not estimated to take longer than the duration time at which the vehicle is estimated to be at the predicted future location.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to:

transmit the recommended location-based service schedule to the mechanic by transmitting a service request to a plurality of mechanics for bidding upon the request.