Computerized method and system for managing warranty services in a digital system or device

• US 8,996,424 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2004
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ads-Tec GmbH, Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ads-Tec GmbH, International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hindermeyer, Erich, Gierens, Konrad, Moegerle, Thomas G., Speidel, Thomas G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kira
• Application Number:
  US10/979,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20050092824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,800 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/50, 705/80, 705/1.1, 705/28, 705/302, 705/303, 705/304, 705/305, 705/308, 705/317, 705/318, 705/342, 705/346, 705/347, 705/500, 324/426
• US Class Current: 705/302
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A digital system or device includes a battery pack as an exemplary functional subunit. In a warranty case determined by an electrical load test for determining its actual charge capacity, a battery check program initializes, via the operating system and an underlying printer, a printout of a warranty certificate. This certificate form, in particular, contains a UID of the underlying battery pack gathered from a ROM implemented in the battery pack. Before generating the printout of the certificate, the UID gathered from the ROM is coded e.g. by the battery check program and only the coded UID is printed. The printout of the warranty certificate thereafter will be delivered to the warranty service provider by the user. After having received the delivered warranty certificate and having checked validity of the user'"'"'s warranty claim by means of the coded UID the warranty service provider sends a replacement battery pack back to the user. As a consequence, the user can replace the battery pack on its own and therefore does not have to deliver the replaced battery pack to the warranty service provider.

Claims

1. A computerized method for handling warranty services related to a renewable subunit of a user'"'"'s digital system or device by a warranty service provider, wherein the renewable subunit provides a readable unique identifier, the method comprising the steps of:

applying, by the digital system or device, a test procedure on the renewable subunit in order to determine functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit, wherein the applying the test procedure is initiated by a user of the digital system or device;

determining, by the digital system or device, a valid warranty claim dependent on the determined functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit;

in case of a determined valid warranty claim, gathering the unique identifier from the renewable subunit and generating a warranty certificate including the unique identifier, wherein the generating the warranty certificate is initiated by the user;

delivering the warranty certificate to the warranty service provider;

determining, at the warranty service provider, the validity of the warranty claim by the unique identifier of the renewable subunit;

protocoling the unique identifier at the warranty service provider in order to make certain that only one renewing subunit is delivered to the user at a time; and

if valid, delivering, at the warranty service provider, a renewing subunit to the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is encoded before the delivery to the warranty service provider.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the warranty certificate together with the encoded unique identifier is printed-out and the printout is delivered to the warranty service provider by facsimile or post mail transmission.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the warranty certificate is delivered to the warranty service provider in electronic form.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the unique identifier of the renewable subunit is gathered from a read-only memory included in the subunit.

6. The method according to according to claim 1, wherein:

the renewable subunit is a battery pack, and the test procedure applied on the battery pack to determine its reliability is an electrical load test.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether a warranty period has expired before performing the applying.

12. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

determining, prior to performing the electrical load test, whether the battery pack is charged to at least a predefined percentage of a charge capacity of the battery pack;

when the battery is charged to at least the predefined percentage, informing the user to remove any external power supply prior to performing the electrical load test; and

when the battery is charged to less than the predefined percentage, instructing the user to charge the battery and determining if it is possible to charge the battery to the predefined percentage.

7. A computer program product comprising at least two computer programs stored on computer usable media for handling warranty services related to a rechargeable battery pack of a user'"'"'s digital system or device by a warranty service provider, wherein the computer usable media is not a transitory signal per se, the battery pack provides a readable unique identifier, and the at least two computer programs comprise:

a first program, residing at the digital system or device, which determines whether a warranty period for a warranty on the battery pack has expired;

a second program, residing at the digital system or device, when the warranty period for the battery pack is valid, the second program applies a test procedure on the battery pack in order to determine functionality or reliability of the battery pack, the test procedure comprises;

determining, prior to performing an electrical load test, whether the battery pack is charged to at least a first predetermined threshold of a charge capacity of the battery pack;

when the battery is charged to less than the first predetermined threshold, instructing the user to charge the battery pack and determine if it is possible to charge the battery pack to 90%;

when the battery pack is charged equal to or greater than the first predetermined threshold, informing the user to remove any external power supply prior to performing the electrical load test;

performing the electrical load test by generating a continuous electrical load with the battery pack in order to determine whether the battery pack is capable of meeting a minimum predetermined running time; and

determining a remaining charge capacity of the battery pack after the minimum predetermined running time,

wherein the test procedure is initiated by a user of the digital system or device;

a third program, residing at the digital system or device, when it is determined that the battery pack cannot be charged to the first predetermined threshold or when the remaining charge capacity of the battery pack is less than a second predetermined threshold after the minimum predetermined running time, the third program determines whether the battery pack was falsely handled by the user;

a fourth program, residing at the digital system or device, which determines a valid warranty claim dependent on whether it is determined that the battery pack cannot be charged to the first predetermined threshold or the remaining charge capacity of the battery pack is less than the second predetermined threshold after the minimum predetermined running time, and it is determined that the battery pack was handled correctly by the user;

a fifth program, residing at the digital system or device, which gathers the unique identifier from the battery pack in case of a determined valid warranty claim, codes the unique identifier using a coding algorithm and generates a warranty certificate including the encoded unique identifier, wherein the generating the warranty certificate is initiated by the user;

a sixth program, residing at the digital system or device, which delivers or initiates delivery of the warranty certificate to the warranty service provider;

a seventh program, residing at the warranty service provider, which determines the validity of the warranty claim by the encoded unique identifier of the battery pack;

an eighth program, residing at the warranty service provider, which protocols the encoded unique identifier at the warranty service provider in order to make certain that only one battery pack is delivered to the user at a time; and

a ninth program, residing at the warranty service provider, which delivers or initiates delivery of a new battery pack back to the user.

13. The computer program product according to claim 7, wherein the computer usable medium comprises one of:

a diskette, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and tape.

20. The computer program product according to claim 7, wherein the first predetermined threshold is 90% and the second predetermined threshold is 10%.

8. A computer program product for handling warranty services related to a renewable subunit, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se;

first program instructions to apply, at a digital system or device, a test procedure on the renewable subunit in order to determine functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit, wherein the applying the test procedure is initiated by a user of the digital system or device;

second program instructions to determine, at the digital system or device, a valid warranty claim dependent on the determined functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit;

third program instructions to gather the unique identifier from the renewable subunit in case of a determined valid warranty claim, and generate a warranty certificate including a unique identifier, wherein the generating the warranty certificate is initiated by the user;

fourth program instructions to deliver the warranty certificate to the warranty service provider;

fifth program instructions to determine, at the warranty service provider, the validity of the warranty claim by the unique identifier of the renewable subunit;

sixth program instructions to protocol the unique identifier at the warranty service provider in order to make certain that only one renewing subunit is delivered to the user at a time; and

seventh program instructions to deliver, at the warranty service provider, a renewing subunit back to the user,

wherein the first through seventh program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

14. The computer program product according to claim 8, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises one of:

a diskette, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and tape.

15. The computer program product according to claim 8, further comprising eighth program instructions to encode the unique identifier before the delivery to the warranty service provider, wherein the eighth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising ninth program instructions to initiate a print-out of the warranty certificate together with the encoded unique identifier, wherein the ninth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

17. The computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising ninth program instructions to deliver the warranty certificate to the warranty service provider in electronic form, wherein the ninth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

18. The computer program product according to claim 8, further comprising eighth program instructions to gather the unique identifier of the renewable subunit from a read-only memory included in the renewable subunit, wherein the eighth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

19. The computer program product according to claim 8, wherein the renewable subunit is a battery pack and the computer program product further comprises eighth program instructions to apply an electrical load test on the battery pack, wherein the eighth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

9. A computer system for handling warranty services related to at least one renewable subunit, the system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium;

first program instructions to apply a test procedure on the at least one renewable subunit in order to determine functionality or reliability of the at least one renewable subunit, wherein the applying the test procedure is initiated by a user of the device;

second program instructions to determine a valid warranty claim dependent on the determined functionality or reliability of the at least one renewable subunit;

third program instructions to gather a unique identifier from the at least one renewable subunit in case of a determined valid warranty claim, and generate a warranty certificate including the unique identifier, wherein the generating the warranty certificate is initiated by the user; and

fourth program instructions to deliver the warranty certificate to a warranty service provider;

fifth program instructions to determine the validity of the warranty claim at the warranty service provider by the unique identifier of the at least one renewable subunit;

sixth program instructions to protocol the unique identifier at the warranty service provider in order to make certain that only one renewing subunit is delivered to the user at a time

wherein;

the warranty service provider delivers a renewing subunit back to the user, and

the first through sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

10. A system, including:

a device comprising at least one renewable subunit providing a readable unique identifier, an operating system residing on the device, a program, which resides at the device and runs on the operating system, for;

applying a test procedure on the renewable subunit in order to determine functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit, wherein the applying the test procedure is initiated by a user of the device;

determining a valid warranty claim dependent on the determined functionality or reliability of the renewable subunit;

gathering the unique identifier from the renewable subunit in case of a determined valid warranty claim and for generating a warranty certificate including the unique identifier, wherein the generating the warranty certificate is initiated by the user;

delivering or initiating delivery of the warranty certificate to a warranty service provider; and

a program, which resides at the warranty service provider, for;

determining the validity of the warranty claim by means of the encoded unique identifier of the renewable subunit;

protocoling the unique identifier in order to make certain that only one renewing subunit is delivered to the user at a time; and

delivering or initiating delivery of a renewing subunit back to the user.