Systems and methods of creating and delivering item of manufacture specific information to remote devices

• US 9,679,423 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2015
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• 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, O'Deven, Joseph, Brei, James, Flaherty, Michael Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US14/968,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20160171798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 547 Days
• 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. 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;

access 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;

identify one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the set of user preference information;

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.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive 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 causes the processor to:

evaluate the fault code;

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

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

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to determine a serviceable condition based at least on the vehicle operational values, further cause the processor to:

determine the serviceable condition based at least in part on both the vehicle operational values and a service history of the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to determine a serviceable condition based at least in part on the vehicle operational values, further cause the processor to:

determine the serviceable condition based at least in part on a build configuration of the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to identify one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle, further cause the processor to:

select 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.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to identify one or more devices logically associated with at least one of the vehicle or an individual logically associated with the vehicle, further cause the processor to:

identify 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.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to 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, further cause the processor to:

format 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.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to 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, further cause the processor to:

format 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.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to 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, further cause the processor to:

format 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.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to format the third instance of the service alert as a textual description, further cause the processor to:

determine a user specified level of detail reporting preference; and

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

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions cause the processor to further:

identify at least one service provider;

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

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

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to transmit the determined appointment availabilities, further cause the processor to:

transmit the appointment availabilities for presentation as respective selectable icons.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to identify at least one service provider, further cause the processor to:

identify at least one service provider previously used by the owner of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

identify 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

transmit 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.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

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

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

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

identify 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;

transmit 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.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

transmit a warranty service notification to the at least one device that notifies at least one of the owner or the driver of the vehicle of the warranty service to be performed.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

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

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

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

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

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

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

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

25. A vehicle assessment 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 system, and which further cause the processor to;

receive 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;

receive 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

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

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

perform a statistical trend analysis of the complied data.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

sample data for a first set of functions at a first frequency over a first period; and

sample data for a second set of functions at a second frequency over the first period.

28. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive an event definition, further cause the processor to:

receive driver demographic specifying information that specifies a set of driver age ranges.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive an event definition, further cause the processor to:

receive environmental condition specifying information that specifies a set of climate zones.

30. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive an event definition, further cause the processor to:

receive environmental condition specifying information that specifies a portion of vehicles to be sampled from each of at least two different climate zones.

31. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive an event definition, further cause the processor to:

receive driver behavior specifying information that specifies at least one of a driver braking profile or acceleration profile.

32. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions that cause the processor to receive an event definition, further cause the processor to:

receive vehicle build configuration specifying information that specifies at least one sales code that identifies a subset from all vehicles of the first make and model of vehicles.

33. The system of claim 25 wherein the machine-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

for each of the plurality of vehicles, receive respective environmental data indicative of ambient environmental conditions in which the vehicle is operating; and

correlate the received environmental data with the operational values.