Roadside assistance management

• US 9,691,045 B1
• Filed: 01/29/2016
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Eva, Shah, Priya, Briggs, Ryan M., Burns, Lawrence David, Wilson, Thomas J., Jordan, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US15/010,182
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 701 324, 342451, 345581, 345589, 709203, 709205, 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses provide a system for establishing base stations and allocating service vehicles to the base stations in order to provide roadside assistance. The system may include computing devices associated with customer vehicles and service vehicles as well as network computing devices. The system may receive a service request from a customer regarding a disabled vehicle. The system may then identify an appropriate service vehicle to assist the customer and assign the service request to the identified service vehicle. The system may select the appropriate service vehicle based on a location of the disabled vehicle. In an example, the system may choose a service vehicle from a base station closest to or within the shortest driving time to the disabled vehicle. By setting-up base stations in advance of service requests, service vehicles may reach disabled vehicles within a predetermined period of time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving information indicating a plurality of service vehicles and a plurality of base stations, wherein each service vehicle of the plurality of service vehicles is assigned to a base station of the plurality of base stations;

determining inserted by a computing device, a level of demand for the plurality of service vehicles;

determining inserted by a computing device, a response time for a first base station of the plurality of base stations, wherein the response time corresponds to an estimated amount of time for a service vehicle assigned to the first base station to respond to a service request;

determining, inserted by a computing device, based on the level of demand and the response time, to increase a number of service vehicles at the first base station; and

reassigning a service vehicle of the plurality of service vehicles from a second base station of the plurality of base stations to the first base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the level of demand comprises determining the level of demand based on a time of day.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining to increase the number of service vehicles at the first base station comprises determining that the response time is above a predetermined response time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein reassigning the service vehicle from the second base station to the first base station comprises determining a response time of the second base station.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein reassigning the service vehicle from the second base station to the first base station comprises determining that a response time of the second base station is below a threshold response time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein reassigning the service vehicle from the second base station to the first base station comprises:

transmitting a request to a second computing device corresponding to the service vehicle; and

receiving an indication that the request was accepted.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request corresponds to a request for service within a geographical area associated with the first base station.

8. A system comprising:

a plurality of first computing devices associated with a plurality of first service vehicles; and

a second computing device configured to;

receive information indicating a plurality of base stations, wherein each service vehicle of the plurality of first service vehicles is assigned to a base station of the plurality of base stations;

determine a level of demand for the plurality of first service vehicles;

determine a response time for a first base station of the plurality of base stations, wherein the response time corresponds to an estimated amount of time for a service vehicle assigned to the first base station to respond to a service request;

determine, based on the level of demand and the response time, to assign one or more additional service vehicles to the first base station; and

sending, to a third computing device associated with a second service vehicle, a request for the second service vehicle to be assigned to the first base station, wherein the second service vehicle is not assigned to a base station of the plurality of base stations.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the service request corresponds to a request for service within a geographical area associated with the first base station.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the level of demand comprises determining the level of demand based on a time of day.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the second computing device is further configured to:

receive an indication that the request for the second service vehicle to be assigned to the first base station was not accepted; and

in response to the indication, reassign a third vehicle of the plurality of first service vehicles from a second base station of the plurality of base stations to the first base station.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the second computing device is further configured to:

receive an indication that the request for the second service vehicle to be assigned to the first base station was not accepted; and

in response to the indication, send, to a fourth computing device associated with a third service vehicle, a request for the third service vehicle to be assigned to the first base station, wherein the third service vehicle is not assigned to a base station of the plurality of base stations.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the response time comprises determining the response time based at least in part on traffic conditions or weather conditions.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein sending the request for the second service vehicle to be assigned to the first base station comprises broadcasting the request to a plurality of service providers.

15. A method comprising:

displaying, by a first computing device, a first user interface comprising a request for an indicator of a vehicle and a request for a description of a service request;

receiving, via the first user interface, user input comprising the indicator of the vehicle and the description of the service request;

transmitting, to a second computing device, the indicator of the vehicle and the description of the service request;

receiving, by the first computing device, data indicating a status of the service request; and

displaying a second user interface indicating the status of the service request.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving data indicating an updated status of the service request; and

modifying the second user interface to indicate the updated status of the service request.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the second user interface indicates an estimated time of arrival of a service vehicle associated with the service request.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving data from one or more vehicle sensors of the vehicle, and wherein the first user interface comprises one or more service requests that may be selected, wherein the one or more service requests are determined based on the data from the one or more vehicle sensors.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the second user interface indicates a location of a service vehicle associated with the service request.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the second user interface indicates a service provider that is responding to the service request.