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US 10,853,769 B2Granted
Scheduling an automobile service appointment in a dealer service bay based on diagnostic trouble codes and service bay attributes
AssigneeCdk Global, LLC
InventorStephen Kelley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A service appointment can be scheduled with a service center. Scheduling a service appointment can include reading a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) of an automobile stored in an electronic memory and providing via a network interface, the DTC to a scheduling system. Scheduling a service appointment can include receiving a potential service appointment with a service center to resolve the DTC and acknowledging the potential service appointment to schedule the potential service appointment with the service center.
Claims20
A communication device to communicate with a scheduling system, the communication device comprising:
- one or more processors;
- electronic memory accessible by the one or more processors, the electronic memory to store a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) of an automobile and an automobile scheduling application;
- and
- a network interface to enable communication with one or more computing devices including a computing device of the scheduling system;
- the automobile scheduling application configured to, by the one or more processors:
- read the DTC stored in the electronic memory;
- provide, via the network interface to the scheduling system, the DTC and a context associated with the DTC;
- receive a potential service appointment with a selected service center of a plurality of service centers to perform a service operation determined using the DTC and the context associated with the DTC to resolve the DTC;
- the selected service center having been selected by the scheduling system from the plurality of service centers by mapping the service operation to resolve the DTC to the selected service center based on a plurality of attributes of the selected service center that includes:
- a date of expected arrival at the selected service center of a part required to perform the service operation;
- whether the selected service center has the part required to perform the service operation in its inventory;
- whether the selected service center has an associated mechanic who is qualified to perform the service operation and is available to perform the service operation;
- and
- whether the service operation at the selected service center requires a service bay;
- and
- if the service operation at the selected service center requires a service bay, whether attributes of the service operation are compatible with attributes of an available service bay necessary to perform the service operation;
- wherein the potential service appointment identifies a time slot wherein the part, the mechanic, and the service bay according to the mapping are all available at the selected service center;
- and
- acknowledge, by the automobile scheduling application, the potential service appointment to schedule the potential service appointment with the service center.
16 more elements
A method for scheduling a service appointment, comprising:
- receiving, via a network interface of a computing device, a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) and a context associated with the DTC from an automobile;
- interpreting, via the computing device, using the DTC and the context associated with the DTC, a service operation that resolves the DTC;
- updating, via the network interface, the plurality of attributes of a plurality of service centers;
- identifying one or more service centers of the plurality of service centers by mapping the service operation that resolves the DTC to each of the one or more service centers based on a plurality of attributes of each of the one or more service centers that includes:
- a date of expected arrival at the one or more service centers of a part required to perform the service operation;
- whether the one or more service centers has the part required to perform the service operation in its inventory;
- whether the one or more service centers has an associated mechanic who is qualified to perform the service operation and is available to perform the service operation;
- and
- whether the service operation at the one or more service centers requires a service bay;
- and
- if the service operation at the one or more service centers requires a service bay, whether attributes of the service operation are compatible with attributes of an available service bay necessary to perform the service operation;
- querying, via the network interface, the one or more service centers to determine potential service appointments to perform the service operation, each potential service appointment identifying a time slot at one of the one or more service centers wherein a part, a mechanic, and a service bay according to the mapping are all available;
- receiving, via the network interface, at least one potential service appointment with a service center from the plurality of service centers;
- and
- scheduling a potential service appointment from the at least one potential service appointment based on a customer's selection.
12 more elements
A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when implemented by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for scheduling a service appointment, the operations comprising:
- receiving at a dealership, via a network interface of a computing device comprising one or more processors, a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) and a context associated with the DTC from an automobile;
- interpreting, via the computing device, using the DTC and the context associated with the DTC, a service operation that resolves the DTC;
- selecting a service center from the plurality of service centers of the dealership by mapping the service operation that resolves the DTC to the selected service center based on a plurality of attributes of the selected service center that includes:
- a date of expected arrival at the selected service center of a part required to perform the service operation;
- whether the selected service center has the part required to perform the service operation in its inventory;
- whether the selected service center has an associated mechanic who is qualified to perform the service operation and is available to perform the service operation;
- and
- whether the service operation at the selected service center requires a service bay;
- and
- if the service operation at the selected service center requires a service bay, whether attributes of the service operation are compatible with attributes of an available service bay necessary to perform the service operation;
- determining a next available appointment to perform the service operation in the selected service center of the dealership, wherein the next available appointment identifies a time slot at the selected service center wherein the part, the mechanic, and the service bay according to the mapping are all available at the selected service center;
- providing the next available appointment to a customer;
- receiving a confirmation from the customer to the next available appointment;
- and
- scheduling the next available appointment based on the confirmation.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.