Automobile safety and maintenance information systems and...

Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C707S793000, C340S870030

Reexamination Certificate

active

06654770

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a systems and methods for providing to users automobile safety and maintenance information and related services.
2. Discussion of the Background
Vehicle owners and people shopping for vehicles are or at least should be interested in various types of vehicle safety and maintenance information. Examples of information of interest include recall information, technical service bulletins (TSBs), NHTSA investigations, consumer complaints and other safety and maintenance information. It is currently difficult for people to access this information conveniently, to stay up to date on changes to this information and to sort through the relevant/irrelevant material once it is accessed.
Various web sites exist that enable a user to retrieve bits of automobile safety and maintenance information. Some of these sites require a user to continuously monitor the site to maintain up to date information. Some of the sites provide only limited information, thus requiring the user to visit multiple sites to obtain a “complete” set of relevant information. Many of the sites do not present the information in a very use friendly format. For example, some sites merely present information in chronological order. These and other drawbacks exist in known systems. These and other difficulties in accessing and using safety and maintenance information is a drawback.
Another problem for car owners is they sometimes forget to take their vehicle back to the dealer for scheduled maintenance and they sometimes forget that a vehicle's warranty is about to expire. These problems can lead to well recognized adverse consequences for the vehicle owner.
Other drawbacks and disadvantages of these web sites exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides computer systems and methods that provide automobile safety and maintenance information and related services.
According to one embodiment, a computer implemented system comprises a website that provides a vehicle selector that enables a user of the system to select one or more vehicles (e.g., by selecting one or more of a vehicle year, make and model), and retrieve various types of safety and/or maintenance information for selected vehicles. Although the invention is not so limited, the information retrieved may include one or more of TSBs, consumer complaints, recall notices and NHTSA investigations. According to one embodiment, the retrieved information is displayed in a user friendly manner. For example, according to one aspect of the invention, the system is operable to display a summary report page for the selected vehicle. The summary report page preferably includes summary information relevant to the selected vehicle. Preferably, the system displays the summary report page without any charge to the user.
Advantageously, in one embodiment, the summary report page includes a list of vehicle report types and, for each vehicle report type listed, the summary report page includes the number of reports or other items found for each report type or those that have been issued or submitted within a given period of time. In one embodiment, the summary report page includes a list of four vehicle report types: (1) Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs); (2) consumer complaints; (3) NHTSA investigations; and (4) recall notices.
From the summary report page, the system allows the user to drill down to see more information about any of the report types relevant to the selected vehicle. For example, if the user selects to see more information about the TSBs, the system will display to the user a TSB summary report page. In this example, the TSB summary report page shows a list of vehicle component classifications (also referred to as “vehicle component” for short), and, for each vehicle component classification in the list, the TSB summary report page shows the total number of TSBs stored in the system's database that pertain to the selected vehicle and the vehicle component classification. Alternatively, instead of showing the total number of TSBs stored in the database that pertain to the selected vehicle and the vehicle component, the summary report shows the number of TSBs stored in the database that have been issued within the last X days and that pertain to the selected vehicle and the vehicle component, where X can be a number greater than zero.
The system also allows the user to indicate that he wants to see a detailed report concerning the selected vehicle, wherein the detailed report includes content from one or more of the vehicle reports that pertain to the selected vehicle. For example, from the TSB summary report page the user can activate a hyperlink or button or other selection device that indicates that user wants to see a detailed report page that pertains to the selected vehicle and that contains information from TSBs. In the above example, the system, in response to receiving the indication from the user, retrieves content from one or more TSBs that have been submitted to the NHTSA within a given time period and that concern the selected vehicle and displays the content to the user. Preferably, however, the system charges the user a set amount of money prior to displaying the detailed report page to the user. The user may be charged each time a detailed report page is generated for the user or may be charged a subscription fee that enables the user to view as many detailed reports concerning a particular vehicle (i.e., year, make and model) as the user likes within a set period of time.
From the detailed report page, the system enables the user to create a custom report. That is, the system enables the user to select one or more of the reports that are included in the detailed report page. Once the user has selected the one or more reports, the user can indicate that he would like the system to create a custom report based on the selected reports. In response to receiving the indication from the user, the system creates a custom report based on the reports selected by the user. The system allows the user to print download and/or electronically forward a copy of the custom report. The custom report includes information from the one or more reports selected by the user.
A further advantage of the system is that it allows a user to register with the system. The system provides to registered users certain functionality that is not available to non-registered users. If the user indicates the he would like to register with the system, the system displays a registration page to the user. The registration page prompts the user to input, at the least, an e-mail address and a password. The password selected by the user and the e-mail address are stored in the database. Additionally, the system associates a virtual garage with the user (i.e., the user's e-mail address). In one implementation, the virtual garage may be a relational database table, linked list, or other data structure for storing a set of related items.
A feature provided by the system to registered users is the ability for the registered user to add vehicles to the virtual garage that is associated with the user. To add a vehicle to the virtual garage, the user specifies the vehicle by using the vehicle selector provided by the system to select a vehicle make, a vehicle model, and year (e.g., the user selects a 1967 Ford Mustang) and then instructs the system to add the specified vehicle to the virtual garage. Additionally, any time the user logs into the system using the user identifier and password and selects a vehicle using the vehicle selector provided by the system, the selected vehicle may be automatically added to the user's virtual garage.
For a registered user, the system provides a vehicle chooser that enables the user to choose a vehicle that is in the user's virtual garage. The system is also operable to provide a vehicle information input page that enables the user to input vehicle related information concerning the chosen vehicle. For example, the vehicle information input pag

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