Patent Publication Number: US-2018053137-A1

Title: System and method for customer selected convenience based pricing of service providers

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present application in general relates to scheduling systems, and more specifically, to a scheduling system which accumulates data which may allow service providers to more accurately calculate the cost associated with providing services thereby allowing the service provider to construct a tiered pricing model wherein customers have the option to pay increased fees for scheduling narrower delivery windows or an exact time, or to accept wider delivery windows for a reduced or zero up-charge. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Many homeowner and businesses may require services, such as plumbing, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) service, cable service, product delivery or other similar services where the home or business owner must be present to receive the service. Service providers typically schedule these services by assigning customers a “window” rather than an exact time that the services will be provided. Most service providers may assign a service window of approximately 3-4 hours. For example, a service provider may tell a customer to expect a service call anywhere from 8:00 am-noon. Service providers assign these service windows in order to optimize the service route for multiple services scheduled during that window. Non-obvious but significant operational costs may be incurred by service providers that do not make use of route optimization when planning their routes. 
     While service providers may need to optimize their service routes to optimize operational cost, customers are forced to accept the inconvenience of these service time windows. Since the customers do not know whether they will be among the first or last to receive service, customers of these services may be forced to accept the inconvenience and uncertainty of waiting for the service to be delivered during the window of time. 
     Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above. The system and method may accumulate data to allow service providers to better understand the costs of allowing customers to book times that are convenient for themselves and based on those costs provide a tiered pricing model wherein customers have the option to pay increased fees for scheduling narrower delivery windows or an exact time, or to accept wider delivery windows for a reduced or zero up-charge. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with one embodiment, a method for scheduling service by a service provider to a resident and/or business is disclosed. The method comprising: connecting with a server hosting a scheduling platform; displaying a calendar for selecting a day for the service; displaying a tiered appointment display for a selected calendar day, wherein the tiered appointment display shows a plurality of sets of time windows for service, each set of time windows having a plurality of time slots, each set of time windows having a different service window timeframes, wherein at least one of the different service window timeframes is a specific time for service, wherein each of the plurality of time slots has a corresponding price for service, the price for service being less for larger service window timeframes; and selecting one of the plurality of time slots in one of the plurality of sets of time windows for service. 
     In accordance with one embodiment, a computing device is disclosed. The computing device has a processor; a display coupled to the processor; a user interface coupled to the processor for entering data into the computing device; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing program instructions that when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: connect with a server hosting a scheduling platform; display a calendar for selecting a day for the service; display a tiered appointment display for a selected calendar day, wherein the tiered appointment display shows a plurality of sets of time windows for service, each set of time windows having a plurality of time slots, each set of time windows having a different service window timeframes, wherein at least one of the different service window timeframes is a specific time for service, wherein each of the plurality of time slots has a corresponding price for service, the price for service being less for larger service window timeframes; and select one of the plurality of time slots in one of the plurality of sets of time windows for service. 
     In accordance with one embodiment, a method for scheduling service by a service provider to a resident and/or business is disclosed. The method comprising: displaying a calendar for selecting a day for the service; displaying a tiered appointment display for a selected calendar day, wherein the tiered appointment display shows a plurality of sets of time windows for service, each set of time windows having a plurality of time slots, each set of time windows having a different service window timeframes, wherein at least one of the different service window timeframes is a specific time for service, wherein each of the plurality of time slots has a corresponding price for service: and updating the corresponding price for service based on current service schedule. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present application is further detailed with respect to the following drawings. These figures are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention bat rather illustrate certain attributes thereof. 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of an exemplary system for convenience based pricing of service providers according to one aspect of the present application; 
         FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram showing an illustrative computing device depicted in  FIG. 1  in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
         FIG. 3  is a screen shot of a service provider using the exemplary system according to one aspect of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for analyzing cost of the service provider in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
       FIG.  4 B 1  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for analyzing cost of the service provider in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
       FIG.  4 B 2  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for analyzing cost of the service provider optimized in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
         FIG. 4C  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for analyzing cost of the service provider in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
         FIG. 5  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for analyzing cost of the service provider in accordance with one aspect of the present application; 
         FIG. 6  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for the service provider to set prices; and 
         FIG. 7  is an example of an interface of the exemplary system for the service provider to set prices. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION 
     The description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of presently preferred embodiments of the disclosure and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present disclosure can be constructed and/or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the disclosure in connection with the illustrated embodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions and sequences can be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. 
     Embodiments of the exemplary system and method accumulates data and gives service providers the ability to calculate the average additional costs (actual and/or opportunity) of allowing services to be scheduled for more precise windows and exact times compared to the, lesser costs that wider delivery windows achieve by allowing greater efficiency gains to be realized. The system and method enables the service provider to use the cost information to construct a tiered pricing model that is fed into a scheduling system that presents customers with the option to pay increased fees for scheduling narrower delivery windows or an exact time, or to accept wider delivery windows for a reduced or zero up-charge. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a system  10  may be shown. The system  10  may have a server  12 A. The server  12 A may be used to host a service provider scheduling platform  14  (hereinafter scheduling platform) of the present invention. One or more other servers  16  may be coupled to the server  12 A via a network  22 . The server  12 A may accumulate data from the servers  12 B. The server  12 A may accumulate data from the servers  12 B relating to scheduling/operational cost from different service providers. In general, the server  12  may use data from servers  12 B storing data from service providers in the same and/or similar communities and in the same and/or similar industries. Thus, for example, if the server  12  was hosting the service provider scheduling platform  14  for a plumbing company in Des Moines, Iowa, the server  12 A would probably not accumulate data from a server  12 B having data related to a appliance delivery company in New York City, N.Y. By accumulating the data from different servers  12 B of service providers in the same and/or similar communities and in the same and/or similar industries, the scheduling platform  14  may construct a tiered cost model identifying operational costs to the business which can be used to construct a tiered pricing model wherein customers have the option to pay increased fees for scheduling narrower delivery windows or an exact time, or to accept wider delivery windows for a reduced or zero up-charge. 
     Individuals  16  may use one or more computing devices  18  to access the scheduling platform  14  that may be hosted on the server  12 . The computing devices  18  may be a personal computer system, handheld of laptop device, tablet device, mobile phone device, server computer system, multiprocessor system, microprocessor-based system, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like. The computing device  18  may be described in the general context of computer system executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer system as may be described below. 
     The computing device  18  may be loaded with an operating system. The operating system of the computing device  18  may manage hardware and software resources of the computing device  18  and provide common services for computer programs running on the computing device  18 . The computing device  18  may be loaded with a web browser  20 . The web browser  20  may allow the computing device  18  to gain online access to the network  22  such as the World Wide Web. The web browser  20  may be Microsoft® Internet Explorer, Google® Chrome, Mozilla® Firefox, Apple® Safari or similar browsing applications. By connecting to the network  22 , the computing device  18  may access a website  24  associated with the scheduling platform  14  hosted on the server  12 A. 
     Alternatively, or in addition to, the computing device  18  may download a mobile application  26 . The mobile application  26  may access and communicate with the scheduling platform  14  hosted on the server  12 A. By connecting to the network  22 , the computing device  18  may access and communicate with the scheduling platform  14  hosted on the server  12 A via the mobile application  26 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the server  12 A and the computing devices  18  may be described in more detail in terms of the machine elements that provide functionality to the systems and methods disclosed herein. The components of the server  12 A and the computing devices  18  may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units  30 , a system memory  32 , and a system bus  34  that couples various system components including the system memory  32  to the processor  30 . The server  12 A and the computing devices  18  may typically include a variety of computer system readable media. Such media could be chosen from any available media that is accessible by the server  12 A and/or the computing devices  18 , including non-transitory, volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. The system memory  32  could include one or more computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM)  36  and/or a cache memory  38 . By way of example only, a storage system  40  may be provided for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media device typically called a “hard drive”. 
     The system memory  32  may include at least one program product/utility  42  having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules  44  that may be configured to carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention. The program modules  44  may include, but is not limited to, an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data. Each of the operating systems, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networking environment. The program modules  44  generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. For example, the program modules  44  may contain the scheduling platform  14  in the server  12 A and/or the mobile application  26  on the computing device  18  to access the scheduling platform, 14  stored on the server  12 . 
     The computing device  18  may communicate with one or more external devices  46  such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display  48 , and/or any similar devices (e.g., network card, modern, etc.) that enable the computing device  18  to communicate with the server  14  ( FIG. 1 ). Such communication may occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces  50 . Alternatively, the computing devices  18  may communicate with one or more networks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the network  22  shown in  FIG. 1 ) via a network adapter  52 . As depicted, the network adapter  52  may communicate with the other components of the computing device  18  via the bus  36 . 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the disclosed invention may be embodied as a system, method or process, or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosed invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the disclosed invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable media having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer readable media (fir example, storage system  40 ) may be utilized. In the context of this disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible or non-transitory medium that can contain, or store a program (for example, the program product  42 ) for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , an exemplary embodiment of a screen shot  60  of the scheduling platform  14  stored on the server  12 A may be seen. The screen shot  60  may form part of the webpage  24  of the scheduling platform  14  and/or may form part of the mobile application  26 . The screen shot  60  may have a menu  62  for selecting a type of service to be provided. The menu  62  n ay list the different types of services provided by the service provider. In accordance with one embodiment, the menu  62  may be a pull-down type menu wherein the pull-down menu may list different services provided by the service provider. The above is given as an example and should not be seen in a limiting manner as other types of menus may be used. 
     The screen shot  62  may provide an area  64  wherein the customer  18  ( FIG. 1 ) may enter a description of the services requested. In accordance with one embodiment, the customer  18  may enter a description of the services requested by using an external device  46  of the computing device  18 . The customer  18  may provided additional information about the services selected using the menu  62 , provided special instructions/request, or provided other information. 
     The screen shot  62  may provided a calendar  66 . The calendar  66  may be used to allow the customer  18  to select a specific day for service. In accordance with one embodiment, an input area  68  may be provided to change the day/week/month currently being displayed. By using an external device  46  of the computing device  18 , the customer may select a specific day for service on the calendar  66  being displayed. Once a specific day is selected, an appointment screen  70  may be displayed. The appointment screen  70  may display a tiered appointment/pricing structure. The appointment screen may be divided into a plurality of timeframes  72  wherein each timeframe  72  may have one or more time slots  74  for scheduling an appointment. Each timeframe  72  may provide one or more appointments wherein the appointments may have different windows for services. For example, one timeframe  72  may allow the customer  18  to select an appointment having a service window of 8 hours, another timeframe  72  may show appointments having a service window of 4 hours, another timeframe  72  may show appointments having a service window of 2 hours and another timeframe may show appointments for a specific time. Each appointment may identify a price for the service requested. In accordance with one embodiment, the price listed may be just for the initial service call. 
     As may be seen the price listed may vary based on the timeframe  72  selected. This may allow the customer  18  the option of paying higher fees for a more specific service window. For example, if the customer  18  is going to be at home all day, the customer may not care when the service provider is going to come and may select an 8 hour window of service. However, another customer  18  may want to have the service provider come at a specific time so that the customer  18  may plan his/her schedule for the remainder of the day. 
     The customer  18  may select an appointment slot within one of the service windows by using an external device  46  of the computing device  18 . In accordance with one embodiment, the customer  18  may “click” a desired appointment slot within one of the service windows. Once a desired appointment slot is selected, the customer  1  may be sent to confirmation screen. The confirmation screen may allow the customer to enter specific information regarding contact information of the customer  18 , address for service, as well as other requisite information. Once the information is entered and sent the customer  18  may receive confirmation of the selected appointment. In accordance with one embodiment, confirmation may be sent via email, text, phone call, or by other suitable measures. In accordance with one embodiment, the customer  18  may need to register and provide contact information prior to using the system  10 . This may allow the system  10  to display more accurate scheduling information as the customer&#39;s location is already known. 
     The screen shot  60  may show a review section  76 . The review section  76  may allow customers  18  to enter and/or read reviews of the service provider. This may allow customers  18  to be informed about the service provide prior to scheduling an appointment. When entering a review, the customer may enter information related to the quality of service, the service provide was on-time, if the service representative was courteous and the like. In accordance with one embodiment the customer  18  may be given the chance to write review only after the service has been performed. 
     The screen shot  60  may have a service score area  78 . The service score area  78  may show information related to the quality of service provided by the service provider. For example, the service area  78  may show how often the service provider is on-time, a percentage of customers  18  that feel the service provider is courteous, a ranking of the quality of service provided by the service provider, as well as other information related to the services provided. 
     The screen shot  60  may provide a staff area  80 . The staff area  80  may allow the customer  18  to look at the different service representatives of the service providers. The customer may use input keys  82  to scroll through different staff members. The staff area  80  may provide a bio and/or review of the service representative. Customers may select a specific service representative for a service call by selecting a “Request on Booking” key  84  when making an appointment. 
     The system  10  may accumulate data in order to give service providers the ability to calculate the average costs (actual and/or opportunity) of allowing services to be scheduled for more precise windows and exact times compared to the lesser costs that wider delivery windows achieve by allowing greater efficiency gains to be realized. The system  10  may accumulate data from the service provider. In addition, the system  10  may accumulate data from service providers in the same and/or similar communities and in the same and/or similar industries. As may be seen in  FIGS. 4A-6 , the system  10  may provide different interfaces which may use the data collected by the system  10  relating to customer location data and scheduling times for a given period of time. The data may be segmented by time, so that seasonal fluctuations may be isolated and used to more accurately predict cyclical trends. The system  10  may record the number of service calls, and number of calls per day/time. The system  10  may monitor the routes taken by the service providers and calculate the total distance traveled, total travel time, daily cost based on mileage and labor, and a yearly cost based on mileage and labor. 
     Using the above data (histograms), the system  10  may simulate a set of configurable booking scenarios, computing the average operational cost (labor and fuel) and average opportunity cost (time lost which could have beers used to deliver paid services) for each booking based on different scenarios. One set of configurable scenarios might be:
         Scenario 1—The costs if every customer booked at an exact time (no window)   Scenario 2—The costs if every customer accepted a 2-hour window   Scenario 3—The costs if every customer accepted a 4-hour window   Scenario 4—The costs if every customer accepted a 6-hoar window   Scenario 5—The costs if every customer accepted a 1-day window   Scenario 6—The costs if every customer accepted a 2-day window   Scenario 7—The costs if every customer accepted a 1-week window       

     While expecting customers to accept a 1-week window might not be practical, the idea is for the service provider to have the ability to view the cost savings from schedule optimization and to see the window in which the savings flatten out. The window at which the savings flatten out could then be used as a no up-charge baseline to start the convenience pricing from and the difference between this cost and the costs from scenarios where the window is smaller could be viewed as the true cost of that convenience. 
     Using the data from the simulated scenarios as a starting point, the service provider can configure multiple windows to set fees that may offset the cost of allowing the customer to refine their scheduled delivery window for a service offering. This fee structure may become part of an interface as may be seen in  FIG. 3  that is published to the customer to select from at the time of scheduling the service. 
     As stated above, the consumer may select the delivery window that he/she is willing to accept along with its corresponding fee, and the schedule then displays the time slots or windows that are available to schedule service delivery at. If the consumer has chosen an exact time (and accepted the associated fee for selecting it) after choosing a time the appointment becomes scheduled in the service provider&#39;s schedule. If the consumer has chosen a window of time, after selecting an available window that fits their schedule, the service is bound to that time window in the service provider&#39;s schedule, but not assigned an exact time until either the window of time reaches its capacity of deliveries and optimization can be performed, or it hasn&#39;t reached capacity but time has come for the scheduler to perform optimization on the scheduled deliveries so the provider can begin the service delivery route 
     The system  10  may accumulate the scheduling data and a route optimization algorithm may compute a route and schedule in which all services may be provided to the customers  18 . The route optimization algorithm may provide a route that may mathematically approach the most efficient route possible and incur considerably less total time and cost to the service provider than allowing customers to be scheduled at any available exact time that is convenient for them. The route optimization algorithm may take into account location of appointments, time of appointments, travel patterns such as road congestion, construction, etc. as well as other variables. 
     The system  10  may track the location and availability of all resources required to deliver each service that the service provider offers at a time that is agreed to by the consumer. Using that data in conjunction with the location that the customer desires the service to be performed at, the system must be able to compute times that the provider is available to deliver the service to the consumer at the desired location. 
     The system  10  may accumulate data in order to give service providers the ability to calculate a projected business costs for each potential time slot prior to displaying to the customer. As stated above, the system  10  may use accumulated data ability to calculate projected business costs. The accumulated data may be from the service provider. In addition, the system  10  may accumulate data for a service providers in the same and/or similar communities and in the same and/or similar industries. The data collected may be related to cost associated with the employee providing the service, cost associated with travel, as well as other variables. The system  10  is a dynamic system. The system  10  may continually adjust pricing based on the current schedule. The system  10  may adjust pricing of individual time windows to encourage or discourage selection. This may be done for route optimization and/or to lessen business cost of the service provider. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a map  90  may be seen. On the map a customer A may have used the system  10  to select a specific time frame for service. For example, customer A may have selected a service time of Wednesday at 11:00 am. When customer B uses the system  10 , the system may discourage selection of time frames around the Wednesday at 11:00 am by charging higher fees for these time frames due to the distances between customer A and customer B. If customer B does wish to schedule service on the same Wednesday as customer A and for a specific time, the system  10  may incentives selection of time frames either early in the morning or later in the late afternoon. Thus, for example, the system may charge higher fees for selecting a specific time of 10:00 am or 12:00 am on Wednesday but charge a reduced incentivized fee for selecting an exact time of 7:00 am on Wednesday or 5:00 pm on Wednesday. The system  10  may charge a further reduced incentivized fee if customer B was willing to selected a more flexible time window such as 2 hour window of service. The more flexible customer B is the greater reduction in pricing. 
     Next, when customer C uses the system, the system  10  may observe that customer C is located within a predefined radius of customer A. Thus, the system  10  may encourage selection of time frames proximate the Wednesday at 11:00 am in order to try and minimize business cost for the service provider and optimize the travel route. The system  10  may incentivize customer C by reducing the fees for selected time windows proximate the Wednesday at 11:00 am time frame. Thus, for example, the system  10  may charge lower fees for selecting a specific time of 10:00 am or 12:00 am on Wednesday. The system  10  may charge a further reduced incentivized fee if customer C was willing to selected a more flexible time window such as 2 hour window of service. The more flexible customer B is the greater reduction in pricing. 
     Next, when customer D uses the system  10 , the system  10  may try to optimize the service route if customer D chooses service on Wednesday. For example, if customer B scheduled a flexible window between 7:00 am-9:00 am on Wednesday, customer A scheduled a set time of 11:00 am on Wednesday, customer C scheduled a flexible window between 12:00 noon-2:00 pm on Wednesday, the system  10  may encourage selection of time frames after the 2:00 pm time window. The system  10  may try to incentivize customer D by reducing the fees for selected time windows after the Wednesday at 2:00 pm time frame. 
     The foregoing description is illustrative of particular embodiments of the invention, but is not meant to be a limitation upon the practice thereof. The following claims, including all equivalents thereof, are intended to define the scope of the invention.