Patent ID: 8099308

Claim:
A system for scheduling a vehicle service appointment, comprising: a sensor for detecting a trigger event; a transmitter; a receiver; a processor module operatively coupled to the sensor, the transmitter, and the receiver; and a memory module operatively coupled to the processor module, the memory module comprising executable code for the processor module to: generate a plurality of diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) in response to the detected trigger event; analyze the DTCs to determine an underlying problem; determine parts needed to repair the underlying problem; estimate time needed to repair the underlying problem; identify a servicing dealer; automatically command the transmitter to transmit an appointment request and information regarding the DTCs to an appointment scheduling center; wherein the receiver receives a broadcast data message from the appointment scheduling center, the broadcast data message comprising a message portion and a filter code section, the filter code section comprising coded criteria that specify characteristics of intended recipients of the message portion; the receiver further comprising a filter processing section that is configured to read the filter code section of the broadcast data message to determine whether the vehicle is an intended recipient of the message portion, wherein the receiver stores the broadcast data message in the memory module; wherein the filter processing section recovers the message portion of the broadcast data message stored in the memory module, if the vehicle is an intended recipient, and discards the message portion, if the vehicle is not an intended recipient; wherein the recovered message portion from the memory module includes a proposed date/time slot for the vehicle service appointment sent from the appointment scheduling center by an electronic message without any participation by a user; wherein the proposed date/time slot for the service appointment is based at least on the parts and the estimated time needed to repair the underlying problem and one or more available time slots at the identified servicing dealer; and wherein the proposed date/time slot from the appointment scheduling center included in the recovered message portion is displayed on a vehicle display unit to a vehicle occupant.