US6463437B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and system for processing customer issues
Assignee: SABIC Global Technologies BV
•
Filing: 1999-12-16
•
Granted: 2002-10-08
•
Expires: 2019-12-16
Abstract
Abstract An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method of processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network. The method includes providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed. The completed customer issue form is provided to the server. Customer issue information from the completed customer issue form is added to a customer issue database. A notification is generated and provided to a vendor authority in response to one of the fields. Another exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method for facilitating return of a product from a customer to a vendor using a server coupled to a user system by a network. The method includes providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed. The completed customer issue form is provided to the server and the server provides the user system with a machine-readable identifier corresponding to a customer issue defined in the customer issue form. The machine-readable identifier is included along with the product returned to the vendor from the customer.
Inventors
- 👤 Janet W. Mongilio
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 18:10
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/02
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
160 words
A method of processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network, the method comprising: providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; receiving a completed customer issue form at the server; adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
160 words
A method of processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network, the method comprising: providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; receiving a completed customer issue form at the server; adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer name field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for a customer identified in said customer name field.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer issue field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for an issue identified in said customer issue field.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
51 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer lame field including a list of a plurality of predetermined customer names; said list of a plurality of predetermined customer names being updated by the server based on a customer name database accessible by the server.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: said generating a notification to a vendor authority includes sending an e-mail to a vendor system.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
179 words
A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network, the storage medium including instructions for causing the server to implement a method comprising: providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; receiving a completed customer issue form from the user system; adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
179 words
A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network, the storage medium including instructions for causing the server to implement a method comprising: providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; receiving a completed customer issue form from the user system; adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
51 words
The storage medium of claim 8 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer name field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for a customer identified in said customer name field.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
51 words
The storage medium of claim 6 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer issue field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for an issue identified in said customer issue field.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
52 words
The storage medium of claim 6 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer name field including a list of a plurality of predetermined customer names; said list of a plurality of predetermined customer names being updated by the server based on a customer name database accessible by the server.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
23 words
The storage medium of claim 6 wherein: said generating a notification to a vendor authority includes sending an e-mail to a vendor system.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
178 words
A system for processing customer issues, the system comprising: a server for generating a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; said server coupled to a user system by a network, said server receiving a completed customer issue form from said user system; and a customer issue database coupled to said server, said server adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; said server generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; said server retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and said server storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
178 words
A system for processing customer issues, the system comprising: a server for generating a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed, wherein one of said plurality of fields is a order identifier field identifying an order of a product by a customer from a vendor and another one of said plurality of fields is an issue field identifying an issue related to the product; said server coupled to a user system by a network, said server receiving a completed customer issue form from said user system; and a customer issue database coupled to said server, said server adding customer issue information from the completed customer issue form to a customer issue database; said server generating a notification to a vendor authority in response to one of said fields; said server retrieving sales information from a sales database in response to said order identifier field, said sales information including a date of manufacture of the product and location of manufacture of the product; and said server storing the sales information in the customer issue database.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
50 words
The system of claim 11 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer name field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for a customer identified in said customer name field.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
50 words
The system of claim 11 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer issue field; and said generating a notification to the vendor authority includes the server sending a message to the vendor authority responsible for resolving customer issues for an issue identified in said customer issue field.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
51 words
The system of claim 11 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is a customer name field including a list of a plurality of predetermined customer names; said list of a plurality of predetermined customer names being updated by the server based on a customer name database accessible by the server.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
31 words
The system of claim 11 further comprising: a vendor system coupled to said server; wherein said generating a notification to a vendor authority includes sending an e-mail to said vendor system.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 1 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is an amount field, said amount field identifying the amount of the product experiencing the issue; and said sales information including the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 16 further comprising: determining a proportion of product experiencing the issue based on the amount of amount of the product experiencing the issue and the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising: requesting the customer to return a sample of the product experiencing the issue.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 18 further comprising: providing the user system with a machine-readable identifier, said machine-readable identifier accompanying the sample of the product being returned.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
42 words
The storage medium of claim 6 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is an amount field, said amount field identifying the amount of the product experiencing the issue; and said sales information includes the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
44 words
The storage medium of claim 20 further comprising instructions for causing the server to implement: determining a proportion of product experiencing the issue based on the amount of amount of the product experiencing the issue and the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
28 words
The storage medium of claim 6 further comprising instructions for causing the server to implement: requesting the customer to return a sample of the product experiencing the issue.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
34 words
The storage medium of claim 21 further comprising instructions for causing the server to implement: providing the user system with a machine-readable identifier, said machine-readable identifier accompanying the sample of the product being returned.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
41 words
The system of claim 11 wherein: one of said plurality of fields is an amount field, said amount field identifying the amount of the product experiencing the issue; and said sales information including the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
37 words
The system of claim 24 wherein: said server determines a proportion of product experiencing the issue based on the amount of amount of the product experiencing the issue and the total amount of product in the order.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 11 wherein: said sever generates a request for the customer to return a sample of the product experiencing the issue.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 26 wherein: said server provides the user system with a machine-readable identifier, said machine-readable identifier accompanying the sample or the product being returned.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4975841A
Cited
US5319542A
Cited
US5446883A
Cited
US5694551A
Cited
US5862322A
Cited
US6032184A
Cited
US5920846A
Cited
US5956693A
Cited
US6148338A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-10-07 | 2006-04-08 | 2006-10-08 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-10-07 | 2010-04-08 | 2010-10-08 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-10-07 | 2014-04-08 | 2014-10-08 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |