Device appraisal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016019607-A1
Application number	US-201414332683-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 16, 2014
Priority date	Jul 16, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for device appraisal are described. Some implementations include receiving a request from a mobile station to access a device appraisal service, retrieving one or more parameters associated with the mobile station, where the parameters include at least a mobile directory number (MDN) of the mobile station, automatically determining a model of the mobile station based on the MDN, displaying, at the mobile station, a web interface of the device appraisal service, providing for display in the web interface an identification of the model of the mobile station and user interface elements to receive condition information of the mobile station, determining a trade-in value of the mobile station based on the identified model and the condition information, and providing the trade-in value of the mobile station to the web interface for display at the mobile station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, via a network, a request from a mobile station at an appraisal server to access a device appraisal service; upon receipt of the request at the appraisal server, retrieving at the appraisal sever one or more parameters associated with the mobile station, wherein the parameters include at least a mobile directory number (MDN) of the mobile station; automatically determining at the appraisal server a model of the mobile station based on the MDN; providing for display in a web interface an identification of the model of the mobile station and one or more user interface elements to receive condition information of the mobile station; receiving the condition information of the mobile station at the appraisal server via the user interface elements in the web interface; upon receiving the condition information of the mobile station at the appraisal server, determining a trade-in value of the mobile station based on the identified model and the condition information; and providing, from the appraisal server, the trade-in value of the mobile station to the web interface for display at the mobile station.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a quote identification number for the determined trade-in value of the mobile station; generating a representation of the quote number, wherein the representation includes a visual representation code or a representation including one or more near field communication (NFC) interactions; and providing the representation of the quote number for display at the web interface with the determined trade-in value.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more user interface elements include selection buttons indicative of yes or no responses to one or more condition questions regarding physical appearance of the mobile station.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the questions relate to exterior visual, internal hardware or software aspects of the mobile station.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein a search interface is displayed via the web interface to allow the user to search for the model of the mobile station when the determining of the model of the mobile station fails.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
providing for display, at the web interface, a list of mobile station models from a catalog of mobile stations after receiving an acceptance of the trade-in value of the mobile station; and receiving a selection of a particular mobile station model from the displayed list .

7 . An appraisal server comprising:
a communication interface configured to enable communication via a mobile network; a processor coupled with the communication interface; a storage device accessible to the processor; and an executable program in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the server to perform functions, including functions to:
receive, via a network, a request from a mobile station at the appraisal server to access a device appraisal service;
upon receipt of the request at the appraisal server, retrieve one or more parameters associated with the mobile station, wherein the parameters include at least a mobile directory number (MDN) of the mobile station;
automatically determine at the appraisal server a model of the mobile station based on the MDN;
provide for display in a web interface an identification of the model of the mobile station and one or more user interface elements to receive condition information of the mobile station;
receive, at the appraisal server, the condition information of the mobile station via the user interface elements in the web interface;
upon receiving the condition information of the mobile station at the appraisal server, determine a trade-in value of the mobile station based on the identified model and the condition information; and
provide, from the appraisal server, the trade-in value of mobile station to the web interface for display at the mobile station.

8 . The appraisal server of claim 7 , wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the appraisal server to perform functions, including functions to:
determining a quote identification number for the determined trade-in value of the mobile station; generating a representation of the quote number, wherein the representation includes a visual representation code or a representation including one or more near field communication (NFC) interactions; and providing the representation of the quote number for display at the web interface with the determined trade-in value.

9 . The appraisal server of claim 7 , wherein the determining of the trade-in value includes functions to:
identify in a database table the model and the condition information of the mobile station; and identify a trade-in value corresponding to the model and the condition information of the mobile station.

10 . The appraisal server of claim 7 , wherein the one or more user interface elements include selection buttons indicative of yes or no responses to one or more condition questions regarding physical appearance of the mobile station.

11 . The appraisal server of claim 10 , wherein the questions relate to exterior visual, internal hardware or software aspects of the mobile station.

12 . The appraisal server of claim 7 , wherein a search interface is displayed via the web interface to allow the user to search for the model of the mobile station when the determining of the model of the mobile station fails.

13 . The appraisal server of claim 12 , wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the appraisal server to perform functions, including functions to:
provide for display a list of mobile station models from a catalog of mobile stations; and receive a selection of a particular mobile station model from the displayed list.

14 . The appraisal server of claim 7 , wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the appraisal server to perform functions, including functions to:
transmit the retrieved parameters including the MDN to a messaging service, wherein the messaging service generates messaging service messages for the device appraisal service; provide a request to the user to confirm enrollment in the device appraisal service; receive, in response to the request, an indication from the mobile station indicating approval to receive a messaging service message from the messaging service, the messaging service message including a link to access a web interface of the device appraisal service; and transmit, to the MDN of the mobile station, the messaging service message including the link to access the web interface of the device appraisal service.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to:
receive, via a network, a request from a mobile station at the appraisal server to access a device appraisal service; upon receipt of the request at the appraisal server, retrieve one or more parameters associated with the mobile station, wherein the parameters include at least a mobile directory number (MDN) of the mobile station; automatically determine at the appraisal server a model of the mobile station based on the MDN; provide for display in a web interface an identification of the model of the mobile station and one or more user interface elements to receive condition information of the mobile station; receive, at the appraisal server, the condition information of the mobile station via the

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Burmester David
• Lin Wei-Ching

Classifications

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• G06Q30/0278 Primary

  Product appraisal · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W8/24

  Transfer of terminal data · CPC title