IP Library Granted Patent US 8,515,803
Granted Patent B2
US 8,515,803 · App. 13/245,854 · Granted Aug 20, 2013

Triggering and conducting an automated survey

Inventors: Karl Meyer (Atlanta, GA); Jonathan Turner (Marietta, GA)
Assignee: 3PD, Inc.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,515,803
App. No.
13/245,854
Granted
Aug 20, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for initiating and conducting an automated survey are disclosed herein. According to some implementations, a computer-readable medium may be encoded with computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions includes logic adapted to receive a notification of the occurrence of a trigger event associated with a service performed for a customer. The computer-executable instructions further include logic adapted, in response to receiving the notification, to initiate an automated survey to be offered to a survey recipient. Additional logic is adapted to conduct the automated survey. The instructions also include logic adapted to receive survey result information from the survey recipient in response to the automated survey.

Claims (61)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising the steps of:

receiving automatically a notification of an occurrence of a trigger event caused by a servicer in association with the servicer performing a service for a customer at a customer location;

in response to receiving the notification, initiating automatically an automated survey to be offered to the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location, the initiating comprising creating at least one survey record and placing the at least one survey record in a survey scheduling queue in a database, the automated survey comprising a plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location;

polling automatically the database on a periodic basis to detect the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue;

in response to detecting the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue, contacting automatically the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location to conduct the automated survey comprising the plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location; and

in response to conducting the automated survey, receiving automatically survey result information from the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein:

the customer and the survey recipient are the same; and

receiving the notification of the occurrence of the trigger event further includes receiving the notification from the servicer indicating that the service performed for the customer has been completed.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein receiving the notification of the occurrence of the trigger event further includes receiving the notification from a location tracking device indicating that the servicer has left the vicinity of the customer location.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise the steps of:

receiving contact information associated with the survey recipient;

using the contact information when initiating the automated survey;

waiting a predetermined length of time before calling a telephone number associated with the survey recipient, wherein the predetermined length of time is greater than five minutes and less than one hour; and

calling the telephone number

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein conducting the automated survey further comprises playing recorded survey questions.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein receiving the survey result information further comprises receiving numeric answers to the plurality of questions and receiving the numeric answers via a telephone communication channel.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein receiving the survey result information further comprises:

receiving a voice message from the survey recipient; and

digitally recording the voice message.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise the steps of:

enabling a person to digitally record a plurality of voice scripts;

enabling a user to select one or more of the voice scripts to be combined into the automated survey; and

enabling the user to arrange the voice scripts in a specific order.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein each voice script is a survey question or a statement.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise the step of:

enabling the user to enter a number of acceptable answers for each voice script that is a survey question.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise the step of:

waiting a predetermined length of time after receiving the notification before conducting the automated survey.

12. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving, automatically by a computer, a notification of an occurrence of a trigger event caused by a servicer in association with the servicer performing a service for a customer at a customer location;

in response to receiving the notification, initiating automatically an automated survey to be offered to the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location, the initiating comprising creating at least one survey record and placing the at least one survey record in a survey scheduling queue in a database, the automated survey comprising a plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location;

polling automatically the database on a periodic basis to detect the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue;

in response to detecting the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue, contacting automatically the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location to conduct the automated survey, automatically by the computer, comprising the plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location; and

in response to conducting the automated survey, receiving automatically survey result information from the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , wherein:

the notification of the occurrence of the trigger event is received from the servicer indicating that the service performed for the customer has been completed; and

the servicer is an individual or team responsible for performing the service for the customer.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving contact information associated with the survey recipient, wherein initiating the automated survey further comprises:

waiting a length of time greater than five minutes and less than one hour; and

calling a telephone number associated with the survey recipient.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , wherein receiving survey result information further comprises:

receiving a voice message from the survey recipient; and

digitally recording the voice message.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the trigger event caused by the service comprises at least one of the following: the servicer sending an electronic communication, the servicer initiating a telephone call, and the servicer leaving the vicinity of the customer location.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:

waiting a predetermined length of time after receiving the notification before conducting the automated survey.

18. An automated survey system comprising:

an interface device configured to receive a notification of an occurrence of a trigger event caused by a servicer in association with the servicer performing a service for a customer at a customer location; and

a processing device associated with a computer system, the processing device configured to initiate an automated survey comprising a plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location, the automated survey being offered to the customer in response to receiving the notification, the initiating comprising creating at least one survey record and placing the at least one survey record in a survey scheduling queue in a database associated with the computer system,

wherein the processing device is further configured to poll the database on a periodic basis to detect the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue, in response to detecting the at least one survey record in the survey scheduling queue, to contact the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location to conduct the automated survey via the interface device, the automated survey comprising a plurality of questions about the service that was performed by the servicer for the customer at the customer location, and in response to conducting the automated survey, to receive survey result information from the customer who received the service performed by the servicer at the customer location.

19. The automated survey system of claim 18 , further comprising a memory device configured to store a survey program configured to instruct the processing device regarding initiating and conducting the automated survey.

20. The automated survey system of claim 19 , wherein the survey program comprises at least a survey triggering module and a survey conducting module.

21. The automated survey system of claim 20 , wherein the survey program further comprises a survey assembling module, the survey assembling module configured to:

enable a person to digitally record a plurality of voice scripts;

enable a user to select one or more of the voice scripts to be combined into the automated survey; and

enable the user to arrange the voice scripts in a specific order.

22. The automated survey system of claim 19 , wherein the memory device further comprises a database for storing one or more types of information selected from the group consisting of order information, customer information, delivery information, survey scripts, the survey scheduling queue, survey result information, and voice message information.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the trigger event caused by the service comprises at least one of the following: the servicer sending an electronic communication, the servicer initiating a telephone call, and the servicer leaving the vicinity of the customer location.

24. The automated survey system of claim 18 , wherein the trigger event caused by the service comprises at least one of the following: the servicer sending an electronic communication, the servicer initiating a telephone call, and the servicer leaving the vicinity of the customer location.

25. The automated survey system of claim 18 , wherein the processing device is further configured to wait a predetermined length of time after receiving the notification before conducting the automated survey.

Assignments (11)
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Feb 5, 2026
From: RXO LAST MILE, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 074721/0486 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded Feb 26, 2025
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
To: XPO LOGISTICS FREIGHT, INC.
Reel/Frame 070337/0680 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Nov 29, 2022
From: XPO LAST MILE, INC.
To: RXO LAST MILE, INC.
Reel/Frame 062006/0535 →
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS AT REEL 037108, FRAME 0894 Recorded Nov 2, 2022
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS AGENT
To: XPO LAST MILE, INC.
Reel/Frame 061838/0952 →
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS AT REEL 037108, FRAME 0885 Recorded Nov 2, 2022
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS AGENT
To: XPO LAST MILE, INC.
Reel/Frame 061838/0413 →
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS AT REEL 052371, FRAME 0050 Recorded Nov 2, 2022
From: CREDIT AGRICOLE CORPORATE AND INVESTMENT BANK, AS AGENT
To: XPO LAST MILE, INC.
Reel/Frame 061837/0325 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 10, 2020
From: XPO LAST MILE, INC.; XPO LOGISTICS FREIGHT, INC.; XPO LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN HOLDING COMPANY; XPO LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN CORPORATE SERVICES, INC.; XPO LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN, INC.
To: CREDIT AGRICOLE CORPORATE AND INVESTMENT BANK, AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 052371/0050 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Nov 13, 2015
From: XPO LAST MILE, INC.; CON-WAY FREIGHT, INC.
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
Reel/Frame 037108/0885 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Nov 13, 2015
From: XPO LAST MILE, INC.; CON-WAY FREIGHT, INC.
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
Reel/Frame 037108/0894 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 7, 2014
From: 3PD, INC.
To: XPO LAST MILE, INC.
Reel/Frame 033278/0872 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 21, 2013
From: 3PD, INC
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
Reel/Frame 031447/0879 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 12722455 · Mar 11, 2010
Provisional Application 61266599 · Dec 4, 2009
Related Publication 20120016719A1 · Jan 19, 2012