Patents by Inventor Jacob G. Foreman

Jacob G. Foreman has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10984004
    Abstract: An example method includes receiving a first service procedure including a plurality of procedural steps for servicing a vehicle, identifying at least one procedural step of the plurality of procedural steps to supplement with supplemental service information, receiving information about vehicles sharing one or more attributes with the vehicle, determining at least one piece of supplemental service information to supplement the at least one identified procedural step, and providing a supplemented service procedure comprising the first service procedure with the at least one piece of supplemental service information included with the at least one identified procedural step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Todd Mercer
  • Publication number: 20210049836
    Abstract: An example method involves receiving, at a computing system, vehicle diagnostic information from a vehicle. The vehicle diagnostic information may include one or more sets of parameters corresponding to parameter identifiers (PIDs). The method further involves identifying a first set of parameters corresponding to a PID representing a state of a particular system of the vehicle and determining, using the first set of parameters, a current value of the PID. The method may also involve performing a comparison between the current value and a predetermined value for the PID and determining a health of the particular system of the vehicle such that the health reflects a difference between the current value and the predetermined value for the PID. The method may also involve displaying, by the computing system at a graphical interface, a vehicle health record representing the health of the particular system of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: Joshua C. Covington, Ozzy Neri, Patrick S. Merg, Joshua D. Williamson, Bradley R. Lewis, Brett A. Kelley, Roy S. Brozovich, Joseph R. Grammatico, Jacob G. Foreman
  • Patent number: 10909777
    Abstract: An example method includes receiving, at a computing system, a first user input from a user interface during operation of a vehicle and responsive to receiving the first user input, determining a time of reception for the first user input. The method further includes receiving a first set of parameters from the vehicle that correspond to a first parameter identifier (PID). The method also includes determining a time of reception for each parameter, and based on the time of reception for the first user input and the time of reception for each parameter of the first set of parameters, determining a first temporal position for an indicator configured to represent the first user input on a graph of the parameters corresponding to the first PID. The method further includes displaying, on a display interface, the graph of the parameters corresponding to the first PID with the indicator in the first temporal position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Joshua C. Covington, Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman
  • Patent number: 10891597
    Abstract: Methods and systems for using natural language processing and machine-learning algorithms to process vehicle-service data to generate metadata regarding the vehicle-service data are described herein. A processor can discover vehicle-service data that can be clustered together based on the vehicle-service data having common characteristics. The clustered vehicle-service data can be classified (e.g., categorized) into any one of a plurality of categories. One of the categories can be for clustered vehicle-service data that is tip-worthy (e.g., determined to include data worthy of generating vehicle-service content (e.g., a repair hint). Another category can track instances of vehicle-service data that are considered to be common to an instance of vehicle-service data classified into the tip-worthy category. The vehicle-service data can be collected from repair orders from a plurality of repair shops. The vehicle-service content generated by the systems can be provided to those or other repair shops.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Brett A. Kelley, Jacob G. Foreman
  • Publication number: 20200410458
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided that are related to generating repair orders, including vehicular repair orders. A computing device can receive repair-related information associated with a repair order. The repair-related information can include information about a first repair attribute of one or more repair attributes. The computing device can determine a first ontology related to the first repair attribute. The first ontology can be further related to a first template. The computing device can determine modified repair-related information by at least utilizing the first template to modify at least a first portion of the repair-related information that includes the information about the first repair attribute. The computing device can generate an output related to the repair order that includes the modified repair-related information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Bradley R. Lewis, Brett Kelley
  • Patent number: 10867287
    Abstract: A processor may determine that a particular computer-readable vehicle repair order (RO) (e.g., including first and second RO portions) corresponds to an existing cluster of ROs due to the particular RO including RO data that refers to a particular vehicle symptom. The processor may determine that the first RO portion includes first data representative of a non-specific vehicle component and may then responsively also determine that the second RO portion includes second data that the at least one processor can use to determine a specific vehicle component associated with the particular RO. Responsively, the processor may determine the specific vehicle component based on the first and second data and may then add the particular RO to a different cluster of ROs that is arranged to contain ROs that correspond to the particular vehicle symptom and to the specific vehicle component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Bradley R. Lewis, Brett A. Kelley
  • Publication number: 20200364958
    Abstract: An example method includes determining identifying information for a vehicle to be serviced. The method further includes receiving at least one symptom identifier for the vehicle. The method further includes sending a request over a communication network to a remote server for a PID filter list for the vehicle, the request comprising the identifying information for the vehicle and the at least one symptom identifier for the vehicle. The method additionally includes receiving a response to the request over the communication network from the remote server, the response comprising the PID filter list for the vehicle. The method further includes determining, based on the PID filter list for the vehicle, a symptom-based subset of PIDs for the vehicle from a set of available PIDs. The method additionally includes displaying, on a display interface, the symptom-based subset of PIDs for the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Roy S. Brozovich, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Brett A. Kelley, Steven E. Miskovic
  • Publication number: 20200342389
    Abstract: An example method includes receiving a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window. The method further includes receiving technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs. The method additionally includes determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians. The method also includes determining, based on the scoring metrics, suggested technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs. The method further includes providing, for presentation on a display, a technician assignment interface that shows the suggested technician assignments.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Todd Mercer, Roy Steven Brozovich
  • Patent number: 10810554
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided that are related to generating repair orders, including vehicular repair orders. A computing device can receive repair-related information associated with a repair order. The repair-related information can include information about a first repair attribute of one or more repair attributes. The computing device can determine a first ontology related to the first repair attribute. The first ontology can be further related to a first template. The computing device can determine modified repair-related information by at least utilizing the first template to modify at least a first portion of the repair-related information that includes the information about the first repair attribute. The computing device can generate an output related to the repair order that includes the modified repair-related information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Bradley R. Lewis, Brett Kelley
  • Publication number: 20200302711
    Abstract: An example method for outputting a PID filter list (PFL) includes: receiving RO data from one or more ROs that indicate particular vehicle identifying information (PVII), at least one symptom identifier, and a particular vehicle component; determining, symptom-to-parameter-identifier (PID) mapping data (MD) based on the received RO data and component-to-PID MD; determining, based on the set of available PIDs for the SOV and the symptom-to-PID MD, a PFL, wherein the PFL is associated with the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier, and wherein the PFL indicates a symptom-based subset of PIDs from the set of available PIDs for the SOV; receiving, a request sent over a communication network from a display device, wherein the request comprises the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier; and transmitting, over the communication network to the display device, a response to the request, the response comprising the PFL.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Roy S. Brozovich, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Brett A. Kelley, Steven E. Miskovic
  • Patent number: 10769870
    Abstract: An example method includes determining identifying information for a vehicle to be serviced. The method further includes receiving at least one symptom identifier for the vehicle. The method further includes sending a request over a communication network to a remote server for a PID filter list for the vehicle, the request comprising the identifying information for the vehicle and the at least one symptom identifier for the vehicle. The method additionally includes receiving a response to the request over the communication network from the remote server, the response comprising the PID filter list for the vehicle. The method further includes determining, based on the PID filter list for the vehicle, a symptom-based subset of PIDs for the vehicle from a set of available PIDs. The method additionally includes displaying, on a display interface, the symptom-based subset of PIDs for the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Roy S. Brozovich, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Brett A. Kelley, Steven E. Miskovic
  • Publication number: 20200279230
    Abstract: Methods and systems for displaying information sets in determined orders are described. The information sets comprise vehicle service information. An order of information set identifiers associated with the information sets is based on vehicle identifying information of a subset of vehicles, and an additional search term comprising a symptom identifier and/or a vehicle component identifier of a component located on the vehicles. The information set identifiers of the group can be arranged according to a hierarchy of information set identifiers. The information sets are output to a vehicle service tool (VST) that displays the information sets. The VST can provide feedback data indicative of whether any aspect of an information set was selected while displayed. A server can aggregate feedback data received from multiple instances of displaying the information sets and determine a modified order for at least some of the information set identifiers of the previously determined group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2020
    Publication date: September 3, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Todd Mercer, Joshua C. Covington, Kahlil H. Cacabelos, Thomas Southward, Roy S. Brozovich
  • Publication number: 20200273266
    Abstract: An example method for outputting a PID filter list (PFL) includes: receiving RO data from one or more ROs that indicate particular vehicle identifying information (PVII), at least one symptom identifier, and a particular vehicle component; determining, symptom-to-parameter-identifier (PID) mapping data (MD) based on the received RO data and component-to-PID MD; determining, based on the set of available PIDs for the SOV and the symptom-to-PID MD, a PFL, wherein the PFL is associated with the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier, and wherein the PFL indicates a symptom-based subset of PIDs from the set of available PIDs for the SOV; receiving, a request sent over a communication network from a display device, wherein the request comprises the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier; and transmitting, over the communication network to the display device, a response to the request, the response comprising the PFL.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Roy S. Brozovich, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Brett A. Kelley
  • Patent number: 10733548
    Abstract: An example method includes receiving a plurality of vehicle service jobs to be performed in a given time window. The method further includes receiving technician performance data for a plurality of technicians, wherein the technician performance data for a given technician is indicative of past performances by the given technician of one or more of the vehicle service jobs. The method additionally includes determining, based on the technician performance data, a plurality of scoring metrics corresponding to the plurality of vehicle service jobs for each of the plurality of technicians. The method also includes determining, based on the scoring metrics, suggested technician assignments of individual technicians of the plurality of technicians to each vehicle service job of the plurality of vehicle service jobs. The method further includes providing, for presentation on a display, a technician assignment interface that shows the suggested technician assignments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Todd Mercer, Roy Steven Brozovich
  • Publication number: 20200242116
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for repairing vehicles. A computing device having first and second software executables can determine vehicle identification information (VII) that identifies a vehicle. The computing device can store first and second vehicle identifiers that are based on the VII and are respectively associated with the first and second software executables, where the first vehicle identifier differs from the second vehicle identifier. The computing device can be used to repair the vehicle by at least: receiving a request to activate the first software executable, and activating the first software executable at least by providing the stored first vehicle identifier to the first software executable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Roy Steven Brozovich
  • Publication number: 20200242859
    Abstract: A diagnostic tool includes a processor, display, and memory storing instructions to perform scan tool functions (STF) including transmitting a message to a vehicle. The STF include first and second STF for first and second systems of the vehicle. Additional stored instructions are executable to display: a first user-interface screen (UIS) including a first user-selectable control (USC) for a first scanner job performable on the vehicle, and a second UIS in response to selection of the USC of the first UIS. The second UIS includes a first USC including an indicator of the first STF, and a second USC including an indicator of the second STF. In response to a selection of the first USC, a first message addressed to a component of the first system is transmitted. In response to a selection of the second USC, a second message addressed to a component of the second system is transmitted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Roy S. Brozovich, Joseph R. Grammatico, Joshua C. Covington
  • Publication number: 20200242860
    Abstract: A diagnostic tool includes a processor, display, and memory storing instructions to perform scan tool functions (STF) including transmitting a message to a vehicle. The STF include first STF for a first system of the vehicle. Additional stored instructions are executable to display a first user-interface screen (UIS) including a first user-selectable control (USC) including an indicator of a first scanner job performable on the vehicle, and to display a second UIS instead of the first UIS in response to a selection of the first USC. The second UIS incudes: a second USC including an indicator of the first STF for the first system of the vehicle, and guidance for performing a procedure of the first scanner job. The stored instructions are executable to transmit a first vehicle data message to a component of the first system in response to a selection of the second USC.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Roy S. Brozovich, Joseph R. Grammatico, Joshua C. Covington
  • Publication number: 20200234223
    Abstract: An example method includes receiving a first service procedure for servicing a vehicle, determining an expected pace of performance of the first service procedure, receiving at least one input signal during performance of the first service procedure, determining, based on the at least one input signal, a current pace of performance of the first service procedure, and providing for display of a first pace indicator on a display interface of the computing device, where the first pace indicator is representative of the current pace of performance of the first service procedure relative to the expected pace of performance of the first service procedure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Todd Mercer, Roy Steven Brozovich
  • Publication number: 20200234516
    Abstract: A method performed by a first computing system includes receiving, from a second computing system, a message identifying a symptom of a first vehicle; and sending a repair tip to the second computing system. The repair tip includes a first phrase describing a first procedure performed on a second vehicle that exhibited the symptom, wherein the first procedure performed on the second vehicle yielded a result insufficient to determine that a component of the second vehicle associated with the symptom is defective. The repair tip also includes a second phrase describing a second procedure performed on a given vehicle, wherein the given vehicle is either (i) the second vehicle or (ii) a third vehicle that also exhibited the symptom, wherein the second procedure performed on the given vehicle yielded a result sufficient to determine that a component of the given vehicle associated with the symptom is defective.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman
  • Patent number: 10692307
    Abstract: An example method for outputting a PID filter list (PFL) includes: receiving RO data from one or more ROs that indicate particular vehicle identifying information (PVII), at least one symptom identifier, and a particular vehicle component; determining, symptom-to-parameter-identifier (PID) mapping data (MD) based on the received RO data and component-to-PID MD; determining, based on the set of available PIDs for the SOV and the symptom-to-PID MD, a PFL, wherein the PFL is associated with the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier, and wherein the PFL indicates a symptom-based subset of PIDs from the set of available PIDs for the SOV; receiving, a request sent over a communication network from a display device, wherein the request comprises the PVII and the at least one symptom identifier; and transmitting, over the communication network to the display device, a response to the request, the response comprising the PFL.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Bradley R. Lewis, Patrick S. Merg, Roy S. Brozovich, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Brett A. Kelley